Jordan Berry [00:00:00]:
I’ve done over 1,500 consulting calls in the laundromat industry, and this is one of the most asked questions that I get. Jordan, how do I buy a laundromat? And look, I would love to answer this question, and it’s why this whole channel exists, and we’re going to answer it completely. In fact, we’re putting together a whole 8-part series just to answer this question. I’m calling it the Complete Laundromat Buyer’s Blueprint. But if I’m being honest with you, and that’s kind of my whole thing here, that’s actually the wrong question for us to start with. And the right one, the one that not a lot of people ask me is this: should I buy a laundromat? Now listen, laundromats are just a vehicle. And, uh, there’s lots of different vehicles you can take to accomplish your goals, whether it’s financial freedom or, you know, a little bit of cash flow on the side or trying to build generational wealth, all those things. Are aspirational and are great goals to aim at, but there’s different ways to get there, right? So the question is, is a laundromat the right method, the right vehicle for you? And the question of how do I buy one and should I buy one? 2 very different questions.

Jordan Berry [00:01:15]:
And which one you start with determines everything about where you’re going to end up. I’ve seen it happen a lot. Someone watches a few videos, gets excited, rushes out to find a deal and ends up owning a business they’re completely wrong for financially, emotionally, Emotionally, physically, practically, and now they’re stuck. In fact, I’ve had some people on the Laundromat Resource Podcast who have shared exactly that story, and I’ve done lots of consulting calls with people who got into this business the wrong way or for the wrong reasons. And you know what? They needed help figuring out how to get out of it. So I don’t want that for you. And before we get into the how, and we will, don’t, don’t worry. Every single episode of the series, we’re going to dive into the how.

Jordan Berry [00:02:00]:
Well, we’re going to start with the should. Should you buy a laundromat? And listen, I’m Jordan Berry. I’ve been in the laundromat industry for, I don’t know, 13, 14 years now. I’ve owned them, I’ve sold them, I’ve helped hundreds, if not more people buy them. And in this episode, episode 1 of the Complete Laundromat Buyer’s Blueprint, we’re going to have an honest conversation about whether this business is actually right for you or not. And some of what I’m about to say might be a little bit uncomfortable. It might go against what you’ve been hearing about how great and easy laundromats are on TikTok or YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels or wherever you’ve been looking. And listen, I think that’s a good thing.

Jordan Berry [00:02:41]:
If it saves you from making a $300,000 mistake, that’s worth a little bit of discomfort. And make no mistake, if you don’t know me or my story, I made a 6-figure mistake buying my very first laundromat, and it took me years to dig myself out of that hole, which is another reason why I’m doing this Laundromat Buyer’s Blueprint, uh, so that you don’t make the same mistakes and get into it the right way. Because this can be an incredible vehicle for you to build your wealth, get cash flow, leave your 9 to 5, whatever your goals are here. So let’s get into it. I want to talk about why people get excited about this business. And why you’re probably here. Laundromats have had their moment lately, and honestly, it is for a good reason. They’re a cash business, although that’s changing.

Jordan Berry [00:03:30]:
They’re recession resistant. People need clean clothes, whether the economy’s booming or it’s tanking. They could be relatively passive. We’re going to get more into that, but they can be relatively passive once they’re running well. And for the right person, they can be a genuinely life-changing investment. I’ve seen that happen over and over. It’s been that way for me. And I’ve seen people, I’ve had clients buy one laundromat and within a couple years they’ve replaced their entire salary or even faster than that.

Jordan Berry [00:04:01]:
And I’ve seen people use a laundromat as a launching pad for multiple locations, adding service business with a drop-off, pickup and delivery businesses, and really explode their wealth from what looked like a pretty unsexy business. In fact, it’s only recently that laundromats have gotten more sexy and more Cool. And that’s real. And that really does happen. And I told you, listen, I’m going to be honest with you in this whole series, but you know, here’s what also happens. People buy laundromats that bleed money because they didn’t know how to evaluate them. People buy laundromats they can’t manage because they didn’t think through the operational reality. People get stuck with equipment nightmares and bad leases and seller misrepresentation.

Jordan Berry [00:04:45]:
I’ve fallen prey to All of those and more, and I could go on about how this business can go wrong. But the difference between the success stories and the horror stories almost always come down to one thing: preparation. Preparation starts with honest self-assessment. So let’s do that right now real quick. I want to tell you right up front who this business is not good for. Laundromats are not good for everybody. And I want to tell you who they’re not good for, because I think that’s more useful than just telling you how great they are, because I do think they’re great. But again, they’re not for everybody.

Jordan Berry [00:05:23]:
And listen, you probably are not a great fit for laundromat ownership right now if number one, you’re expecting something truly passive. I know exactly what the pitch sounds like to you. Buy the laundromat, machines do the work, money comes in. Eventually that can be close to true. Uh, but in the beginning, you need to be involved. You need to understand your equipment, your numbers, your customers. Laundromats reward engaged owners, especially at the start, and especially if you merge into the service side of the business, the drop-off, the pickup and delivery. The more engaged you are, the better.

Jordan Berry [00:06:03]:
So you can make this business relatively passive, but it’s not always that way, and it’s not always the best path either. All right. Number 2 is if you don’t have any money and you’re not willing to get creative with your financing options. We’re going to go deep in on this, uh, in episode 2 of this series, but let me say it plainly. You need money to do this. Not always as much as people think. And there are definitely creative ways to structure these deals. And we’ll talk about some of those, but if you have zero capital, zero credit, and no plan to change that, this isn’t the right time for you at the very least, if not the right business.

Jordan Berry [00:06:43]:
And I know, listen, some of you may have run across the free laundromat thing on the internet and it sounds super appealing and it is super appealing. But I will say a couple things about that. Number one, nothing is free, including laundromats. Number two is the method you use to get this quote unquote free laundromat is By far the riskiest way to get in this business. And number 3, I have done many, many consulting calls of people who got into this business that way and have found themselves in a lot of trouble and are trying to dig their way out of it. Including I had a call just yesterday specifically with somebody who utilized that method to get a quote unquote free laundromat and is now losing thousands of dollars a month. So Not saying you can’t pursue that method, but just know it’s not going to be free. It is the riskiest way to get in the business.

Jordan Berry [00:07:36]:
And if you do it wrong, it can really hurt you. Not trying to scare you on that one, but I just, again, I want to be honest and upfront about that. All right. Number 3, if you’re impulsive with big financial decisions or you’re susceptible to the shiny object syndrome, this may not be the business And the reason for that is buying a laundromat is not a fast process and it shouldn’t be. The people who get burned are almost always the ones who move too fast, skip due diligence, fell in love with the deal, maybe because it’s close to their house or the price is right before they really understood what they were buying. And this business rewards patience and it actually punishes impulsiveness. And I know this because I tend to lean more towards that impulsive side. And it has been a new exercise for me to learn that patience and to have the long term in mind as I’ve been trying to, you know, navigate this business.

Jordan Berry [00:08:38]:
All right. Number 4, if you get frustrated when things break, uh, I’ll just steer you clear from this business right off the bat because listen, this equipment or this business has a lot of equipment. that you have to upkeep, not just washers and dryers, but you’ve got boilers, you’ve got change machines, you’ve got card systems. You got all kinds of things that can and will break down and pipes that will leak. And that’s just the nature of a physical business with heavy equipment running constantly. And if the idea about getting a call about like a broken machine is going to send you into a spiral, you need to either build a very strong management and maintenance team or probably reconsider this business because it is equipment heavy. All right. Number 5, if you’re looking to flip a business, I don’t know why I went all caps except for the I, I don’t know.

Jordan Berry [00:09:34]:
But if you’re looking to flip a business in this industry, there’s actually better things to flip than laundromats. Laundromats are not the best thing to flip. It’s not a house flip. It’s a business, and the value of a laundromat is built over time through consistent operations, smart improvements, and building a real customer base. If your exit strategy is buy it and flip it in 6 months, you’re probably going to be disappointed. Now, with that said, there are people out there who do flip laundromats. You can flip them, but I contend that there— if you want to flip something, flip real estate because you can build equity a lot faster. In a real estate deal, if you know what you’re doing, than you can in a laundromat.

Jordan Berry [00:10:21]:
And that’s somebody who is a longtime laundromat investor and a longtime real estate investor. I’ve got multiple rentals, I’ve got commercial real estate, I’m a commercial real estate broker, and I will just tell you that real estate is better to flip than a laundromat. So if you’re looking to flip something, don’t do a laundromat, do some real estate or something. Okay, now here’s the good news. None of those things I just listed are necessarily permanent. Capital access can be built. Patience can be developed. Case in point right here.

Jordan Berry [00:10:52]:
Systems can be put in place to handle operational issues. But you need to be honest about where you’re at right now. That’s what this whole episode is about here. So then let’s talk about who is this business a great fit for? If those are not the people who should be buying it, who should be buying it? Who’s going to thrive in this business? The people who are great at laundromat ownership tend to share a few traits, and I’ve seen this over and over. I’m now well over 250 interviews in the Laundromat Resource Podcast with laundromat owners and other industry professionals. Plus, I’ve had thousands of conversations that weren’t recorded and published as a podcast episode all across this industry. And there are a few traits that successful laundromat owners Share. All right.

Jordan Berry [00:11:39]:
First, they’re systems thinkers. Let me just separate these columns here. The pros and the cons. They’re systems thinkers. They like building processes. They like delegating and then improving efficiency over time. Laundromats are basically systems management businesses with machines in them. Second, they’re financially literate.

Jordan Berry [00:12:04]:
Or at the very least, they’re willing to become so. You don’t need to be an accountant, but you need to understand cash flow, profit and loss, how to read a deal. The numbers tell you everything in this business. Like most businesses, you gotta know your numbers. All right. Number 3 is they are patient. We talked about that a little bit already. Oh, oh, oh, my handwriting’s horrible.

Jordan Berry [00:12:30]:
Patient. There we go. The people who do the best in laundromats think in years, not months. They buy with long-term horizon, improve operations steadily, and they let compounding do its thing. This again is a slow business that grows over time. Number 4 is they like the idea of owning a— why does he look so evil? They like the idea. That’s a smiley face. He’s happy.

Jordan Berry [00:12:58]:
Uh, or she, of owning a local business. I gotta tell you, one of the best things about owning a laundromat, besides it being a very good cash-flowing business, is that it serves your community. It’s one of the last places that the community comes to, to gather in certain communities, obviously every week, and it has regulars and you can make a really big impact in the community with it. So not only Can it be a great investment where you can make plenty of money? You can also do a lot of really great stuff for a community through that business. So listen, if that sounds appealing to you, you’re probably wired right for this business. Got lots of clients who they specifically wanted to buy a laundromat. Yes, because it can be a good business, but also because they were excited about making a difference in their community. All right.

Jordan Berry [00:13:50]:
Number 5 is they’re willing to do the work upfront to create a successful business. The people who succeed almost universally put in serious time and effort and money during the acquisition process and the first year to more of owning that business. They’re researching, they’re evaluating, they’re doing proper due diligence, and then they’re tightening up their operations, putting those systems in place, getting the right people in place, to help them run a top-tier business to not only just maximize profit and cash flow, but also again, to serve the community better. Because the reward for that upfront work is a much smoother ownership experience on the other side of all that. I can tell you that from personal experience and from seeing it, like I said, from all these conversations I’ve had with people in the industry. Okay, so I don’t want to scare you off from owning a laundromat. You don’t have to be a perfect match for all of those things. But if you’re nodding along to a couple of Um, you know, that’s a really good sign that this might be the best business for you.

Jordan Berry [00:15:00]:
All right. Let’s briefly talk about money because inevitably I get asked, okay, well, how much money do I need to be able to buy this? And this question is where people either get very excited or they get very scared. All right. So we’re not going to go through a full breakdown of acquisition costs today. That’s going to be in the next episode and we’re going to go deep on it, but I want to give you a realistic picture So that you can self-assess. An existing laundromat acquisition typically runs somewhere between $100,000 for a smaller low-end, maybe needs some fixing up in there, all the way up to $1 million plus for a— and it can go well beyond that for a larger, you know, higher-end, maybe a payment system in place. Newer machines, high-performing store. The middle market is where most first-time buyers land.

Jordan Berry [00:16:01]:
And generally speaking, ballparking, it’s in the $200,000 to $500K range. That’s where most people typically land. And real quick, I’ll just briefly mention that rough rule of thumb. If you’re looking at something $150,000 or less in today’s market, I always just assume it’s not making any money, or at least not very much money. And it’s going to need, basically it’s a fixer-upper. It’s going to need to be retooled, new equipment, new branding, some marketing, customer service, all that stuff. So I just want to give you sort of that little framework there because I know a lot of people are looking to get into those smaller stores. Just know it’s going to be more work upfront and there’s more investment that needs to be made beyond the purchase.

Jordan Berry [00:16:51]:
But you don’t necessarily need all of that in cash to buy a laundromat. SBA loans are commonly used for a laundromat acquisition. There’s seller financing available in some deals. There are laundromat-specific lenders, but you need to usually bring some meaningful capital to the table with those laundromat-specific lenders and some like reserves on top of that. But there’s different ways to get in the business. There are ways to finance, and I’ll say on the SBA side, it needs to be a specific laundromat. Not every laundromat will qualify, but you can, and we’ve definitely had clients who’ve used SBA to buy laundromat deals. All right, so let me give you a framework to work with.

Jordan Berry [00:17:34]:
Here’s what I tell people. If you’re going in without at least a plan to access $50K to $100K, you’re gonna struggle. And that doesn’t mean it’s impossible below that, but it gets really hard and the deals available at that level carry more risk, like I mentioned before. But beyond the purchase, you need to think about working capital, money to cover like operations while the business stabilizes, a reserve fund for equipment repairs or something going wrong. You know, old equipment breaks. It’s just math, right? So you gotta be prepared for some of that as well. And the financial picture here, it’s not meant to scare you off. It’s meant to help you plan.

Jordan Berry [00:18:16]:
The people who go in with eyes wide open about the capital requirements do a lot better than the ones who get surprised by them. That’s probably the biggest reason for failure in this industry is, is being undercapitalized. So if you’re out there and you’ve got some money in the bank, you’ve got $100K plus, Uh, you could definitely get into this business. We’d love to help you check out laundromatresource.com. Uh, if you’re coming in without a plan, uh, to access at least $50K to $100K, again, it can be done. Uh, it’s just gonna be a lot of work and there’s gonna be some risk involved in it. So here’s the flip side is that when the laundromat is running well, the cash flow can genuinely be impressive for the size of the investment. That’s why this business attracts the attention that it does, but you have to get in it the right way.

Jordan Berry [00:19:09]:
All right. Tell you a little bit about the lifestyle of being a laundromat owner, because it’s something I don’t see talked enough about in this space. I just want to give you a little glimpse into that. The lifestyle reality of laundromat ownership is Not necessarily what you see on TikTok. People come in thinking about cash flow and passive income is such a buzzword. Financial freedom, which is great and you can totally achieve through laundromat ownership. Those things are all real possibilities, but there’s a period, especially in that first year or so, where it doesn’t feel like freedom. If I’m honest with you, there’s early mornings, late night calls about broken equipment.

Jordan Berry [00:19:55]:
Months where the numbers don’t look the way you hoped and you have to figure out why. There’s a learning curve of managing a physical business when maybe you spent your career behind a desk or, you know, out in, in, you know, the field repairing stuff or a plumber or whatever. You know, there are some realities to this. This is an equipment-heavy business. It’s a people-heavy business, and you’ve got to learn how to manage That those sides of the business. And again, I’m not saying this to discourage you because you can set these businesses up to be relatively passive. I’m saying it because the people who make it through that first year and come out the other side with a business that runs well and cash flow is reliable, those are the people who went in with accurate expectations or they just suffered through and gritted their way out. I would say I’m in that latter category.

Jordan Berry [00:20:48]:
I did not go in With proper expectations and had to grit my way through all of these things that I’m trying to prep you with right now. The people who struggle are often the ones who expected the passive income immediately and weren’t mentally prepared for that active phase that can come first a lot of times. So here’s how I think about it. Laundromat ownership in year 1 is more like planting a garden than flipping a switch. It can be like flipping a switch. But more often than not, it’s a little more like planting the garden. You put, put in some serious work up front, you water it, you tend to it, you manage it, you deal with the unexpected. And if you do that right, a few years down the road, you have something that produces for you pretty reliably with a lot less active effort.

Jordan Berry [00:21:38]:
But it starts with work. Be honest with yourself about your capacity for that work, practically, emotionally. It’s a big part of whether this is the right move for you. Ask yourself, do I have the time bandwidth to be involved in this business, especially in the beginning? Do I have the emotional bandwidth to handle the inevitable rough patches? Owning a business is not easy. It doesn’t matter if it is a quote unquote easy business. It’s never easy. And do I have the support at home or with friends or a community like the LoanerMind Resource Community Because this is going to affect the people in your life as well. And you need support with you when you’re running a business.

Jordan Berry [00:22:20]:
It can be very isolating. So if the answers are yes, let’s keep going. Like I said, this is part 1 of 8 in this series of the Complete Laundromat Buyer’s Blueprint. The answers, if the answers to those questions are all uncertain, that’s okay. That’s what this series is for. You’re You’re figuring it out before you spend any money. And we’re going to go through all of that in a lot of detail for you. So you’ll feel super confident this is the path for you by the end of this thing.

Jordan Berry [00:22:51]:
All right. I want to wrap this thing up, leaving you with something before we go to the next step in episode 2. The thing that separates people who succeed from the people who don’t, more than capital, more than their experience in business, more than anything else, is how they think about this process, the mindset. of the owner. I did not know anything about this when I got into this business, and I have become convinced that the mindset is the most powerful tool that you have to succeed because the people who succeed treat this like an education, not just like a transaction. They get— they study, they ask questions, they do the work before they spend the money. They take due diligence seriously. They’re not in a rush to close a deal.

Jordan Berry [00:23:39]:
They’re in a rush to close the right deal. They get into groups and meet other people in this industry. And listen, they treat it seriously. They treat it like the business that it is. The people who struggle treat it like a shortcut, looking for fast path to passive income. Now listen, and I struggle a little bit with this because To be honest with you, it’d be a lot easier to sell you this business if I went with the same message of this is passive income, quick path to financial freedom, and it can be relatively fast. But all the things we talked about today are true. And fast is relative, right? If you want to skip the learning curve, you’re looking for the shortcut.

Jordan Berry [00:24:30]:
This business has a way of making you pay for that eventually. And I’m living evidence of that. Go listen to episode 1 of the Laundromat Resource Podcast if you want to hear more about my story. So again, the good news is you’re already doing it right. You’re here, you’re learning, you’re asking the hard questions before writing those checks. That’s exactly the right— who writes checks? That’s exactly the right posture though for this is you definitely want to be, uh, you know, acquainting yourself with this business. So here’s what I want you to take from this episode specifically. The question isn’t, can I buy a laundromat? It’s, am I the right person to own this particular type of business at this particular moment in my life with the resources I have? Or maybe even vice versa.

Jordan Berry [00:25:16]:
Is this the right vehicle for me with the goals I have for my life? The more honestly you can answer that question, the better your decision’s going to be on if laundromats are right for you. Okay. Here’s where we land. If you’re still here watching this thing and you’re thinking, yeah, this still sounds like something I want to pursue. That’s great. That’s exactly who this series is built for. If you’re thinking I need to work on a couple of things first, also great. Now you know what you need to focus on.

Jordan Berry [00:25:43]:
And if I’ve managed to accidentally talk you out of it and you’re thinking this is not the right time for me, it’s a valuable thing for you to know. And I’d rather you know it now than after you’ve written a big check. Like I said, I’ve talked with many people who’ve been in those shoes and it’s not a good situation to be in. So that’s actually good news as well. So here’s your next step. I built something specifically for where you’re at right now. It’s called the Laundromat Buyer Readiness Assessment. Takes a couple minutes, scores you across 5 dimensions that actually matter that we talked about here, and it gives you a clear picture of where you stand and what to focus on next.

Jordan Berry [00:26:21]:
It’s not just an am I ready or am I not ready? It’s actually going to give you what your next steps are depending on where you’re at in this. It’s free. The link is in the description there. And I genuinely encourage you, I genuinely encourage you to take it before episode 2, because episode 2 is all about the money, the capital requirements, the financing options. And if you know your readiness score going into that episode, You’ll know exactly what questions to be asking as you watch. All right, next week, episode 2 drops. We’re gonna break down exactly how much money you need, where it comes from, how people actually finance these deals, and I’ll see you over there. This was helpful.

Jordan Berry [00:27:02]:
I love it if you subscribed. Every episode on this series builds on the last one. You don’t wanna miss any of it. Drop it in the comments below and tell me what’s the thing you’re most uncertain about when it comes to buying a laundromat. What scares you the most? What do you feel like you don’t know enough of? I’m gonna read every single one of those comments and I’ll use those questions to make this series even better going forward. I’d love to help you out however I can. Jordan Berry, this is Laundromat Resource, and I’ll see you in episode 2. Peace.