There is a Car Wash in my area that is boarded up.

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Allan Smith
Contractor · Nashville, TN · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
6y

Step one is to talk to owner. If they dont want to sell you would be wasting time learning how to operate a car wash. Just make sure it lines up with your goals, even before talking to owner.

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  • Allan Smith
    Contractor · Nashville, TN · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    Step one is to talk to owner. If they dont want to sell you would be wasting time learning how to operate a car wash. Just make sure it lines up with your goals, even before talking to owner.

    1Reply
  • Bill Snyder
    Member since 2019 · 42 posts · 22 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Account Closed:
    Originally posted by @Daniel Smyth:

    There is a Car Wash in my area that is boarded up. Anyone have experience with buying and Holding a Car Wash?

    I would like to talk!

    Thanks!

    There is a reason it's boarded up. Find a property that will make you money instead.

    And what is that reason??

     If you don't know exactly what the situational factors were as to why a prior business did not work, them you can not blanket statement like this.

    The true investor will do their due diligence on ANY potential deal and weigh ALL the factors.

    1Reply
  • Ronald RohdePro Member
    Attorney · Dallas, TX · Member since 2016 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    6y

    Self service or full service?

    0Reply
  • Daniel SmythPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2019 · 471 posts · 342 votes
    6y

    @Allan Smith

    Thanks, but I am in the real estate business, and not interested in running a car wash.

    Similar to desiring to buy and hold multi-family housing and not desiring to manage them.

    I am looking for investors that have invested in such things. Not going to waste my time getting a sales price if I cannot find an investor that knows of such an animal.

    Since so much is above my expertise, I really dont care what I can look to evaluate. I can get a sales price on a Leer Jet, but that doesn't mean I will desire to operate and maintain it. Partnerships in such things go a long way into deciding which numbers work for me, and if the deal is best bought and held, or sold to the first in line.

    I have intentions of perhaps leading the property to a carwash chain that has entered the area. That, and this building was upgraded a few years ago, making this an opportunity I am not so easy to ignore because I have never operated a car wash.

    Thanks again!

    [email protected]
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  • Daniel SmythPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2019 · 471 posts · 342 votes
    6y

    @Bill Snyder

    Ah, well spoken.

    This is the beginning of my Due Diligence Phase One.

    There is a reason a home is boarded up too. Funny that it seems ok to think that the home might make me money, but not a boarded up CarWash. By the way, city ordinances maintain that businesses closed for an extended time be boarded up. Thus is the same for homes.

    Imagine if that would ever have stopped Brandon or Max Maxwell from buying property.

    Might as well just ask a Realtor to find you a good deal.

    Thanks!

    [email protected]
    1Reply
  • Daniel SmythPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2019 · 471 posts · 342 votes
    6y

    @Ronald Rohde

    This is a full service operation.

    The car wash was always busy, and the traffic is good enough for a McDonald's and Popeye's restaurant to have been here and remodeled for many years.

    2 miles from a high school, and this place has had an operating car was for 50+ years.

    I drive past it every day.

    Thanks!

    [email protected]
    0Reply
  • George Baltakian
    Investor · Los Angeles · Member since 2019 · 13 posts · 4 votes
    6y

    Of course you should definitely find out why it's not operating. Is it in a busy area? is there good access? is there perhaps another popular car wash closeby eating their lunch?

    I had a client recently who is primarily a car wash investor and he knew the business well. When we were considering a car wash investment these were a few of his main concerns: 

    - self serve or full service. is there a wash tunnel? how long / how many cars can go through at a time? how many vaccuum stalls?

    - convenience store - is there a section of the property that is used as a convenience store? Is the location convenient for pedestrians to walk in from outside to buy snacks, etc? 

    - generally good access and plenty of parking. 

    - how many people would it take to operate it?

    Sidenote - Depending on the land/zone/location, you might consider making an offer with plans to tear it down and develop something else. Or get permits/plans in place and sell to a developer as a proposed property. 

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  • Ronald RohdePro Member
    Attorney · Dallas, TX · Member since 2016 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Daniel Smyth:

    @Ronald Rohde

    This is a full service operation.

    The car wash was always busy, and the traffic is good enough for a McDonald's and Popeye's restaurant to have been here and remodeled for many years.

    2 miles from a high school, and this place has had an operating car was for 50+ years.

    I drive past it every day.

    Thanks!

     Could be perfectly reasonable reason why its boarded. owner died and probate still working

    0Reply
  • Joel OwensBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
    6y

    For car wash it is about the build out and functionality of the car wash. Then it is about the brand ( was brand struggling). Then about how many car washes and competition in the area?

    Is location good? How is access to get in and out, parcel size shape, sightlines (up on a hill, down in a hole, easily visible?)

    Was everything good and just a poor operator or in failing health, etc.? 

    You need to determine the major reason the business failed and then the smaller items and see if those can be corrected. National car wash chains are (very picky) on location. If you have a sub-standard location don't look for them to have interest. If operator was poor but site is great then they might take it on. Straight sale of land not typically as much profit as a ground lease. You need clean environmental to make sure no dumping on the site exists. Highest and best use might not even be a car wash but another tenant type. If building can't be converted then have to build in demo costs to get to a clean slate again.

    No legal advice given.

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