Washer/dryer dishwasher in units

[Lesley Resnick]

At what level unit do people include a washer/dryer dishwasher?  I like to rent to families and that is often an important piece.  My goal is to provide a good value to my renters.  Do people buy new with a warranty or used and dump them when they break?

[Roy N.]

@Lesley Resnick

I'll sound a different chorus than @Michael Noto.

We have moved from a common laundry room to en-suite laundry in all five our <=6 unit buildings  We are even in negotiations on two larger buildings, one of which has laundry hookups in each unit - I've already negotiated 16 laundry sets for $15K on the anticipation we will close on this building.

Our experience with a common laundry room and coin-op machines was:

• the capital outlay for the machines was 1.5+ times the cost of a high efficiency residential laundry set;
• landlord carries the utilities and, typically, the coin-op laundry brought in enough revenue to cover its operating costs;
• vandalism was greater with a common laundry room;
• convenience to the tenant is lower with a common laundry room.

Since we moved to en suite laundry we have observed the following:

• utilities are in the hands of the tenants;
• machines suffer less vandalism and, if damage does occur, we know who is responsible;
• we can charge $30 - $50 more rent per month for the convenience.

We supply the laundry units principally because it a) reduces damage to the building of tenants trying to move their own laundry machines in and out, and b) we can be certain they are installed properly with overflow pans and floor drains.

When we started doing this we were told it would be a maintenance nightmare - a refrain often read here on BP - this has not been our experience.  We can purchase a new, front load, HE laundry set for $1000 - $1100 CAD.   Our experience - and industry data - indicates they either fail catastrophically in the first few months of use (manufacturing problem) while still under warranty, or last 8 - 10 years without major repair.

Last year, we bought four sets at one of the Big Box retailers on a 3-yr, no interest, payment plan - our monthly payment on each set of machines is $20 less than the rent increment we collect.  Additionally, appliances are a depreciable at a rate of 20%/year and considered for end-of-life after 5-years.  Between the incremental rent collected and the asset depreciation, a new set of laundry machines will have covered its upfront costs in two years (that is without counting the added benefit of zero interest payments over three years) ... or three years if the unit was not already plumbed and wired for laundry.   

The life of that laundry set beyond 2-years is money directly in your pocket - on top of the benefits of increased tenant satisfaction and lower turnover.

As for dishwashers, most of our units have a dishwasher, but we have two older, smaller (duplex, triplex) buildings which will have to wait until the kitchens are renovated before they receive dishwashers.