RK Kliebenstein
RK Kliebenstein has over 20 years of self-storage experience and over 28 years of commercial real estate experience. RK Kliebenstein began his self-storage career in 1985, converting incubator space to self-storage use. After his finance career, RK Kliebenstein joined the Amsdell Companies where he was responsible for the acquisition and integration of more than $125 million in self-storage properties. Since that time, RK Kliebenstein has worked and consulted on behalf of clients and employers, analyzing, acquiring, developing and integrating a wide variety of self-storage projects. During his career, RK Kliebenstein has underwritten over three billion dollars in self-storage transactions. He estimates he has reviewed over 8,000 sites, analyzed 400 million square feet of storage space and personally seen more than 3,600,000 roll up doors! RK Kliebenstein is currently the President of Coast-To-Coast Storage, offering acquisition services, due diligence services, feasibility studies, site selection, brokerage, loan work-outs, financing, management consulting, marketing and technology repositioning of older first generation facilities to compete with state-of-the-art stores. RK Kliebenstein has taken the initiative to expand the self-storage world to include mobile storage, RV/Boat storage and condominiums, records management and store-within-a-store profit centers.
-
Self Storage – Is Your Customer “King”?
Converting The Customer To A Client?? Some of you may be saying “what’s the difference”? Aren’t we talking about the same thing, calling the tenant by another name? Gosh, even the word tenant seems harsh to me. We can change the way we think about our self storage investing business, our client’s, our employees, and even our competitors, simply by looking at them differently, starting with what we call them. By changing the way we think of your business and “customers” will simply add to our cash flow and profitability of our self storage investing business. Period.One of the most…
-
Self Storage – Is Your Customer “King”?
The road to excellence in customer service starts with YOU. Here are five basic super services you can offer your guests to assure a fantastic storage experience. Remember having an attitude “it’s all about the customer” equals success.Make Your Customer KingTIP#1 – Put On Your Game FaceI recently attended a live symphony and had the pleasure of arriving early. In a basically empty auditorium, I could hear the musicians warming up their instruments. While this was not a “melodic” experience, it reminded me of the hours of practice and last minute preparations that musicians invest to make the performance a…
-
Self Storage – How Bold Is Your Marketing Effort?
Some Self Storage owners just do not want success as much as others. Do you believe that? Some tolerate lazy Managers, weak Supervisors and less than motivated vendors. Others demand peak performance and barely tolerate less than perfection from all who are on the team. One of the areas most easily examined and directly related to success is marketing (not advertising). Sometimes, it takes thinking “outside the box” and the expenditure of more effort to take it to the next level. Are you willing and able?Marketing – Thinking Out Side The BoxAfter a recent Self Storage convention in Atlanta while…
-
Preparing Your Self Storage Property For Financing
What should an owner do in anticipation of a refinance or take-out of a construction loan? What are the expectations? Are you ready? This article will help you to prepare for the lender to efficiently process your financing request, and make the process “low impact” on your operation.I remember as a former lender, the days of the dreaded “site inspection” after talking to a client that was clearly not prepared for any audit or examination of their facility. In fact, those transactions went less smoothly just because I knew that funding was going to be an uphill battle, and that…
-
Getting Your Self Storage Store Noticed!
With more and more competitors all around you, you may be asking, what can I do to set myself apart from the rest and get noticed?The Usual SuspectsWhere permissible by zoning codes, one of the best options is additional signage. Remember to keep signage PERPENDICULAR to the road, not parallel. If you have a building sign consider a pylon and vice-versa. Signs should be clean and contain a great deal of “white space”. The message should be very simple, and if you have a long or confusing name, just go with STORAGE or SELF-STORAGE as the emphasis and minimize your…
-
Due Diligence: Deal Maker or Deal Breaker?
The essence of any good real estate transaction is due diligence. There is a cat and mouse like game that is played between buyers and sellers, between lender and borrowers, that defines the risks in a transaction. Here are some of the trade secrets from the world’s leading provider of self-storage due diligence that you should be aware of. Buyers and sellers alike can benefit from knowing more about the due diligence process.This year, I have had two opportunities to work on due diligence assignments that had potentially tragic results. First and foremost, I want to explain that the time…
-
Due Diligence Is Not Just For Buyers
In the past, due diligence has largely been a responsibility of the buyer. After having heard some horror stories about sales that did not close and transactions that did close, it came to mind that the SELLERS might benefit from due diligence.You Have To Kiss A Lot Frogs To Find A PrinceThere are thousands of purported “buyers” of self-storage out there, and most of them are honest, capable buyers. A property listed for sale is likely to attract the attention of many qualified, and many unqualified “investors”. The lower the price, and the higher leverage (lower down payment or equity…
-
7 Successful Self-Storage Site Selection Strategies
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!!!! We have all heard how important it is to have the right location, but how do you find the “killer” site? Let’s review some proven tips and tricks for finding the best site.Purchasing the right site is as much trial and error as it is good luck and science. Do not be discouraged if you burn through five or six (or ten or twelve) sites before you “land” the deal. Be patient AND persistent. If you work long and hard enough, you will eventually close on a property. Detours that you may encounter:Zoning IssuesChanges in Credit MarketsSellers…
