Common Laundry Rooms in Triplex

[Account Closed]

We are buying a triplex in Mesa, AZ. It has a common room that is set to be a complex laundry room. I am seeking advice on our next step. Should we purchase a washer and dryer? How much will it make? Experience with service companies? But new or used? Thanks in advance for your help.

[Marcia Maynard]

Tenants prefer doing laundry in their own home and not sharing machines. If the apartments don't have washer/dryer hookups, or it's not feasible to add such, then a shared laundry is not a bad option. We have an 8-plex with a shared laundry room. It came with one coin-op washer and one coin-op dryer. Surprisingly that has been enough to service our tenants, as each household has only one or two occupants, mostly retired.

When buying appliances, I always have a conversation with a trusted appliance repair person to gather ideas.  They know the machines. You can purchase the machines and take care of them yourself. Or you can hire a third party to place their machines and take care of them, but the latter option can bring other problems. Go for mechanical machines, if you can find them, that are easy to repair. The less electronics the better.  Speed Queen is a great brand. 

Our laundry room is not a money maker, we just break-even.  But we offer it as an amenity so our tenants have the convenience of not needing to take their laundry elsewhere.  Also, someone needs to keep the laundry room clean and tidy, as well as empty the coins and take them to the bank. Consider your utility costs too. The laundry room needs to be separately metered.

Occasionally there is laundry room drama.... two people needing to do laundry at the same time, someone using the machines outside of the posted hours and disturbing the sleep of others, someone leaving their clothing in the machine too long, and mishaps, like the ball-point pen that went through the wash and melted in the dryer leaving blue ink everywhere. :-)