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You're still hauling laundry around. It's one thing at 20 and another at 40, 60, and 80!
In my building, there is a laundry room on every floor. The room on my floor is right next door. So, for me, it would really depend on where the laundry room was relative to my unit, as I'd absolutely hate having to lug laundry up and down the stairs or on an elevator.
As for units with washer/dryer, there is definitely the convenience factor, but my friends with units in their buildings have had issues with flooding in the past. And if your unit system breaks and your building is without shared units, then you're really out of luck. Having written all of that, I'm not sure how much value I'd add to a unit with a washer/dryer if the building has shared units also. I'd say not much, though.
How much value does washer/dryer add for a condo with shared laundry?
Providing one has the space and electrical/water connections in one's condo, they will add only the value of the washer/dryer. The "convenience factor" might increase the perceived value of not having to shop and buy one.
If one's condo is not wired for 220V, external exhaust and water input/drainage, such appliances will only consume space. (One might logically assume the latter to be the case in a condo that has a shared laundry facility).
In my building, there is a laundry room on every floor. The room on my floor is right next door. So, for me, it would really depend on where the laundry room was relative to my unit, as I'd absolutely hate having to lug laundry up and down the stairs or on an elevator.
As for units with washer/dryer, there is definitely the convenience factor, but my friends with units in their buildings have had issues with flooding in the past. And if your unit system breaks and your building is without shared units, then you're really out of luck. Having written all of that, I'm not sure how much value I'd add to a unit with a washer/dryer if the building has shared units also. I'd say not much, though.
See for me, I wouldn't want to leave my unit at all to do laundry. Wouldn't matter to me if there was a laundry room right next door. Actually, it would matter as I wouldn't want to live next to a laundry room. I simply wouldn't live where I can't have my own full size washer and dryer.
Age and family size also impacts this. When I was 20 I didn't mind lugging my laundry all around town to wash it. Now in my 40's with a house full of pets, I hate having to lug the laundry up and down to the basement. We're having the laundry moved next year FINALLY!
I wouldn't put much value in this. Would I spend an extra $10K on a unit to have my own washer and dryer? Nope. There's plenty of condos out there so I'd find one where the price wasn't jacked up for laundry. Now if someone came and did my laundry, that's entirely different.....that would be like a dream!
In my building, there is a laundry room on every floor. The room on my floor is right next door. So, for me, it would really depend on where the laundry room was relative to my unit, as I'd absolutely hate having to lug laundry up and down the stairs or on an elevator.
As for units with washer/dryer, there is definitely the convenience factor, but my friends with units in their buildings have had issues with flooding in the past. And if your unit system breaks and your building is without shared units, then you're really out of luck. Having written all of that, I'm not sure how much value I'd add to a unit with a washer/dryer if the building has shared units also. I'd say not much, though.
Can you hear the washers and dryers running? Is there a lot of noise associated with the constant stream of tenants entering and leaving the laundry room? High traffic areas tend to be much noisier than other areas.
In my building, there is a laundry room on every floor. The room on my floor is right next door. So, for me, it would really depend on where the laundry room was relative to my unit, as I'd absolutely hate having to lug laundry up and down the stairs or on an elevator.
As for units with washer/dryer, there is definitely the convenience factor, but my friends with units in their buildings have had issues with flooding in the past. And if your unit system breaks and your building is without shared units, then you're really out of luck. Having written all of that, I'm not sure how much value I'd add to a unit with a washer/dryer if the building has shared units also. I'd say not much, though.
I owned a condo in a 100 unit building where every unit had their own washer and dryer and in the 10 years I lived there, no one had a flood from their washer. I'm not saying it doesn't ever happen but it's not that common an occurrence and IMO, not a reason to not have a w/d any more than risk of a flood from a toilet is a reason to not have those either - same thing can happen with the hoses leaking and breaking you know.
Can you hear the washers and dryers running? Is there a lot of noise associated with the constant stream of tenants entering and leaving the laundry room? High traffic areas tend to be much noisier than other areas.
Thankfully not! My condo walls are very well insulated. And the laundry room is technically not right next door to me, but adjacent to the elevators, which are right next door to me. I hear neither the elevators nor the laundry running. But, again, the walls in my condo building hold in noise pretty well. For this reason, we don't really have any noise complaints per what I'm tracking via attendance at condo board meetings.
I owned a condo in a 100 unit building where every unit had their own washer and dryer and in the 10 years I lived there, no one had a flood from their washer. I'm not saying it doesn't ever happen but it's not that common an occurrence and IMO, not a reason to not have a w/d any more than risk of a flood from a toilet is a reason to not have those either - same thing can happen with the hoses leaking and breaking you know.
Those are fair points! I just view toilets, etc., as necessities and am willing to take on that risk, no matter how small.
I wouldn't buy a condo that only had shared laundry facilities so if you are permitted to have a washer/dryer I would do so. Don't know how much more you could ask for your unit at selling time simply because you have one, but like someone already mentioned, all things being equal I would buy the unit with the w/d unless the other units for sale had nicer upgrades. It would really depend on whether there are washer/dryer hook-ups in all the units.
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