Finding Your Niche: Self Storage Edition with Travis Baucom

Travis Baucom is a real estate investor in Waco, TX, focused on self-storage syndications. He has been investing in real estate for years in single-family residential properties and recently made his way into commercial, specifically in self-storage properties. Listen to this episode to learn more about Travis, his transition from single-family to multifamily, and what he has learned along the way! Key Talking Points of the Episode 00:00 Introduction00:41 Who is Travis Baucom?01:57 What does Travis think investors should be focusing on today?02:46 What issues can investors run into when underwriting deals today?05:05 How was Travis' transition from single-family to multifamily?06:35 What is it like to get a funding for self-storage?08:04 How is Travis managing their pipeline for their self-storage investments?11:24 What opportunities can investors find in the self-storage industry?12:43 How did Travis break into the self-storage industry?16:33 What is it like to fund self-storage deals in today's market?18:05 What is the story behind Travis' first few multifamily properties?20:21 How did Travis transition from owning multiple single-family to self-storage?22:35 What should investors be doing to keep their businesses sustainable?24:07 How does Travis raise funds for his self-storage syndications?28:48 What is Travis' advice to young investors?30:52 Why do you need to take your ego out of the equation? 33:06 What does Travis do in his free time?35:48 What advice does Travis have for investors looking into self-storage?36:56 How can people get in touch with Travis? Quotables "When you look at deals, you need to be underwriting them a lot more conservatively than you have in the past." "Attorneys, property managers, maintenance guys – all that can be contracted out so it's not on your payroll." "The great thing is storage pays so well, cash flow wise. We don't have to buy a property this year to continue our lifestyle." "There are 3,000 facilities in America – 70% of those are owned by mom-and-pop and the ones that aren't, 80% of those are owned by companies that are publicly traded on Wall Street." "What you did is the same advice I give everyone. It's really first aid, it's triage. Stop the bleeding, protect the wound, treat for shock." "Sometimes, you just have to understand that the good deal is just getting out of there." Links Website: RCN Capitalhttps://www.rcncapital.com/podcast Website: REI INKhttps://rei-ink.com/ Website: Travis Baucomhttps://www.housetoempire.com