3 to 5-Unit Owners: Laundry In Unit, or Basement?

Question

I am considering a purchase of a 4 unit building, with 2 bed 1 bath units in it.  Currently, there are pay-machines for laundry in the basement.

I am wondering if it would be a better decision to do stackable units in the apartments? This would allow me to:

• charge more for rent thanks to the added amenity
• really differentiate the apartments from others in the area, since no other apartments around have this feature
• compete more effectively against SFH rentals in the area (this suburb has a lot of them) since most SFH have in-home laundry

Obviously the downsides are potential for abuse of the machines (requiring added maintenance calls and potentially replacement costs), lost income from pay-machines in the basement, lost closet space and initial investment to install plumbing/venting and purchase appliances.

Interested to hear arguments for either side of this.

John Casmon · Answer

@Ben Ballinger You should listen to the BP podcast that @Jered Sturm did where he talked about making the cost of this upgrade passed along to tenants. In short, he made in-unit W/D available for tenants with the option to rent a W/D for around $40/month.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/bp-podcast-205snowballing-single-family-houses-apartment-complexes-jered-sturm/

Joseph Gozlan · Answer

@Ben Ballinger I think that first you need to evaluate if it's even possible. as @Deanna McCormick pointed out, Washers/Dryers in the units require special hookups (electricity, plumbing, venting, sometimes gas) this could cost you a lot of money to create these or to maintain them if the property is not setup for this.

Personally, I like the in-unit because it allows you to charge rent for the machines and it frees up your basement to generate more income by creating another unit or rentable storage units or you could create a shared space that will increase the attractiveness of your units (maybe a library, a game room, fitness room etc.),

Roger Poole · Answer

Great info people thanks. 1 w/d for 12 units i would hate life, think local laundrymats would be better than waiting.

Deanna McCormick · Answer

Washers, overflow.... drain pipes get clogged... As long as your having a contractor set up the venting and plumbing that will meet code requirements it's just sometimes people don't factor that in.

Yes it's a plus to have in the unit. Your going to have 4 washers and 4 dryers to take care of, like any appliance provided that's added expense and upkeep. So looking at the labor to vent, plumb, cost of machines. I'd guess 1600 per unit,, washer 400, dryer 350,, (oh is it electric ???or gas?? don't forget the power source cost to wire.. add 250, ) and labor for the plumbing and venting, for each unit charged by contractor.

Verses,, washer dryer in basement, and 1 washer and 1 dryer.. honestly for me it would be in the basement. one washer and one dryer is more than enough to handle 3-5 units,, I managed a complex and we had 1 washer/ dryer for 12 apts and worked fine.

So each unit is on separate meter for water and you have another separate meter for basement.. that's rare..

David Zheng · Answer

You'll get much much higher rents and attraction. Definitely a do in my book

Ben Ballinger · Answer

Why would I run into issues if I have a contractor properly pipe/vent/install the appliances during the unit renovations?  Maybe if I did a hack job myself, but I don't see those units as inherently having leaking issues unless I am missing something?

Ben Ballinger · Answer

Good points--right now with units in the basement I have to pay that laundry water usage–and the money from the coin laundry offsets that and then minimal income per month.If I was to add laundry to the units, all water usage could be passed on to the tenants, thus saving me that expense. True, I wouldn't get the coin income from the machines but after paying off the water usage, that's like $20 per month anyway.So it really comes down to: will the increase in rent (assuming any) net me more in return for the cost of the rough work to pipe/vent, plus the purchasing, installing and ongoing maintenance of said units.I suppose I could charge tenants for busting the machines if that happens? I just know so many people who don't ever check their dryer lint traps, or use too much soap, etc. I have no doubt tenants will do this on a regular basis and that there will be regular issues with the laundry units.

Deanna McCormick · Answer

YOur going to run into venting issues, and plumbing issues, changing to stackable units,, and you'll lose storage space..

keep it in the basement, you'll have less headaches from leaking water...

Does your basement have egress if not your tenants shouldn't be down there so.. just pointing that out.

3 to 5-Unit Owners: Laundry In Unit, or Basement?

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