If you are planning to purchase a house, I would go with the washer/dryer hookups and purchase my own washer, dryer and fridge. This way you'd already have the appliances for the house that you purchase.

But if you are not planning on buying a house and the apartment came with a washer, dryer and fridge I'd rent that one.

My house-purchasing plans are for some undefined future around 2 years from now.

Once again, how much more is a place with w/d hookups worth a month than one without?

How much more is a place with w/d hookups AND APPLIANCES worth a month over a place without even the hookups (I'm looking for answer along the lines of "I'd pay $150 more a month")?

And how much a month is a fridge worth?

can you find out what stuff is renting for in your area, with those amenities?

I wouldn't pay THAT much extra for hookups, bcs it's not useful unless I actually buy (or rent) the machines themselves. So the hookups don't save me anything unless I fork out some more money.

I wouldn't want to pay more for washer&dryer than I'd pay at a launderette. In other words, if I did 4 loads a week (which is about what I did when I was single), at $3 per load for washer and $3 for dryer, that's $96 a month. So I'd pay about $100 extra a month, but I'd prefer to pay more like $75 extra, because I'd want to actually SAVE money. It's true I'd save bigtime on convenience. Maybe I'd pay the full $100 a month if it INCLUDED the cost of hot water, electricity, and water itself.

Fridge, well, pro-rate a reasonable amount. You could buy a used fridge for what, $200? (most times, in a rental, you get a used fridge) And a new one without any bells and whistles is $600 at Sears. So I wouldn't pay more each month than it would cost me to pay for it myself. $200 divided by 12: $16.60 per month. (A *new* fridge would be $50 a month for a year, but that's too high)

Frankly, I think every apartment ought to have a fridge--renters shouldn't be expected to supply their own major appliances. I'd expect to pay LESS than the going rate for an apt. w/o a fridge--enough less that I could buy it easily in a year. I wouldn't pay MORE than the going rate for anything but a place with washer & dryer.

But I think it's cheap beyond words for a landlord not to provide a fridge. I know when you buy a home, in some localities you have to negotiate the appliances separately, but frankly I think THAT is cheesy.

Washer/Dryer hookup = nothing
Washer/Dryer hookup w/appliances = $15.00
Fridge = $10.00

What would it cost you, in money and time, to go to a laundromat for a year? What is your time worth?

What would it cost you to buy a decent used washer and dryer set to use?

How much extra are they asking for these "extras"?

Speaking as a landlord: the wear and tear on the floors from tenants mocing appliances in and out was so bad that providing a full set of appliances (refrig, range, w/d) was worth it.

Whoa, Don! Where are you in the country that you spend less than $15/month on laundry at a coin-op?! :-)

Don didn't say that's what he spends on laundry at a coin-op. He said that's how much extra he'd pay to rent a place w/ washer and dryer.

I wouldn't buy a washer and dryer as a renter- and my folks were fine with that ;)

but I only ever rented one place that didn't have a wash room at all...

and the $400/mo rent on that place had everything to do with location, and nothing to do with the amenities.

but I'd say that it would be worth an extra $50-75 a month.

Interesting responses all. Pretty much running the gamut from 15 to 100! Thanks for your well reasoned response, Talley Sue. Basing one's decision on the cost of rental, 5-year ownership, or rent-to-own seems to make the most sense, right? I realize that Don was responding to my question, but I thought it was a bit of a lowball based on the cost of doing laundry via coin-op; I was hoping he would respond with more reasoning, like T.S. I believe I even included a smiley. I'd rather only pay $15 extra with a good reason than $100 extra with a bad one! :-)

You need to acturally compare similar types of dwellings to do a decent added pricing of the washer/dryer. For $15 more, the place would probably be considered livable by me.

The real comparison is between a hookup vs an installed washer/dryer. The intangible benefit is the time not spent at the laundry mat or apt complex's laundry room as in how often is a dryer available when you need dry your clothes. Or is there a need to "schedule" the laundry so that a washer & dryer is available?

I've found people like to leave their laundry in the dryer and disappear for half-a-day or even overnight; then there are those who also leave their laundry in the washer for hours....Many variations of the siturations......

I no longer even consider an apartment that doesn't have either an installed washer/dryer or a hookup available. Have been stuck with wet laundry for a long time too often.

Oh, $50 more a month is a "steal" for an installed washer/dryer.

Excellent point regarding lack of respect from other users of w/d in a shared situation. Been there. Thanks for your thoughts regarding value.

I have never lived in a building with a shared laundry room, but I've heard the horror stories of laundry left in machines.

What's the proper etiquette in that situation? Do you take it out? Do you fold it if you do? ( I don't know If I could just leave someone's laundry in a heap, but they did leave it, right?) Do you sit and stew while you wait for someone to return and take it out? What are you supposed to do?

I've also heard stories of people returning 15-20 minutes after putting a load in a washer, only to find that their clothes were removed and left in a heap....sopping wet and still full of soap. Someone else's clothes were agitating away in the machine that their clothes WERE in, like they waited for them to leave then removed their clothes. Guess they didn't have the $2.00 to do a wash that day.

I am moving into a new place at the end of the month. It has laundry hookups, and even has an electric dryer there. Mine is gas, so I'm glad one is already there.