ARAN INSURANCE SERVICES GROUP ACQUIRES MINICO INSURANCE AGENCY, LLC

PHOENIX, ARIZ. – MiniCo, Inc., today announced that the company has sold its insurance agency operations and publishing division, MiniCo Insurance Agency, LLC, to Aran Insurance Services Group, an insurance services provider based in Rockville Centre, N.Y. MiniCo Insurance will continue to operate from its Phoenix headquarters providing commercial insurance, tenant insurance and publishing products and services.


Hardy Good, founder of MiniCo, Inc., will assist in the transition and serve as a special advisor to the board of directors of MiniCo Insurance Agency, LLC. Mr. Good, an icon in the self-storage industry for over 35 years, commented, “I am pleased to pass the MiniCo baton to Aran Insurance Services Group and look forward to the positive benefits of this transaction for our self-storage customers and independent insurance agents.”

Mike Schofield, President and CEO, MiniCo Insurance Agency, LLC, said, “This step will enable MiniCo to join a growing multi-faceted insurance organization that will allow a wide range of insurance products to be made available to customers. We want to assure MiniCo’s self-storage insureds and independent insurance agents that their interactions with the company will be unchanged as Liberty Agency Underwriters™ will continue as our underwriting partner and MiniCo’s underwriting, claims, and customer care staff will remain in place to provide the world class service for which our company is known.”

MiniCo’s insurance products include MiniPak Gold commercial property and liability coverage, MiniPak Silver general liability only coverage, TenantOne Direct customer storage insurance, and MiniCo pay-with-rent tenant insurance. Publications include Mini-Storage Messenger, Self Storage Now!, the Self-Storage Almanac, and the Self-Storage Development Handbook.

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:

MiniCo Insurance Agency, LLC – http://www.minico.com/

Aran Insurance Services Group – http://www.aranins.com/

CMBS Loan Workouts, Modifications and Maturity Extensions

The challenging real estate market of the last two years has put a spotlight on commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) as a financing source. In this webinar, a group of experienced self-storage finance professionals will provide strategies for addressing CMBS loan issues.


TOPICS WILL INCLUDE:
* Maturity Date Extensions
* Modifications
* White Knight and Capital Providers
* New CMBS and Other Debt Available

It will take place on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 2 pm ET / 1 pm CT / 12 pm MST / 11 am PT.

This webinar will be presented by Shawn R. Hill, Principal, The BSC Group, Devin Huber, Principal, The BSC Group, Ann Hambly, President/CEO, 1st Service Solutions, Todd Moore, Executive Vice President, 1st Service Solutions and will be moderated by Poppy Behrens, Publisher, MiniCo Publishing.

The BSC Group offers financial and loan advisory, mortgage brokerage and workout solutions to commercial real estate property owners and investors with a special emphasis on the self storage market. 1st Service Solutions was the country’s first firm dedicated to serving as a borrower advocate in loan restructuring and assumptions for CMBS borrowers.

Shawn R. Hill, Principal, The BSC Group, advises clients on debt and equity financing and loan workout services for all commercial property types, with an emphasis on self-storage. He is a frequent speaker and panelist at self-storage industry trade shows and contributes to self-storage industry publications.

Devin Huber, Principal, The BSC Group, arranges commercial property debt and equity financing across the capital spectrum with expertise in the multi-family, medical and self-storage asset classes.

Ann Hambly is the President/CEO and founding partner of 1st Service Solutions. She has more than 30 years of commercial mortgage servicing experience.

Todd Moore is Executive Vice President of 1st Service Solutions. He has more than 20 years of experience performing commercial loan servicing and problem loan resolutions.
 
To register go to https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/608407643. Space is limited!

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

ROOF MAINTENANCE, INSPECTIONS AND COATINGS FOR SELF-STORAGE FACILITIES THE FOCUS OF MINICO PUBLISHING WEBINAR

PHOENIX, ARIZ. - On May 5, 2010, D.C. Taylor Co., a leading national roofing contractor with over 60 years of experience providing roofing solutions specifically designed for the self-storage industry, will sponsor a free webinar for self-storage professionals focusing on the importance of roof inspections and maintenance as well as the energy-saving benefits of cool-roof coatings. Bill Shanko, Regional Manager for D.C. Taylor Co., and Kathy Schoch, Sales Manager for KST Coatings, a business unit of The Sherwin-Williams Company, will present the webinar Roof Inspections, Maintenance and Coatings: Tasks You Need to Address Now. The presentation will include the following topics:


* Benefits of roof inspections and maintenance
* Prolonging roof service life with reflective coatings
* Saving energy and promoting sustainability with cool roofs

Roof Inspections, Maintenance and Coatings: Tasks You Need to Address Now is part of the ongoing Mini-Storage Messenger Self-Storage Webinar Series. Poppy Behrens, Publisher, MiniCo Publishing, will moderate the presentation. For more information or to register, visit www.ministoragemessenger.com. Online registration is required for this free live event.

MiniCo Publishing, a division of MiniCo, Inc., 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, Inc. 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:
D.C. Taylor Co. - http://www.dctaylorco.com/
KST Coatings - http://www.kstcoatings.com/
Mini-Storage Messenger - http://www.ministoragemessenger.com/

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

MiniCo Company BBQ

What a great time we all had! Delicious food and great company. Check out the photos below!

Managing in the Great Recession

There is no clear-cut management roadmap for today's recession, as it is unlike past economic slowdown in several ways. This recession is deeper than past recessions. Job losses are a more significant component of this recession, with very high unemployment rates.

Consumer spending is not simply growing more slowly, it has dropped significantly and is unlikely to return to prior levels in the foreseeable future. Consumers' finances are weak, and the spending contraction is a reflection of a change in consumer priorities in favor of saving and cutting debt. In the long term, this will be good for the economy, but in the short term, it will slow recovery in an economy that is seventy percent driven by consumer consumption.

Business consumption is weak as well, causing the recession to affect more business sectors than past recessions. The credit crunch i dampening recovery by slowing access to capital for solid personal and business transactions. For all these reasons, the Great Recession is a different animal than past recessions, and the management techniques required to survive ant thrive in this new economy are different as well.

To remain stable in tumultuous economic times, owners and managers must focus on their core competencies, honing efficiencies yet still pursuing the most promising opportunities.

(From page 115 of the 2010 Self-Storage Almanac)