Value of Coin-Op W/D in Small Multi-family properties

[Aaron Nelson]

Hey Landlords!

I am looking at installing a coin-op washer dryer for one of my small multi-family

(2-4 unit) properties in Tacoma and have some questions:

1) Has anyone analyzed roughly how much you make per housing unit on coin-op laundry (washer and dryer) after utility costs? If so, will you please share your findings?

2) Do you own your own machines or rent them from another company?

3) How much do you charge to wash/dry per load?

I know there are some variables because water/sewer/electricity charges vary by utility company but I am just looking for ballpark estimates.

Even if the income from the W/D breaks even with the utility costs, it seems like this might allow you to justify higher rents because of the added amenity...plus it keeps your tenants happy, possibly reducing turnover.

Thanks!

[Marcia Maynard]

Our situation:

8-plex, no washer/dryer hooks ups in units, separate laundry room accessed from the outside with a key, each tenant household is issued a laundry key, rules for use of the laundry are posted in the laundry room and written into the rental agreement, laundry room hours are 8am-10pm, there's a natural gas hot water heater, one electric washer ($1) and one electric dryer ($1) - which is less expensive than local laundromats, one utility sink, one laundry work surface attached to the wall for tenants to sort and fold their laundry, one baseboard heater, one floor drain.  Concrete floor, window with lace curtains, one framed picture (artwork) on the wall. The laundry room is painted an apricot color, because the name of the complex is Apricot Court. :-) Comfortable and clean. Vandalism is not a problem. Tenants get along.

All appliances are owned by us and we pay for repair service (which is rarely needed), the electric and natural gas for the laundry room are separately metered (electric, natural gas) which we pay, the water is not separately metered for the whole property and we pay for it (covered by the rent), we pay one of our tenants $30 per month to keep the laundry room clean and tidy. We visit the property once a month to check on things, empty the coins and deposit them into our bank account. All bills for the property are set up on auto-pay.

The amount of money we bring in from the machines just about covers the expense of having the coin-op laundry room. It serves mostly as an added amenity, since the units don't have W/D hookups and most people like the convenience of not needing to haul their laundry off-site. Not having W/D hookups in the units reduces their attraction to new tenants, but there is no practical way to add such. It is an older property, built in 1973. The property units are 2bed/1bath and attract mostly small households of one or two people, most are on fixed incomes (seniors, low income). This property cash flows well. We have many long term tenants (5 - 25+ years)

Hope this helps!