How Alex Quezada Built an $80M Self-Storage Portfolio With Seller Financing

Alex Quezada (00:00)

I think almost like any asset class right now, like we’re heavy in self-storage. but the last few deals of ours have had like our larger deals have had like half industrial flex. So we bought some properties in Jacksonville, seller financing, 60 66,000 square feet. Half of it was industrial flex. And one of my biggest properties in Texas is 80,000 square feet, half of that is industrial flex. And so just kind of like having some experience with that.

I do like it. Like I love storage, but like, there’s a lot of churn in storage. There’s constantly people moving in and moving out, which has its good and bad. But with Industrial Flex, it’s like a lot of contractors, a lot of people who, have a business that’s gonna allow them to pay the rent and they’ll sign longer term leases. And there’s just so much more demand for it right now. And so we’ve looking been looking at buying some of those assets, just standalone small Bay Flex deals. And so we’re looking one of my guys I work with is in Texas right now looking at a deal we’re looking to make an offer on. And so yeah, we’ll love that asset class. But overall, like I was gonna say, is I think every, almost every asset has good opportunity right now because interest rates are high, because people are scared, so I kind of invest because they don’t know where it’s going. This is like when the best time to buy. everybody’s heard the quote, when there’s blood in the streets, buy property.

But like people tend to s they hear that and they know it, but they don’t do it, And so like this is the time to invest, this is the time to buy when there is uncertainty.

Meghan Escobar – (02:55)

Welcome back to *Real Estate Pros Podcast*. I am your host, Meghan Escobar, and today I am sitting down with a pretty

Yeah, pretty motivated individual, I would say. goes by the name of Alex Quezada. He is the founder of, let’s see, what is that? Vault Ventures. And so it’s a family run business. He’s doing all things real estate. He’s got his hands in all kinds of investments. And I’ll I’m gonna let him share his story because who better to hear it than from the man himself, right? So Alex, thank you so much for joining us today.

Alex Quezada (03:29)

Thank you for having me, Meghan.

Meghan Escobar – (03:30)

Absolutely. So good to have you. And for those who might not be familiar with your name, Alex, it’s Alex and Anthony, by the way, who kind of run this million dollar venture. So go ahead and tell us a little bit about what you do from like a thirty thousand foot view,

Alex Quezada (03:45)

Yeah, I’ll give you kind of the quick synopsis. I was starting 15 years ago in residential, started wholesaling, flipping, buying, holding properties, and then got into commercial properties. Started with mobile home parks and apartment buildings, bought and sold some of those, and been since 2020 been focused on self-storage. And for six in the last six years, we bought 19 facilities. we’ve gone full cycle on four of them. So we full sold four of them. Three in 2023, we sold one two months ago.

under contract to sell or in LOI to sell another three. And looking to continue to buy more and for our for ourselves we’re looking to always be buying and always be selling. So we feel like right now it’s one of the best times to buy and we’re looking to continue to grow our company. We got about an eighty million dollar portfolio and looking to continue to grow that and with our team here based in Orlando, Florida. And we self manage all our properties and looking to do to do more.

Meghan Escobar – (04:39)

Wow. That’s it’s not an easy thing to do in this climate. there’s a lot of people out there that you might, think I don’t know, just be afraid, right? Fair. But like for you, I mean what helps you guys kind of keep going and run smoothly? You you’re self managing everything, like that’s a lot

Alex Quezada (04:56)

Yeah, well we definitely had our bumps in the roads and we always are learning, right? And so we’ve made mistakes in the past, but we always gotta learn from them. We definitely put ourselves in rooms like yours. we always surround ourselves with great people and are in masterminds and always hiring coaches. Every asset class I’ve gotten into, like I’ve always hired a coach before I got into that asset class ’cause it gets you where you want to go faster and you kind of pay to not make some of the mistakes that the people, are teaching you made in their past. So

Surrounding yourself with good people, good team is always the one thing that I think makes a big difference. we are tend to be very conservative with our underwriting and our and what we’re looking to buy and making sure we’re hitting home runs. We’re not, just buying deals to buy deals, So far this year we haven’t bought anything. last year we bought five deals, five commercial deals. And so we’re very picky with what we buy. We want to make sure they’re we’re that we’re creating win-wins not only for ourselves but for our investors.

And so and then the other factor I’d say that kind of really helped us out with like our scale and how we got to where we were is a lot of seller financing. I think like seventy, eighty percent of my portfolio is with some portion of seller financing. And so that has been a big help with us because as interest rates rise, we’ve had locked in on c big commercial deals, three percent interest only, four percent interest. And so being able to structure those types of deals has been a big edge on helping us

get to where we where we’re at.

Meghan Escobar – (06:15)

Perfect. That’s a great, journey, story, share. I think that’s an incredible thing for people to understand, you gotta start somewhere. Obviously, like you said, you hit a lot of bumps in the road. And so with that being said, the with the experience and everything that you guys have done from start to finish there, every operator I know that has a story that they can tell, or it’s a moment where things got real where maybe you were ready to either throw the towel in, right? But like kept going.

What’s one of those moments for you?

Alex Quezada (07:30)

Yeah, there was the one time that like kind of like sticks out the most is like things were going really good and really great, and we were kind of like starting to grow the company. It’s kind of like earlier in our my career, I think it was like 21 maybe. and like there was a point where I was like, Man, like we have all this staff and expenses, and these deals are not like the this part of real estate, and especially like wholesaling real estate. Like, you have all these deals lined up and you’re like, all these deals are gonna close, I’m gonna make like 150 grand, but then

This one has a probate, that comes up and this one cancels, and this one has a violation, and this one, and I was like, man, I’m gonna like not be able to pay my employees and or pay the bills. Like this might all come to a crash just because all these deals got delayed. And the one thing I realized at that point in time, as everything was going good, I got away from like the things that kind of got me there, which is like being speaking gratitude every day, writing down

my goals every day, saying affirmations and those things for re for me really have given me everything I’ve got in my life. I’ve literally spoke my whole life into existence. And so because of that, things are going good. You kind of sometimes fall away from that. And when I realized in that situation, I’m like, man, this like I really need to do something in this month. And I kind of got back to writing down my goals and saying those affirmations. And literally in that same month, like we were able to find and pick up.

several deals that were able to close really quick and like kind of like change the directory of where we were going and like in that bad situation we were in. And literally like that just kind of like stuck with me of like always making sure that is a pivotal thing for me that I have involved in my day to day in my life is, writing down goals and speaking affirmations and s I it was it was a little scary month there for a while, but we made through it and we s we try to stay on top of

goal setting and have that be a part of everybody’s life in our team.

Meghan Escobar – (09:12)

Yeah, like it’s the lifestyle. I get it. They I think that’s so important, and it’s like the stuff that people don’t talk about. It’s like you we live in the highlight world, right? Where everything on social media you see like, we got this deal, the that deal, this the this is the in the portfolio, but like what it takes behind the scenes is not an easy thing to do. But would you say it’s worth it?

Alex Quezada (09:30)

it’s definitely worth it. Like it’s this like my wife is amazing. I have a great life, it gives you a lot of a lot of time freedom. I’ve gone on several vacations in the past twelve months. I’m about to go to Iceland in a couple of days and then Montana next month. So like life is fantastic, life is good, and it’s all about putting yourself in that position to be that way because there’s many years where I didn’t go on any vacations and I’m working, sixty, eight hour weeks, So

we put a lot of work in here and we built up a good team and I think when you have a good team and good high level players that allows you to have some of that time freedom.

Meghan Escobar – (10:02)

Right. Absolutely. I agree. I agree. And so one thing I think, our listeners need to hear too is like being and growing your network. we talked a little bit about that, how you’re part of many masterminds. Obviously, we have an incredible mastermind here at Investor Fuel too. But it’s about, shaking the hands and being in the rooms. So what made the biggest difference for you, like on your journey, talk to us about that.

Alex Quezada (10:24)

Yeah. So like I was just at a like an event a couple of days ago, self storage event, and it was like a lot of like newer, like newbie people, like people who haven’t got their first deal, things like that. And I was probably one of the higher level people in there in that room. And so I couple people ask me like why do you keep coming to these events and stuff like that? It’s kinda like seems like you’re above it. And I was like, Man, it’s just like about it’s not really about the education, even like one little tip from the main guy or from anybody really can like

really change the course of your business or can be that one idea that really sparks something else. But it’s also like the people. So like being around and surrounding yourself with the right people, with the same mindset, people who want to go in the same direction, do big things, that really changes that can one person can essentially change your whole life. I was able and lucky enough to meet one individual who, currently I have like twenty plus million dollars of their capital invested with me in several different deals. And so like literally

That one person has changed my life. And so just going surrounding yourself and being in the right rooms and just meeting people and being your authentic self. And, you’ll connect with some somebody who might connect with you and likes you. And that person could whether be either a deal partner or a money partner or, your next employee or hire you to, work for them. And so I always say like that one person can change your life. And so you want to be in as many rooms as possible with the right people.

Meghan Escobar – (11:40)

I really love that you shared that and how powerful it can be like one person, one conversation. I you hear those statements all the time from people in p personal development, right? Like you’re one conversation away from, changing your life, the trajectory of your life. And it’s very true. And at the end of the day, if you’re somebody who is not willing to hit the pavement like and have the conversations, you’re probably not gonna grow.

environment, you talked about that, like how people assume that like you’re above this, like that that’s mindset too, right? Like you’re I a statement that sticks with me that I heard from a mentor of mine probably about five years ago was it environment is stronger than willpower. And I think about that all the time, right? It’s like so really, powerful. So yeah, it’s just being in the right rooms.

Alex Quezada (12:27)

Hundred percent.

Meghan Escobar – (13:09)

if somebody wanted to connect with you, Alex, and learn more about, what you’re doing, let’s do that before we wrap up.

Alex Quezada (13:14)

right now, I think almost like any asset class right now, like we’re heavy in self-storage. but the last few deals of ours have had like our larger deals have had like half industrial flex. So we bought some properties in Jacksonville, seller financing, 60 66,000 square feet. Half of it was industrial flex. And one of my biggest properties in Texas is 80,000 square feet, half of that is industrial flex. And so just kind of like having some experience with that.

I do like it. Like I love storage, but like, there’s a lot of churn in storage. There’s constantly people moving in and moving out, which has its good and bad. But with Industrial Flex, it’s like a lot of contractors, a lot of people who, have a business that’s gonna allow them to pay the rent and they’ll sign longer term leases. And there’s just so much more demand for it right now. And so we’ve looking been looking at

buying some of those assets, just standalone small Bay Flex deals. And so we’re looking one of my guys I work with is in Texas right now looking at a deal we’re looking to make an offer on. And so yeah, we’ll love that asset class. But overall, like I was gonna say, is I think every, almost every asset has good opportunity right now because interest rates are high, because people are scared, so I kind of invest because they don’t know where it’s going. This is like when the best time to buy. everybody’s heard the quote, when there’s blood in the streets, buy property.

But like people tend to s they hear that and they know it, but they don’t do it, And so like this is the time to invest, this is the time to buy when there is uncertainty. And so, just like people who I don’t do really stocks, but like people buy when it’s red, and it’s the same way for real estate. So this is the time to buy and we look forward to the opportunities this year.

Meghan Escobar – (14:49)

Love that. And man, you I dang, I just got caught up. So the next thing that you guys are looking to solve or get into is kind of focusing in on that, building that portfolio up.

Alex Quezada (15:01)

Yeah, we’re still looking at storage deals and small bay. we kind of like more opportunistic, I’ve done mobile home parks in the past, I’ve done apartment buildings. I think apartments, if you can get if you can buy it from the right source, which would be for apartments like buying it from banks, people who are who are losing those properties, I’d be open to kind of anything ’cause I’ve done a little bit of every asset class and turn those deals. And so I’m more opportunistic.

But for me personally, we’re marketing for self storage and industrial small bay flex.

Meghan Escobar – (15:29)

Love that. Love that. And you see you foresee that to kind of really take off.

Alex Quezada (15:34)

I for stores especially it’s we we’ve definitely seen the bottom. So like we’ve seen rates come down and occupancies come down for the last couple of years, but they started to start rising. So we feel at on stores, and I was just at this event, like I mentioned, where they talked a little a lot about that. Where it’s like, hey, like we’ve seen it like kind of hit the bottom and it’s bouncing back up, it’s turning on the storage side. small Bay Flex, I feel like is a new hot thing. luckily I’ve already had some experience with that, but that is I think a growing in demand.

across the board from so many small businesses growing with the AI and warehousing, manufacturing, e-commerce, like that’s just like a big driver for that. And there’s like a lack of supply. So in many markets. So we definitely do like that asset class.

Meghan Escobar – (16:18)

that and you also talked about how you’re positioning yourself in other markets outside of Florida as well. You wanna talk a little bit about that.

Alex Quezada (16:26)

Yeah, so we’re in looking for a growth market. So we’ve been we bought most of our properties in Florida, but we have it expanded into Texas, South Carolina, Georgia, and so the southeast where there’s growing populations, where jobs are coming in, that’s where we really want to focus on because obviously you gotta get the benefits of the growth and income growth as well for the population.

Meghan Escobar – (16:47)

That’s right. Perfect. All right. So now before we wrap up here, I’ll definitely have that edited out. But before we wrap up, if somebody wanted to reach you and learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to contact? Is it like you have big on social media, email, phone? Yeah.

Alex Quezada (17:04)

we’re big on social media. Instagram and YouTube. It they go by the same. It’s my first name, Alex, period, the investor, period, Quezada. And that’s pretty much all our handles on everything. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube. yeah. Share a lot of info on what we do, case studies, deal studies, walkthrough videos of taking over self storage facilities. So we give a lot of info away and just try to provide value as much as we can.

Meghan Escobar – (17:28)

Beautiful. And we’ll make sure to get those links and drop them below so you guys don’t even have to, pause and write it down. You can just click it. The power of technology, right? all right. Well, Alex, thank you so much for sharing, your story, sharing your wisdom and y your journey and where you’re at right now. I think it’s definitely something that our audience will benefit from. And we need more people in the space like this who are out here doing things the right way. Thanks again.

Alex Quezada (17:52)

Yeah. Appreciate

Meghan Escobar – (17:53)

All right. And for those of you that are tuning in, if you got any value from this, please be sure to hit like and subscribe. We got more conversations coming in with operators just like this every single day, building real businesses with real people in real time. We’ll see you on the next episode.