What Brokers Are Really Thinking When Your LOI Comes In

What does a self-storage broker actually think when your offer lands in his inbox and why does the broker's decision happen long before you ever submit an LOI? 

Joe Downs sits down with Matt Rosendale, a broker with the Lindsey Self-Storage Group and a first-time storage facility owner himself, to pull back the curtain on how listed deals actually work. 

With over a decade representing sellers and connecting buyers across the self-storage market, Matt reveals exactly what separates buyers who get to the closing table from those who never get the callback. 

From proof of funds and buyer profiles to how brokers handle sellers still pricing like it's 2021, this episode delivers the insider self-storage investing intelligence most first-timers never get. 

If you're ready to stop submitting blind LOIs and start closing deals, this conversation is your playbook.

Listen For:

5:33 What do first-time self-storage buyers need to do differently to get a broker's attention?

7:07 How does Matt Rosendale evaluate whether a buyer can actually close a self-storage deal?

14:07 How should buyers handle a listed self-storage property priced above what the market supports?

26:46 Can a first-time buyer really compete against institutional buyers and REITs for self-storage deals?

35:09 What should first-time storage investors do today to accelerate their path to their first facility? 

CONNECT WITH GUEST: MATTHEW ROSENDALE, BROKER AT LINDSEY SELF STORAGE GROUP

Website | LinkedIn | Email | 484-695-0872

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Joe Downs on LinkedIn

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Transcript

Joe Downs (00:00):

My guest today has been on the other side of the broker call for nearly a decade, deciding which buyers are worth calling back and which ones get passed. And last year he went out and bought his own storage facility in Minnesota for the first time with real money on the line, his own money. Here's one I want to get into today. When a listed deal hits the market and it fits your criteria, what actually determines whether you get the call? Because it's not your capital, it's not your market knowledge. The broker already decided whether you're worth the time before you ever saw the deal. Today, Matt's going to tell us exactly what that decision looks like and what the buyers who get to the closing table do differently.

(01:00):

I'm Joe Downs. Welcome to the Storage Muggles Podcast. After acquiring 20 facilities across multiple storage verticals, over 50 million in assets, I've seen this business from just about every angle. And the one thing I know for certain is this, the people who succeed learn it from someone who's already been through it. That's why this podcast exists. Every week we bring you the operators, the lenders, the buyers, and the industry pros who've done real deals so you can hear clearly and exactly what it looks like, what went wrong and how they made it to the closing table anyway. Because as storage moguls, we do one thing better than anyone. We take people from zero self-storage facilities to their first one. That first deal is the hardest one you'll ever do and it's the only one that changes everything. But I'm fired up about today's conversation and my guest, Matt Rosendale is a broker with the Lindsey Self-Storage Group, a firm founded by John and Alan Lindsey with a specific mission to help people enter and succeed in self-storage.

(01:57):

So our interests are very aligned there. Matt has spent over a decade in this business representing sellers, connecting buyers, and living inside the deal pipeline. And last year he went out and bought his first storage facility himself as I mentioned. Matt, welcome to the Storage Moguls.

Matt Rosendale (02:16):

Awesome. Thanks for having me, Joe. I appreciate it. Excited to be here.

Joe Downs (02:19):

I'm super excited for this as well. I've known you for a long time. I'm going to come at you from angles you're not expecting today, Matt.

Matt Rosendale (02:27):

Cool.

Joe Downs (02:28):

I like you. You ready?

Matt Rosendale (02:29):

I'm ready.

Joe Downs (02:30):

First, as I told you before we started here, I'm going to ask you a couple true, false along the way. There are right or wrong answers though, Matt. This is not an essay question. All right. You ready?

Matt Rosendale (02:42):

I'm ready. Bring it on.

Joe Downs (02:44):

All right. I mean, there's a lot online for you here as a broker. You know that. You really need to get the car.

Matt Rosendale (02:52):

I really don't have a great rebuttal to that other than I'm just going to do the best I can, sir, just like I

Joe Downs (02:55):

Do

Matt Rosendale (02:55):

With every listing I have.

Joe Downs (02:58):

I think this one's going to start with a little bit of a layup for you. All right. We'll be warmed up. True or false? In most self-storage transactions, the seller pays the broker's commission, not the buyer. True. All right. You are one for one, Matt. Your broker commission comes out of the seller's proceeds typically, I would say it's like 98% of transactions.

Matt Rosendale (03:24):

Yeah, I would say

Joe Downs (03:25):

The majority

Matt Rosendale (03:26):

Of them. Yeah, for

Joe Downs (03:27):

Sure. Yeah. Going around a broker doesn't save buyers money, which is what some buyers think. It removes the person who knows how to close the deal. All right, Matt, true or false.

Matt Rosendale (03:41):

Okay. I'm ready.

Joe Downs (03:42):

You ready?

Matt Rosendale (03:43):

Yes, sir.

Joe Downs (03:43):

True or false? Self-storage has a lower loan default rate than any other commercial real estate asset class. True. That is true. You're two for two, my friend. Lowest default rate in commercial real estate even through 2008 and 2009, which was maybe the worst years in commercial real estate ever. And because of its low overhead, month to month leases and sticky tenants, as you well know, Matt. Alrighty. Listed deals are part of your business, part of this business, and they always will be. Most first timers have no idea how to play them. We encounter this all the time. They don't know how to brokers. They don't know how to talk to brokers. Excuse me. They're scared of you guys, actually. A deal hits the market. It fits your criteria. You reach out then nothing. Not because the deal sold because the broker moved on. This is the scenario I painted in the opening.

(04:50):

Matt, walk us through what you're actually evaluating and what the buyers who get the deal do differently because I'll be more descriptive in my setup for you here. A lot of first timers feel like they get hot and heavy on a deal. They took the chance. They got the OM in your ... If they do what we tell them to do, they subscribe to your group, Marcus and Millichat, all the brokerage houses.

Matt Rosendale (05:17):

Yeah, a lot there. So as far as determining serious buyer versus someone who's not serious, obviously if we've got a previous relationship with that person, then we-

Joe Downs (05:30):

Let's say we don't. Okay. I want the first time, no relationship.

Matt Rosendale (05:33):

Yeah. So first time would be to, if there's a listing out there, call me. If you email me, I will eventually answer, but I'm not going to be as communicative through email as I am on the phone.

Joe Downs (05:47):

Is that you or is that brokers in general? And I know I'm asking it to speak for all of them, but

Matt Rosendale (05:52):

What's your

Joe Downs (05:53):

Take on that?

Matt Rosendale (05:54):

Generally speaking, I would say in my opinion that for most brokers, being on the phone and talking with them is going to be a more of a long-lasting impression of that person on whether or not you want to, number one, talk to them again. Number two, do a deal with them. And number three, put them in front of a buyer to get a deal done. Texting and email is fine, but getting on the phone and actually chatting with someone is totally different than getting

Joe Downs (06:24):

A text from you. Having the conversation. Now, I think I might know why, because you just said something that I've never heard anybody say. Whether or not I want to put them on the phone or in front of a buyer, I mean a seller. So what are you gleaning from that phone conversation that's giving you the warm and fuzzies about, "Yeah, this is someone I want to take their offer and put it in front of my seller." And why are we even having this part of the conversation? What is the risk to you as the broker who took on a seller as a client that would make you say, "I'm not sure I want to put someone in front of them."

Matt Rosendale (07:07):

Yeah. So a couple things. First off, if an offer comes in, I have to put an offer in front of my client. We'll always put that offer in front of my client regardless of whether or not I know that person. Inevitably, the seller is going to ask, "What do you know about this buyer?" Obviously they hired us for a reason. That's one of those reasons to get a buyer that can get the deal done. And as far as what I glean from a conversation with a potential buyer is where are they in their self-storage journey? What are they communicating what they're looking for with me and does it make sense? Can they kind of have that level of conversation about self storage that I would feel comfortable saying, "Okay, they seem to know what they're talking about. I've never done a deal with them before, but they're going to provide us with maybe some proof of funds." It sounds like they know what they're talking about and they got the cash behind them or they got the finance behind them to get the deal done.

(08:11):

Or maybe they're working with a bank that I know or they're working with a coaching group that I know. So anything that I can share with my seller that says this person's legit is what I'm looking for if they're a first time buyer.

Joe Downs (08:30):

So thank you for clarifying that. I wasn't trying to get in trouble. Of course. All offers go to the seller, you would check your-

Matt Rosendale (08:37):

I'm also legally

Joe Downs (08:38):

Bound to do

Matt Rosendale (08:39):

That too, Joe. You

Joe Downs (08:40):

Perform your fiduciary responsibility. I meant beyond that. So thank you for clarifying that for the listener. Beyond that, you've got three, you got five, whatever, five offers, you put them all in front. You made the point, and this is really where I was trying to get to the meat of it. The seller's going to say, "Well, what do you know? Which one?" They're all in a range or you kick out the ones that are not even competitive. So you're down to three competitive ones. Naturally, the next question is, well, of these three competitive, which one we want to go with? Why is that so important? And then we'll come back to everything else you just said.

Matt Rosendale (09:17):

Yeah. So every seller, as we said earlier, usually has a goal that they want to achieve when selling their property. Maybe it's the most amount of money possible. Maybe it's closing quickly. Maybe they want seller financing because they want some revenue after the fact or something along those lines, whatever their goal is, they're retiring. So whatever most of the time-

Joe Downs (09:39):

The most important though is actually closing.

Matt Rosendale (09:41):

I was just about to say that.

Joe Downs (09:43):

Performing?

Matt Rosendale (09:44):

Yeah. So really what they're looking for, as you just said, literally I was just about to say it, I promised, that it's the ability to get the deal done and that is probably the biggest aspect of it. And then everything else that as far as meeting their goals beyond that. So anything that I can share with my client and my seller about someone being able to complete a deal all the way through the end, there's a lot of factors that play into that. If there's financing in place, do they have the cash for the down payment or the cash to actually buy the site outright? And then can they prove that they have that?

(10:29):

I'll just run you through real quick. If there's a buyer that I don't know and I've never transacted with before, what can they tell me about themselves or who they're working with or the though process that they've put into getting ready to buy this asset? Is it just throwing an LOI out there and they haven't thought about what management software they're going to use? If they're going to use a management company or they've done any research on the market, et cetera, et cetera. And that's kind of a red flag because then it's just a willy nilly LOI. So all of those things, anything that I can say

Joe Downs (11:05):

This is- And more importantly, uncertainty of closing because they're not demonstrating ... Sorry if I'm- No, you're good. I'm just thinking about in my head where you're going with this. If they're not demonstrating they even understand the industry, how are they going to show up and close? What lender is actually going to lend them money? So you tie up the asset by going under contract with someone who doesn't really look like they have the ability to close and everybody loses, right? The seller loses, you lose. The seller loses faith in you.

Matt Rosendale (11:44):

We wasted time.

Joe Downs (11:45):

Wasted time. Right. And now you're back on the market with a stigma. Why didn't sell before?

Matt Rosendale (11:51):

That can happen. Yeah.

Joe Downs (11:52):

Yeah. Here's what I heard from you. It's not just, are you the best offer? It's are you the most qualified offer? What does qualified mean? Well, it might mean what's your experience? What's your liquidity? Who's your management team? Are you in a mentorship coaching training program with guardrails that gives you the broker and the seller a fair degree of confidence at least, right? Or do you have experience outside of self storage?

Matt Rosendale (12:28):

So

Joe Downs (12:28):

It could be other residential. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't even have to be in real estate, by the way. Sure. Do you own a business? Are you successful at that business? Have you demonstrated a track record of success at that business coupled with cash, liquidity, the ability to get financing and a coaching training program? So there's a lot of variables that make up you as the profile or make up your profile as the buyer is what you're saying. And it's not just first time buyer is you're out and that's one end. On the flip side, it's not just the highest price, highest offer.

Matt Rosendale (13:04):

Right?

(13:06):

Yeah. But can you get it done? And honestly, if you call me and say, "This is my story and this is why I'm getting into self-storage or this is where I came from," I mean, that should be part of almost any conversation if you're calling a broker for the first time and I don't know who you are. Tell me your story and why you're looking for storage and where you came from and what the goal is. That's going to give me a lot more credibility than just saying, "Hey, I put an LOI in first time buying a site. Let me know if I get it.

Joe Downs (13:40):

" Yeah. Maybe participate in the process. Yeah. Matt, I'm sure the Lindsey Group does not have this problem, but let me ask it anyway. Are there sellers and certainly you've probably dealt with in the past, but there are sellers who still think it's 2021 from a value standpoint?

Matt Rosendale (14:07):

Sure, of course.

Joe Downs (14:09):

How do you handle them? How does the buyer handle them? In other words, you guys, I guess ultimately we'll take the listing because you want the listing and you want to see what the market will dictate even if the seller thinks it's a $2 million asset that's really a $1.5 million asset. How do you handle that? What do you do with that listing? Does it come out at two million? And if so, what's the conversation with the seller around expectations? And then we're a buyer or it's a student of ours. They run the math, we check it, they run the due diligence, I should say. We check it. It's a $1.5 million deal. Do they submit the offer?

Matt Rosendale (14:52):

Yes.

Joe Downs (14:52):

Walk me through from the seller to the buyer and how it's all handled.

Matt Rosendale (14:56):

Yeah, sure. So any valuation or broker opinion value that we do, we're going to give our opinion on where we think this would shake out in the market today's market. And sometimes that does not align with what the seller is trying to achieve. And in that case, there's really kind of a couple choices there. First one, maybe now is not the best time to sell. Here are some areas that we can give you that we think that you can improve your value. Let's revisit it in six months, let's revisit it in a year and see if we can get you closer to that number and then take it out to market. Or in some scenarios, depending upon the story or the market, maybe we are willing to stretch slightly and see what the market can bear. And then in other cases, I just don't get the listing and they either go somewhere else or they just wait until they think they can get that number.

(15:58):

And then as far as the last bit of your question there on whether or not you should submit the offer, just put the offer in. As we talked about earlier, I'm going to submit every offer to my seller and you can't be in the game if you're not actually in the game.

Joe Downs (16:14):

I want to paint that scenario very clearly though. The seller wants two million. They wanted to list it. You're going to take the listing because you'd be foolish not to. I'm sure you're having the conversation around, "Hey, let's see what the market expectations are. I know what yours are, but let's see what the market is. " You come out with a listing, it's two million, you've done the underwriting to the best of your ability, but you got to make it look like it's two million, right? It's really 1.5 the way we all see it. Your internal underwriting might even suggest that, but you have to do what you have to do for the client. You still want offers submitted at 1.5, not just because we want to low ball, but because that's really our true comfortable underwriting normal process we go through, it says it's in that one five-ish range.

(17:21):

You still want that offer and we should not be afraid and our buyer, the first time buyer should not be afraid to submit that offer to you, meaning should not be afraid to offend you or the seller.

Matt Rosendale (17:38):

I mean, I'm not going to get offended, get offers. There's always low ball offers, right? I'm not saying that that's necessarily a low ball offer, but yeah, I would just put the offer in and see what happens.

Joe Downs (17:49):

How would you suggest the buyer put that offer in? Is there a conversation that happens around

Matt Rosendale (17:54):

That? Yeah, so that's a good question. So I think if we were to put said property out at two million and maybe the expectations were 1.5 and the buyer's like, "Well, I think it's worth 1.5." My response would be, "Okay, well feel free to give me some reasons why you think so. And then if you want to put an offer in, I would suggest that you put an offer in, but I'm never going to reveal that. " My job is to get them the best price possible and also guide them through the deal and get the best buyer possible. So I'm never going to say, "Oh yeah, they'll take that. " That's never going to be a scenario. So it's you put your best foot forward and we see if we can make a deal happen.

Joe Downs (18:40):

You think it's valuable to have that conversation. I think it's valuable. What we've learned over the years is, and Jack, I think, who's my head of acquisitions as you know very well, I think there's a great job with this, just calling to say, he might call you, Matt, I'm sure you've been on the other end of these and said, "Hey, my underwriting's taking me to 1.5. What am I missing?" Do you as the broker appreciate a conversation that unfolds like that versus, "I don't know where you came up with two million. There's no way this thing's worth more than 1.5. What are you an idiot? Your seller's moron. Take my offer now." Isn't it a different kind of conversation? Yeah,

Matt Rosendale (19:28):

100%.

Joe Downs (19:28):

Doesn't that give you ammo for the seller

Matt Rosendale (19:33):

To

Joe Downs (19:33):

Say, "Look, I got three offers in the one four to one six area and the conversations I've had with one of them was this and I didn't have good answers as to how we arrived at this because these are aggressive assumptions." Or maybe it's not that. Maybe it's, "Hey, maybe that leads to a, we could get closer to your number if you consider seller financing because they can make these concessions that the lender or the lender is the reason that we can't get here because the DSCR, if we want to do it this ... " I guess what I'm trying to say, I want the listener to hear you say and really elaborate on, let's have a conversation, don't just send me blind offers, give me the logic, the reasoning the conversation because that's something I can then have a conversation with the seller, but if I don't know any of that, it's just a low ball offer with no reasoning and logic behind it.

(20:42):

Is that fair?

Matt Rosendale (20:43):

Yeah, that's fair. So yes, I've had those conversations with Jack and I've had those conversations with plenty of other buyers and there's no call and if you look at the OM and the financial data and you're like, "Hey, I think this expense would be this, et cetera, et cetera. Call me. We have that conversation and we see what each other thinks about it. " And then the other side of that is it is great and this is what I'm looking for from buyers as much as they can possibly provide. I want feedback. If I send you a deal or you see one of our listed deals, any feedback that you give me is relayed to the seller, whether that's good feedback, bad feedback, whatever it might be, I want feedback because that gives me something that I can go back to my seller with. So yeah, I think those conversations are most certainly important and me providing as much feedback as possible is just going to be helpful for me to do my job.

(21:53):

And

Joe Downs (21:54):

A lot of feedback, all that feedback comes from preparation. And look, we spend a lot of time earmuffs, Matt, but we spend a lot of time storage moguls talking about off market deals, right? Sure. But I bet you 50% of our deals close to it come from our listed deals, guys like you. It's a major part of the business folks and there's advantages. There's advantages and disadvantages to both listed and non-listed, but one of the advantages to listed is a lot of the work is done for you and now you're just trusting and verifying a lot of the due diligence. So it gives you the ability to be prepared to have these conversations we're talking about right now at a much faster pace because I'm taking the work-

Matt Rosendale (22:45):

Sorry.

Joe Downs (22:46):

Yeah.

Matt Rosendale (22:47):

To add to that quickly, if you're calling me and we say we are a first time buyer and we haven't dealt before and you're picking apart the OM, it shows me that you actually spent the time to go through the data and actually work it, do the underwriting and then I'm like, "All right, well this gal knows what she's talking about or what he's talking about. And I can probably trust their ascertations a litle bit more now. Now I'm a little bit more intrigued about them being a potential buyer down the road." They're actually looking at the deal.

Joe Downs (23:21):

It's an opportunity to demonstrate that your new knowledge as a new buyer to a broker and that's part of building a relationship, even if this first deal doesn't work out or there's a buyer that's further along or better offer and experience, you've now just demonstrated to Matt that the next time you call about one of his deals, "Hey, this is someone that knows what they're talking about. " Yeah, they're not just an LOI slinger. And we've seen them before too, and I'm sure you've seen a lot of them.

Matt Rosendale (23:52):

Yeah.

Joe Downs (23:52):

So folks, look, listed deals, you just heard from Matt, they reward preparation and part of that preparation is reading the OM and understanding it and verifying or asking questions, poking holes respectfully, but in a way that is collaborative and they reward speed and they reward buyers who are the easiest to say yes to. And I'm

Matt Rosendale (24:14):

Not

Joe Downs (24:14):

Perfect.

Matt Rosendale (24:15):

There's been times where someone pointed something out and I'm like, "All right, yeah, usually minuscule, but I missed that. " So

Joe Downs (24:21):

I'm

Matt Rosendale (24:22):

Not perfect.

Joe Downs (24:22):

I'm trying to think of examples where we've caught you lying brokers in dastardly evil acts of making mistakes. Or just overlooking something like, "Hey, I think it snows more this time of year." Or, "The seller was plowing his own snow. I think we need to increase this budget here and that's going to ... " Something like that, which isn't, that's why I said all that a second ago as a joke obviously, but you heard it from Matt and they're not perfect, but they strive to be mastery is not a destination, it's a journey and they're reasonable people to work with and the more you want to talk to them and demonstrate that you appreciate the Picasso that they sent out to 5,000 people, look, they're lonely people. He's telling you he wants to talk. You heard it right here from Matt Rosenelli. You want to go by your cell phone while you're at Matt?

Matt Rosendale (25:26):

Yeah, I have no problem doing that.

Joe Downs (25:28):

Well, actually, you guys do do that. We'll give you an opportunity at the end. True or false, Matt?

Matt Rosendale (25:40):

I'm two for

Joe Downs (25:40):

Two, right? You are. This one might get you.

Matt Rosendale (25:43):

All right.

Joe Downs (25:45):

True or false, first time buyers regularly out compete institutional buyers and REITs for storage deals.

Matt Rosendale (25:58):

Are we talking collectively across the entire country?

Joe Downs (26:05):

Yes.

Matt Rosendale (26:07):

Are we talking number of deals, square footage or price?

Joe Downs (26:12):

There's a lot of qualifiers on here. It's a true or false.

Matt Rosendale (26:16):

True. Or go true.

Joe Downs (26:17):

All right. True is the answer, final answer?

Matt Rosendale (26:20):

Yeah.

Joe Downs (26:21):

You are correct.

Matt Rosendale (26:22):

So number of deals, right? Got to be

Joe Downs (26:24):

Number of deals. REITs have minimums, geography constraints, and slow committee processes. So a prepared first time buyer targeting the right profile can win. All right, Matt, the best deals go to the buyer the broker already knows and trusts. That should be true or false, actually.

Matt Rosendale (26:46):

Pinned me in a corner there. Geez.

Joe Downs (26:52):

And that's not across the board, but a lot of times because I think that relationship is built before the deal exists. So Matt, if a first timer called you tomorrow with zero deals, but after your conversation you felt they were serious, what did that conversation need to sound like? And we've sort of touched on a little bit of this, but maybe they'll go a little deeper.

Matt Rosendale (27:21):

Yeah. I think say they see a listed deal that we just put out and launched this morning. As we said, call me. If I don't answer, I'll call you back. Get me on the phone and say, "Hey, I'm interested in such and such deal. This would be my first storage facility and this is what I've done to prepare for buying my first facility and this is my history and my background and why I'm looking to do it. " And it's kind of, I can't remember the saying, but you put a face to someone, even though obviously it's not actually seeing that person in front of me versus the digital text message or email where contact, there's no context there, there's no feeling there, there's no conversation. Get me on the phone, we talk about it. And then if you've looked at the deal and there's questions about the deal, ask me questions, ask me questions about the market, ask me questions about specific things if you've actually looked at the offering memorandum, show me that you've done a little bit of quick research into it.

(28:35):

I mean, I'll talk to anybody that gives me a call, but I'm more inclined to have a longer conversation with someone that actually shows genuine interest in the opportunity and future opportunities. And I say, and I might be going a little off tangent for the question here, but a lot of people ask me, how can I get access to off-market deals or how can I be your first call? I guess that kind of goes align with what you're saying. It

Joe Downs (29:05):

Doesn't hurt, right? They got to ask.

Matt Rosendale (29:07):

Yeah. So what I tell people, if I don't know you, I need to know you even if we haven't transacted before. So what I usually say to people, not that I'm the most popular person out there, but just be consistent with calling me, texting me, emailing me. So your name's in front of me pretty regularly. I have a good memory, but I don't remember every single person I've talked to that's called and said, "Hey, I want access to off-market deals. Hey, I want to be your first call." If you've only called me once and texted me once or emailed me once, I'm sorry, but I'm most likely not going to remember that conversation a year from now. But if you're calling, texting me, not being annoying, but if you're calling, texting, emailing, you keep keeping you in front of me for a period of time.

(30:05):

Yeah, human nature, I'm going to remember who you are and I'm probably going to remember our conversations and I'm probably going to remember what you're looking for. So when a deal comes up, say, oh, this would be a good fit for so- and-so. So I know that's not necessarily answering your question in the sense that it's the deal we listed first time buyer calling me now, but that phone call may not, that deal may not work, but we've had that phone call and there may be a deal later down the road that does work and now you've had that conversation and we can have more after that. Does that make sense?

Joe Downs (30:39):

Yeah, no, totally does. Should they be prepared to, let's say that's first deal by the time they call you is already under contract. Could be. Should they be prepared to talk about their capital and equity position, the target markets they're looking at, the asset type, the size RAM and size and equity, I guess kind of work hand in hand for the most part, timeline,

Matt Rosendale (31:10):

Decision

Joe Downs (31:10):

Authority, do they have investors? Is it their money? Is that all part of the first conversation or is that for later?

Matt Rosendale (31:18):

I think it's okay to have it in the first part of the conversation. I mean, I would suggest probably doing that because if you were going to put an offer in on a deal, those questions are going to come up anyway because as we said before, I'm going to have a conversation with my seller. They're going to say, "Do you think this person can get the deal done?" And I'm going to say, "Well, this is what I know about them and how they're structuring what they're doing." And if I don't know that, I'm going to ask anyway, because if we have a formal offer, we're going to go back and ask if it's an offer that they're considering, of course.

Joe Downs (31:50):

So trying to go around the broker- And going around the- seller is ... It's got to be top two. I would think so.

Matt Rosendale (31:56):

All

Joe Downs (31:56):

Right. What's your second one?

Matt Rosendale (31:58):

I would say for me, we've already alluded to it. My biggest one is putting something under contract with the intention of not closing, but actually wholesaling it and signing the contract to somebody else. Yeah. Pet peeve, everything under the sun.

Joe Downs (32:15):

All right. I would say those are the top two. Give me what you think are a couple others. Think about the worst buyers you've dealt with.

Matt Rosendale (32:27):

Yeah. Lack of communication. So if we've sent you a deal and I don't hear anything for a week, two weeks, I'll usually follow up before that. And the follow-up, I don't hear anything. If there's that lack of communication that gives me absolutely no or very little incentive to reach back out again for whether it's a listed or off market deal or some opportunity-

Joe Downs (32:56):

The buyer that wants everything and then never responds, right?

Matt Rosendale (32:58):

Yeah. Yeah. And the feedback, honestly, like we said earlier, the feedback, the communication isn't just, "Hey, how are you? " No, we're not interested. It's why are you not interested? Give me a little bit of the feedback. Now, if it's real quick, this is just not a market we're looking, okay, fine, but give me that feedback, please.

Joe Downs (33:24):

True or false? The majority of storage deals that fall apart do so after the LOI is signed not before. True. True is correct.

Matt Rosendale (33:40):

Yeah.

Joe Downs (33:41):

I'm fortunate four. Most deal mortality is in due diligence. Environmental, title, financing, cold feet. The LOI is the starting gun, not the finish line. I like that. Matt, how can we get in touch with the Lindsey Group?

Matt Rosendale (34:01):

Yeah, certainly. So for the entire group, you go to our website, lindseyselfstoragegroup.com or to get with me directly, happy to give my phone number. My email is Matt, M-A-T-T, @lindseyselfstoragegroup.com. And if you want

Joe Downs (34:18):

To- Could you spell Lindsey for-

Matt Rosendale (34:19):

Yeah, sorry. Yeah. L-I-N-D-S-E-Y. It's

Joe Downs (34:24):

The old Lindsey. I think Lindsey Buckingham was EY or something like that. Anyway. I

Matt Rosendale (34:28):

Don't know who that is.

Joe Downs (34:31):

Ouch. I was just about to say, did I date myself? Yeah. Well, you are younger than me. You probably never listen to Fleetwood Mac. I

Matt Rosendale (34:38):

Just turned 40. Oh no, I know Fleetwood Mac, but I just turned 40, so I'm not a spring chicken anymore.

Joe Downs (34:45):

All right. Cell phone? Yes, no? Yep. Or you just want to email?

Matt Rosendale (34:50):

No, cell phone's fine. I don't mind. Area code 484-695-0872.

Joe Downs (34:59):

Matt, what's one thing people can act on today, not next month, but today to get started in this business? What kind of advice do you have for them?

Matt Rosendale (35:09):

Yeah, I think it's getting out there doing some research, joining some groups that are self-storage centric, maybe joining a coaching group or a mentorship group that can help you through the process of educating yourself first about self-storage and maybe some of the nuances that come with that, even if you're coming from a different real estate asset class. Every class is a little bit different. So there's definitely important to learn the nuances of it. Can't tell you how many times people have called me and said, "Well, it's just easy, right? You just buy it and you get a check in the mail, right?" No. There's a

Joe Downs (35:44):

Lot more. I play golf with them guys who are real estate guys, developers. I was thinking about building self-storage. I might do that over there. I was like, "Well, who's going to advise you on it? It's just a bunch of metal buildings. There's doors on them." Good luck.

Matt Rosendale (35:59):

Yeah, I've gotten that one too. Yeah, I've got that one too. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely a little more to it than that.

Joe Downs (36:04):

There's nothing you need to know other than that. Yeah. Okay. All right, Matt, you ready for the last question?

Matt Rosendale (36:11):

Yeah, bring it up. All

Joe Downs (36:12):

Right. I want you to think about this one before you answer. There's a book called Be Your Future Self Now. Are you familiar with it?

Matt Rosendale (36:21):

I'm not, but I have a feeling

Joe Downs (36:23):

I

Matt Rosendale (36:23):

Probably should be.

Joe Downs (36:25):

I highly recommend that you ... I always say read, but I'm a hypocrite. I listen to almost every book at this point. So listen or read to Be Your Future Self Now by Dr. Benjamin Hardy. He was, by the way, a co-author to Who Not How with Dan Sullivan. Sure you've heard of that book? Yep. And then their follow-up book, which I think is 10X is better than 2X, but he's also got some other books, but Be Your Future Self Now, phenomenal mindset changing book, not just, well, life changing too, but mindset changing first, which is more important. You familiar with Mr. Beast?

Matt Rosendale (37:04):

Of course.

Joe Downs (37:06):

Okay. I wasn't. I have sons, but I am now first because of the innane things that he does on YouTube. So folks, he's the most followed person in the world on YouTube. And that's basically what the book is about, right? Especially the beginning of it is his life story, which isn't that long because he started at 17 and he's crazy, crazy famous at 27, or maybe he's 28 now. So it's only been 10 years. But the idea is that he taught us all accidentally on purpose who knows he was 17, but what he taught us all is that you don't wait to become the person you want to be. You start acting like that person today, right now from where you are. So five years from now, Matt, what are you doing? Not what do you hope you are doing? What are you actually doing?

(38:08):

Where are you? You bought one storage facility so far, so what does your portfolio look like? What does your life look like and what are you doing? So first get that picture in your head, five years from to now, you got a genie, what does it look like? You get your wishes. You got that image? I do. All right. I want you to tell me what it is and what are you doing today right now to make sure you actually end up with that image you have in your head.

Matt Rosendale (38:39):

Yeah. So I'm going to do a little personal professional. So personal, be the best husband and father that I could possibly be today, five years from now, 10 years from now until I'm gone.

Joe Downs (38:54):

So what are you doing today?That is just something that is five and 10 years from now.

Matt Rosendale (39:02):

Yeah. Well, it should be, right? What I'm doing for that today is spending more-

Joe Downs (39:07):

You don't have to answer this part, but I want you to think about it.

Matt Rosendale (39:10):

Okay, fair enough.

Joe Downs (39:10):

Because that's an awesome picture to paint, but you got to start acting that way today.

Matt Rosendale (39:17):

Yep.

Joe Downs (39:17):

So whatever that means, being the best father and husband, right? You're welcome to answer, but I don't want to put you on the spot like that.

Matt Rosendale (39:25):

Well, I think part of it is the professional question too. So as far as, as you said, I own one property now. So five years from now, would like it to be probably-

Joe Downs (39:38):

I would like.

Matt Rosendale (39:39):

Yeah, I know. That's not the best way to say it. Yes. Yep. No, I need to read the book.

Joe Downs (39:43):

What is it? What is the picture when I said five years from today? Was it a hundred facilities? Was it 20? Was it five?

Matt Rosendale (39:50):

Yeah. Five years from now is five facilities with decent cashflow. And then brokerage wise, it's trying not to use too specific, but

Joe Downs (40:08):

Sales volume

Matt Rosendale (40:09):

Maybe. Yeah. I mean, it would be sales volume. Yeah. I don't want to go into the nitty gritty details of the sales volume, but it would be continued and improved sales volume.

Joe Downs (40:20):

Okay. So what are you doing today to make sure you have five facilities in five years?

Matt Rosendale (40:25):

Yeah. So working with my partner on what our plan is to do each year for that and set out that plan. And then on the brokerage side, honestly, it's networking, making calls and making sure that I'm relevant in the space and that I'm the go- to person for someone that is looking to buy or sell.

Joe Downs (40:47):

All right. So you had a personal one I didn't want you to disclose because it's a little too personal. And then a business one with sales volumes that it's fine that you don't disclose it as long as you can know what that looks like in your head. And then the portfolio one you did disclose, which is great. There's nothing to hide there. I just want to make sure, Matt, first of all, read the book.

Matt Rosendale (41:11):

I'm going to read

Joe Downs (41:12):

It. Second of all, it's one thing to say, I'm going to plan, I'm going to do this. It's another to do it. And the whole point of this is Mr. Beast set ... I don't know. Do you know what he did?

Matt Rosendale (41:27):

I don't know his story.

Joe Downs (41:28):

He recorded four videos and he set them to be released in the future. One six months, one at a year, one at five years, one at 10 years. The 10 year was released last October. That's why I said he's only been at this for 10 years. He set goals in six months. I hope I have this many followers and one year this, five years, 10 years. He absolutely crushed every single one of those goals because he set them and he made them public because they were set to be released in the future. And then he went about making sure he achieved them, but he didn't just achieve them. He crushed them in a fraction of the time for each. And that's the power of the sole exercise in that book. Set these goals or paint your future and then today you say, "What do I need to do to achieve that?

(42:20):

" And when you start doing that today, you will crush those goals. That's acting today like you've already done it or that you are that person or you do have that portfolio. That makes a ton of sense. So we need to start acting today like you own five self-storage facilities.

(42:37):

And if you own five today, what does your day look like? What does it look like for you to own those five or to have acquired those five?

Matt Rosendale (42:46):

No, that makes total sense. I'm

Joe Downs (42:48):

Going to be checking back with you, Matt. I'm going to buy the book.

Matt Rosendale (42:51):

I'm not really an audiobook guy.

Joe Downs (42:54):

All right. We'll read the book on the beach somewhere, but I'm going to be checking back with you the next time we have you on and I'm hoping, and this is not going to be a reason for you to not come back on because I'm going to hold you accountable. But that's the beauty of this is you're holding yourself accountable because you're the one that painted the picture and now it's just a mindset shift of, "Okay, well, I'm going to be that person. This is what that person does then and I'm going to do that today." And that's the beauty of it. It's not hard. So when I have you back on, I'm looking forward to seeing how you've already started to accomplish those goals and what you're doing and how your life is different. And I know that the listeners are going to be looking forward as well.

(43:43):

So you can't go more than a year without coming back on or maybe about a year tops and we're going to have you back. All right

Matt Rosendale (43:51):

Sounds good. That means I at least did a good enough job to come back, huh?

Joe Downs (43:56):

Oh man, of course. Because you're not just a broker telling people to work with brokers.You bought a facility yourself, you sat on the other side with your money on the line and that changes everything and it changes everything you said today. So of course I'm going to have you back. So folks, go to the Lindseyselfstoragegroup.com, get on Matt's radar, email Matt at, was it matt@linseyselfstoragegroup.com?

Matt Rosendale (44:18):

Mat@linseyselfstoragegroup.com. Yes, sir.

Joe Downs (44:21):

Matt@Lindseyselfstoragegroup.com. Also go to storagemoguls.ai to learn how to buy your first facility the right way and then we'll teach you how to do it using Matt and look at it too. Sounds great. Every week on storage moguls, folks talking about self-storage, boat and RV storage, pro storage, industrial outdoor storage, truck parking, small bay flex, all of it at some point. So like, subscribe and share based on something specific that hit you today. Folks, there's a seller out there right now who's ready. Stop watching, start moving, drive for dollars and send the LOI. See you next week.