How Much Is a Self-Storage Facility Worth? How to Price Your Offer
How much is a self-storage facility worth?
A self-storage facility is worth its net operating income (NOI) divided by a market cap rate. Value = NOI ÷ cap rate. Use the income the facility actually collects today (in-place, from the trailing 12 months), subtract the expenses you will pay as the new owner, not the seller’s, and apply a cap rate supported by comparable sales in that market. For small-town facilities, Kevin’s quick check is that price shouldn’t exceed about 100 times monthly revenue. That is his rule of thumb, not a guarantee or an appraisal. Then set your offer below the value you calculate, so you leave room to build profit in.
- Self-storage is valued on income: NOI ÷ cap rate. A lower cap rate means a higher price for the same income.
- Value the facility on in-place income, not the seller’s or broker’s pro forma. Upside is your reward for doing the work, not something you pay the seller for.
- Rebuild the expenses yourself. Property taxes can be reassessed after a sale, and insurance, management and repairs often go up for a new owner. Kevin’s safe default is 37% of revenue.
- Kevin’s rule of thumb for small-town storage: below 100 times monthly revenue is ideal, and around 85 times is more than likely a pretty good deal. At 35–37% expenses and an 8% cap rate, the math works out to roughly 94–98 times monthly revenue.
- Price per unit is a weak yardstick on its own, because unit sizes and rents vary widely. Use it only to compare against close comparables.
- Kevin sets his maximum offer at about 75% of the facility’s stabilized value at an 8% cap rate, and he presents two or three offers in his LOI, one of which is always seller financing.
- Make the deal work as a cash deal first. Financing can make a good deal better, but it shouldn’t be the reason a deal works.
How much is a self-storage facility worth?
A self-storage facility is worth what its income supports. Buyers and lenders value storage the way they value most commercial real estate: take the facility’s net operating income and divide it by a capitalization (cap) rate. A facility with $80,000 of NOI is worth $1,000,000 at an 8% cap rate, and about $1,142,857 at a 7% cap rate.
That means there is no single price for a “storage facility.” Two facilities with the same number of units can be worth very different amounts if one collects more rent, runs leaner or sits in a stronger market. The value comes from three inputs, and each one is a judgment call:
- Income. What the facility actually collects today, verified against bank deposits and the rent roll.
- Expenses. What it will cost you to run it, including costs the current owner may not pay.
- Cap rate. The yield buyers accept for that type of facility in that market, supported by comparable sales.
Get any one of those wrong and the price is wrong. The rest of this guide walks through each input, then shows how to turn a value into an offer. If you are new to the overall process, start with how to buy your first self-storage facility, which covers every step from buy box to closing.
Bad deals don’t kill investors. Bad math on decent-looking deals does.
Kevin on X (@Storage_Venture), October 2026
How do you calculate NOI for a valuation?
NOI is the income the facility collects minus its operating expenses, before debt payments, depreciation and income taxes. For a valuation, build it from the trailing 12 months (T12) of actual collections and your own expense estimate. Don’t use the seller’s projections or the seller’s expenses.
Use in-place income, not the pro forma
A broker’s offering memorandum often shows what the facility “could” make at market rents and higher occupancy. That pro forma is a sales tool. If you pay for it, you are paying the seller for work you will have to do, and you carry the risk if it doesn’t happen.
In-place NOI only. I pay for what the facility makes today. Not what the broker says it could make. The upside is my reward for doing the work, not something I pay the seller for.
Kevin on X (@Storage_Venture), October 2026
Use a full year. Storage has seasonal swings, so a strong summer month annualized can overstate value. A T12 captures the whole cycle.
I want to take the full year so I get the full cycle. It doesn’t really matter what time of year you buy, because you’re buying on a multiple of an entire year’s worth of income.
Kevin, from a coaching call
Compare street rates with in-place rates
Street rates are what the facility charges new customers today. In-place rates are what existing tenants actually pay. If in-place rents sit below street rates and below the competition, there may be room to raise them after you buy. If in-place rents sit well above street rates, today’s income may not last, so don’t underwrite it as if it will.
I like to see in-place rates below street rates, because then I know I have room to raise them.
Kevin, from a coaching call
Rebuild the expenses as the new owner
Small owner-run facilities often show low expenses because the owner does the work, pays no manager and runs some costs through other businesses. A sale can also trigger a property tax reassessment, depending on the state and county. Replace the seller’s expense lines with what the facility will cost you to run.
When I underwrite a facility, I factor in my expenses, not the seller’s. My property taxes will go up when I buy it, and so will my insurance.
Kevin on the Acquisitions Academy podcast (at 12:55)
If you don’t have good local numbers yet, Kevin’s shortcut is a conservative expense ratio.
I would buy on in-place rents, not projections. If you don’t want to spend so much time figuring out your expenses, just assume 37%. More than likely it will be safe, and then you can dial in your expenses during a more formal underwriting process.
Kevin, from a coaching call
The full walkthrough of NOI, economic occupancy and expense ratios, with a worked example, is in the underwriting section of the first-facility guide.
What cap rate should you use for self-storage?
Use the cap rate that recent comparable sales support in that market, for that size and quality of facility. Cap rates move with interest rates, market size and facility quality, so there is no single correct number. Ask local brokers and lenders what similar facilities have actually sold for, and treat any national rule of thumb as a starting point only.
The cap rate is the yield you would earn if you paid all cash: NOI ÷ price. Because value = NOI ÷ cap rate, small changes matter. On $68,040 of NOI, a 7.5% cap rate implies about $907,200, an 8.0% cap rate about $850,500 and an 8.5% cap rate about $800,471.
Kevin buys mostly in smaller, third-tier and rural markets, where cap rates are typically higher than in big metros. These are his general ranges, not a quote for any specific market.
Most facilities that we’re buying in third-tier, rural or tertiary markets are generally purchased around an 8 cap on actuals. That means if I buy a facility for $100,000, I should expect to net $8,000 a year after everything. Facilities in larger, more populated metros trade at a lower capitalization rate, anywhere from a 5 to a 7 cap.
Kevin Rapport, October 2026
Also check the cap rate the asking price implies. Divide your rebuilt NOI by the asking price. If the seller is asking for a price that implies a 6% cap rate on in-place income in a market where comparable facilities trade closer to 8%, the gap is usually a pro forma the seller wants you to pay for.
What is the 100x monthly revenue rule?
The 100x rule is Kevin’s rule of thumb, a first-pass filter for small-town storage: the price typically shouldn’t exceed about 100 times the facility’s monthly gross revenue. A facility collecting $5,000 a month tops out around $500,000. It is a quick screen to decide whether a deal deserves full underwriting, not a valuation method and not a guarantee that a deal under 100x is a good one.
For small-town storage, price typically shouldn’t exceed 100x monthly gross rent. A facility collecting $5,000 a month tops out around $500,000. It’s a fast filter that kills most overpriced deals in 30 seconds.
Kevin on X (@Storage_Venture), October 2026
If I can buy a facility under 100x monthly revenue, I’m usually pretty safe. If I can get it for around 85x monthly revenue, that’s more than likely going to be a pretty good deal. Regardless, I still need to do a full underwriting on the facility.
That said, just because a facility is offered at a higher multiple than 100x doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad deal, or that the seller won’t come down off their asking price. This is just a general rule of thumb.
Kevin Rapport, October 2026
Why 100x works as a shortcut
The rule is the cap-rate formula in disguise. Kevin connects it directly: “At 35% to 37% expenses and an 8 cap, that’s pretty much 100 times monthly revenue.” Here is the math, per $1 of monthly revenue:
| Step | At 35% expenses | At 37% expenses |
|---|---|---|
| Annual revenue | $12 | $12 |
| NOI (revenue minus expenses) | $7.80 | $7.56 |
| Value at an 8% cap rate (NOI ÷ 0.08) | $97.50 (97.5x) | $94.50 (94.5x) |
So 100x monthly revenue is roughly what an 8% cap rate supports at a 35–37% expense ratio. Expressed on annual revenue, 100x monthly is about 8.3x annual gross.
When the rule breaks down
- Expenses are far from 35–37%. Very small facilities carry fixed costs that push the expense ratio up, so 100x overstates what they are worth. A high property tax or insurance market does the same.
- The market trades at a different cap rate. Larger metro facilities often trade at lower cap rates, so good facilities there can sell above 100x.
- The revenue isn’t real. If in-place rents are well above street rates, or collections are weak, the monthly revenue you multiply is overstated.
Use the rule to sort deals quickly. Then value the survivors properly.
Kevin’s free 5-Minute Deal Filter is the quick screen he uses to decide whether a facility deserves a closer look, before he builds a full model.
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Is price per unit a good way to value self-storage?
Not on its own. Price per unit is easy to calculate, but storage units range from small lockers to large drive-up units, and rents vary by market, so two facilities with the same unit count can have very different income. A price per unit only means something when you compare it with close comparables: similar size, unit mix, condition and market.
Price per rentable square foot is a little better, because it adjusts for unit size, but it still ignores rent levels, occupancy and expenses. Both are useful sanity checks after you have valued the facility on NOI. Neither should set your price.
For example, in the hypothetical facility used later in this guide, the $1,100,000 asking price works out to about $6,111 per unit and about $61 per rentable square foot. The in-place NOI supports about $850,500 at an 8% cap rate, or about $4,725 per unit and about $47 per square foot. The per-unit figures describe the gap; they don’t explain it. The income does.
Can you estimate value from square footage alone?
Yes, roughly, and it helps when a seller won’t share financials yet. Kevin’s square-footage method estimates a facility’s stabilized income from its rentable square footage and local rents, then turns it into a value:
- Average rent per square foot. Take the monthly street rate of two common unit sizes in the market and divide each by its square footage. Average the two.
- Stabilized monthly revenue. Multiply that average by the facility’s rentable square feet, then by 85% occupancy.
- Stabilized NOI. Multiply by 65% (that is, 35% expenses) and by 12 for a year.
- Stabilized value. Divide by the cap rate. Then craft an offer below it.
A made-up facility with 18,000 rentable square feet. Local street rates are $85 a month for a 10×10 and $150 a month for a 10×20.
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Rent per sq ft, 10×10 | $85 ÷ 100 sq ft | $0.85 |
| Rent per sq ft, 10×20 | $150 ÷ 200 sq ft | $0.75 |
| Average rent per sq ft | ($0.85 + $0.75) ÷ 2 | $0.80 |
| Stabilized monthly revenue | $0.80 × 18,000 sq ft × 85% | $12,240 |
| Stabilized annual NOI | $12,240 × 65% × 12 | $95,472 |
| Stabilized value at an 8% cap rate | $95,472 ÷ 0.08 | $1,193,400 |
Read it carefully. This is what the facility might be worth once it is full at market rents and run well. It is not what you should pay today. The next section shows how to turn it into an offer.
How much should you offer on a self-storage facility?
Offer below the value the facility supports today, and set a walk-away ceiling before you talk price. A practical way is to triangulate: value the in-place NOI at a market cap rate, check the price against the 100x rule, and cap your maximum at a discount to stabilized value. Kevin’s maximum is about 75% of stabilized value at an 8% cap rate.
My maximum offer is about 75% of the facility’s stabilized value at an 8 cap.
Kevin, from a coaching call
The worked example below puts every method in this guide on one made-up facility, so you can see how they fit together.
This is a made-up facility with round, simplified numbers. It is not a real deal, not a forecast, not one of Kevin’s deals and not a typical result. Assume 180 units and 18,000 rentable square feet (the same facility as the square-footage example). The T12 shows $9,000 a month collected, or $108,000 a year. The seller’s P&L shows expenses of $23,760 (22% of revenue). The asking price is $1,100,000, marketed on a pro forma at market rents.
| Method | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Seller’s NOI (seller’s expenses) | $108,000 − $23,760 | $84,240 |
| Your rebuilt NOI (37% expenses) | $108,000 − $39,960 | $68,040 |
| Cap rate implied by the asking price, on your NOI | $68,040 ÷ $1,100,000 | About 6.19% |
| In-place value at an 8.5% cap rate | $68,040 ÷ 0.085 | About $800,471 |
| In-place value at an 8% cap rate | $68,040 ÷ 0.08 | $850,500 |
| 100x rule ceiling | $9,000 × 100 | $900,000 |
| 75% of stabilized 8% cap value | $1,193,400 × 75% | $895,050 |
| Offer range from these checks | Open near in-place value; never above the lowest ceiling | About $800,000–$850,000 to open; about $895,000 ceiling |
What it shows. On the seller’s own expenses, the asking price implies about a 7.66% cap rate ($84,240 ÷ $1,100,000), which can look reasonable. On a new owner’s expenses it is about 6.19%. The three independent checks land within about $100,000 of each other, between roughly $800,000 and $900,000, and all of them sit well below the $1,100,000 asking price. The gap of $200,000 or more is the pro forma: the seller is asking you to pay for rent increases you would have to deliver.
Exit check. If the facility reached the stabilized $12,240 a month, a future buyer applying 38% expenses and an 8.5% cap rate would value it at about $1,071,360 ($146,880 × 62% ÷ 0.085). Paying $1,100,000 today would leave no margin even if everything went to plan.
Kevin’s free valuation calculator runs the square-footage method from this guide on your inputs. Enter local street rates, rentable square feet, occupancy, expenses and cap rate, and it shows the stabilized value, the 75% maximum offer, the exit check and, if you add the asking price and current revenue, the 100x rule. Free, no email required.
Open the free calculator →At sale, the next buyer is going to plug in their own expenses. It might be 38%, so you take 38% of your gross, not 33%, and run that at an 8.5% cap. That’s your real sales price.
Kevin, from a coaching call
Price it as a cash deal first
Financing changes your cash flow, not what the facility is worth. Check that the price makes sense on the facility’s own income before you look at terms. Seller financing or a good loan can then make a sound price work better for you. If you plan to use debt, also check the debt service coverage ratio at your offer price; the first-facility guide shows that calculation.
Don’t let seller financing make the deal. Make it work as a cash deal, and then layer in seller financing to make it even better.
Kevin, from a coaching call
Conservative pricing has a cost: you will lose some deals to buyers who pay for the pro forma. Kevin accepts that trade.
We underwrite conservatively, and because of that, we do miss out on some deals. But when we do close on a deal, it has a much higher likelihood of working out better than we even thought it would.
Kevin, from a coaching call
When is it worth paying more than in-place value?
Sometimes, on a true value-add deal, if you are confident you can fix what is holding the income back and you can afford to be wrong. Paying above in-place value means you are funding the upside before you earn it, so the risk shifts to you. Decide whether the problem is the operator or the market. You can fix an operator problem. You can’t fix a market problem.
Is this a market issue or an operator issue? If it’s an operator issue, we can come in and fix it. If it’s a market issue, we can’t fix that.
Kevin, from a coaching call
If I’m buying a true value-add facility where revenue is $5,000 a month today, and I’m confident I can take it to $10,000, I might pay a small premium for that potential. I’m still focused on in-place rents and in-place gross revenue. But when the gap is that large, a slight premium can make my offer competitive and give the seller a reason to sell to me.
What I can’t do is pay for all of the potential. Whoever does the work to earn it gets the reward. So I may pay slightly more, but the offer still has to leave me room to make a profit.
Kevin, from a coaching call
My first facility: a 2.5 cap on paper
My first facility broke my own rules on paper. It was listed at $850,000. I put it under contract at $780,000, and when due diligence showed things weren’t as presented, I renegotiated the price down to $705,000, which is what I paid. It was bringing in about $3,000 to $3,500 a month, with no website, no Google Business Profile and cash or check payments only. Measured on in-place income, that price was far above 100x monthly revenue.
On paper, you’d look at this facility and ask yourself what I was doing. It was a 2.5 cap. But I knew I could take revenue from about $3,000 a month to $12,000 a month, so I was willing to pay a premium for the potential, and there was still enough room to build in a healthy profit.
Kevin, from a coaching call
I ran my operating playbook, the revenue grew to about $12,000 a month, and I sold it about two years later for $1.25 million. That is one deal, not a typical or promised result, and it came with real costs.
Most of my profit from this deal came on the back end. In the beginning there was zero cash flow. My expenses were about equal to my revenue, and sometimes more. Once I started increasing monthly revenue, expenses leveled out at around 32–33% of gross revenue. Until then, about six to 12 months in, there wasn’t much profit. Most of my profit came from selling the facility and taking that equity out as a check.
Kevin, from a coaching call
The lesson isn’t “overpay.” It is to know exactly what you are paying for. If you pay above in-place value, write down the specific levers you will pull (rates, occupancy, fees, online rentals, repairs), what they cost and how long you can carry the facility if they take longer than planned.
How do you present your offer to the seller?
Put a number in writing, explain briefly how you got there, and give the seller options. A short, reasoned offer below the asking price is a normal opening, not an insult, and many sellers will counter rather than walk away.
I don’t make a habit of sending out a bunch of lowball offers for no reason. All of my offers include a justification, even if it’s short, for why I’m offering that amount. At the end of the day, if you never make the offer, you’ll never buy the facility.
Kevin Rapport
- Show your reasoning. Tie the price to things the seller can verify: reassessed property taxes, higher insurance, the capex you noticed on the site visit, in-place rents.
- Offer two or three structures. For example, a lower all-cash price and a higher price with seller financing. That turns “yes or no” into “which one.” The seller financing guide covers how to trade price against terms.
- Don’t skip listed deals because of the asking price. If your number is well below the list price, send it anyway, with your reasoning.
- Use a formal LOI. Spell out price, due diligence period and closing timeline. The offer section of the first-facility guide covers what to include.
If the broker or seller says “submit an offer” or asks what you can pay, you’re not insulting anyone. Submit the number that makes sense, explain why with a short justification so it isn’t just a lowball, and see where the conversation goes.
Kevin Rapport
Just because a facility is listed at $1,000,000 and you value it at $700,000 doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make the offer. Make it, and include a justification for your price. That might be higher property taxes, or higher insurance than the seller carries today. It might be capital expenses you noticed, like a new roof, new doors, or new pavement or gravel.
We can usually justify a lower offer, and we should, so we don’t come across as someone who just sends lowball offers.
Kevin Rapport
My LOI always has at least two offers, and usually three. One of them is always seller financing.
Your price, my terms, or your terms, my price. You choose.
Kevin, from coaching calls
Your price is a starting point for a conversation, and due diligence can still change it. If the site visit or records turn up something that wasn’t disclosed, a good-faith renegotiation backed by quotes is reasonable. The due diligence checklist covers what to verify before you close.
Want Kevin’s underwriting sheet and LOI templates, and to see how he builds offers step by step? They’re covered in the Storage Venture Accelerator course. Still need deals to price? Start with how to find off-market self-storage deals. More free articles are on the Free Guides page.
Frequently asked questions
How do you value a self-storage facility?
Divide the facility’s net operating income by a market cap rate. Build NOI from the trailing 12 months of actual collections minus the expenses you will pay as the new owner, including reassessed property taxes and higher insurance, and use a cap rate supported by comparable sales in that market.
What is the 100x monthly revenue rule for self-storage?
It is Kevin Rapport’s rule of thumb for small-town storage: price typically shouldn’t exceed about 100 times monthly gross revenue, so a facility collecting $5,000 a month tops out around $500,000. It is a quick first-pass filter, not a valuation or a guarantee, and every deal that passes still needs full underwriting.
What cap rate should I use for a self-storage facility?
Use the cap rate that recent comparable sales support for that market and facility type, and confirm it with local brokers and lenders. Kevin generally buys in third-tier and rural markets at around an 8% cap rate on actual income, while facilities in larger metros typically trade lower, around 5% to 7%. Cap rates change with interest rates and market conditions.
Is price per unit a good way to value self-storage?
Not on its own. Unit sizes and rents vary widely, so the same price per unit can mean very different income. Use price per unit or per square foot only as a sanity check against close comparables, after you have valued the facility on NOI.
How much should I offer on a self-storage facility?
Offer below what the in-place income supports and set a walk-away ceiling first. Kevin triangulates with three checks: in-place NOI at a market cap rate, the 100x monthly revenue rule, and a maximum of about 75% of stabilized value at an 8% cap rate. He often presents two or three offers, one with seller financing.
Should I value a storage facility on in-place income or the pro forma?
Value it on in-place income. A pro forma shows what the facility could earn after someone raises rents and fills units. If you pay for that upside, you are paying the seller for work you will have to do and carrying the risk if it doesn’t happen.
What expense ratio should I assume when valuing self-storage?
Rebuild the expenses for your own operation rather than trusting the seller’s P&L. If you don’t have reliable local numbers yet, Kevin’s conservative default is 37% of revenue. Very small facilities, and markets with high property taxes or insurance, can run higher.
Can you value a self-storage facility from square footage alone?
Roughly. Kevin’s method averages the rent per square foot of two common unit sizes, multiplies by rentable square feet and 85% occupancy, keeps 65% as NOI after 35% expenses, annualizes it and divides by the cap rate. That estimates stabilized value, so your offer should sit well below it.
Know in five minutes whether a storage deal deserves your time. It’s the same quick screen Kevin runs before he spends an hour on underwriting.
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Want a second set of eyes on your numbers before you offer?
If you are looking at a facility and want an experienced operator to review your underwriting, pressure-test your price and help you structure the offer, Kevin offers a small number of 1:1 coaching spots. No pressure — read how it works and see if it fits.
See how 1:1 coaching works →Just getting started? Grab the free 5-Minute Deal Filter or explore the Accelerator course.
This guide is general education, not appraisal, legal, tax, lending or investment advice. Cap rates, rents, expenses and property tax rules vary by market and change over time, so confirm current figures with local brokers, lenders, your CPA and, where needed, a licensed appraiser. The 100x monthly revenue rule and the other benchmarks are Kevin’s personal rules of thumb, not guarantees. Kevin’s quotes are edited for clarity. The first-facility figures are Kevin’s own transaction, described as he reported it. All other example numbers are hypothetical and are not forecasts or typical results.