How to Buy a Laundromat- Financing
I see so many people who are frozen in their journey towards financial freedom because they run into the barrier of financing. If nothing else, this thorough article should spark some ideas about how you might buy your first (or next!) laundromat, even if you don’t have the money sitting in your savings account waiting to be invested. I might argue that even if you did, it would probably still be better to find a creative way to finance your business or real estate acquisition. Your returns will be greater, your liquidity will be greater, and your opportunities will be greater! So here’s everything you need to know about laundromat financing.
Maybe you’re coming fresh off of the Laundromat Resource YouTube video that convinced you that laundromats might be the best investment you can make and you’re excited to get started. You’ve already learned how to calculate how much laundromat you can afford so you swiftly swipe to your bank app on your phone to check how much money you have to deploy in pursuit of financial freedom through laundromats… and your account is missing a couple of zeros you were hoping would be there. You might be feeling dejected right now. You’ll never be able to get started with your very own laundromat without the capital it takes to acquire one. Well, never fear. If you don’t have the money to buy a laundromat outright, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, as the morbid saying goes. I have compiled a list of 8+1 proven ways to get laundromat financing and take a step toward your financial freedom. Let’s dig in and find out how you can get that first (or next) laundromat!
Cash
Let’s start easy and talk to all of you financial ballers out there. If you have the cash, you can use cash to secure your laundromat. It is the simplest and most direct way of investing in a laundromat. You may be able to even get a deal if you offer to pay in cash. Cash gives you flexibility and leverage to be able to hit the numbers that you want to hit. You can often buy a distressed laundromat with cash at a discount (especially if it comes with the real estate!), fix it up, and refinance it in order to pull most, or all, of your capital back out. Making a cash offer on a laundromat can also help you beat out other financed offers in a competitive market. As you can see, cash makes laundromat financing easy when you have it. There are plenty of advantages to using cash to buy a laundromat.Downsides of Cash Purchases
Purchasing a laundromat with all cash does have its downsides, however. For one, you’re assuming all of the risk if you pay cash. When you use other people’s money (OPM) through some sort of laundromat financing, they are sharing the risk of your investment with you. And there is a risk, just as there is a risk with any investment. Second, when you use cash to purchase your laundromat, it ties that cash up and it is no longer available to use on another opportunity that might arise. When that stellar real estate deal pops up or a peer needs some capital to help fund a business startup and is offering equity in the company, it’s nice to have some cash on hand to spring on these kinds of opportunities. Tying your cash up in a single business may limit your opportunities to take advantage of deals that come your way. Third, you can often get higher cash on cash returns through using leverage. While you can get great returns through purchasing a laundromat with cash, your returns can jump even higher when using OPM and investing less of your own money into the acquisition of the laundromat. Fourth, often long-time laundromat owners would prefer to not get paid the full amount in one lump sum. This can result in a large tax hit for them. They would prefer to receive their money over time. You’ll read more below about how to help that seller get what they want while you get what you want: a laundromat!Consider Carefully Before Buying With Cash
As you can see, there are pros and cons to using your cash as laundromat financing. It’s nice to have the option if you can swing it, but sometimes, even if you can afford to buy a laundromat outright, it might make more financial and risk management sense to acquire alternate laundromat financing. Consult with a CPA or your agent to help you figure out what’s best for you if you’re not sure. For most of us, though, buying in cash outright isn’t an option. Many of you will need to utilize OPM to get into a deal. There are two main options to using other people’s money (OPM) to purchase a laundromat. OPM can come on the debt side, read loans, or on the equity side, read partnerships. The next six ways to finance a laundromat will come from one of these two sources in various ways. Let’s check them out.Bank Loan
Probably the most common way of financing a laundromat or real estate investment is with a bank loan. Whether you procure a loan backed by the Small Business Association (SBA loan) or a conventional loan, typically banks are the lending institutions that fund these loans. There are benefits and downsides to each type of loan that we won’t go into here. We’ll focus more on some of the benefits and downsides of getting your laundromat financing from banks..Bank Loan Benefits
Some of the benefits of a bank loan are really good. For example, the best perk of bank loans is that they often have some of the best interest rates available, as long as you meet the criteria. Banks lend at scale and are able to offer good rates. This is an obvious benefit for someone who is looking to borrow money to purchase a business. Lower interest rates mean a lower monthly payment, which equals higher cash flow to the borrower. The main point of most businesses is to generate cash flow, so any opportunity to reduce expenses, like interest payments, increases the potential cash flow of the business. Often, as is the case by an SBA loan, the loans are guaranteed by the government. This makes them lower risk, so banks don’t have to charge a higher interest rate to compensate for inevitable defaults. Government backing makes the loan more stable for the banks and for the borrower. Double bonus! Banks can be a great source of laundromat financing.Bank Loan Downsides
There are some downsides to bank loans, however. I’m just going to go ahead and say it. Applying for a bank loan can be a huge pain! The paperwork, the documentation, the questions, the scrutiny. The anticipation. All of it. Huge pain. Rip out my fingernails. It’s preferable to the process of bank loan approval. Daunting is a good work to describe it. Major downside in my book. An obstacle that can be difficult to overcome with bank loans is the down payment requirement. Often you’ll need to put down anywhere from 25%-40% of the purchase price to qualify for a loan. This means for a $500,000 loan you’ll need to come up with anywhere from $125,000-$200,000 for the down payment, not including all of the other expenses you face when you purchase a laundromat. Another potential downside is that the business you are buying, or starting, has to qualify in the bank’s eyes for your laundromat financing to get approved. This can be a downside, especially in the laundromat industry. There is a lot of uncertainty with laundromats in the bank’s eye. This is largely due to the fact that most laundromats today operate on an all-cash basis. It is difficult for banks to verify income. This verification is the peace of mind that banks crave to ensure their investment in your business is secure. This also makes it difficult to finance under-performing laundromats (or real estate) with a bank loan. This means, you may see perfectly clearly how much income is coming in. You may have a locked-in plan to increase the cash flow of the business immediately. You may have a grand plan for revolutionizing the neighborhood through your little laundromat, but the bank usually doesn’t care. They want to know their money is safe and secure. If the laundromat is performing a little too close to breaking even, or the income amount is suspect, the bank will likely hesitate on granting you laundromat financing.The Good Side of the Downside
But here’s the good side of this whole downer. If the bank doesn’t approve, they may be saving you from making a mistake and buying, or paying too much, for a business that is not worth what you were willing to pay for it. It is always beneficial to have another wise set of eyes on a deal, especially if it’s your first one. Here’s another potentially painful reality about bank loans: you, personally, may have to qualify for the loan to get approved for laundromat financing. The bank may require you to have a certain credit score, or your credit score may affect the rate you can qualify for. They may require you to personally guarantee the loan. They may need proof that you can pay the loan payments if the business fails to be able to make the payment. These are real considerations to make when entertaining the idea of using a bank to financing your laundromat. It may not be pleasant being personally scrutinized by a stranger who is digging around in your life looking for reasons to crush your dream of financial freedom through laundromat ownership. I’m being somewhat dramatic, of course, but it definitely can be a pain to get a bank loan to purchase your laundromat investment. It may be worth all the trouble to get a lower rate if it’s an option for you. But if it’s not worth it, or if you don’t qualify for the loan, you have more options! Fear not! Let’s see what other options we have.Partnerships
Ok, we’ve addressed the top conventional strategies, let’s start getting a little more creative. This is not a completely foreign concept, I’m sure, but one of the best ways to have a successful acquisition is to partner up with someone. There are many different ways to partner together, and it can be as simple or complex as you want to make it. We won’t dig into the weeds in this article, but let’s talk about some of the good, the bad and the ugly of partnerships. Let’s start with the good because the good mostly outweighs the bad in most scenarios if you partner with the right person. The good of partnership revolves around the warm, fuzzy aphorism: We can be better together! Yay! Good vibes and problem-free wealth all around!1 + 1 ≠ 2
But in all honesty, you really can accomplish more together. 1 + 1 does not always equal 2. When it comes to partnerships in business, it often equals more than 2! It can also equal less than 2, and sometimes even a negative, but we’re not talking about that. We’re keeping the good times rolling for now. So why is it that 2 (or more) can often get more accomplished than 1? On the Bigger Pockets podcast (a great real estate investing resource) I’ve heard them talking about the three things needed to get deals done: knowledge, time/energy, and money. Often times we will only have one or two of those things. If we can partner with someone who has what we’re missing, more can get done in a better fashion. You may have time to hunt deals down, to do the work it takes to run a laundromat, and to build the relationships you’ll need to succeed in this business. But, you may not have the knowledge or money to get a deal done. Side note, if it’s the knowledge you’re lacking, you’re in the right place! Check out the Laundromat Resource Blog for more articles, the Laundromat Resource Podcast on your favorite podcast player, and the Laundromat Resource YouTube channel to learn everything you need to know about running a laundromat! A great place to start is with our FREE Beginner’s Guide to Buying Your First Laundromat. And, as always, feel free to sign up for your FREE Coaching Call with Jordan on our website or our Facebook page. Ok, sorry for the plug. Back to rainbows and butterflies!The Power of Partnerships
The point of why partnerships can be so powerful is that a partner, or partners, can fill in your weak points with their strengths, and vice versa. And by your powers combined…. Uhhh… you can make better investments and grow more rapidly! You can split the work to suit each partner optimally. Your Return On Time (ROT, thanks Keith Weinhold from the Get Rich Education Podcast) is much higher. Another perk is that entrepreneurship and business ownership can be an isolating and lonely experience. Having someone to ride the highs with is way more fun. And we all know that misery loves company. So when things get tough, it’s nice to have a partner help you devise a strategy to turn the downswing into a net positive. All that to say, finding a partner with cash and/or credit can make this form of laundromat financing a win/win!The Downsides of Partnership
Ok, we’ve held hands and sang Kumbaya. What’s the downside? There are some downsides for sure. And if you haven’t yet, you will hear some horror stories. Prior to me, my family has one attempted business startup and disintegrated and caused a rift in the family. Not pretty. So things can go wrong. We’ll explore some constructive ways to partner up in the future, but I won’t sugar coat it going it. It’s not always rainbows and butterflies after all. First, with two (or more people), you’re splitting whatever profit, cash flow, equity, assets, and whatever else is part of the deal you negotiated with your partner. This means that, although your ROT is potentially much greater, your Return on Investment (ROI) can be less. But it’s often not 50% of what you would get if you did it yourself, as we might logically conclude. Remember, in business 1 + 1 should equal more than 2. Second, unless you are crystal clear and consistently communicate, it is very easy for partners to have different expectations, different ideas of what to do with the business, and different ideas of how to use the money the business generates. You can probably see how any one of these problems might be detrimental to the business, and the partnership. Getting things down in writing before you’re committed can help alleviate some of these concerns, but it does take ongoing work to maintain a good partnership. Third, choosing the wrong partner can be devastating. If you partner with someone who has a wildly different vision than you, who doesn’t keep their end of the bargain, or who is downright dishonest, you’ll likely find yourself as a main character in a business partnership Halloween horror. These are the stories that you’ve likely heard from the people who will plead with you not to get into business with a partner. And they’re not wrong.Partnerships Are Commitments
Partnering with someone in business is similar to marrying someone. It’s often a long term commitment that takes work to maintain. Times will inevitably turn tough and you’re stuck together. They could turn out to be someone different than who they led you to believe before the partnership. The relationship can be one-sided. Your partner could be a “cheater”, stealing money or time from you and the business. It’s crucial that if you enter a partnership to buy a laundromat or real estate that you establish a relationship before you commit, that you outline in writing the expectations of the partnership and the business, and that you have a plan for how to run the business in good times and in lean times. Because despite the risks, partnering can be a fast path to wealth. If you’re looking for a business partner to purchase a laundromat or commercial real estate with, contact us. We would love to get to know you and explore the option to partner together or to connect you with someone to partner with!Equity Line of Credit/ Cash Out Refinance
Many of you reading this right now are thinking, “Great! I don’t have cash, the bank won’t touch me with a 10 foot pole, and I have NO idea who I would even ask to partner with me (except for your friendly, neighborhood Laundromat Resource crew! We got your back.)!” Never fear! Some of you are sitting on a pile of gold and you never even considered it. A great way to fund a business purchase, like, for example, hypothetically, a laundromat, is to tap into a source of capital that you already have. This may come in the form of equity in another investment or your primary home. Let your other investments be your source of laundromat financing. Often times we have equity in our homes that is doing absolutely nothing to increase your wealth. I know, I know, this is kind of a sacred cow for a lot of people. Debt is bad, debt free is good. Yada yada yada. In case you’re not yet on the leverage users bandwagon yet, if might be time to fall off the debt free wagon and hitch up to debt wagon. And before you throw out everything I’m saying in this section, and therefore this post, and therefore all content we post on the web, and therefore the entire internet as a whole (Did I go too far? I went to far…), check out this article on why equity in your home may not be the best thing for you. I realize this option may not suit everyone, but I do think that if you’re sitting on equity in your home or in an investment everyone should at least consider whether they should tap into it or not. I’ll just make one main point on this topic here and let you decide whether you want to consider it further or not. You essentially have 2 options. 1. Leave your money tied up in your home or an asset to earn no return for you, or 2. Liberate your equity and put that money to work putting money into your pocket every month. That’s what the options boil down to in my book. Obviously there are other things to consider, but equity from your home or an investment can be a stellar way to purchase your very first (or next) laundromat. It is capital that isn’t currently designated for an investment purpose. It’s relatively cheap to access. It is OPM (other people’s money), which means that the risk is spread out to the institution or people who are giving you access to your equity.Accessing Home Equity
There are three main ways to access equity from your home or an asset. The first way is to take out a home equity line of credit (HELOC), or other line of credit for a non-real estate asset. This essentially gives you access to a portion of your credit on an as-needed basis. It works very much the same as a credit card. You use what you need when you need it. You pay interest only on what you use. When you pay it back, your line of credit is still there to be used again if you need it again. The second option is to do a cash-out refinance. This involves taking out an entirely new loan greater than the balance of the original loan, paying off the original loan and keeping whatever is left over to be used for whatever your little heart desires, like, I don’t know, purchasing a laundromat. The third possibility to access equity in a home or an asset is to sell it, take some or all of the proceeds from the sale to purchase your laundromat. The obvious downside to this option is that after the sale you may have a shiny new laundromat, but you may not have a home any longer. Might I suggest setting up cots behind the dryers to keep you warm at night? In all seriousness though, selling a home or an asset can be a great way to pick up a new asset, especially if your home or other assets are holding you back from achieving your life goals. Now that you know the options, how do you know which one to choose? Well, for that question I’m going to have to throw out the ol’ cop out answer: It depends. Speaking with a few lenders will help you sort out if a HELOC or a cash-out refinance is a better option for your particular scenario. As for selling your home or another asset, that’s something you’ll need to put up against your own goals and dreams. I am all for letting the good go to chase after the great! If your home turns into an anchor, keeping you from going where you want to go in life, cut the chain and build the life you want to live! If your home plays a key role in helping you live a fulfilled and meaningful life, check out a HELOC or cash-out refinance, or one of the other options we’re outlining in this post. Don’t part with a home or an asset that is helping you get where you want to go in life!Private Loan
Partnering with another investor to acquire the laundromat financing required to purchase a laundromat typically means some kind of equity split, meaning each investor owns part of the equity in the business. It is also possible to partner with another investor on the debt side. This comes in the form of getting a loan from another investor and making monthly payments to the investor, similar to how you would make payments to a bank when you get a bank loan. The investor just becomes the bank and could be the ideal source of laundromat financing for you! There are lots of benefits to private funding, both for you as the business owner and for the investor lending the money. Let’s run through a couple of the benefits. The first benefit to using a private loan is that the two parties can negotiate terms that meet the needs of both. They can be more flexible. This can help you as the business owner and the investor in a variety of ways, as all aspects of the loan are negotiable. You can lay out the length of the loan, the interest rate, down payment amount, the payment schedule, the security for the loan, and more. Sounds great, right? So, who are these mythical private investors who will loan you gobs of money to fund your dreams? You might be surprised where this money could come from.Sources of Private Capital
A potential source of private funding is family or close friends. This can be a controversial move, as some people insist on never taking a loan from family or friends. The reason generally arises from a fear of broken relationships if the loan can’t be paid back. And to be clear, this is definitely a risk. Anytime you borrow money, unless you have the full amount of the loan stored in cash reserves, there is a risk of default. And money owed between family members or friends is a quick way to tear a rift in the relationship. I do encourage you to distinguish, in your own mind, the difference between a private loan to pay off other debts or to buy conveniences or items that will depreciate and a private loan to make an investment. While it’s true that the inability to pay back the loan could cause problems, paying a family member back their money consistently, with interest, can actually strengthen relationships.Finding Private Capital
There are also plenty of people out there who have extra money sitting in the bank, not earning anything for them. If you get to know them and let them know they could be making a decent percentage on that money by lending it to you, they could be the answer to your funding issue. You find these people in a variety of ways. Here’s a couple of ideas to get you started:-
Ask your circle who they know who might have unutilized capital that you can put to work for them.
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Hang out in places where people with money hang out and get to know them. Country clubs, community lodges (Elks, Moose, Masonic, Banana Slug, etc.), and even a local church, religious organization, or charity.
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Talk to everyone you can about your goals, your plans, and what you’re looking for. You might be surprised at who might connect you with someone who can fund your first (or next) laundromat purchase!
Seller Financing
One of the main sources of private funding in the laundromat industry in particular is from the previous laundromat owner. Often long-time owners who have little to no debt on their business even prefer to fund all or part of the deal for you to avoid paying high capital gains taxes. It benefits them, and it can benefit you. Again, this specific case of private funding can be particularly beneficial to both parties. Not only do all of the benefits outlined in the previous section apply, but sellers can be particularly motivated to finance your purchase of their laundromat. As mentioned above, sellers can face high capital gains taxes by accepting a lump sum of money and spreading the proceeds of the sale can save them a lot of money on taxes. If the seller has no solid plans of what to do with all or part of their money when they sell, it can be an attractive option to let that money earn significantly more than it would sitting in a bank account. It is also much more of a stable return than the stock market can provide. And, it keeps their money invested in an asset that they know and understand. These are all great selling points when asking the seller to carry a note on the business. It never hurts to ask a seller what they plan on doing with the money from the sell. If they don’t have a plan, if they seem unsure, or if they only need a portion of the sale, it might be worth outlining some of the benefits to them to carry a note on the business.Benefits of Seller Financing
Seller financing allows you, as the buyer, to avoid the hassles and hoops of some of the other financing options. It allows you to negotiate terms that will help your business succeed. The seller has a larger interest in ensuring you succeed when they have their own money invested in you. It can sometimes be difficult to get conventional financing for an existing laundromat, as the all-cash nature of the business makes it tough for banks to know how healthy the business actually is. It can be tempting for shady owners to hide income when it benefits them, and inflate income numbers when they benefit from that. Also, many owners don’t keep very tidy books, if they keep books at all. Without those hard numbers, the banks will be hesitant to give you any money. They are very particular about losing money they lend out for some reason. Seller financing may become necessary if this is the case unless a cash buyer can be found. This can give you a negotiating advantage to help you secure a better price, more advantageous terms, or perhaps both.Infinite Returns With Seller Financing
You can use seller financing to fund the entire deal, meaning you have no money out of your pocket to acquire the laundromat. This is one of the ways that you can participate in the investment legend of infinite returns! Typically, in order to calculate what percentage of return we get on the money we invested we use a simple math formula:Yearly cash flow / Amount invested = Return on Investment (ROI)
Let’s do a quick example. Let’s say you buy a $100,000 laundromat all cash. It nets you $30,000 per year of annual income. You probably don’t need the formula to know what your return is on this particular investment, but indulge me.
$30,000 / $100,000 = .3, or 30% Return on Investment (ROI)
Now, let’s pretend that the seller financed 100% of your acquisition, or $100,000. Your loan terms can vary widely, but let’s say your payment comes out to $2,000 per month, or $24,000 per year. That leaves you with $6,000 per year in cash flow, with none of your money invested. Let’s do the math.
$6,000 / 0 = ummmmm, I broke my calculator
If you remember back to junior high math (or whenever we learn this stuff), anything divided by 0 is ∞ (infinity). This means that the return on your investment of $0 is infinite. Behold! The legend of the infinite returns! It exists, and laundromats are one of the vehicles that you can use to accomplish this fabled milestone.
But sellers often won’t provide 100% laundromat financing. Often they have plans for some of the money, but not all of it. In that case, they may finance the down payment as a second loan with a bank loan or another loan. This, again, could leave you with no money in the deal. Another opportunity to chase after those fabled infinite returns!Seller Financing as an Asset to You
Another likely scenario requires some money out of your pocket, but not as much. Say you secure a bank loan for 80% (or whatever percent) of the purchase price. That means you need to come up with 20% of the purchase price for a down payment. Often the sellers will agree to finance, say, 10% of the purchase price. This helps because instead of coming up with 20% of the purchase price, you only have to come up with half of that. And your half can come from your bank account or from another one of these financing techniques. As you can see, the seller can be a huge asset in getting you into your first laundromat as an owner. If it is something that would be beneficial to you in your acquisition, always ask the seller if they are interested in carrying the note. Your broker should be able to help you out with that.Retirement Funds- ROBS and Self-Directed IRAs
This next way to fund your first (or next!) laundromat deal is borrowed from a real estate financing technique that I’ve used. It is in the same category as a private loan, but it is a special case of private loan. This has to do with tapping into your retirement funds or the retirement funds of other people to give them a tax sheltered return on their money that will likely be more stable than the stock market and could possibly yield them a better return on their money. There are a couple of different options for using retirement funds as laundromat financing. I’ll mention two of them here but I won’t really go into too much detail on them. They each have their own regulations, rules, and compliance responsibilities. Each of them work a little bit differently. With each of them you risk penalties and taxation if they are used in a way that does not comply with government regulations. I don’t say this to discourage you from using this form of funding. I do say this to let you know that it is mandatory that you handle this money correctly. I would strongly advise you to do a little googling of each of these to get a feel for how they each work and to get a handle of the pros and cons of each. This will help you decide which one(s) might be a good fit for you. I also strongly suggest you seek out qualified help in ensuring compliance. Don’t do this on your own. It’s not worth risking the penalties. Here are two different options and a very brief description of each. Again, I encourage you to google them to learn more.Roll Over as Business Startups (ROBS)
The first source of retirement funds that you can use to fund your laundromat is called Rollover as Business Startups. This taps into your own retirement funds and allows you to use it tax free to start your own business. There are certain criteria that need to be met to be able to take advantage of this tool, so check to see if your retirement account qualifies.Self Directed IRA
The second source of retirement funds that you can use to fund your laundromat is called a Self-Directed IRA (Individual Retirement Account). Many people have money sitting in a 401k from a previous employer that is invested in a low yield, high fee program. Many have money similarly invested in an IRA. Encouraging them to roll those accounts into a Self-Directed IRA gives them the freedom to invest in assets other than the mutual funds they’re probably currently invested in. This benefits the investor by giving them more control over their own money. It allows them to seek higher returns with their retirement money. Investing retirement funds let’s them secure their money with a hard asset like real estate or washers and dryers. And, gives them an opportunity to use their retirement funds philanthropically in a community while they wait to be able to access them. Again, there are criteria that need to be met and regulations that need to be followed in order to successfully utilize this funding method, but it can be a powerful source of funding for you. There is a tremendous amount of retirement money out there in the stock market that is being chipped away at by fees. Freeing some of it to generate real returns backed by something tangible is good for you and good for the future retiree.Assume an Existing Loan
Let’s say, that for whatever reasons, you’re in a jam and you can’t use any of the other financing options we’ve talked about so far. You do have another option. It is to assume the existing loan. Now, many loans explicitly forbid this. But, not all of them do. Some loans are assumable. An assumable loan is simply a loan that allows the new owner to take over the payments on the same terms as outlined in the original agreement. Often, when you purchase a house, for example, you get your own loan and that loan pays off the existing loan and the rest goes to the seller. When you assume a loan, you don’t originate a new loan, you simply transfer the old loan from the seller to you and you take over the payments. The benefit of assuming the existing loan as laundromat financing is that it is typically cheaper than starting a new loan and the business should be able to support it. Also, if you’re having trouble securing a new loan on the business, it gives you another option to add the business to your portfolio. If the business is worth the loan amount or slightly less, it can help the seller get out of the business without coming out of pocket and can help you to get into the business without coming out of pocket. I recommend you only do this if you’re sure the business is cash flow positive and/or you have a definite value add opportunity to boost your equity quickly. Assuming the existing loan is just one more tool to have in your toolbelt. It won’t be an option for every purchase and many loans forbid assumption, but for the right business and the right loan, it can be a great way to help you get into your first (or next!) laundromat.Word of Caution
If you’ve run through all of these options and you’re still having a hard time coming up with the money to purchase the business, it might be a good sign that you haven’t found the deal that you may have thought you did. I always recommend listening to people with experience and listening to people who would have skin in the game. If you are denied a loan, it would be worth asking for the reasons for denial. Lenders typically know when a deal is not a good one. When they deny a loan, they usually have a good reason. I say “usually” because they also tend to be very conservative, which makes them wary of all-cash businesses like laundromats, where it is difficult for them to know true, precise numbers. Banks also lack vision. If you can see a big value add opportunity, they may not see it even if you try to explain it to them. So, listen to their reasons if you’re denied a loan and judge for yourself whether they are legitimate or if they lack the vision to see the opportunity.The Golden Option
Ok, we’ve gone over the 8 proven ways to finance a laundromat in some detail. But we haven’t talked about the most powerful way to finance a laundromat. Each of these methods of laundromat financing has its strengths and weaknesses. Each has its place in different contexts and it is important to know each of them so that when opportunities arise you don’t miss them. They are tools in your funding toolbelt. The +1 alluded to in the title recognizes that the world of business and real estate funding is a complex system. It takes little to no creativity to save up a 25% down payment and fund 75% through the bank. That’s one way to do it, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, as you may have read before, great deals are not found, they are made. The Golden Option is when you craft an offer utilizing a combination of the laundromat financing strategies to maximize your returns and minimize the money you have to put down out of your own pocket.Great Deals Are Created
Great deals are able to be created when you can control either the price of the business or real estate, or the terms. Knowing your numbers, understanding the business, and utilizing great negotiation technique can help you control the price. Setting your minimum deal standards and not deviating from them keeps you from overpaying and aides you in achieving the returns you need from your investment. Utilizing creative financing is the way that you control the terms. Finding ways to creatively weave several of these 8 proven ways to finance a laundromat together can create terms that can also help you meet your minimum deal standards. Often times, if the seller won’t budge on their asking price, you can still achieve your ROI standard by negotiating terms that compensate for an asking price that is higher than you would normally pay. For example, negotiating extremely low or no interest for all or part of the loan, or for a period of time can reduce payments on a slightly higher price to help you achieve your ROI standard. Combining that with assuming an assumable loan drastically reduces the amount of money the seller needs for the business to pay off the loan. This requires far less money out of pocket up front and smaller monthly payments, increasing your liquid capital on the front end and your cash flow ongoing.Conclusion
Don’t let a financial barrier stand in your way to building a path to your financial freedom. Be creative. Take a chance and see what is out there. You never know when you’re going to stumble over success! If you are in the market for a laundromat or would like to be, we would love to help you find one that suits your needs. Set up a coaching call with us so we can get your started on your path to financial freedom through laundromat ownership!If you own a laundromat and are wanting to sell, we would love to pair you up with one of our investors looking to buy. We specialize in laundromats and retail strip centers. We own them ourselves and understand both the business and real estate. We can help you optimize your business to ensure that you get what you need in a purchase.
Remember, results come with action. Results that stick come with action that starts today! Don’t wait. Learn the basics, then take an experienced guide along the way to shortcut to learning everything else you need to know.
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