If you are not offering on-site laundry facilities for your apartment tenants, you may be missing out. As a manager or building owner, it may not seem like a good idea, but many people won’t even consider renting your apartments without access to laundry.
While there may be certain challenges of on-site laundry, it is more about the convenience of the tenants that should matter most. Laundry facilities are a big selling point for most people who won’t have laundry in their apartments.
Why You Should Offer On-Site Laundry Facilities
Unless there are hook-ups in the apartments for laundry, that you offer or they supply the equipment for, you need to have a laundry room for your tenants.
Convenience
This allows people in your building to have the convenience of doing their laundry when they want or need to. Whether you offer one large communal laundry area or a few machines per floor, or just a medium-sized room on every other floor, your tenants will be able to use them when they want.
If there are other facilities on-site, you may want to put the laundry room beside the gym or common area. Tenants can mingle and get to know each other. This builds community and they feel safer.
People who work shifts, have young families, need uniforms, or just don’t own very many changes of clothes will all appreciate the access to on-site laundry facilities.
Income
The on-site laundry doesn’t offer a lot of income, but there will be some. It may pay for the machines, whether you lease or own them. However, you can almost always charge a bit more on the rent for the convenience of providing laundry service on-site.
It’s also a less expensive option than offering laundry equipment in each apartment. The machines can be leased and tended to by the leasing company so it’s not an inconvenience to you.
If they don’t use machines provided in your building where they rent, they still need to do their laundry. That means they are taking their laundry and their money someplace else.
Selling Point
If there are no on-site laundry facilities, or nothing close by in the neighborhood, people are not going to be willing to rent from you. They don’t want to have to leave and travel just to do their laundry.
If someone has young children, they are going to need those machines every day. This will be a big issue when people are deciding to rent from you at all. It is going to make or break the deal for a lot of tenants.
Turnover is a big cost for landlords. You need to clean, paint, and fix repairs in the apartment and then try to find someone else to rent it. These things take time and they don’t always work out.
That can mean the unit is sitting empty for several months while you try to find tenants. Empty apartments mean loss of income. You also have invested in fixing the apartment, so it takes longer to recoup that money.
On-Site Laundry is a Smart Move
The downsides of having on-site laundry for your tenants doesn’t come close to what you gain. If you have a caretaker in the building, they will make sure the machines are clean, in good repair, and all working.
Buy or lease from us at RJ Kool. From service and maintenance to parts and supplies, RJ Kool is your partner for stress-free commercial laundry and cleaning equipment, and washing system management.
