Bid on Car Wash

[lineman]

I am interested in a Car Wash that is owned by the bank. The wash has 2 automatics and 6 self serve bays and sits on 1.5 acres. Built in 06, it seems to be in good condition. The bank is asking $745,000 and cannot provide any financials on the wash from previous years. Frontage on a main road with a decent car count but not good access from northbound lane. Demographics are ok but not great. What would be a good bid for this Car Wash?

 

[Mr.Aap]

Land Value start there.....

 

[Waxman]

WTF?>!?

WHY can't the bank provide tax returns? My bank requires copies of mine every year.

No tax returns=land value.

Do not get it.

Who buys a business with no proof of income????????????

Not Waxman.

 

[Earl Weiss]

WTF?>!?

WHY can't the bank provide tax returns? My bank requires copies of mine every year.

No tax returns=land value.

Do not get it.

Who buys a business with no proof of income????????????

Not Waxman.

He is not buying a business. He is (maybe) buying a business opportunity.

 

[Waxman]

What?

Still doesn't explain why the bank cannot provide income data for this 'potential opportunity'.

 

[pitzerwm]

Maybe the bank doesn't want the liability of using "his" tax info. I'd track down the old owner and find out what info he could supply. I might find out what it would take to replace, that is a starting point, but I agree, the land value is the base and then as little as possible. Assume that the bank will screw you, even if they finance it. Here is an idea, tell the bank that you will give them their price, but they have to finance 100% and no recourse. If its a good deal, everyone wins, if not only the bank eats it.

 

[Greg Pack]

land value plus 100K

 

[Bob Koo]

Be Careful

I live in Lakeland, also.
BTW, I heard yesterday from another operator that talked to the bank that the price was $600,000 but they would not provide financing.

The owner built this on a parcel of land that he has owned for years.
It is in the wrong place. It is located between Lakeland and Mulberry.
This is a commuter road only eventhough a Super Walmart is less than a mile away.

For your own information. All the equipment is Magic Wand, automatics and self service bays. It is basically still new unused equipment

There is an established wash less than 2 miles north, a 6/2 that was opened in 1998. It is in the proper traffic pattern flow. The wash that you are looking at tried lowering their prices but still could not compete. It is in the wrong place. The owner built a dream and wanted to be in the business. Someone finally sold him equipment eventhough other distributors told him don't do it.

Just trying to help, Buyer Be Ware.

BTW, look up the street across from the Lazy Boy Gallery, 1 mile north. The property with 300 feet of highway exposure has been bought with a sign of Express Wash coming soon. Look further north at the existing Tunnel with the express lane. It is only a mile north of the new site.

Hope this helps

 

[pitzerwm]

Of course the bank won't finance, they already screwed up once, they aren't going to risk it again.

 

[mjc3333]

Lineman,

Had a similar situation. A 3 bay SS 1 IBA touch less went up for bank repo foreclosure. The wash was listed at $379,00. It was on a busy access road. Tons of traffic....the wrong kind. Transient traffic, no neighborhood traffic.

The guy who bought it knew nothing about car washes. I go by everyday, bays are always dry, auto may have 1 or 2 cars per day.

Pig in a poke

 

[Bob-O]

Lineman,
I was from the Bartow area and went to that carwash a few times to check it out. It never had anybody in it. Also have a friend that lives in Mulberry he told me that he hardly ever saw anybody there. It does look nice. But never had much business.
Be very careful !!!!!!

 

[AutoWasher]

I bought a wash last year from the bank. It is a 2IBA/4 SS that is 9 yrs old. I was able to get some financials from the Real Estate agent who had it listed prior to the bank taking it back. When new it did ok, but as the economy turned it could not support the build cost but it is giving a nice return at the foreclosure price. By the way, all the equipment had been driven into the ground as the prior owner knew it was going back. So I have had to rehab/replace almost all wear items$$$.

D

 

[mac]

Lineman Ben, looks like you're getting some good advice from people that actually know the business and that site. This wash was another Kyle Duncan fiasco. (Why he isn't in jail is a testament to our judicial system.) The bank that has the wash wasn't privy to the former owner's financials, and that guy just wants to learn from this mistake and go on. Does sound like the price of the dirt is the best offer they will get.

 

[robert roman]

I also know this market very well. Last I checked, a significant number of washes in this area were listed for sale.

Now that the Florida economy is fully contracted, the marginal carwash locations and the ones that should have never been built, a lot more than one, are sticking out like sore thumbs.

Surprisingly, there are still opportunities for new carwash development in this market but you must be willing to take things up a level or two.

As the for wash in question, it is now a buyer's market for most commercial properties.

In a buyer's market, banks will usually take much less than the replacement value of a distressed property. How much less, varies depending on the particular bank's requirements. For example, maybe $750K is as low as they can go right now without taking the property to auction.

 

[mac]

Just a little follow up on this particular wash. I'v been sort of working with lineman Ben on this to advise him in some areas. This wash is going up for an online auction in about a week. Turns out that the bank and the DEP screwed up, and anyone buying it will screw up as well. When the wash was built the retention pond for the site was put on an adjacent lot that the original owner also owned. In Florida they make you build a mosquito pond with any construction for water retention. The bank however only filed on the lot with the wash on it, and that's what is for sale. Neither the bank or the selling agent has mentioned this. Lineman found out by doing some real good due diligence. So even if you bought this at a good price, say in the 200K to 300K range, you would not be able to open the wash without making some kind ofdeal with the former owner on the other lot. And he's not exactly a happy camper in all this. Hard to believe the the sellers did not mention this.

 

[pitzerwm]

They probably don't know. If you could buy it with a "guarantee of "opening" it, they then would have to buy the lot for you.