Be careful when buying a rundown laundromat as all you are really buying is the customers , the lease and the infrastructure.If the equipment is old and worn out as soon as you "buy" it you will be throwing it away and buying new machines.

That's a slightly different scope of work than just forming an LLC and washing my hands. 

I live about 30 minutes away and it isn’t feasible for me to go check the building and laundry machines more than once or twice a week unless a tenant needs me.

Throw a vendor machine there and you'll like it.

I’m in the middle of doing an LBO on a machine shop but this came on my radar and now I am interested.

I think it might be worth it in certain circumstances though, it just didn’t do anything for me-it was a “wash”.

It is like allowing a pop machine in your building.

Even in Texas were things are pretty green right now, there are areas where the local water system is not adding more meters, and has restrictions in place, like no washing cars, no pools, no water for lawns, etc.Depending on how Washington moves you could also see in the future in some parts of the country with heating oil and natural gas for heat....I think that is probably a bit in the future, but could be an issue....so that would likely be in NE...especially if you combine it with something like a small college town where the college goes out of business....or the employer moves out.You could also see some issues in the "old" cities where systems need to be upgraded...like water and sewer....and there is less and less revenue to do that. 

If you purchase the Bay Area home first, you will be able to save money for a down payment on a Knoxville property faster as well, so I believe your scaling will be faster in that direction as well.Assuming you have $4k of negative cash-flow, you will have to pay that same amount or higher in rent for one to tow years when you come back as well. so that really a wash.

It is also in my handwriting which is quite legible and large enough to be read after it is copied on the machine.