Does Anyone Here Own A Laundromat Business?
 

I have the opportunity of buying a building in a small town that comes with a laundromat business. The building consists of 2 apartments (1 bedrooms), and 2 retail spaces (one being the laundromat the other is rented to a pool company).

Anyways this laundromat has been in business for 15+ years and is one of the only laundromats in town. The building needs some definete cosmetic improvements but the "bones" look good. The machines in the laundromat are pretty ancient and the guy that owns the building is a washing machine repair man by trade so it's not that big of a deal for him to fix them. I think leasing new machines would definetely be in the picture...

Anyways I am not too concerned about the rest of the building, looks like a cash flow positive building. However I am concerned with the amount of upkeep/maintenance running a laundromat would entail...One of the bigger issues is that this building is in a small town about 15 minutes north of my town, so I would require an employee to open/close the business everyday. I guess once a week or so I would get someone to withdraw the coins from the machines... The laundry doesn't make mega bucks but I think it's severely under utilized as there are no pop machines, video games or laundry product machines in the space. Plus after a good clean up it will look entirely more appealing :)

Anyways if you guys have any good advice on the laundromat business I would be delighted to hear it :)

Thanks,
DH

Run a search. There's a thread somewhere where a guy posted all kinds of great information, his family was in the business I think. A lot of extra expenses you would never think of.

laundry mats are forever making coin, so ya, thats a good investment. but just be prepared for all the up-front costs of updating shit (the appliances, cosmetic shit you mentioned, insurance, etc etc etc)

but in the long run, ya, they're great to have. dont forget to grab a pepsi machine too & put it in there (hike up the prices pretty good too, trust me, you'll make coinage lol) and something that sells chips.

i know someone back in pittsburgh that has an apartment building (thats a shitty one in the ghetto) and he makes MAD bank of this building & laundrymat (downstairs). i know him cuz hes my dads landlord (lol) but my dad is a truck driver and comes home for like a day each month, so he just rents out a shitty apartment till he retires. but ya, great investment!

I would go for it. Excellent place to pick up talent. :2 cents:

Thanks for the comments Babagirls, yes we also considered the repair/replacement cost of the machines and what needs to be done to the building. The property has been on the market for almost a year and we think we can actually pick it up for peanuts. The town is growing now due to new development and the town is also starting to give out grants for historical buildings (which this is) so that repairs can be done to improve the main street's appeal.

We'll definetely look into the option of adding in a drinks/snacks machine we just have to look at the space feesibility.

DH

LOL! Maybe I should just add a camera into the laundromat and sell it to you as a "feed" ;)

DH

Yeah I kind of remember that thread now, thanks Sly! :)

DH

Call it the "Naked Laundromat"
Your motto: Wash your clothes for free as long as you're not wearing any!


hahahahah

HAHAHA, genius. :1orglaugh

LMAO! We'll just have a guy at the front asking people to sign 2257's and checking ID before they walk in ;)

DH

laundr-omats are a perfect front for a bodega.... :)

sell that shit out the detergent dispenser...

I have a friend that owns one, and if you can not spend some time there your self, you are asking for problems. Or at least lost revenue.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13.../tybigsig1.gif

Did someone say "Bodega"???

DH

aaahahahahha :1orglaugh

a laundromat fetish site sounds nice.

In the real estate property I bought into that I told you about, it has a laundry business as well in the basement to server the 50+ tenants. I'll get the financials in about a week or so and can tell you how the laundry portion did. We own the machines in there as well so there should be a breakdown on the financial statements for revenues that came from it.
WG

definately a cash flow business.. just keep the machine in working order and the prices low.. about 75 cents per load to wash and 25 cents to wash for 15 mins.. you could get more per wash load but I always found those to be too expensive... .Thats why i'm getting a new washing machine today.. waiting for it now........to be delivered.. lower prices and you will make more money in the long run....add a coke machine to the building a soap and fabric softener vending machine and a change machine for quarters and you'll be all set up.....Hire someone to clean it daily...nothing worse than an unkept business...make sure its airconditioned.. cater to the women dude.....

We put a laundromat in at the family hunting and fishing lodge... it was the only one in town.

Basically, it was the only thing that continually had a steady cash flow coming in from season to season... year in and year out. We only had 4 washers and 5 dryers... within one year, it had paid for itself.

The maintenance and repairs on the machines was actually quite minimal. Much lower than expected.

It turned out to be one of the best additions we've ever put onto the business. Everyone in town loved it.

My Aunt owns one, I worked for her there for about 2 years. They had drop off's where people would pay to have the wash done for them. That's how TF and I got to meet. He was the only guy who didn't have shit stains. :( They charge by the pound I think $.85 a pound. Good luck with it and if I can help any way hit me up on ICQ.

IMO it's a great $$ maker.


:thumbsup

What about storage units? hehe

new niche? laundy sluts?

Sorry to bump this old thread but was wondering if some of you guys in this business couldn't hit me up ;)

85-483-060 :)

i thought you were looking for a money launderer on gfy.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

j/k yo.

:(

did I hear "Live Feed" ...lol, sounds like a solid deal. run the pro's and con's!

:/ .......

lol what a bump

banks lend to a laundromat.. hmm good luck with the insurance and chemical testing

one of these days im gonna buy a place and get some machines there to sell stuff ppl need in the middle of the night, we dont have 7/11s here and simple stuff like tampons are like 5x higher in price then during the days at gasstations

zero maintainence and huge profits... vandalism still sucks I bet thats the same with laundromats...

Oh my.


:1orglaugh

Awww man....I can rub one out right now to the idea of a "cash business"....mmmmmmmm...mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I've considered opening one myself sometime in the future... it seems like a good investment, providing we wouldn't actually have to be there everyday to maintain it. I know there's several around here that are just "open" all day and the owner's just go to lock up at night.

I also wonder what electric/gas and water bills are like?

I've only been to thoses places once and this was last week (after my dryer broke down... I went to make a big batch there).

The place arround here :
Was selling no soap, no candies, no chips, nothing to drink. I went to the corner store like 5 times.

If you put carades or some kind of entraintement there that can make you money, you could also make $ from that too I guess.

Oh and the place had no change converting machine, was a pain in the ass.

Or maybe just make the tenant of one of the rooms upstairs to take care of it for free rent or something like that . Just gotta find a good old guy that's willing to take care of things ;)