what would you do

[billyb]

you want to get into the laundry biz. you've studied it and think you're ready. you have about $100k of cash to play with. you'll be full time operator and will learn the practical end of things on the job. assuming you've done your due diligence, do you open a nice new store costing around $200k, buy a smaller, under $50k existing store that needs major equipment upgrade, then maybe another, or find a larger existing store selling for around $200k. what would you do when starting out.
it's kind of a general question but a position i'm in now.

i was going for nice new store, costing around $200k, but then after reading many postings and talking with local owners, like Mike the moderator, have decided for a smaller going concern to really learn this biz. by the way the new store would have been less than a mile away from one of Mikes'.

i've found a 1200 sq ft place for sale, and gave a conditional offer. without an offer they release just basic info. will show mike and you guys the numbers as i get them.

by the way, this site makes for great reading. i'm up till 2:00 a.m. some nights/mornings reading old threads.

jeffrey

[amartlock]

gotta be a tiny store if you're going to build it out for 200k. Probably not even worth the trouble.

[Anonymous]

I bought the small used store for about 80k. Glad I did, I wouldn't have had the b*lls to do a new store.

Nothing like regularly fixing jammed coin slots, replacing igniters, debugging problems, and doing the money counting/accounting to boost your confidence level.

I suppose it depends on what you are looking for. You certainly aren't going to live off of a store you can buy for 100k, but if you are just looking for some extra income and some experience, a small store bought for cash is a good start, I think.

But that's me, I'm pretty conservative. I like the cushion of a healthy cash flow w/o a big debt over my head.

Will this be your only gig, or will you have a 'regular' job too? I'm in the regular job too category, so that colors my thinking towards un-attended, small headache type situations.

Or you could just put 100k into NFI stock, and receive over 15k per year in dividend income. That's if you have the stomach for a stock with some (misguided) short selling hedge fund pressure behind it which can really make the price action crazy.

- John