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In 2008, Brad Minsley faced every real estate developer's nightmare: $500 million in loans called across 27 banks. Most operators would have been wiped out. Instead, Brad fought back, survived the crisis, and used those hard-won lessons to build Ten Federal - one of the most innovative self-storage companies in America.

Today, Ten Federal operates 120 facilities with revolutionary automation technology, proprietary DaVinci locks, and just 0.6 employees per store (compared to 2+ at major REITs). Their funds have consistently outperformed, with their 2019 fund finishing #1 among all commercial real estate funds that year.

In this episode, we cover:

• How Brad survived the 2008 crisis when banks called $500M in development loans
• Why the combination of high leverage + balloon payments is a death sentence
• The hidden danger of material adverse change clauses in loan documents
• How Ten Federal pioneered unmanned self-storage operations
• The vertical integration strategy that creates unfair competitive advantages
• Why most real estate operators actually harm performance
• Data science and machine learning in self-storage investing
• Building proprietary technology that now operates in 1 of every 7 storage facilities nationwide

Key Takeaways:

• You can survive high leverage OR balloon payments, but not both
• Deep operational knowledge prevents exploitation by contractors and vendors
• Automation + enterprise software creates massive competitive moats
• The best opportunities exist where sophisticated operators can outcompete mom-and-pop owners

This conversation reveals how crisis-tested experience, combined with technological innovation and operational discipline, creates sustainable competitive advantages in real estate.

Connect with Brad Minsley: 

Email: brad@10federal.com 

Website: www.10federal.com 

Company: Ten Federal (self-storage development, automation, and fund management)

Resources mentioned:

• Poor Richard's Almanac by Benjamin Franklin
• Poor Charlie's Almanac by Charlie Munger
• The New Personality Self-Portrait by John Oldham
• Death of Money by James Rickards
• Big Debt Crises by Ray Dalio

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