Property Manager · Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2014 · 380 posts · 167 votes
I have a portfolio with an owner that is asking us to put together 15 laundry rooms with card reading machines that are self owned, not through a laundry leasing company, which is what we normally do for many reasons. I have been looking everywhere for a good solution, but cannot find an easy way to locate and setup about 50 machines as the owner is requesting.
Does anyone have any experience doing this? The trick is we want card readers that that will all be on one merchant account and one bank account (that is the good part). I am desperately looking for any good information on this since we need to get the laundry rooms up and running as quickly as possible.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. I normally like to lease since the installation goes well, the machines are maintenance and updated by a large company that only does laundry and we typically can get great technology at lower rate that purchasing full retail. We are located in Minneapolis, MN.
Rental Property Investor · MN · Member since 2015 · 186 posts · 149 votes
8y
In my 4plex previous owner was leasing 1 dryer and 1 washer by paying $150/month and also sharing income (quarters, it was coin operated). When I took over, I bought my own commercial washer/dryer (Speed Queen) very reliable machines. I spent about $2000. In 1 year I got my money back by not paying $150/month, and was also getting close to $150/month from washer/dryer in coins. I did have a small issue second year of operation, and paid about $300 to have it fixed. So my preference is it own.
Real Estate Agent · Plano, TX · Member since 2015 · 734 posts · 511 votes
8y
@Michael Tempel are you asking for referrals to vendors or are you asking if it's a good idea financially?
Personally, I prefer to own. having a large company own and maintain it leaves the owner with very little income.
While a little more headache up front to setup and some ongoing maintenance efforts the income is way larger which help the NOI (which push the value up) and the owner can also depreciate the costs of the machines and write off the expenses of the normal maintenance costs.
Rental Property Investor · MN · Member since 2015 · 186 posts · 149 votes
8y
In my 4plex previous owner was leasing 1 dryer and 1 washer by paying $150/month and also sharing income (quarters, it was coin operated). When I took over, I bought my own commercial washer/dryer (Speed Queen) very reliable machines. I spent about $2000. In 1 year I got my money back by not paying $150/month, and was also getting close to $150/month from washer/dryer in coins. I did have a small issue second year of operation, and paid about $300 to have it fixed. So my preference is it own.
Rental Property Investor · MN · Member since 2015 · 186 posts · 149 votes
8y
To buy washer/dryer I went with macgray.com, and to deliver/install with bdslaundry.com. Whenever any service required, I had bdslaundry.com come and service.
Real Estate Investor · Portland, OR · Member since 2012 · 70 posts · 26 votes
8y
also try https://www.payrange.com i use it in a couple laundromats and some rentals. no special expensive card reading contraption. just a little internal device. tenants or customers can pay with their app standing next to the machine.
i would recommend owning also. commercial grade machines are designed to withstand laundromat traffic which is several uses per day 365 days a year for years. You're not going to have that kind of usage with tenants. So you shouldn't have too much maintenance, especially if you get new commercial grade machines.
Real Estate Investor · Portland, OR · Member since 2012 · 70 posts · 26 votes
8y
also with pay range, yes you can just have all the income from all your machines at various locations all go into one bank account. they send you weekly reports. it's pretty easy overall.
Real Estate Broker · Hugo, MN · Member since 2016 · 688 posts · 596 votes
8y
I had a 100 unit building that had the card system and it caused quite a bit of trouble. Seniors had difficulty, it’s harder to issue refunds, if the machines used to load money onto the cards were malfunctioning residents were unable to do their laundry. Others in the industry have liked them.