Why Can’t I Find a Good Laundromat to Buy?
Currently there is a large demand from financially secure individuals and entities searching for a Laundromat to buy. This is the highest level of demand I’ve witnessed in the past forty-five years. Too many people searching for a limited demand results in overvalued Laundromats for sale.
In light of this reality, it is wise to be extremely careful in your due diligence process and evaluation of the site of a potential purchase. Many of the available inventory consists of what can be politely called loser locations. It is my opinion that in some settings, with aggressive distributors engaged in building and selling stores, the undesirable location of many stores are being sold to the public.
Devious developers have improperly located about half of the sites currently in the overall inventory of existing stores by ignoring lease terms and the three legs of the stool of success: Demand (population density), Visibility (need to find it to use it) and Parking (not enough or not properly located.) Add this reality to influencers and self-promotors claiming they have the secrets to turn loser locations and zombie mats into cash flow giants. However, this is seldom the actual result.
Not every area has bunches of Laundromats for sale. Most of the listings for Laundromats for sale come from densely populated urban areas where too many Laundromats have been built and the newbies who bought the pipedream but now want to sell to another unsuspecting buyer. Have you also noticed how many other types of businesses are not for sale on the internet? Ever see a Union 76 or a McDonalds listed on LoopNet, BizBen or BizBuySell? When there are a lot of Laundromat businesses for sale in a city or area it often means that you're in a territory that has been overbuilt and some current owners are trying to dump their mistakes.
Not every area has licensed real estate agents who use online advertising to list their business listings. The Multiple listing service is used in many areas by the real estate agents. Here co-op selling is done by the agents and each buyer and seller can have their own agent. Check with a local licensed real estate agent if they have any Laundromats listed on their Multiple service. I think I can also suggest that the attitude of many owners is reflected in being a little reluctant to give 10% of their sales price to a broker who may spend only a few hours arranging some paperwork. There are some owners who elect to have a "for sale by owner" sale and may use online searches of Facebook, LinkedIn, Craig’s List, eBay or their local newspaper to advertise their willingness to sell.
Finally, when you have a city or area where there is not a predatory distributor overbuilding Laundromats, you find more happy owners who are making money and are more likely to keep their business and not offer it for sale.
The best way to find a good store is personal visits to all the locations that are in the area where you live or where you work. Generally, depending on traffic, this area should be 15 to 30 minutes from your home or office. Dropping off a letter detailing a desire to purchase a Laundromat can provide some responses. Online searching is great for many items but not necessarily for Laundromats and diamond rings.
And, once you’ve found a good Laundromat, promote it:
