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Car wash for sale - owner does not own building

mh231

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Hello everyone,

Never owned or worked at a car wash a day in my life, invested in a lot of real estate though.

Recently a carwash popped up on the market near me. Seller retiring and selling...asking $30k. Willing to finance the deal @6%

4 bays and 1 on the end for RV and oversized vehicles
4 vacuums
6 vending machines

He says "it does not make much, but runs itself" - He's sending tax records.

He does not own the wash building, it's connected to other strip stores and is on a commercial lease. Property owner is allegedly flexible with lease terms and easy to work with...

I drove by today for kicks and giggles and sat in the parking lot for an hour. It was 10am-11am and counted 8 vehicles come and go.

Equipment all seems to work, from what I saw.

The place is really dated, displays have almost no graphics anymore, absolutely no signs...you can't even tell it's a car wash. Location is not great. Its behind a save a lot and is somewhat blocked from the main road view. Lot's of through traffic though coming from the other road, and it is relatively busy and 45mph...

The place just looks....dated and boring. Absolutely zero marketing or online presence. No facebook, google, banners, nothing.


To be honest; I'm not really interested since it seems like I'm just buying old equipment, and a handful of repeat customer accounts and no land/building included. But like I said, I'm usually buying real estate not car washes and the owner financing of course caught my attention.

I figured it was at least worth the 10 minutes of my time to come on here and ask for others opinions that know much more about this stuff than I do. Is there any real growth opportunity here or am I buying someone else dirty laundry?
 

Eric H

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He says "it does not make much, but runs itself" - He's sending tax records.
My guess is that the accurate part of this statement is "It does not make much" .
when he gives you the financial statement, be prepared for the old "it makes more than I report to the gubment" line with a big wink.

I think you should analyze the carwash and property as a whole. If it seems like it is something that could make money, I would make an offer to the property owner. when the lease runs out or the business folds you can remodel, add an IBA and possibly make some $$.
 

Dan kamsickas

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"It runs itself".....................I'll have you know I just spit morning coffee across my computer monitor. If it looks dated and boring, and you won't own the building or land, I'd recommend walking. It's safe to assume if the easily visible stuff looks that way the stuff you can't yet see is worse.
 

mjwalsh

6 bay SS w/laundromat
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I wouldn't consider any deal where I didn't own the land.
On our laundry forum ... there is a current discussion about landlords declaring bankruptcy &/or foreclosure leaving the equipment owners in a problem situation legally. The discussion went over my somewhat "hopefully not too big" non litigious head ... plus the legalities may differ from state to state &/or by federal jurisdictions???
 
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