Converting Unit into Laundry room

[Daniel Suarez]

Hey All, 

I have a one bedroom 16-plex that has been having trouble getting tenants and keeping occupancy for the past year, one of the feedbacks we mostly get is that even though the apartments are nice they want a washing and drying machine. 

Our manager suggested turning one of our empty units into laundry room to attract better tenants and charge them a fee to use it (that would pretty much cover the price of rent that the unit would get) 

Has anyone done something similar or any thoughts on this approach? Thanks in advance. 

[Alecia Loveless]

@Daniel Suarez I don’t think charging a monthly fee to use the laundry facility is a good idea. I have a washer and dryer at a 4 unit I own and they are only set at $1.00/load. There is a laundromat across a rather busy road from the building.

Still 2 of the tenants in my 4 tenant building still choose to go to the laundromat and pay $7.00/load for a big washer and even more for the large dryer and throw two weeks worth of clothes in at a time because they perceive the value of their time is worth more than running 2-3 loads in my cheaper machine and having to spend 4 hours on laundry and $6.00 when for $15.00 they can be done in 1 hour.

I think a monthly fee of $50-75 to use small machines would be a turnoff for busy tenants who likely are just looking for something to complain about.

I also have an 8 unit 1 bedroom apartment building that I bought in April and now that it’s stabilized have had 0 turnover on.