Joe DownsCEO & Co-Founder, Belrose Storage Group. Founder, Storage Moguls.

How to present value add and downside credibly

12 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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Joe Downs explains how to pitch value-add deals to lenders. Show market rents at stabilized occupancy, itemize each improvement with its cost and rent impact, and include a downside stress test like a 10-point occupancy drop to prove you can still service debt.

Chapters

For enhanced NOI, you want to show market rents applied to stabilized occupancy plus the value-add improvements you plan to execute. Each improvement gets its own line. Covered structured addition at this cost, rate increase to market on this many spaces, amenity upgrade that reduces churn. Specificity is what makes this layer credible. For downside NOI, show the fall occupancy 10 points below your base case. Can you still service the debt? Do you break even? This is the stress test your lender's going to run. Do it first and have the answer ready. Presenting it proactively tells the lender you've modeled the risk.