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22 machines at 3.5 turns gross $404/day — a 9.4% cap rate at $425k. Verify the turns with water bills, never the seller's spreadsheet.
Laundromats are the original passive-ish business — and the original seller-exaggeration machine. The math is simple: 22 machines × 3.5 turns a day × $5.25 a vend is $404 a day, $147,551 a year gross; after utilities (25% of gross), rent, and an attendant, NOI is $39,863 — a 9.4% cap rate on a $425,000 price. What makes or breaks the deal is verification: turns claimed versus water bills measured. This calculator runs the operating math, the cap rate, and the 4× NOI valuation, so the seller's brochure has to survive arithmetic.
Buyers use it in due diligence: 22 machines at 3.5 turns is a 9.4% cap rate at $425k — verified by water bills, not the seller's spreadsheet, and valued at 4× NOI.
At the right price with a long lease, they are one of the durable small-business asset classes: 20–35% cash-on-cash returns are achievable, failure rates are far below restaurants, and demand is recession-resistant — people wash clothes in every economy. The honest requirements: buy NOI, not a story — at 3.5–5× NOI, the example store at $39,863 NOI supports roughly $140–200k... at $425k it only works if turns are higher than modeled, which is exactly why verification matters. The asset is really the lease plus the demographics: 10+ years of lease with options (moving a laundromat kills the equity), renters within a 1-mile radius, and no exclusivity-threatening competitor next door. Machine age is the hidden liability: commercial washers last 10–15 years, and a store of 12-year-old machines needs $80–120k of retooling — price it off the purchase. The upside play: tired stores with old machines and no card readers are the value-add opportunity — retool, repaint, add card payment and wash-and-fold, and revenue lifts 15–30% reliably.
Never from the seller's spreadsheet — laundromats are the most exaggerated small business sold, historically because revenue was untraceable quarters. The verification stack: WATER BILLS first — gallons consumed per month back into turns/day (a top-loader uses ~25–30 gallons per cycle; big front-loaders ~15–18), and the math catches inflated claims cold; utility records for the dryers; 12 months of card-system reports if readers are installed (increasingly common and nearly tamper-proof); tax returns or Schedule C — sellers who inflate income to you usually deflated it to the IRS, and the return is the floor; and a month of observation — sit in the parking lot on two Saturdays and count turns yourself. Watch the timing tricks: a seller who raised vend prices 6 weeks ago is showing you revenue that hasn't proven it will stick; one who just deferred all maintenance is showing you margins that are about to be spent on machines. Due diligence period: 30–45 days minimum with an equipment inspection (every machine opened and run), lease review by an attorney, and utility account histories pulled directly from the providers with the seller's authorization.
Wash-and-fold is the highest-margin line in the building — $1.50–2.50/lb at 50%+ margins, and it needs attendance, which is the trade: attended stores pay labor but capture WDF revenue (often 20–30% of total in mature stores), stay cleaner, and suffer less vandalism; unattended stores net more on paper and decline faster in practice. Pickup and delivery is the growth channel: a $25–40 route stop aggregates WDF volume without walk-in traffic, and app-based demand (or your own simple booking) feeds it. Vending and arcade machines, soap sales (50%+ margin), and ATM/Lottery where legal add small streams. Card readers do double duty: they lift vend revenue 10–20% (customers spend more on cards than quarters) AND produce the clean revenue data that raises your exit multiple — a store with 3 years of card-system reports sells at the top of the 3.5–5× range because the buyer's diligence is easy. The demographic defense: your real asset is a dense renter population with in-unit laundry scarce — know your one-mile radius cold, count the apartment units, and watch for new construction with in-unit hookups, which is the slow erosion nobody sells you on.