Married couple looking to buy an Inn or puchase

[JBloggs]

Banks want more than 30% down because so many inns and B&Bs have gone into foreclosure and banks hate to lose money. This business isn't for everyone and I've seen more than a dozen places within 45 minutes of me go into foreclosure in the past ten years. So they are being very cautious about getting enough money down. No bank is going to loan you the money you need to buy a successful place with $20K down. We had over $250K so we had no problem. But I have a family member who has been trying to sell their place for a couple years. The people coming through don't have enough money to put down per the bank's requirement for the loan and the prospective buyers have asked them to do owner financing. Most people who finally list want out and they aren't going to take a chance that someone coming along will go into default on the loan. I'm sorry to say that unless you sell the house and have that money for a down payment, your chance of getting financing for any decent property is next to nil. The same with someone wanting to lease you their property - that's a huge risk and again most innkeepers want the money out to move onto their new life. Good luck, but I believe you're going to have to keep saving for several more years..

Banks want more than 30% down because so many inns and B&Bs have gone into foreclosure and banks hate to lose money. This business isn't for everyone and I've seen more than a dozen places within 45 minutes of me go into foreclosure in the past ten years. So they are being very cautious about getting enough money down. No bank is going to loan you the money you need to buy a successful place with $20K down. We had over $250K so we had no problem. But I have a family member who has been trying to sell their place for a couple years. The people coming through don't have enough money to put down per the bank's requirement for the loan and the prospective buyers have asked them to do owner financing. Most people who finally list want out and they aren't going to take a chance that someone coming along will go into default on the loan. I'm sorry to say that unless you sell the house and have that money for a down payment, your chance of getting financing for any decent property is next to nil. The same with someone wanting to lease you their property - that's a huge risk and again most innkeepers want the money out to move onto their new life. Good luck, but I believe you're going to have to keep saving for several more years.

And I think people assume because someone "owns" a home that they have equity in the home. Being a home owner doesn't mean if a person sells it they will have some giant amount of money now to put toward buying an inn. In most cases it just means removing that debt and put it somewhere else.
When people approach us and say "we have a house to sell" it doesn't mean they have a hefty down payment. If you don't have money to buy something you can't buy it, financing is not the answer to becoming an innkeeper. We are for sale and so far 10 out of 10 are in the same dilemma. They are dreamers, and I understand that, dreaming is good. But banks don't care about dreams...

 

[Morticia]

Banks want more than 30% down because so many inns and B&Bs have gone into foreclosure and banks hate to lose money. This business isn't for everyone and I've seen more than a dozen places within 45 minutes of me go into foreclosure in the past ten years. So they are being very cautious about getting enough money down. No bank is going to loan you the money you need to buy a successful place with $20K down. We had over $250K so we had no problem. But I have a family member who has been trying to sell their place for a couple years. The people coming through don't have enough money to put down per the bank's requirement for the loan and the prospective buyers have asked them to do owner financing. Most people who finally list want out and they aren't going to take a chance that someone coming along will go into default on the loan. I'm sorry to say that unless you sell the house and have that money for a down payment, your chance of getting financing for any decent property is next to nil. The same with someone wanting to lease you their property - that's a huge risk and again most innkeepers want the money out to move onto their new life. Good luck, but I believe you're going to have to keep saving for several more years..

Banks want more than 30% down because so many inns and B&Bs have gone into foreclosure and banks hate to lose money. This business isn't for everyone and I've seen more than a dozen places within 45 minutes of me go into foreclosure in the past ten years. So they are being very cautious about getting enough money down. No bank is going to loan you the money you need to buy a successful place with $20K down. We had over $250K so we had no problem. But I have a family member who has been trying to sell their place for a couple years. The people coming through don't have enough money to put down per the bank's requirement for the loan and the prospective buyers have asked them to do owner financing. Most people who finally list want out and they aren't going to take a chance that someone coming along will go into default on the loan. I'm sorry to say that unless you sell the house and have that money for a down payment, your chance of getting financing for any decent property is next to nil. The same with someone wanting to lease you their property - that's a huge risk and again most innkeepers want the money out to move onto their new life. Good luck, but I believe you're going to have to keep saving for several more years.

And I think people assume because someone "owns" a home that they have equity in the home. Being a home owner doesn't mean if a person sells it they will have some giant amount of money now to put toward buying an inn. In most cases it just means removing that debt and put it somewhere else.
When people approach us and say "we have a house to sell" it doesn't mean they have a hefty down payment. If you don't have money to buy something you can't buy it, financing is not the answer to becoming an innkeeper. We are for sale and so far 10 out of 10 are in the same dilemma. They are dreamers, and I understand that, dreaming is good. But banks don't care about dreams...
.

Good point that they may not have equity in their house. I guess I assumed because it was almost paid off they could realize a nice down payment out of it.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

We looked at several inn opportunities years (over 20 years) ago and just didn't have the money to make them work. We tried for owner financing and for other fancy ways of buying without the money. Couldn't make it work.
So we got jobs, bought a house and forgot that dream. Life happened and 20 years went by.
On a walk one day and decided to go into an "open house." I told my DH, "I've always wanted to see the inside of that house." A week later, he approaches me with a spread sheet saying, "I think we can make this work."
A week later, our house of 17 years is on the market and our offer is accepted. We needed the equity in our house in order to afford this much more expensive house. But running the B&B along with the equity we had, has made it possible.
Moral of the story, maybe it isn't the right time yet. (We are in our late 50s.)

 

[Morticia]

We looked at several inn opportunities years (over 20 years) ago and just didn't have the money to make them work. We tried for owner financing and for other fancy ways of buying without the money. Couldn't make it work.
So we got jobs, bought a house and forgot that dream. Life happened and 20 years went by.
On a walk one day and decided to go into an "open house." I told my DH, "I've always wanted to see the inside of that house." A week later, he approaches me with a spread sheet saying, "I think we can make this work."
A week later, our house of 17 years is on the market and our offer is accepted. We needed the equity in our house in order to afford this much more expensive house. But running the B&B along with the equity we had, has made it possible.
Moral of the story, maybe it isn't the right time yet. (We are in our late 50s.).

Moral of the story, maybe it isn't the right time yet. (We are in our late 50s.)

I could never have done this 20 years ago with kids popping in and out of the house as they graduated college.
Everything in its time.

 

[Tom]

Banks want more than 30% down because so many inns and B&Bs have gone into foreclosure and banks hate to lose money. This business isn't for everyone and I've seen more than a dozen places within 45 minutes of me go into foreclosure in the past ten years. So they are being very cautious about getting enough money down. No bank is going to loan you the money you need to buy a successful place with $20K down. We had over $250K so we had no problem. But I have a family member who has been trying to sell their place for a couple years. The people coming through don't have enough money to put down per the bank's requirement for the loan and the prospective buyers have asked them to do owner financing. Most people who finally list want out and they aren't going to take a chance that someone coming along will go into default on the loan. I'm sorry to say that unless you sell the house and have that money for a down payment, your chance of getting financing for any decent property is next to nil. The same with someone wanting to lease you their property - that's a huge risk and again most innkeepers want the money out to move onto their new life. Good luck, but I believe you're going to have to keep saving for several more years..

The people coming through don't have enough money to put down per the bank's requirement for the loan and the prospective buyers have asked them to do owner financing. Most people who finally list want out and they aren't going to take a chance that someone coming along will go into default on the loan.

Note also that "owner financing" is a second mortgage, and is hence secondary to the bank. That means that if a property goes into foreclosure, the bank gets all its money first, leaving any left over to the second. AND what that really means is that the bank which controls the foreclosure sale has no incentive to sell the property for a dollar more than it is owed, so the second usually gets zero.
This happened to a friend, who went owner financed and lost $150K while bank lost $0.
This makes it very hard to get owner financing if you don't have an adequate down payment.

 

[ChrisandShelley]

The owner of the Lowe House just passed away and the family is wanting to sell. It is a very nice B&B, modern built to be a B&B. The husband died soon after they built it and the wife ran it by herself for many years. She did not market well so they only had about a 10% occupancy rate. She just passed away about 2 months ago. The family does not want to run a B&B, so they are looking to sell it pretty quickly.
We originally started to look at it before buying the Wildflower because the owners quarters were so nice, room enough for a family. Honestly, it would be a hard way to go as you would have to basically start from scratch to get it marketable. However, this area is picking up pretty well. $20,000 might be enough to get in if you had another source of income for a little while.
If you are seriously interested, let me know and I will see if I can get information about it.

 

[Morticia]

The PAII newsletter just came out. They have listings in there for innkeeping and management positions. It would give you an idea what it's like without having to buy.
Jobs listing

 

[Lee2014]

The PAII newsletter just came out. They have listings in there for innkeeping and management positions. It would give you an idea what it's like without having to buy.
Jobs listing.

One of the listings is in North Carolina. I think the second or third. Doing something like this will give you a feel for whether you want to be an innkeeper or not.

 

[jamesandjill]

The owner of the Lowe House just passed away and the family is wanting to sell. It is a very nice B&B, modern built to be a B&B. The husband died soon after they built it and the wife ran it by herself for many years. She did not market well so they only had about a 10% occupancy rate. She just passed away about 2 months ago. The family does not want to run a B&B, so they are looking to sell it pretty quickly.
We originally started to look at it before buying the Wildflower because the owners quarters were so nice, room enough for a family. Honestly, it would be a hard way to go as you would have to basically start from scratch to get it marketable. However, this area is picking up pretty well. $20,000 might be enough to get in if you had another source of income for a little while.
If you are seriously interested, let me know and I will see if I can get information about it..

Can you email more information, please? But use this email address: [email protected]

 

[jamesandjill]

The PAII newsletter just came out. They have listings in there for innkeeping and management positions. It would give you an idea what it's like without having to buy.
Jobs listing.

Thank you we will definitely consider these.

 

[EmptyNest]

The PAII newsletter just came out. They have listings in there for innkeeping and management positions. It would give you an idea what it's like without having to buy.
Jobs listing.

Thank you we will definitely consider these.
.

You may want to check here as well.

 

[Flemingo]

am also a new inn-keeper. Glad to find a company. I found put about an inn to be purchased from a friend of fine. It was run by her uncle. Hope you find one soon.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Just saw another contest. Freedom House Bed and Breakfast in Maine.

 

[OnTheShore]

Just saw another contest. Freedom House Bed and Breakfast in Maine..

Freedom House B&B and their Contest

 

[Morticia]

Just saw another contest. Freedom House Bed and Breakfast in Maine..

Freedom House B&B and their Contest
.

I remember seeing this one. Love the building!

 

[jamesandjill]

Just saw another contest. Freedom House Bed and Breakfast in Maine..

How do you guys find all these contests? Do you know of anyone who has actually won?

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Just saw another contest. Freedom House Bed and Breakfast in Maine..

How do you guys find all these contests? Do you know of anyone who has actually won?
.

How do you guys find all these contests? Do you know of anyone who has actually won?

I saw one in the local paper.
I entered one years ago and did not win. Couldn't hurt!

 

[Morticia]

Just saw another contest. Freedom House Bed and Breakfast in Maine..

How do you guys find all these contests? Do you know of anyone who has actually won?
.

How do you guys find all these contests? Do you know of anyone who has actually won?

We're already in the biz. A lot of these things show up in our Facebook feeds. They are publicized in the newspapers around where they are located. You might also try a google search: 'B&B essay contest'. A lot of places show up. (I just tried that search.)
Yes, if there are enough entries someone wins.

 

[JBloggs]

You all have posted a link to those looking to hire an innkeeper or innkeeping couple, and the title of this thread is married couple, but in it it says with two kids that would relocated with us.

 

[Jcam]

Just saw another contest. Freedom House Bed and Breakfast in Maine..

How do you guys find all these contests? Do you know of anyone who has actually won?
.

we have a google alert for Bed and Breakfast so they come up on that - would be worth you setting one up its free