Here's the question.

Its a triplex. The upstairs has laundry hookups and man they use them. Tenants there have been there about 3 years now.

Electric is split for all units and they each pay their own electric bills.

Water could not be split in the building, so I pay the water bill for everyone.

The two small apartments on ground floor are a studio, and a 1 BR. Both do not have laundry hookups, though there are laundromats a few blocks away.

Now I've never really had anyone stay in the 1 BR apartment for more than 2 years, but I know other landlords in town who have people bolting just as often..... and it seems a lot of people have musical chairs with apartments. Its just the nature of the game.

But......

There is a small utility room in the back of this building, with its own door. I've been using it for storage. The water heater and other building maintenance stuff is back there also.

Would it be worth the hassle and work of changing everything around, so that the 1 BR could have the option of buying their own washer/dryer, and putting it in there? They could be the only ones with access and given the combination to the door.

Again I have to pay the water bill. But I could run the dryer plug to the 1 BR apartment electrical panel so they're paying their dryer bill as they use it.

Is having laundry 'on site' that big of a deal, in keeping renters longer? Or is it just giving yourself additional hassle to deal with, given landromats are already close. Again the tenant would also have access to all the mechanical stuff, and in theory they could leave the door open, stuff could be broken without me knowing but idk.

Its possible I might be able to have some kind of security camera in there.

Thoughts anyone???

Laundromat nearby?

Laundry is a big help to keep tenant stability and prevent move outs. No one likes to haul clothes to a laundromat. I put laundry in a four unit basement adjacent to another four unit I owned and it helped prevent moveouts. I have laundry in basement of two buildings and third building the tenant has her own equipment and her sister is upstairs and helps pay for her laundry. Highly recommend it. Your upstairs tenant should keep that one and the extra room there should become a laundry room for the two downstairs units. I kept the costs below the local laundromats.

I can't share one laundry between the two downstairs tenants its way too much hassle with them fighting over usage, and who pays the electric, who went in and left the door open, who busted the water heater, etc.

And coin operated machines cost a fortune... also I know other landlords in town that had them, and anonymous people broke into them for the coins and busted them up, all tenants knew nothing of course.

.

Not enough room or means to put 2 laundry rooms down there, its barely big enough for one.

I'd be able to give hookups for one and a single lease contract so if something breaks we know they're the only one with the code. Right now we have a very stable person in studio apartment getting great rent, and they have no problem with no laundry hookups. Though could add one for the 1 BR maybe.

By 'getting great rent', I mean THEY are getting great rent. We're charging them about $100 under market a month.

But they've been there a long time and don't cause trouble. Its worth it just to have one renter who isn't a headache or bolting in a garbage wake. These turnovers are extremely labor and time consuming

If you want longer term tenants, washer dryer hook-ups are a big plus.

One duplex I bought had none so I added them to both sides. The duplex is in a neighborhood with mostly single family homes and just a few other duplexes.

Once I put the laundry in my tenants asked me to put something in writing that specifically forbids anyone but the resident’s of the duplex to do laundry or I would evict them. They literally had their duplex neighbors wanting to come over to their place to do their laundry and asked me to be the bad guy. And there is a laundry mat right around the corner.

If you research what tenants want one of the top items is washer/dryer hookups.

generally speaking if you have four or five units, a single washer and drier does make sense. I am not all that sure if a triplex will bring in the $80-100 in monthly sales to make it work out.