So we made our first offer...

[Tom]

Thanks all! We made our second offer and went for broke at the top end of our budget but still $20K under their asking price and they accepted. Now we’re really scared! Ha ha!
Seriously, now it all comes down to the lawyers and accountants to sort out the financial and contract side of things. We are going to protect ourselves legally but we are hopeful for the best possible outcome.
This is an established and older Inn, so we knew going in that we’d be putting in a lot of sweat equity to bring it to the level we think it can excel.
So... onward and upward!.

Congrats!
Word to the wise from the previously wised up - do not depend on lawyers and accountants to find all the details.
Now is when you have to get all the background you need:

• Are there any liens on the property?
• Do they sell gift certificates? How much money is outstanding?
• Do they take deposits? How much is outstanding?
• Are there donated gift certificates outstanding? (Your lawyer should request they stop donating free nights.)
• Do they have employees? Will they stay on?
• Do they have outstanding unemployment benefits you have to pay back to the state?
• Who owns the domain name and the website?
• How will you tell the repeat guests about the changeover?
• Will you have a training period? How long?
• Do you have a list of everything that conveys with the sale?
• Will they continue to take reservations at full price?

I could go on.
.

As always. Mort's advice is dead on. There can be a significant liability in all of the above, particularly the gift certificates (which never expire) and the freebies, which you should be able to cut off, soon. In principle, any liabilities should be in their books as monies received. They should open this up to you. See if you can hold back a piece of final payment for a year, for their past accounts to make good. Can be in escrow. I sold a business and had $$ held out and I had to carry liability insurance for a few years as well.

 

[flyingace71]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!

 

[Morticia]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

Our house sold in under a day for more than asking. That was after I told the realtor she wasn't asking enough. She thought we were crazy but out the house out there for what we wanted. Bingo! We were homeless for 6 weeks while we waited for all the inspections to be done.
It all worked out.

 

[flyingace71]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

Our house sold in under a day for more than asking. That was after I told the realtor she wasn't asking enough. She thought we were crazy but out the house out there for what we wanted. Bingo! We were homeless for 6 weeks while we waited for all the inspections to be done.
It all worked out.
.

Our house sold in under a day for more than asking. That was after I told the realtor she wasn't asking enough. She thought we were crazy but out the house out there for what we wanted. Bingo! We were homeless for 6 weeks while we waited for all the inspections to be done.
It all worked out.

Thanks, that's good to hear!

 

[Morticia]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

 

[flyingace71]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.

 

[Highlands John]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.
.

Don't forget if you move in towards the end of the busy season you're going to need enough money to see you through the quiet period. Seen a couple of places struggle with that.

 

[JimBoone]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.
.

Just a dumb comment since your accountant has already looked over the figures, but as you consider income and expenses be sure you consider the cost of your purchase loan which may be different from what shows in the current owners books.

 

[flyingace71]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property? Those are the first things we considered before ever putting an offer in!
Our budget allows an entire year of mortgage payments along with other expenses.

 

[happykeeper]

Thanks all! We made our second offer and went for broke at the top end of our budget but still $20K under their asking price and they accepted. Now we’re really scared! Ha ha!
Seriously, now it all comes down to the lawyers and accountants to sort out the financial and contract side of things. We are going to protect ourselves legally but we are hopeful for the best possible outcome.
This is an established and older Inn, so we knew going in that we’d be putting in a lot of sweat equity to bring it to the level we think it can excel.
So... onward and upward!.

Congrats!
Word to the wise from the previously wised up - do not depend on lawyers and accountants to find all the details.
Now is when you have to get all the background you need:

• Are there any liens on the property?
• Do they sell gift certificates? How much money is outstanding?
• Do they take deposits? How much is outstanding?
• Are there donated gift certificates outstanding? (Your lawyer should request they stop donating free nights.)
• Do they have employees? Will they stay on?
• Do they have outstanding unemployment benefits you have to pay back to the state?
• Who owns the domain name and the website?
• How will you tell the repeat guests about the changeover?
• Will you have a training period? How long?
• Do you have a list of everything that conveys with the sale?
• Will they continue to take reservations at full price?

I could go on.
.

That's an interesting list because.....DH and I are starting to think about moving on and I've been thinking about the mechanics of passing the business on to someone else. We've done B&B for 15 years now, DH is fed up with it and I'm getting there, plus he's 60 now and I'm not far behind and we don't want to do this the rest of our lives. Someone recently described B&B as a jail sentence and that struck a cord with me.
The only thing we haven't worked out is where do we go and what do we do. We both want a large garden (this one is too hilly to do much with) but I don't want to retire, I'd go batty being at home all day.
.

Ah yes. Kilohana turned 60 this year.
Do you imagine staying in the area you are now? We thought it was nice there. Somewhere warmer?
We have been ruminating on those questions for a couple of years now. I think we will likely stay in our area at least part of the year and we both now have a couple of things we would like to do once our innkeeping days end.

 

[Morticia]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.
.

Just a dumb comment since your accountant has already looked over the figures, but as you consider income and expenses be sure you consider the cost of your purchase loan which may be different from what shows in the current owners books.
.

Just a dumb comment since your accountant has already looked over the figures, but as you consider income and expenses be sure you consider the cost of your purchase loan which may be different from what shows in the current owners books.

The current owners don't have to show things like the cost of their mortgage.
We were told because we would do things differently we would not get details about food costs, employee costs, anything that was not required like property taxes, utilities.

 

[Morticia]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property? Those are the first things we considered before ever putting an offer in!
Our budget allows an entire year of mortgage payments along with other expenses.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property? Those are the first things we considered before ever putting an offer in!
Our budget allows an entire year of mortgage payments along with other expenses.

I know people who bought a property without seeing tax returns to validate the P&L statements. The sellers had multiple businesses and were not going to show anyone their income.
We looked at a place where the owners refused to give us any info. They said they would give us a copy of their checkbook and we could figure it out on our own.
We got 20 single spaced sheets with expenses. Almost impossible to figure it out.
It's pretty amazing what some people think is ok when selling a property. That place was still for sale 7 years after we bought the place we have now.

 

[flyingace71]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property? Those are the first things we considered before ever putting an offer in!
Our budget allows an entire year of mortgage payments along with other expenses.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property? Those are the first things we considered before ever putting an offer in!
Our budget allows an entire year of mortgage payments along with other expenses.

I know people who bought a property without seeing tax returns to validate the P&L statements. The sellers had multiple businesses and were not going to show anyone their income.
We looked at a place where the owners refused to give us any info. They said they would give us a copy of their checkbook and we could figure it out on our own.
We got 20 single spaced sheets with expenses. Almost impossible to figure it out.
It's pretty amazing what some people think is ok when selling a property. That place was still for sale 7 years after we bought the place we have now.
.

I agree, it's pretty scary what other people consider good books. These folks are nice people but they are no bookkeepers for sure! But I trust my accountant and attorney and they like what they see so far. They also know that we're the kind of people that can and will make things better.
Still, it's a scary proposition getting into this kind of business, its more about our lifestyle than a money making proposition, so it seems that some innkeepers keep some pretty loose books.
We'll see where it goes, wish us luck and I'll keep this thread updated as we go along. Thanks for all the great advice!

 

[Highlands John]

Thanks all! We made our second offer and went for broke at the top end of our budget but still $20K under their asking price and they accepted. Now we’re really scared! Ha ha!
Seriously, now it all comes down to the lawyers and accountants to sort out the financial and contract side of things. We are going to protect ourselves legally but we are hopeful for the best possible outcome.
This is an established and older Inn, so we knew going in that we’d be putting in a lot of sweat equity to bring it to the level we think it can excel.
So... onward and upward!.

Congrats!
Word to the wise from the previously wised up - do not depend on lawyers and accountants to find all the details.
Now is when you have to get all the background you need:

• Are there any liens on the property?
• Do they sell gift certificates? How much money is outstanding?
• Do they take deposits? How much is outstanding?
• Are there donated gift certificates outstanding? (Your lawyer should request they stop donating free nights.)
• Do they have employees? Will they stay on?
• Do they have outstanding unemployment benefits you have to pay back to the state?
• Who owns the domain name and the website?
• How will you tell the repeat guests about the changeover?
• Will you have a training period? How long?
• Do you have a list of everything that conveys with the sale?
• Will they continue to take reservations at full price?

I could go on.
.

That's an interesting list because.....DH and I are starting to think about moving on and I've been thinking about the mechanics of passing the business on to someone else. We've done B&B for 15 years now, DH is fed up with it and I'm getting there, plus he's 60 now and I'm not far behind and we don't want to do this the rest of our lives. Someone recently described B&B as a jail sentence and that struck a cord with me.
The only thing we haven't worked out is where do we go and what do we do. We both want a large garden (this one is too hilly to do much with) but I don't want to retire, I'd go batty being at home all day.
.

Ah yes. Kilohana turned 60 this year.
Do you imagine staying in the area you are now? We thought it was nice there. Somewhere warmer?
We have been ruminating on those questions for a couple of years now. I think we will likely stay in our area at least part of the year and we both now have a couple of things we would like to do once our innkeeping days end.
.

We too have been ruminating about a move for the past couple of years.
At the moment we're looking at properties down the South of England. The Scottish Highlands are beautiful but the summers are short and the winters long and wet.

 

[Morticia]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property? Those are the first things we considered before ever putting an offer in!
Our budget allows an entire year of mortgage payments along with other expenses.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property? Those are the first things we considered before ever putting an offer in!
Our budget allows an entire year of mortgage payments along with other expenses.

I know people who bought a property without seeing tax returns to validate the P&L statements. The sellers had multiple businesses and were not going to show anyone their income.
We looked at a place where the owners refused to give us any info. They said they would give us a copy of their checkbook and we could figure it out on our own.
We got 20 single spaced sheets with expenses. Almost impossible to figure it out.
It's pretty amazing what some people think is ok when selling a property. That place was still for sale 7 years after we bought the place we have now.
.

I agree, it's pretty scary what other people consider good books. These folks are nice people but they are no bookkeepers for sure! But I trust my accountant and attorney and they like what they see so far. They also know that we're the kind of people that can and will make things better.
Still, it's a scary proposition getting into this kind of business, its more about our lifestyle than a money making proposition, so it seems that some innkeepers keep some pretty loose books.
We'll see where it goes, wish us luck and I'll keep this thread updated as we go along. Thanks for all the great advice!
.

I'd say we fit in the category of 'loose bookkeeping/accounting.' Nothing is fake or over- or under-stated. We're just not accountants.
Here's a tip - start off correctly tracking your mileage! We didn't, and now it's too late.
And, yes, it's a lifestyle. And a nice house. And a great little town. And it's kept us in Twinkies for 14 years now. ;-)

 

[JimBoone]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property? Those are the first things we considered before ever putting an offer in!
Our budget allows an entire year of mortgage payments along with other expenses.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property?

Yes, honest, some of us were that dumb and that's why we offer those suggestions. I had photo copies of the prior year guest register and very little else, just followed a dream. Expensive, well very expensive to me at the time, but the only place in my chosen area cheap enough for me to get my foot in the door. 27 years at this point, still having fun.

 

[JimBoone]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.
.

Just a dumb comment since your accountant has already looked over the figures, but as you consider income and expenses be sure you consider the cost of your purchase loan which may be different from what shows in the current owners books.
.

Just a dumb comment since your accountant has already looked over the figures, but as you consider income and expenses be sure you consider the cost of your purchase loan which may be different from what shows in the current owners books.

The current owners don't have to show things like the cost of their mortgage.
We were told because we would do things differently we would not get details about food costs, employee costs, anything that was not required like property taxes, utilities.
.

The current owners don't have to show things like the cost of their mortgage.

Was thinking from the angle that while the purchaser wouldn't care about the seller's mortgage, he/she would need to consider the expense of their own mortgage when looking at potential income after expenses.
Remember I'm just the guy that followed a dream, most of my lessons were learned the hard way.

 

[flyingace71]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property? Those are the first things we considered before ever putting an offer in!
Our budget allows an entire year of mortgage payments along with other expenses.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property?

Yes, honest, some of us were that dumb and that's why we offer those suggestions. I had photo copies of the prior year guest register and very little else, just followed a dream. Expensive, well very expensive to me at the time, but the only place in my chosen area cheap enough for me to get my foot in the door. 27 years at this point, still having fun.
.

I, of course, meant no offense in my comments to those that have come before me, fought hard through adversity and are still here to give dopes like me good advice. I really appreciate the advice and after your comment about the mortgage, my wife and I DID go back and make sure that we had calculated that property. With the stock market taking a dive recently, our IRAs that we’re having converted to ROBS/401k for funding have lost some of our funding and it was good to revisit those numbers to make sure we are going to stay afloat. Without her job in medicine in the area, it wouldn’t be possible to do this but we hope to grow the business over time to allow her to come on board full time.
Again, thanks for the real and helpful comments! Keep me coming!

 

[Morticia]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.
.

Just a dumb comment since your accountant has already looked over the figures, but as you consider income and expenses be sure you consider the cost of your purchase loan which may be different from what shows in the current owners books.
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Just a dumb comment since your accountant has already looked over the figures, but as you consider income and expenses be sure you consider the cost of your purchase loan which may be different from what shows in the current owners books.

The current owners don't have to show things like the cost of their mortgage.
We were told because we would do things differently we would not get details about food costs, employee costs, anything that was not required like property taxes, utilities.
.

The current owners don't have to show things like the cost of their mortgage.

Was thinking from the angle that while the purchaser wouldn't care about the seller's mortgage, he/she would need to consider the expense of their own mortgage when looking at potential income after expenses.
Remember I'm just the guy that followed a dream, most of my lessons were learned the hard way.
.

Sorry, I thought you meant take a look at how their mortgage expenses were calculated in. You definitely have to figure in your own!

 

[JimBoone]

UPDATE:
We are still struggling with the business plan and trying to get financials from the sellers, ugh. We have a few banks lined up and a company to help us get our ROBS/401K/C Corp set up. Now we wait for the brokers to rewrite the contracts after my lawyer chewed it up and spit it back!
BUT the BEST NEWS is that our house is now under contract for full listing price! That is a huge burden off of us, except that we are going to be homeless until we get the inn. It's amazing though, our house was on the market for 9 days and sold for more than we were willing to take! Other houses in the area have been on market for 130+ days but we think they were overpriced, so YAY us!
We hope by the end of the year to be joining the ranks of fellow innkeepers!.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?
.

No more offers until you have financial info! How can you make an offer if you don't know what the property is worth?

Our accountant has already taken a look at their valuation and it shows that it has been in the black for the past 3 years. We now have seen their tax returns as well and it coroborates that as well. We just haven’t finished putting our business plan together.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property? Those are the first things we considered before ever putting an offer in!
Our budget allows an entire year of mortgage payments along with other expenses.
.

I appreciate the advice, but it makes me wonder, do people actually make those kinds of errors when purchasing a expensive business property?

Yes, honest, some of us were that dumb and that's why we offer those suggestions. I had photo copies of the prior year guest register and very little else, just followed a dream. Expensive, well very expensive to me at the time, but the only place in my chosen area cheap enough for me to get my foot in the door. 27 years at this point, still having fun.
.

I, of course, meant no offense in my comments to those that have come before me, fought hard through adversity and are still here to give dopes like me good advice. I really appreciate the advice and after your comment about the mortgage, my wife and I DID go back and make sure that we had calculated that property. With the stock market taking a dive recently, our IRAs that we’re having converted to ROBS/401k for funding have lost some of our funding and it was good to revisit those numbers to make sure we are going to stay afloat. Without her job in medicine in the area, it wouldn’t be possible to do this but we hope to grow the business over time to allow her to come on board full time.
Again, thanks for the real and helpful comments! Keep me coming!
.

My friend no offense taken on my part, I enjoy what we do and wish others the best. I was chasing a dream, figured I had to live somewhere and wanted it to be in the mountains. Somewhat the reverse of your plans I expected I'd need to work somewhere else also and be the night and weekend helper at the business. My jobs were simple stuff, fast food, paper boy, bus driver and eventually a decent job that I held some years past retirement age, but they allowed me to live my dream. If you pass through enjoying your work it's a good life.