11 Nov 2021
This post is the third in a series of articles entitled: “Six Days of Feasibility” designed to educate the reader on the world of Feasibility Studies. Over the next 4 days Jay Garlick of GDP Feasibility will address the following:
Day 1: See the End from the Beginning: What are Feasibility Studies? Day 2: Don't Make Business Risky: Why a Feasibility Study? Day 3: Self Storage = Cash Cow: How a Feasibility Study Makes You Money? Day 4: Buyer Beware: Why Not all Feasibility Studies are the Same? Day 5: Get You in the Game: What Do You Do with a Full Feasibility Study? Day 6: Deal Makers, not Deal Breakers: Do You Have Someone to Walk the Path with You?
A few years ago, we placed a property in the Intermountain West under contract after doing a solid “Go/no-Go” Desktop Study. We promptly moved on to our Entitlement Study and ordered reports and tests as part of our regular institutional-grade due-diligence process.
The father disclosed that he was nervous about the project, but suspected that it would fill and that was all he cared about. At the end of the day, it did fill, very quickly, but in our analysis, by using his unit mix and he left over $1 million in value on the table and tens of thousands in annual cashflow each year and he would have filled just as fast.
Professional Institutional-Grade Feasibility Studies are not just for avoiding risk, but also for establishing how much money might be made. A wise mentor introduced me early on to the concept of those who might “step over dollars to pick up pennies” by losing opportunities to save money.
Who is Jay Garlick?
A self-storage developer himself, Jay Garlick is the Principal at GDP Feasibility and Partner/CEO of Greenscape Development Partners which specializes in self-storage development nationwide. Garlick began doing feasibility studies in 2004. Since then he has done studies on over 400 sites in the United States. Jay has a Masters Degree in Real Estate Development (MRED) and will soon finish a second in Masters in City and Metropolitan Planning (MCMP). Garlick can be reached at jay@gdpfeasibility.com. For more information please visit www.gdpfeasibility.com.
