Laundromat

does anyone have any idea at all how to price a laundromat? I can get close with the real estate price and I can guestimate the equipment. I asked for a Sch E but haven't gotten it yet.

Comments(10)

  • cjmazur18th June, 2004

    Ask commercial brokers in the area what the going cap rates are.

    How can they "not have" a sch e or equivalent books for a business entity?

    Sounds fishy. I would want to know what the montly p/l was for the last 2 years.

  • studlee18th June, 2004

    Hello,
    Check out the Coin Op Magazine online. Sign up for free delivery at home. This will give you a lot of valuable info on the laundering business. They will give you lots of pointers and tell you who can appraise laundrymats. They even have software you can buy to do it yourself. Keep in mind laundries are an all cash business without much inventory. Many owners "slip themselves some money" without reporting it on their taxes if you know what I mean.
    I own a laundrymat/bar so you can do your laundry and get drunk too. If you have any questions I will try to help.
    Hope I helped.
    Jeff

  • commercialking19th June, 2004

    businesses are generally worth 2 to 5 times the average of the last 2 years net income. Which end of that scale depends on how hard it is for customers to move elsewhere and how stable the business is. In your case that is probably on topof the value of the real estate. I don't know if this is a seperate trade mag or not but there is a Journal of theCoin Laundry Association -- very helpful.

  • InActive_Account19th June, 2004

    thank you everyone. apparently the owner got into serious IRS trouble and a private investor somehow stepped in. now, they're going to auction off the property for what they can get - they are going to try it several ways, building only, business only w/5 year lease on building and finally as an ongoing business. I'm only interested in the ongoing business. I am assuming there won't be a lot of potential buyers and I'm visioning a good deal - auction not until 7/13 so I can do some more homework. Won't my children be in heaven if I do this and tell them what their new venture will be

  • ctrei22nd June, 2004

    Try and find out what the gross annual sales are laundromats generally sell between 50 -100 % of the gross sales. Since, the irs is invovled the net was likely underreported. If the equipment is old and needs relacing the above obviously does not apply. Check www.Bizbuysell.com for laundromats in your area and bear in mind that the businesses listed may sell for 50% or less of asking price.

  • InActive_Account23rd June, 2004

    thanks all - the ones listed in my general area (most 25+ miles away) were about 6x more than I was thinking. still haven't seen a P& L or a Schedule E and I certainly don't have enough experience to buy into something with no numbers so I'll probably bug them a little more for figures and then rough out a price in my mind, attend the auction and see how close my estimates are - I've been sending my daughter in several times a day to check on the number of machines running and we've been keeping a VERY rough usage chart

    thanks everyone for your help

  • ctrei23rd June, 2004

    one other thought is to contact whoever manufactured the machines and find out who the local distributor or salesperson is they probably have info on this laundromat. If you can obtain a couple of years utilities they can probably also figure out what type of volume the laundromat was doing. hope this helps.

  • InActive_Account14th July, 2004

    wow. attended the auction yesterday and was very surprised. there were about a dozen people there and I'm assuming several of them were other laundry owners just seeing what was happening. only 2 bids were made and the high bid was a wealthy guy who owns a laundromat several blocks away on the same busy street. His bid was $105,000 and that was turned down. Property is assessed at $126,000. Their info sheet indicates net operating income of $23,536. I'm not sure what the guy would have actually taken but when the auctioneer was trying to ge the bid of $105,000 to go up he said several times something like 'this isn't even close'.

    more general info to tuck into my already filled brain

  • cwal14th July, 2004

    was the $105,000 bid for the real estate & business or just the real estate?... regards, c.walker

  • InActive_Account15th July, 2004

    everything, real estate, business, equipment, etc. for paperwork purposes, they announced that the sales price would be divided 80% real estate, 20% 'other'.

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