Hello, my name is Charles. I have been a manager at the same location for the last 10 years. I have been either a Self Storage or a motel manager since 1990. Look forward to reading and writing posts here, and maybe learn something along the way.

Welcome. where are you located?

Astro

Hello astro, thanks for the greeting. I am located in the Kansas City suburb of Mission, Kansas. Just curious if asto means Houston. That comes to mind right away, for obvious reasons.

No. Actually, Astro was the name of my last dog. I am in the mountains of western North Carolina.

And my non-dog name is Bob.

Bob (Astro)

Hi, my name is rose, obviously and I manage a facility in Apache Junction, AZ. I have been a manager for nearly 8 years, this last one running on my 4th. I currently work for an independant and in as much as it can be frustrating at times, I love my job. I was just wondering however, have you found your occupancy dropping off this spring? I can't for the life of me figure out why unless we can blame it on the economy. I look forward to your reply.

Rose

No! It has been steadily higher, and is now just under 95%. I really feel that, quite frankly, bad news should be good news for our industry. Foreclosures, layoffs, bad weather, as well as domestic issues, drive folks to storage.
I take it to heart that you are in AZ, a, "Snowbird" state, and the "Snowbirds" have migrated north now. Does occupancy typicall go down in the spring-summer?

You are right, in the spring most winter visitors leave, but this year is extreme compared to the past three. I am down to about 80% occupancy and I have never been below 89 or 90%. That is a big drop off and usually it is just the early spring, this year it is still going down now in late May. I have tried some new promotional things, but people are just not coming our way or something. What is wierd is that the other facilities in the area say the same thing.

Rose

Just a quick note to let you know that you are not alone. I work with clients from all across the country and I am not hearing many good news stories at the present time. The current economic situation has frozen a lot of people in their tracks. They still have a good job, their mortgage is being paid, yet they probably know someone that is in financial trouble and they hear the constant drum beat of negative news from the major news networks and cable stations about the many trouble areas across the US and people get unsettled about their own future. This will be one of the major downturns for our industry nationwide. Most of the big public operators are talking about occupancies in the low 80's. I know it doesn't help to tell your owners - We are not alone with our occupancy problems - especially when they are accustomed to 90% plus occupancy. However, they need to know what is going on around the country. We will emerge from this cycle but in some markets it might take a year or more to fully recover. Glad to have you on the SSTalk site.

All my best,
MisterJim444

__________________
Learning Never Ends

Wow, Thanks Jim. I know that even I get weary when things look as if they are going to start back down the same road we were on in the late 70's. No work, everyone getting laid off, major business's folding and going bankrupt. And now it is the same thing in my point of view. The problem is one we should be getting used to at the end of political parties run in office for a term of 8 years.....

Good luck to you,
Rose