As you know, I had been away a while until I posted earlier this month. Life was swirling around us as usual, and my last post was quite a catch-up novel. But I didn’t reveal everything that was going on because we were working on a secret project! A secret project that is finally complete…so it’s time to announce…
WE WROTE ANOTHER BOOK!
Pulling it together felt like the birth of another child, so I guess it deserves a birth announcement:
Why did we write another book, you ask?
It was you, dear readers.
Over the last year, I’ve received a ton of reader mail asking for help; about lease negotiations, or how much a particular laundromat is worth, or whether to make an offer or not. Many of them were requests for consultations.
“I’ll pay you! I just need 30 minutes of your time!” they cried.
So it became very clear that a lot of people out there still need a lot more information. Well, information and confidence. And they need more than my blog alone can provide.
Many of you described the fear you have when it comes to investing in a laundromat, or any business for that matter. And that’s understandable. Fear of taking the first step, fear of failure, fear of living outside your comfort zone, fear of the unknown.
And then it finally hit me. After I found myself repeating the same strategies and stories and calculations over and over to one reader after another, I figured we should just pull everything we’ve learned directly or from veterans in the industry, and create a complete guidebook to laundromat investing. From start to finish. And then to really get folks set on the right path, we’d offer a discounted bundle that includes ALL of the spreadsheets and templates and checklists we used to successfully purchase and operate our own two stores.
Now that it’s all pulled together, it’s quite a package. It’s everything we wish we had when we started our own laundromat investing journey.
But with the amount of time and effort we devoted to it, we couldn’t just give it away. The blog costs money to run, and our time is worth something. So we’re not ashamed to put a price on the fruits of our labor. But for what is all included, it’s almost like we’re giving it away.
If you’re serious about investing in a laundromat, it’s a must-have. It will save you both time and money, and help take some fear out of the process.
Click Here to Check It Out …
A New Identity and a New Direction
As I already mentioned, I get a lot of reader mail, and these days about 90% of it is about investing in laundromats. So as much as I’ve resisted it, pushed it aside, ducked it and avoided it…the fact is…I’m now known as…
…the laundromat lady.
I tried to fight it. I didn’t set out to have this blog be about laundromat investing. I didn’t even want it to be about laundromat investing. But the reality is that there is only so much one can say about investing in index funds, or eliminating debt that hasn’t already been said. There’s a million (ok, maybe not a million, but a lot) of other personal finance blogs out there that cover everything else, but there’s no one that blogs about laundromat investing specifically.
So I guess it’ll be me. I accept the crown and I’ll wear it proud.
UPDATE – We now have a NEW website, Laundromats101.com!
This blog, MyShinyNickels.com, will remain a personal finance website, while all laundromat-related goodies, including the laundromat section of this blog post, have been moved to Laundromats101.com.
Click HERE to head to the new site…
WOW!
Congratulations!!!
I will buy the book.
The need for info….
Yes, the more I tried researching for specifics about laundromats, the more I realized it’s not out there. Everytime I googled for information about returns, and strategies your blog was on the first page of results. Sometimes my own question, or statement to you made it to the result page.
I started looking for my first mat and came across one less than two miles from my house. The laundromat looks horrible, broken machines, crumbling ceiling, all machines 9-15 years old, broken cabinets, and no air conditioning. I figured if it still makes money now…….. Oh, and no competition.
Problem is I don’t want a total urgent remodel before I know anything about the biz.
Anyway, happy for you and the book.
You are blooming (later) in life, you know, ……not 18 years old. Some come to full bloom in high school, some in their 30’s, some later. A few will bloom more than once, or keep on blooming, and of course, many die with their song still in their heart.
Keep on singing!
Hey Martin! It IS pretty crazy how much this blog has gone up the search engine ranks. We’re on page 1 for a lot of keywords for laundromat investing, and just recently hit 10,000 hits a month. Pretty cool for this little ‘ol laundromat/personal finance blog!
And the laundromat you describe a few miles from your house would be perfect for a repeat buyer. Someone’s second or third store. But you’re smart to avoid something too dilapidated for your first purchase. You want something just rundown enough that it can be improved with some basic cosmetic changes, but not so rundown that the machines are dropping like flies and you’re in over your head. (Something we cover in the book! 😉 )
Keep us posted!
Was starting to get into this blog and then this. Good luck on the book.
Hey mixedwiki, sorry if the new direction is disappointing to you. There will still be plenty of my normal musings and net worth updates, but we decided to keep the financial focus moving in the direction that most readers are looking for, and that’s laundromat investing.
Truthfully, it won’t be much different than what’s been posted for the last year. We’re just finally embracing what this blog has become.
And thanks for the well wishes on the book, we sold quite a few in just the first 24 hours. There’s clearly a need that many people have when it comes to guidance in laundromat investing, and we were pleased that we could fill it.
Hi Laura!
It sounds like you guys have had an AWESOME adventure with this project. I am curious to know, how much time on average per week did you guys invest in starting the laundromat and how much time in maintenance do you guys invest? I am thinking of a laundromat as my first adventure and it seems like a very profitable idea!
Hey Paul, when we first purchased the laundromat(s), we did a lot of cosmetic improvements. I would say the first two months we were there an average of 25 hours a week just working on remodeling. Once that was done, it was anywhere from 5 hours a week when things were quiet to 10 hours a week when there were more repairs or issues than usual. So it really can vary. There are weeks where not a single machine goes down, and then other weeks that we get three machines down right in a row.
I think the key is that this business is SEMI-passive. It does require some time and effort, especially if you want nice, healthy profits. You can’t just go in and collect money and expect it to run itself. But the great thing is that it usually doesn’t take much to be the best laundromat in the area.
For example, just by keeping a nice store, handling customer issues quickly, and being friendly, you will blow people’s minds because customers are so used to laundromats where the owner doesn’t care. There are customers that come to our stores from 15 miles away or more because we’re the best option around. And we want to keep it that way.
Good luck Paul, and keep us posted!
Not wanting a repeat of my (non) due diligence in 2004 with a different business, I decided to pay someone to analyze my potential Laundromats. I have one I am interested in in L.A.
He told me that the “Broker” in bizben listings is quit possibly not the real broker, and just another agent trying to get half the commission. Did you come across, or hear anything like that? The mat I am looking at is selling very cheap compared to the income. The “broker” has only said that they are “Motivated”. That answer doesn’t square off because its not a new listing. It should have sold already if that’s the only reason for the price. They are only asking about 2.2 times net. Yes, its a fixer but the price is still much lower than anything else relative to the net. I am also not getting any depth of info from the “Broker” beyond what is publically available.
If you are curious, I can send you the address to your email.
Is your book self-published? I should have read it by now!
Martin
First, yes, it’s self-published to PDF format with digital bonus files included. I may eventually roll it out to Amazon like I did our first book, but haven’t decided yet. I get a lot of traffic at this site, especially those interested in laundromat investing, so this book is already selling really well just from the blog alone.
Now about that laundromat you’re looking at, I don’t blame you for paying a consultant to help you analyze. And I’ve never heard about a listing broker not being the actual broker in an attempt to get some of the commission. Odd.
The fact they are asking for 2.2X net is quite low, you’re right. If it’s a MAJOR fixer like our second store was, 2.2X net might actually be right. We think most buyers took one look at our second store and walked out. It was pretty bad. It had been listed for $50k for a while with a few bites, then they lowered it to $40k, got some more bites, until we came along and offered what we thought it was worth. $28,000. I’m going to post about our second store soon, so you’ll see some before/after pictures. We’re not done yet, but it’s already taken a huge leap forward.
The problem with lower-priced stores is that sellers get a lot of tire-kickers. People that think “oooh, a cheap laundromat! I think I’ll buy it!” but they often have no cash available or have poor credit. Meanwhile, those with cash and great credit are looking at more expensive, turn-key stores. So these cash-poor buyers often end up wasting the seller’s time. Even with our second store, the buyer before us had it under contract for a while at $40k, and kept promising the seller that his cash was coming through “any day now”. When we made an offer of $28k cash, ready for a quick close, I think the seller was just excited to have a qualified buyer with a transaction that would actually come to completion. So he accepted.
So while I wouldn’t dismiss the laundromat you’re looking at, you definitely need to do your due diligence about the income as well as local competition. If the ballpark numbers work for you, you can always make an offer which is contingent on many things, including verification of tax returns. It’s very typical for a seller to not release those kinds of financial documents until an accepted offer is reached anyway. I list them in the book, but there are several clauses you should make sure you have in your offer. These include contingencies that dictate that the Buyer may withdraw the offer at any time with deposit returned if: Buyer deems seller financials unacceptable OR buyer is unable to obtain a lease at acceptable terms OR Buyer is unable to obtain financing at acceptable terms OR…etc, etc. With a well written offer, structured in a way that protects you the buyer, you can always walk away from the deal and still get your good faith deposit back.
Lastly, keep us posted around here!
Hi Laura,
Glad to have found your blog and book. I recently purchased a copy. I bought a laundromat fixer upper in May and just installed the machines 2 days ago. I used Danny D’Angelo’s method but pretty much did the negotiations myself. I’m glad your second store is coming along great. Looking forward to using your earnings calculations along with the book. The templates are worth the price alone. Thanks again and good luck!
That’s great Henry! I’m pulling a new blog post together that shows some more of the before/after work we did on the second store. It was a major fixer-upper at the start, so we’re proud of how far it’s come already. There’s some cash flow, but not a lot. (We only paid $28k for the place so our expectations were low to begin with.) But once we’ve got everything up to par, we’re really going to put the marketing efforts on blast and see where it goes. And, congrats on your laundromat purchase! We wish you much success.
Glad to have found your blog. Definitely looking into the laundromat business!