MiniCo has announced that it will publish the 2011 Self-Storage Almanac at the end of the year with shipment anticipated by December 23, 2010. First published in 1992, the Self-Storage Almanac, a statistical reference guide for the self-storage industry, has become a highly respected resource for investors, developers, operators, financial institutions, real estate brokers and other business publications worldwide. The 19th edition of the Almanac includes statistical data, reports and analysis of important industry topics including occupancy and rental rates, valuation, security, financing, marketing, construction, CAP rates, manager training and compensation, population mobility, loan and investment analysis, and supply and demand.
The 2011 Self-Storage Almanac will be published in both print and digital formats with a cover price of $149.95. Customers who pre-order the Almanac before December 31, 2010, may take advantage of significant discounts. The pre-publication price for the print or digital edition is $99.95. A value package containing the print and digital editions also is available for $134.95.
Orders for the 2011 Self-Storage Almanac may be placed at www.ministoragemessenger.com or by calling Robin Dodge at 800-528-1056, extension 3526.
MiniCo Insurance Agency, LLC, publishes the Mini-Storage Messenger, the leading monthly trade magazine covering the global self-storage industry. Other publications include Self‑Storage Now!, Mobile Self-Storage Magazine, RV & Boat Storage Today, Self-Storage Canada, the Self-Storage Almanac, the Self-Storage Development Handbook, and the Self‑Storage Buyer’s Guide.
Since 1974, Phoenix-based MiniCo Insurance Agency, LLC, has been a self-storage leader providing superior specialty insurance programs, informative publications and valuable products and services created expressly for the self‑storage industry.
For More Information:
Mini-Storage Messenger – http://www.ministoragemessenger.com/
Showing posts with label almanac. Show all posts
Showing posts with label almanac. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Security
Physical security is a minimum expectation customers have of their self-storage providers. Self-storage renters are paying rent so that they can leave their belongings and return to find them safe and intact. Part of the services self-storage operators are offering customers is keeping their belongings secure.
Customer surveys show that the perception of adequate security is one of the three leading characteristics that attract new renters to a self-storage facility (curb appeal and convenience being the other two). Crime threatens self-storage owners and manager's ability to attract ad retain customers by critically impacting service delivery. While actual crime has decreased dramatically over the past 30 to 40 years, concerns with crime have not fallen. In fact, concerns about security and terrorism are higher than ever.
While the best time to put security systems into place is during facility planning and construction, self-storage sites can also be upgraded and enhanced with contemporary security measures at any time. Security installation typically falls within the five to six percent range of total initial facility development cost.
The sophistication of security systems can vary greatly from facility to facility, from individual unit alarms, comprehensive activity monitoring, and electronic access on the automated end of the spectrum, to staff scrutiny of new renters, adequate padlock requirements, and ample lighting on the low-tech end. Fancier facilities tend to employ more advanced, expensive security measures.
Crime impacts all aspects of life, personal and business, and crime in self-storage occurs withing this larger context of crime in America. Criminals are opportunities, taking advantage of situations that lend themselves to anonymity and easy access to goods. Self-0storage can seem tailor made for theft with its storage of personal property combined with discrete comings and goings.
Law enforcement and officials categorize crimes into two main groups: crimes against persons and crimes against property, with crimes against property involving no force or threat of force against those victimized.
Crimes against persons are unarguably the most serious, but the nature of the self-storage industry leads to a significant concern with property crimes, particularly theft. Property crimes make up over 75 percent of all crimes in America, and theft makes up 66.7 percent of property crimes. In addition to theft, employee fraud, storage of illegal and dangerous materials, violence, and graffiti are the most frequent crime-related concerns of storage owners and operators.
Besides the harm crime causes to victims, crime negatively affects employee morale, customer satisfaction, operation costs, and general community and individual well being. The costs of crime far exceed the value of stolen property. Those costs extend to include damage to both the renter's and the facility owners’ property, fire danger, civil suits, and loss of rental income.
By working to prevent crimes, self-storage owners and managers increase the stability of their rental base, lower operating costs, increase marketability, and reduce anxiety amongst staff. Crime prevention techniques include target hardening; this involves making properties less vulnerable to theft, renter and employee screening, management awareness of the signs of illegal activity and how to respond, and rental agreements that enable managers to take action when they suspect a renter or employee is engaging in criminal activity.
Security measures need not employ expensive or technically advanced equipment to offer renters, staff, and property adequate protection. That being said, computerized access control confers a sense of security that enables operators to charge an average of 30 percent higher rents. Security enhancement, therefore, can serve dual goals of protecting people and property and enhancing a facility's appeal to prospective renters. Security measures combine with a facility's convenience and overall physical appeal to attract new business.
For more information about the 2010 Self-Storage Almanac, please visit http://www.ministoragemessenger.com/cart/shopexd.asp?id=1998
Customer surveys show that the perception of adequate security is one of the three leading characteristics that attract new renters to a self-storage facility (curb appeal and convenience being the other two). Crime threatens self-storage owners and manager's ability to attract ad retain customers by critically impacting service delivery. While actual crime has decreased dramatically over the past 30 to 40 years, concerns with crime have not fallen. In fact, concerns about security and terrorism are higher than ever.
While the best time to put security systems into place is during facility planning and construction, self-storage sites can also be upgraded and enhanced with contemporary security measures at any time. Security installation typically falls within the five to six percent range of total initial facility development cost.
The sophistication of security systems can vary greatly from facility to facility, from individual unit alarms, comprehensive activity monitoring, and electronic access on the automated end of the spectrum, to staff scrutiny of new renters, adequate padlock requirements, and ample lighting on the low-tech end. Fancier facilities tend to employ more advanced, expensive security measures.
Crime impacts all aspects of life, personal and business, and crime in self-storage occurs withing this larger context of crime in America. Criminals are opportunities, taking advantage of situations that lend themselves to anonymity and easy access to goods. Self-0storage can seem tailor made for theft with its storage of personal property combined with discrete comings and goings.
Law enforcement and officials categorize crimes into two main groups: crimes against persons and crimes against property, with crimes against property involving no force or threat of force against those victimized.
Crimes against persons are unarguably the most serious, but the nature of the self-storage industry leads to a significant concern with property crimes, particularly theft. Property crimes make up over 75 percent of all crimes in America, and theft makes up 66.7 percent of property crimes. In addition to theft, employee fraud, storage of illegal and dangerous materials, violence, and graffiti are the most frequent crime-related concerns of storage owners and operators.
Besides the harm crime causes to victims, crime negatively affects employee morale, customer satisfaction, operation costs, and general community and individual well being. The costs of crime far exceed the value of stolen property. Those costs extend to include damage to both the renter's and the facility owners’ property, fire danger, civil suits, and loss of rental income.
By working to prevent crimes, self-storage owners and managers increase the stability of their rental base, lower operating costs, increase marketability, and reduce anxiety amongst staff. Crime prevention techniques include target hardening; this involves making properties less vulnerable to theft, renter and employee screening, management awareness of the signs of illegal activity and how to respond, and rental agreements that enable managers to take action when they suspect a renter or employee is engaging in criminal activity.
Security measures need not employ expensive or technically advanced equipment to offer renters, staff, and property adequate protection. That being said, computerized access control confers a sense of security that enables operators to charge an average of 30 percent higher rents. Security enhancement, therefore, can serve dual goals of protecting people and property and enhancing a facility's appeal to prospective renters. Security measures combine with a facility's convenience and overall physical appeal to attract new business.
For more information about the 2010 Self-Storage Almanac, please visit http://www.ministoragemessenger.com/cart/shopexd.asp?id=1998
Monday, April 26, 2010
Finance - An excerpt from the 2010 Almanac
Epic shifts in access to credit continue to harm borrower's ability to secure attractive financing. Any comprehensive discussion of financing includes both what is and what is not available in the market place. Despite the stabilizing effect of massive governmental stimulus plans around the world, for the most part, banks now remain alone in the lending realm and continue to hold their breath as they make their way cautiously through the aftermath of the credit storms which so recently tore through the system, unsure as to whether the storm is truly gone for them. Much analysis has been conducted on the challenge of how to undo the high leverage loans on low cap rate properties, both in the CMBS realm and throughout the commercial banking system. These high flyers are coming back down to earth to a transformed landscape, a lower leverage/higher cap rate new land.
Market Conditions: One Step At A Time To Recovery
On the positive side, conditions in the capital markets have improved with the breath-of-life stimulus packages around the globe. First and foremost, we are at the beginning of the largest global wave of monetary and fiscal stimulus ever on an absolute and relative basis. The wisdom of certain initiatives can be debated, as there is little doubt that overall they will have a meaningful positive economic effect in the short, medium, and long term. Many continue to have concerns that this massive money creation will soon lead to explosive inflation. The counter point is that higher inflation won’t become a realized risk, for at least a couple of years; even then, a problematic inflation is not inevitable per se. Central bankers are correctly providing liquidity in an effort to stave off deflation and bolster financial institution balance sheets. Inflation is unlikely until a more robust economic recovery causes money velocity to reaccelerate and business capacity becomes again more fully utilized.
Encouraging signs of normalcy include capital market signals such as: credit markets have eased considerably from last year’s severe dysfunction, interbank lending rates dropped to their lowest levels on record, credit spreads have narrowed, and firms with strong credit ratings are issuing debt without government assistance below pre-crisis interest rates. All of these are important indicators for the market health in general; the benefits to self-storage will remain “trickle-down/” So while the global economy is still in recession and is likely to remain so for possibly well into 2010 in some regions, the stock markets are moving ahead and providing encouragement. Keep in mind that backward-looking economic data do not determine future market conditions. Stocks discount future expectations, so one can take a measure of comfort that the upward trend from the depths of last year’s lows will benefit all sectors in time.
All of this bodes well for a move off the severe bear markets of last year, yet commercial real estate still has its trials to face. Namely, the unwinding of unsustainable cap rates, the unwinding of over-leveraged loans issued with unsustainable loan variables: interest rate, debt service coverage ratios, and loan to value.
There are also considerable regulatory headwinds and other uncertainties that are impacting the financial sector and the band’s appetite to lend. Additionally to shore up their balance sheets, many financial firms have been force out issue new shares, diluting their shareholder equity and putting downward pressure on their share prices.
The present administration has outlines a new regulatory framework as well. The framework contains elements both positive and negative; in essence, however, these changes appear to be largely benign. All of these legislative efforts will be significantly negotiated and reworked before any changes are ratified, so it is still too early to opine about ultimate outcomes and effects. Nonetheless, financial sector firms remain in listening mode for new legislation which may impact their functionality in both intended and unintended ways.
In summary, there is reason to be highly encouraged by recent market activities and there are significant sighs that we are improving, however it will not be without setbacks and will continue to require a demonstration of patience, especially for those in commercial real estate. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, but high debt and job losses will keep consumers from spending as much in the next few years as they have in the past; this contributes to the slow speed of the economic recovery timeline.
For more information or to order the 2010 Almanac, visit ministoragemessenger.com
Market Conditions: One Step At A Time To Recovery
On the positive side, conditions in the capital markets have improved with the breath-of-life stimulus packages around the globe. First and foremost, we are at the beginning of the largest global wave of monetary and fiscal stimulus ever on an absolute and relative basis. The wisdom of certain initiatives can be debated, as there is little doubt that overall they will have a meaningful positive economic effect in the short, medium, and long term. Many continue to have concerns that this massive money creation will soon lead to explosive inflation. The counter point is that higher inflation won’t become a realized risk, for at least a couple of years; even then, a problematic inflation is not inevitable per se. Central bankers are correctly providing liquidity in an effort to stave off deflation and bolster financial institution balance sheets. Inflation is unlikely until a more robust economic recovery causes money velocity to reaccelerate and business capacity becomes again more fully utilized.
Encouraging signs of normalcy include capital market signals such as: credit markets have eased considerably from last year’s severe dysfunction, interbank lending rates dropped to their lowest levels on record, credit spreads have narrowed, and firms with strong credit ratings are issuing debt without government assistance below pre-crisis interest rates. All of these are important indicators for the market health in general; the benefits to self-storage will remain “trickle-down/” So while the global economy is still in recession and is likely to remain so for possibly well into 2010 in some regions, the stock markets are moving ahead and providing encouragement. Keep in mind that backward-looking economic data do not determine future market conditions. Stocks discount future expectations, so one can take a measure of comfort that the upward trend from the depths of last year’s lows will benefit all sectors in time.
All of this bodes well for a move off the severe bear markets of last year, yet commercial real estate still has its trials to face. Namely, the unwinding of unsustainable cap rates, the unwinding of over-leveraged loans issued with unsustainable loan variables: interest rate, debt service coverage ratios, and loan to value.
There are also considerable regulatory headwinds and other uncertainties that are impacting the financial sector and the band’s appetite to lend. Additionally to shore up their balance sheets, many financial firms have been force out issue new shares, diluting their shareholder equity and putting downward pressure on their share prices.
The present administration has outlines a new regulatory framework as well. The framework contains elements both positive and negative; in essence, however, these changes appear to be largely benign. All of these legislative efforts will be significantly negotiated and reworked before any changes are ratified, so it is still too early to opine about ultimate outcomes and effects. Nonetheless, financial sector firms remain in listening mode for new legislation which may impact their functionality in both intended and unintended ways.
In summary, there is reason to be highly encouraged by recent market activities and there are significant sighs that we are improving, however it will not be without setbacks and will continue to require a demonstration of patience, especially for those in commercial real estate. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, but high debt and job losses will keep consumers from spending as much in the next few years as they have in the past; this contributes to the slow speed of the economic recovery timeline.
For more information or to order the 2010 Almanac, visit ministoragemessenger.com
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