How to Buy a Laundromat With Owner Financing and Build Daily Cash Flow

Joe Ebanks (00:00)
I mean, that’s cash flow you make every day. And you know, when we bought these things, I mean, think I think we’ve had one of the first one we bought four years ago now. ⁓ it’s it’s it’s it’s crazy to think. Like you like, like think of like a landscape surface. You’re like, those guys cut grass, they don’t make any money. They make a ton of money. And there are Laundromats

Joe and Lisa Ebanks.

everywhere.

Scott Bursey (01:55)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey And today we’re joined by Joe Ebanks, a U.S. veteran, Army veteran, real estate developer.

An entrepreneur. Joe has built a massive portfolio spanning residential development, commercial real estate, hospitality, and his unique brand, Wealth Off Washers Pros you can expect a master class on diversification, scaling, and how to apply veteran level discipline to any asset class. Joe, welcome to the show.

Joe Ebanks (02:31)
Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Scott Bursey (02:33)
It is just awesome having you here. And to help our pros get up to speed, please give us the ninety second highlight reel on how your career ignited and where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Joe Ebanks (02:44)
Okay, how my career ignited would would be from my parents. ⁓ both of my parents are immigrants from Honduras. my dad actually served in Vietnam to become a US citizen. And he has spent a career in construction. ⁓ but I always knew growing up, you know, I had to have something to fall back on. So he taught me the trade, but I always knew I wanted to sit on the other side of the table. ⁓ I wanted to be the person calling the shot. So

I learned how to okay, build a house, how do you finance it? How do you grow the portfolio? How do you ⁓ get tenants? How do you get people to pay you rent? How do I turn into the developer that actually builds these large projects that you see? Apartment complexes, malls, hotels. And that was always my fascination as a child. And now I’m just living, I’m just living that life. And I brought my my my wife and kids along with me.

Scott Bursey (03:33)
That is awesome, Joe. What a fascinating journey. And you know what really caught my attention about you was the way you’ve been able to leverage military discipline to scale niche assets like Laundromats alongside major commercial developments. That takes precise execution.

Joe Ebanks (03:54)
Yeah, well, I mean, I’ll tell you, and because it’s it’s it’s hilarious. I fell into the laundromat business after the hurricanes of 2004, Helene and Milton hit Tampa. I was actually in the process of buying a lady’s home. And, you know, real estate’s kind of going crazy, prices are going up and down, and we couldn’t agree on a price. But the lady actually said to me afterwards, because we built a great rapport, she was like, Well, Joe, I have a laundromat. Would you be interested in that? And I’m like,

Well, I’ve always heard they’re cash cows. I’m like, hell yeah, I’d be interested in that. So I went out, you know, just kind of blind, figured out how to run the numbers, because of of course I know how to underwrite a property. And man, next thing you know, thirty days later, we owned a laundromat and I bought it with all honor financing.

Scott Bursey (04:38)
That is awesome as well. And Joe, if you had to break it down, what was the one achievement that transformed your mindset from just investing to developing an empire?

Joe Ebanks (04:49)
Wow, what is the one thing? I mean, it’s not really a one thing. I mean, I’ve just had my head down. Like I’ve been in real estate now. ⁓ 25 years. I’ve just had my head down. And I always didn’t try to change what I was doing. I was always just trying to add a plug-in to what I was already doing related to real estate because that’s what I knew the best. And I just kind of kept adding on to it. Okay, fix, fix and flipped. Okay, wholesale. Okay, you’ve

You’ve now you now you’re building houses. Okay, now you own a hotel. Okay, now you own an apartment complex. But all these things are great to have, but you know, for a legacy play, but you also have to have a foundation where, okay, now I need I need cash flow because these these are going to take a while to pay off. Now I own some Laundromats which pay cash every day. So it wasn’t one particular thing. It was just, you know, us compiling on top of what we already built.

And just kept adding to it. And don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t just like a straight up shot. It was like ups and downs and ups and downs. One minute you got you got a hundred thousand dollars in the bank, next minute you got zero, next minute you got a million, next minute you’re negative a hundred thousand. I mean, it’s been a ride.

Scott Bursey (05:57)
I love that. Thank you for ⁓ clarifying. And curious to know, Joe, what is the core strength in your Wealth Off Washers model that allows it to outperform standard residential rentals?

Joe Ebanks (06:57)
Well, the main thing is simple. Most people that own Laundromats have owned them from 20 to maybe 40 years, right? They’re still running them with a black and white composition book. They have no CRM, they have no POS, and they don’t know how to monetize a laundromat, which is the main thing that I do in real estate. So I just took my transferable skills from real estate over to the laundromat.

able to build a CRM now I can text customers, hey, come on in, you know, send them out emails, send them out flyers, you know, build a different port, build a Google review, build out, you know, a a a nice website. Cause some of these had no websites. They had no Google, no Bing, no Yahoo, ⁓ no, no, Yelp. I’m like, how have you been in business for 20 years? And and but they have because back when they started, because like look, we figured 30 years ago,

What was that, the 90s when I graduated, right? So ⁓ that wasn’t that prevalent. But nowadays, I mean, you have to have that to exist. And by doing that, we’ve been able to take one laundromat from doing like $2,800 a month to $10,000. Another one from doing ⁓ the other one we bought, I think we’re just doing $12,000 that down does $22,000. And we were able to build a pickup and delivery service from nothing to last month. We did $26,000 a month. ⁓

I mean, real money, cash flow that comes in every day. And that’s the same secrets and tips and tricks that I teach people in our wealth off washer course and how to do. But the most important part is every laundromat I’ve bought, I’ve bought with owner financing. And here’s the key. A lot of these owners that own these, when they bought them back in the 80s, 90s, early 2000s, we know what the rates were back then. High. And they all bought them with owner financing. So this is nothing new to them.

It’s just you finding the right owner and putting the right systems and processes in place and and and going out and and getting the cash flow that’s going to be great for you and your family.

Scott Bursey (08:54)
Joe, that is powerful. Thank you for highlighting that. And we’re interested to hear, as you’ve scaled your portfolio, what is the one weakness you had to identify and overcome early on in your career?

Joe Ebanks (09:08)
Trusting people too much. I have put my faith in a lot of people that have let me down. Partnerships. ⁓ my wife says, I’m the only partner that matters. And and it’s it’s true. ⁓ look, you have to go through just like anything in life, you have to go through your ups and downs to find your team, your crew, right? ⁓ that

Give it all they have, just like you do. I mean, I relate this to the to my military background. If you’re in a gunfight and you know that your guys around you have your back, those you know you will survive. You know you will live through the night. But if you have the wrong team or you have the wrong platoon, you will not. Everyone will be for themselves, people will be greedy, and everything else will fall apart.

I’ve never been the person that that has been greedy or wanted, you know, all the profits. I believe it’s a loaf of bread. We can split this as many ways as we need to, as long as we all benefit. But a lot of people don’t think like that. Or maybe it’s their first time getting a check like that. Or maybe ⁓ it’s not in their background or their character, because that’s important when picking a partner or a teammate. ⁓ how they were raised.

Because that makes a difference. ⁓ but that’s what I’ve found in my life to be the correct formula to make sure you have people around you that you can trust. Because once you do, man, now now it’s sky’s the limit. I mean, you guys could do anything. You could take the hill anytime you want. And you can trust that these people will have your back.

Scott Bursey (10:46)
And Joe, that’s a winning formula. I love your take on the current market. Where do you see the biggest opportunity for a a developer right now?

Joe Ebanks (11:30)
Funny, right? you say that. I actually have a to go interview for the news when we get done with this. Right now, because of what happened in our market here in Tampa and just up the whole 27-mile stretch from from Clearwater along St. Pete Beach, there’s just so much opportunity right now because a lot of these people have cut bait and left their houses abandoned, or they have, and this is just for me in my market here in Florida, they have cut bait and they and they have left.

Left their house abandoned. They have ⁓ just sold them for next to nothing. They just want to get rid of them because now they’re a headache ever since the 100-year flood that we had here from that hurricane. And me as an investor, I saw that as a huge opportunity. Because yes, we have new guidelines to put in place. Yes, FEMA puts them in some new restrictions. You got to raise the house over 12 feet off the ground. Yes, blood insurance is gonna be higher, right?

But this was an area that since the 1950s, I mean, I think these houses that I’m buying are bought in like the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, maybe the 80s is the oldest. I mean, all frame and block houses, one story along the beach. Like, why would you have a club a house 20 foot from the beach that is on the ground and they all flooded? And so it’s created a huge opportunity for not only me, but a lot of other development.

developers to come in now and redo this whole neighborhood. Like this house, the house that I’m building, ⁓ retail is probably gonna be about three million dollars. I think it costs us like 1.6 or 7 to build. But if you pick that house up and you put it in Miami, it’d be an eight million dollar house. So we’re getting the beach access, amenities, fund

Family, I mean ’cause look, family been families have been coming to this be these beaches for hundreds of years, right? You’re getting that kind of lifestyle now in our beach community for less than half the price. And people with that kind of money aren’t aren’t done. They understand that and they know if I buy this house now for three million, in ten years, it’ll be worth six at least.

Look, we have Marriott coming in, building a huge beachmaker hotel. ⁓ unbelievable. ⁓ since this happened. Like everybody sees it. And, you know, I’m just try trying to get my piece of the cake.

Scott Bursey (13:49)
That’s a huge distinction. And I do think you’re going to get your piece of the the cake. Given the current economic climate, Joe, what is the biggest threat you see to the commercial real estate space over the next 18 months?

Joe Ebanks (14:04)
Well, I mean, I don’t do commercial ⁓ real estate space because I believe with all this AI happening right now and like how we’re on the Zoom right now, what’s the need for an office anymore? I rented office space downtown for years at twenty-five or thirty dollars a square foot. Beautiful office, don’t get me wrong. Love the skyline view. But but why do that anymore when you can have people working remotely from home?

Like I’m talking to you remotely right now from home in a beautiful office. I can go get my coffee whenever I want. ⁓ but ⁓ but now I don’t have to commute 30 minutes and an hour, you know, to go downtown to to to do that. If I want I still have a downtown address, sure, I just get like a little opus office or something. So I still have that downtown feel for people that want to see that address. But it’s not a need anymore.

and I believe you saving that expense, you can now put towards marketing your business, putting in processes and systems, and reinvesting into things that you normally wouldn’t in your business or hiring more employees to take the load off of you.

Scott Bursey (15:12)
I appreciate you highlighting that. Thank you so much, Joe. And thinking about your growth, how do you find synergy between your hospitality projects and your laundromat operations?

Joe Ebanks (15:23)
How do I find this the sin the synergy? ⁓ well, first I would say I’m my own customer. ⁓ all the linen, towels, everything, my laundromat does. So now I am I am paying myself to do to do that stuff. But to me, it’s the same thing. It always goes back to your team that you have running everything because my team knows when they cross over, but they’re they know they’re still part of the same team.

And they make sure that everything works the way that it’s supposed to work. I know ⁓ we are renovating this 10-unit hotel now, and I’ll probably I’ll probably shoot to China, I don’t know, next month or August to go buy everything for it. ⁓ but it’s already been decided, right? My my designer has already picked everything based off what her and my construction manager and GC have discussed. So

I mean, we really work as a as a co cohesive unit. ⁓ but the synergy between the two is look, really consider all my team like family. And that’s I think where we win a lot and we’ve lost a lot. but I think that’s the main thing that people just don’t try to treat you like a project manager or or or and like you don’t matter.

⁓ I I make sure that I let all my team know that they matter. And that’s why like our Laundromats and our real estate really go together well.

Scott Bursey (16:51)
And that’s why you’re winning the battle. Joe, please walk us through what does your professional network look like right now?

Joe Ebanks (17:38)
My professional network is my attorneys, my GC, all of our trades, electric plumbing. I mean, like I know these guys that do our trade work, ⁓ property managers, ⁓ my project manager. and on top of that, then I have, you know, like my employees that run the laundromat, my manager that runs all of the Laundromats, because I’m not in that day to day anymore.

my wife has more ⁓ hands-on, I guess you could say with that, but we have a s fantastic manager that runs the Laundromats for us. She only calls up there there’s an issue. Only the only time they see me is when I go collect money once a week. I won’t tell you what day. No. besides that, we really ⁓ who else do we have on our team? Architects, engineers, ⁓ designers. ⁓

I know I’m forgetting somebody and I don’t want them to see this and be like, you didn’t mention me. ⁓ but I mean, yeah, that that’s that’s the whole thing of what we have right now, our lenders. ⁓ but yeah, it took a while to build the whole team. but now that we finally have it, I think it’s pretty solid.

Scott Bursey (18:49)
It sounds like a structured network, a structured team. Thank you for that excellent breakdown. And Joe, given the volatility in development, what is the most important metric you analyze before pulling the trigger on a new acquisition?

Joe Ebanks (19:04)
I’m really slow with the acquisitions right now and they’re very thought out. ⁓ my my real estate development stuff, like I said, is ⁓ it’s more high end. the people that we’re selling to aren’t really affected by the market. We’re at that $2.5 million plus price point. and they really either

I I find most of the time either they pay cash or they put a large down payment down. So financing is never really an issue for them. ⁓ like I’ve seen a guy with like a 500 credit score buy a four million dollar house because he put down 3.5 million. ⁓ other things like the hospitality, ⁓ I purchased those at such a great price with the the rehab work that had to be put into it.

That I only have to stay occupied 60% of the time a month to break even and to be profitable. ⁓ as far as the Laundromats go, I mean, they’re an essential business. People need three things in life: food, clean clothes, and shelter. So, really not gonna be losing there. That’s an essential business. ⁓ that’s also why I love that model, and we’re gonna build that out.

And have several different stores. I’m probably gonna syndicate that too and to turn it into a chain and tell us get about 10 or 15 of them and sell them to a hedge fund. ⁓ the other thing, ⁓ when I’m looking at the market right now, it’s really just to see because I’m not looking at the market like what it’s doing today, right? I’m looking at the market because like when I build a house, it’s it’s 12 months or or you know or longer, 12 to 24 months.

So I’m trying to see, okay, how do I hedge my bet for the next year, year and a half, two years? because what it is now, you can’t we can’t do anything about that. But what can you do to secure yourself in the next no year or two is what’s important. And you just gotta keep it.

Scott Bursey (21:03)
That is an excellent, excellent breakdown. Thank you for illustrating that, Joe. And Joe, you have given us so much excellent information thus far. But is there any additional information, nuggets, ⁓ advice that you could leave with the pros today?

Joe Ebanks (21:18)
Yeah, absolutely. Look, my biggest thing that I would tell anybody is because I was shocked. Don’t sleep on a boring business. This laundromat business has really changed my wife and myself’s lives. Cause like when we were struggling through the last two years with the hurricanes, because we’re here in Florida, I mean, the Laundromats is what kept us afloat.

I mean, that’s cash flow you make every day. And you know, when we bought these things, I mean, think I think we’ve had one of the first one we bought four years ago now. ⁓ it’s it’s it’s it’s crazy to think. Like you like, like think of like a landscape surface. You’re like, those guys cut grass, they don’t make any money. They make a ton of money. And there are Laundromats everywhere.

And that’s why I try to tell people, I’m like, look, don’t sleep on a boring business. A laundromat is it now, it’s not passive, it’s semi-passive. ⁓ because you got to go in and change and make some or hire somebody to clean it, make sure you fill up the money. But at the end of the day, it is a cash flow business that people constantly come into and you don’t want to miss out on it. That’s why my wife and I put together the walk-off washers program because we actually helped a friend get a laundromat. I helped my golf buddy get a laundromat.

I helped a relative get a laundromat. And we said, you know what? We just keep building all these SLPs for people. Why don’t we just put this into a course and teach everybody how to do it? Because I mean, there’s, I think it’s the number is like 68,000 Laundromats across the United States. Some ridiculous number. So it could be a retirement plan for somebody. Or if they’re just looking to park some money, the depreciation on them, but people that have money, it’s a fantastic business.

Scott Bursey (23:03)
Joe, that is some massive, massive fuel for our pros. Thank you for that excellent breakdown. And for those of our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving, stay in your lane, you know, collaborate with you. What’s the best way for them to reach you?

Joe Ebanks (23:18)
sure. they can reach me. ⁓ they can email me at [email protected] Wealth Off Washers So make sure it’s washers.com they can reach out to me on Instagram or Facebook. I am Joe Ebanks, or they can reach me on Facebook, it’s Joe and Lisa Ebanks. ⁓ feel free to reach out, or if you want to check out the course, it’s at wealthoffwashers.com

⁓ and check it out and see what we got. ⁓ it’s a lot of great stuff in there. I mean, remote stuff that we put together that’s actually worked and helped us get to where know where we’re going. And I I’d love to chat with people.

Scott Bursey (23:55)
Joe, thank you for joining us today on the Real Estate Pros podcast. This has been sensational.

Joe Ebanks (24:01)
Thank you very much. I appreciate you having me.

Scott Bursey (24:03)
And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you receive value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be filling your tanks with a lineup of elite guests just like Joe Ebanks, who are accelerating and setting the pace for the rest of the industry. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.