← Living Your Legacy
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- [00:00]
A
Why is real estate such, let's start there. Such a big famous investment strategy.
- [00:05]
B
A lot of people just don't know about this. I mean, I was the jerk off in Hollywood at 40 that didn't know what a title company was, you know, so it was, for me it was like, yeah, really having to learn the basics from square one. And if you have the ability to take place in the US and really global real estate, as long as you know what you're doing, you can set yourself up for that financial freedom that you actually want. Cameron Barsanti is a visionary, action driven leader and the founder of Storage Life. With over $66 million in acquisitions across eight states. In Guam, he's proven how smart strategy and bold execution can transform overlooked facilities into major wins. There's a lot that I'm not good at and I think that with just the right amount of information, you can really not only change your own life, but help and change other people's lives.
- [00:56]
A
And I want to address something. People are listening, they're like, wow, this is fascinating. But it sounds for like only super seasoned real estate investors that have tens of millions of dollars. Is that true?
- [01:07]
B
Yeah, great question. So absolutely you do not have to be wealthy. In fact, it's quite the opposite. So.
- [01:17]
A
It spans the globe like a super highest. Cold Internet. Elvis Preston. I agree. Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone.
- [01:27]
B
It's not until I win the Living youg Legacy podcast.
- [01:33]
A
For those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary. The impossible. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan Open Chicago with the lead Usain Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Legacy Makers. Today we're going to talk about storage units. But it's not boring, I promise. It's about how you can make a lot of money with them. And Cameron's journey. He went from blowing his wife's life savings on a film that didn't quite work out to turning it all around and building a 70 million dollar real estate and storage empire. So excited to hear that story. And he did it in just a few years. So welcome to the show.
- [02:23]
B
Thanks Rudy. I appreciate you having me.
- [02:25]
A
So that's quite a journey. You know, I'm sure you went from a heated conversation in the kitchen one day and despair. You moved to Hollywood. You know, big dreams like most people that move to Hollywood, right, or in Hollywood and then, you know, you invest in this film, doesn't work out and now you've built this real estate empire. Can you summarize that like one minute.
- [02:48]
B
Yeah, absolutely. It's. You were very accurate. And unfortunately it was more than just one.
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A
Yeah, I was going to say probably was many.
- [02:55]
B
It was years of turmoil and the, the. The beady eyes. Yeah. So I moved to Hollywood young. I was pretty reckless. I had no structure. Had some. Had massive opportunity to work as an actor, like every opportunity you could imagine. I moved out there at 18. There wasn't a lot of people out there to compete against. And yeah, my 20s were, were rough. And. And really it wasn't until I was in my mid-30s. Yeah. Lost my life savings in a feature film I made. I was collecting unemployment at that point, writing screenplays. And my wife's like, dude, you're this. No, this is not working. And then also simultaneously we started having kids and all of a sudden, like, this whole idea of wanting to be in the entertainment, like, quickly faded. And so we started leveraging debt and like, literally, like kamikaze style, started buying real estate.
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A
Wow. It's crazy. So you went from being in debt while blowing all the money and having no money going to. In even more debt, but to get out of it. Right. So it's like, you know, and I teach about that. Good debt versus bad debt.
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B
100%. That's exactly right.
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A
Yeah. And. And I think the Hollywood thing's interesting because, you know, I have TV shows out there. I'm in LA a lot filming season two of my other show, and it really is like, it's like trying to get in the NBA. Right. A lot of people play basketball, but like a small fraction of a percent make it big in Hollywood, it's. It's very tough. And, but. And I think real estate can be the opposite. Like, real estate, everyone can get their hands in. Right. And obviously only a small percent do really well and make good purchases. But that's what I love about real estate investing is it's like the old American dream. Right. Everyone can invest. Right. Most people might just invest in a second condo or something. Obviously you're doing it big. But why is real estate such. Let's start there. Such a big famous investment strategy.
- [04:47]
B
Yeah. And. And what you said was really important too, of like, I know, I know working actors, producers, writers, you know, directors, and then I know the majority that aren't and they're equally, if not more talented. It's just the grind is crazy. Well, I got so unpredictable.
- [05:03]
A
Yeah, Yeah, I. So I was there last week filming, got in an Uber at 5:30 in the morning to go work out. So I got an Uber to the gym before I went in the studio for 12 hours. And the Uber drive, you know, everyone asks what you hear for, for right? And I say I'm filming something. And this guy, he goes, oh yeah, I, I actually am head of photography and you film a lot of big movies. And I'm like, and he had a nice Uber car, Tesla. I'm like, oh. And I'm like. And then by the end of the convos, I'm getting out the car at the gym. He's like, yeah, I was the main videographer on like terminal list and a bunch of big movies. And I asked him, so I gotta ask you, I'm sorry if this is rude, but why are you driving Uber? And he goes, dude, it's tough. It's up and down, on and off. Crazy, huh?
- [05:45]
B
Crazy, yeah. Friends in Netflix series that don't get paid Well, I make more than probably all of my actors.
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A
Oh, of course.
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B
Successful actors.
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A
Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.
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B
But yeah, so, so the really neat thing about real estate and you know, I have two young boys, a six and nine year old, and I won't make them play sports, however I would like them to try them, I won't make them play music, but I want them to try them. I will try my best to keep them out of the entertainment business, at least to later in life, but I will make them actually learn commercial real estate.
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A
Course.
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B
And reason being is because, you know, we have privilege here, living in the United States where you can buy properties that otherwise you couldn't afford by leveraging debt, borrowing money and you know, not to get too laser specific, but you know, 100K could get you a $400,000 property or whatever. Right. And all of a sudden not only are you then buying stuff otherwise you couldn't afford, but that property is going to increase in value over time, regardless of our swings. Yeah. And so it's like, why in the world. And really it's just an it, it's an education problem or lack of, and then an implementation problem where a lot of people just don't know about this. I mean, I was the, the, the jerk off in Hollywood at 40 that didn't know what a title company was. You know, so it was, for me, it was like, yeah, really having to learn the basics from square one. And you know, if you have the ability to take place in the US and really global real estate, as long as you know what you're doing, you can set yourself up for that financial freedom that you actually want. Like it's so possible. And you don't have to be the genius. You just have to know what you're doing.
- [07:24]
A
Yeah. And real estate, I mean, again, most people don't understand, like, to build a big portfolio. Like, I got into real estate 1819 in England. And then in my early 20s, I bought multiple properties, and I still own them now, rent them to students. And I was getting 20% return on the house value. I was getting 100% return on my mortgage, on my down deposit on the mortgage every year. Right. And it's just like. And I'm 2120 at the time, telling my teaching this to all my student friends and parents because they don't understand. It's like the return is on the money I put in, not just the. Like, it's Great. Getting a 20% return on the property value, that's still great. But I'm like, I'm getting 100% return on the money I put in. And I think that's the biggest thing to understand in real estate or even when you buy a business, it's like the average person's conception is, oh, I need $2 million to buy this business at 2 million. All this commercial real estate, I'm like, no, it's just like buying a car or your own house. You need a smaller amount. And then you just. The bank covers the rest. And a lot of the biggest real estate investors, they never really pay the bank back until they exit, you know. Right. And they just take the cream off the top, and that's their profit.
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B
That's right. And, you know, without even getting into the tax benefits.
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A
Yes.
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B
You know, and the value of the dollar as we continue to, you know, move into more and more inflation and protecting your money. I mean, all of the above. And, you know, I kind of look at it as working out. You mentioned earlier, it's like, you know, I love the analogy of working out. It's like it's just a penny in the bank. Right. Like, even if you can only go to the gym for 15 minutes, like, it's better than nothing. And those seeds you plant, that effort you put in, like, it will pay off. And real estate's the same way. Like, if you just get in and, yeah, maybe you'll have a few bumps in the road, but if you get in, you'll. I promise, your future self and your future generations will thank you so much because you invested in the one asset that continues to appreciate.
- [09:25]
A
Yeah. And people ask me, when I was 19, they were like, rudy, I had no real estate background Parents weren't wealthy at all or business savvy, so they were like, why are you doing real estate? And I said my theory at the time was, well, England's a small country and there's not going to be more land magically appear. Yeah. So I'm like, it's got to go up, you know, And I, and it was true. Especially where I would buy around the university campuses. I'm like, that's going to keep going up. Right. And maybe in 40 years when universities collapse, it will go down. But for now, I'm pretty good, you know, And I think it's the same. I'm buying properties on the beach here and they're very expensive per square foot. I'm like. But I'm betting that Miami beach is the famous resort for many decades to come, you know?
- [10:08]
B
Yeah, yeah. We actually own a storage facility in Guam and the land is, it's so extremely expensive to buy. If you would look at what I bought and what I paid for it. You think that's crazy?
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A
Yeah.
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B
And you know, it's one of our best assets. We're actually looking at property in Oahu right now too. And so I actually love your theory of like, there's only a, there's a fixed amount of land. No, it's true. Yeah. Yeah, it's true.
- [10:31]
A
Especially in the hot spots, you know, like one condo I'm buying here, it's funny, I did the math. Was the equivalent. One one bedroom condo here in Miami beach was the equivalent to 20 bedrooms of my properties in the UK, my UK properties, I could have four, five bedroom house, Victorian houses, three story houses for the price of a one bedroom Miami condo.
- [10:54]
B
Wild. Yeah, that's fun.
- [10:56]
A
Yeah. Yeah, but, but it'll go up, you know.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So let's talk about specifics. Storage. A lot of people do every, you know what I'm buying, Miami condo, airbnb. People get it right or buy a second house, rent it to a family, they get it. Storage, I don't think they quite. It's more niche, but I hear great things about it. So can you summarize why it's a great investment strategy?
- [11:16]
B
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I started in multifamily briefly and you said something really about like not needing a lot of money to get in. That's what really actually fueled us. I'm. I currently am a self storage coach and I help people, clients across the country basically find fun and operate storage. And so when I was in, when we started multifamily, we did the same thing. We Just found a coach, right? Found a mentor and quickly started learning and podcasts and actually like my wife and I all of a sudden were like, I, she, she's like, you're done. Stopped everything. Like your headshot business. No, let note that your scripts, you're done. You're gonna start listening to podcasts. And so we were like, you know, rocket fuel podcast books, everything we can consume about real estate. And what we quickly learned is that you could invest without having money.
- [12:04]
A
Yeah, crazy.
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B
I did, you know, even like wholesaling, signing a contract. And she's like, all right, you're going to start doing this. I'm like, yes, yes, ma'.
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A
Am.
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B
And so that was the first light bulb. Holy cow. This actually is a real thing. It exists. And started buying multifamily, you know, God bless the California appreciation. Pulled out 90k. She's like, dude, we're paying interest on this. You got to. You better go find me a deal. And so then about three deals in, I found a bank owned self storage facility. And I just was intrigued by it, I think because it wasn't as like sexy and like you go to these, these meetups in L. A and like everybody's doing multifamily syndicating, it's like on steroids. Like everybody, you know, And I was like, okay, so with self storage, I think it was just against the grain a little more. And I think that in mobile home parks I was like, oh, these are.
- [12:54]
A
Yeah, like, well, they always say in business and invest in the non sexiest stuff, you generally wins over time.
- [13:00]
B
Oh, good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, so that was the opportunity and I quickly learned, I hired a self storage mentor while I was under contract and you know, crash course learning how to operate and understand and evaluate self storage and then just kind of went crazy and like kept leveraging debt. My rich neighbor that kept telling me how much money he had borrowed some money from him, you know, 401k Schwab accounts, whatever we could. And the only reason we had the confidence to do that at that point is because we understood it right? And so we were good at underwriting, we were good at analyzing and analyzing a market and being like, hey man, I can't believe we're going to try and buy another facility. But it's penciling out. It was interesting and it was in a time where everybody was like, the market's going to crash. But then Covid came and actually just injected steroids into not only the market, but like even in storage.
- [13:53]
A
Well, I've always said I needed to buy a storage unit because all my staff know. So I own about. I've ran about five storage units. So my rent on storage units alone is four and a half grand a month. That's what I pay because I have, like, you know, some office stuff. In one, I have, like 150 grand of Christmas decorations. So one storage unit is just my Christmas decorations yearly. It's pretty wild how much I. Because they're not cheap. Like, how much I spend in storage units. It's crazy to think because, you know, I came from England where the average house mortgage is 500amonth, and I'm now spending four and a half grand a month on storage units. You know, so there's a lot of money in it. Why is there so much money in it? Let's talk about it.
- [14:36]
B
Yeah. So, you know, storage is interesting because it actually typically thrives on. Thrives under crisis. Right. So people have to move. Divorce, you know, foreclosure, inflation, job loss. Right. All of the. Yeah, even Covid's a good example. And so we buy facilities that are underperforming, typically mom and pop. Right. And so the three most important metrics of storage are, you know, the supply versus the demand. How much existing self storage is there in a market per person? Your rents and your competitor rates.
- [15:10]
A
Yep.
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B
And then also occupancy across the market. So if we find a mom and pop that's 40, 50% below market, and everybody else is full, you go in and you turn the lights on, you put everything online, you do some paint, maybe some asphalt, some lights, some cameras, and you answer the dang phone seven days a week. Right. And so you quickly outperform a lot of people. And so our value add is much less intimidating than multifamily. And just the returns we've gotten are just dumb, you know. And part of it, I think, too, is like, maybe there. Let's say there's $4 million of upside just in equity on a multifamily property. I think you'd have to be at least a $10 million property, roughly. I'm just giving you, you know, rough numbers of, like, you have to spend a lot more to get that 4 million in upside where we've. We've bought properties as. As little as 2 1/2 million that had over $4 million of upside. So that upside's massive and the cash flow is great.
- [16:09]
A
So, one. Yeah, I was going to just say, too, they're easier to renovate and manage or, you know, do value add to increase the value because it's like you paint the metal doors orange. Right. And answer the phone like you said. Whereas you buy a multi family. Oh, I got to renovate 60 units now. Right. And tear it all out, put 60 kitchens in 60 bathrooms. That's a lot of more money and work. Whereas the storage unit. Yeah. You clean the floors, paint the doors orange and you got this brand new unit now.
- [16:37]
B
Totally, yeah. And I mean you hear it a lot. A little bit cliche about the no tenants, no toilets. Toilets. But it's true. I mean like it takes us 30 days to get somebody out that's not paying. Right. There is no plumbing, there's no big, there's no huge capex or you know, I mean I did have a couple get hit by a tornado and my fun. But, but that's easily fixable and nobody's living there so I don't have to like displace, you know, people while we're fixing something. And then you know, with all businesses, obviously you understand well is like being able to come in and buy a business that's already generating revenue. So you're like, you're already mitigating so much risk by doing that.
- [17:16]
A
I want to address something. People are listening, they're like wow, this is fascinating but it sounds for like only super seasoned real estate investors that have tens of millions of dollars. Is that true or can they start and buy a storage unit $1,000,000 or is this only for like, you know, is it like the high stakes tables at the casino only? Or is there a way that everyday business owners that have a couple of hundred grand could get into it?
- [17:41]
B
Yeah, great question. So absolutely you do not have to be wealthy. In fact it's quite the opposite. So I have a pretty small like I'd say elite community because we're really careful with who we're working for just because we want people to be really like committed. But I help, you know, firemen, policemen veterans. I just helped the surgeon close a deal two weeks ago.
- [18:03]
A
And what sort of, what are the prices? Like what are they buying these deals?
- [18:06]
B
No, I say if you can have, if you, you have access to at least 50k, like that's enough. That's going to get start moving the needle forward. And a lot of times like I'm buying with, you know, client students of mine where we all go in throwing, Everybody throws in 100, 200 grand. Maybe one guy's got 30 and that's okay, right? It's just moving the needle forward. You're getting your feet wet, you're Cutting your teeth on your first facility. You're understanding the operations, I think the opportunity. And then from there you're just getting better at. Better at understanding value and upside. And, and. And once you're in the game, you're in the game.
- [18:41]
A
Right.
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B
It's just like anything else. Like, once you understand the basics, you start believing it more well.
- [18:46]
A
And I just want to explain, because this is how realistic. You're the expert, tell me if I'm wrong, but everyone listening. The way you get into real estate and it compounds quickly is you just get one or two good deals, right? So you get one or two good deals, you don't have to put much in, but then if you get a great deal and do a great value add, you add 400k to the price of the property, right. Or whatever it is, and now you can refi out, and instantly you've now increased your. Your net worth by that amount. So it looks great to the bank when you go to the bigger one. And that's really where I think most people don't understand that compounding effect that you can start small, get a couple of big wins, increase the equity, and then you leverage that for the next deal. And then you just. It's like walking up a flight of stairs. And before you know it, you've gone from having 50k to start to having a $10 million deal, which is probably how it started for you. Is that a good kind of summary on how it can compound quickly?
- [19:43]
B
Absolutely. It's a, it's an entirely. A compounding effect. And it's the momentum. It's, you know, it's. It's like going to the gym. You get stronger, you get, you know, more with. With storage. You know, you take these small wins and like you said, you either refi out or you put in 50k and a good deal. All of a sudden that 50k turns into 150k and that 150k can go buy you with another partner or two a property that's worth potentially three times as much.
- [20:11]
A
Yeah. And then you do that two, twice more. Now you're.
- [20:13]
B
That's right. And those bigger deals often have even more upside, right? Because now you're getting into nicer facilities, bigger markets, bigger, bigger exit strategy. You know, we had a great quick streak, but even if it takes longer, you're still, You're, You're, You're. You're evolving. You're. You're stepping up the ladder, and eventually, yeah, you're just. Your. Your wins are larger, significantly larger.
- [20:35]
A
Yeah, love that. So that's great, you know, for people to see how it can compound. Like I could talk about this all day, but. Last couple of questions. What will people get from your main episode? What will they learn? Your story and your message and all of that.
- [20:48]
B
Yeah, I think for me, you know, I, I'm a people person. You know, I only have a couple strengths and it's, it's, it's I, I care about people, I like to help people, I love meeting people, but I'm not, you know, I, I, there's a lot that I'm not good at and I think that with just the right amount of information you can really not only change your own life, but help and change other people's lives. And for me, if I can do this, you know, I, I was literally, I think the year before I got into real estate was making like, I think my unemployment check was like six grand and I think I had a couple residual checks from like True Blood and Nathan for you and another dumb show. Right.
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A
So.
- [21:31]
B
And within, you know, within the last four and a half years we purchased over 70 million in self storage. And in the last five and a half years was, was our real estate journey. And if I can do it, I know others can do it because I'm actually helping them do it.
- [21:46]
A
Right.
- [21:48]
B
And I think understanding the ability to act and to get the inspiration and education to understand that you can leverage debt to buy commercial assets and self storage that otherwise you couldn't afford. And this blueprint in this path will absolutely help you reach your goal of financial freedom. And financial freedom is just the beginning because now you got, you get to start designing and building the life you actually want to. Not only for you, but for your loved ones.
- [22:19]
A
Yeah. And I love how you're doing it not just with big rich entrepreneurs, but you're helping everyday, you know, veterans and public services. I think that's super cool. How. Because it just takes, I think the first deal. Yeah, right, the first deal because adds the capital but also the mindset shift of like oh, I could, I could do this while being a policeman or driving an ambulance.
- [22:41]
B
So cool.
- [22:42]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's great. Good. Last question. What does a legacy mean to you? And then where do people find you if they want to learn more about what your, your journey? Yeah.
- [22:52]
B
A legacy to me is not the material things, it's, it's instilling into my, my children courage and, and optimism and kindness and gratitude and laughter and love of course. And to my wife, love and compassion and connection. Right. But it's also about in business. Again, just to reiterate, leaving not only the information but the inspiration to let people understand that you can reach financial freedom. That I think a lot of people are intimidated by, feel like it's not for them. Right. It's for somebody else. And once you start finding the right people that we hear all the time, we're supposed to hang around and connect and get that information, you'll start, you know, to. To be able to leave the legacy that people can actually buy and invest and operate self storage, to reach financial freedom that will then again allow them to live the life they really want to live and that they deserve to live. So I think it's obviously first and foremost the impact we have on our children and our children's children and also some good business sense.
- [24:06]
A
Yeah, yeah, great. And if someone wants to buy their first storage unit and learn from you, where do they find you?
- [24:12]
B
Yeah, definitely just go on to our website and that's just storagelife.com and click book a call and it'll be my main man and you can even ask for me and we'd be happy to help.
- [24:24]
A
Good. Love it. Well, there you go guys. Hopefully that was a good 101 on real estate and especially self storage and why that's a great maybe option. And of course check out his full episode to learn his story and more of his journey. And as always, keep working hard, have an impact and build a legacy. I'll see you guys soon.