#148 Self-Storage Real Estate with Jacob Vanderslice of Van West Partners
About this episode
Jacob Vanderslice discusses the intricacies of self-storage real estate and operational challenges in the industry.
Background: Jacob is a principal at VanWest Partners, a self storage owner/ operator based out of Denver. Description: Mike Schroeder and Skyler Steinke interview Jacob Vanderslice, principal of Van West Partners, a Denver-based self-storage owner-operator with 42 assets (~21,000 units, ~3.3M sq ft). Jacob shares his 20-year real estate background—starting with single-family (1,000+ projects), expanding into commercial, then pivoting to self-storage to become a longer-term operator. He explains why storage is operationally intensive (break-ins, gate damage, illegal activity), highly supply-sensitive within a three-mile radius, and difficult to forecast due to month-to-month leases and varied unit pricing. They discuss demand tied to mobility and higher mortgage rates reducing moves, resilience vs other asset classes, challenges in acquisitions (modeled ~900 deals, bought one small deal with seller financing), the benefits of self-managing via Clear Home Self Storage, staffing and expense pressures, capital raising headwinds, and using AI for revenue management, call center automation, and investor reporting.
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