Took me long enough to figure this one out

[GoodScout]

There's a lot of lack of vision out there. We're rather entrepreneurial, and see growing the value of our property as our way of growing our retirement nest egg when we sell (It's a helluva gamble, but the best hand we've been dealt). By adding another suite, a day spa and a wedding business, we hope to cash out with much more than we put in 9 years ago.

. It's a shame about the property you mention, because that area is a popular one for travelers from Quebec & Montreal, and with the border restrictions & exchange rates it could do very well.

 

[Morticia]

View attachment 154

When we bought our place we were told by the sellers that we HAD to be open every single day, that they never took a day off, that they were hustling all the time. We drank that kool aid for a couple of years. Then we realized it’s impossible to help other people enjoy their vacation if we never took one. We started closing in the dead months and by the time we retired we were up to three months off every year. I would have preferred six!

 

[Morticia]

There's a lot of lack of vision out there. We're rather entrepreneurial, and see growing the value of our property as our way of growing our retirement nest egg when we sell (It's a helluva gamble, but the best hand we've been dealt). By adding another suite, a day spa and a wedding business, we hope to cash out with much more than we put in 9 years ago.

. It's a shame about the property you mention, because that area is a popular one for travelers from Quebec & Montreal, and with the border restrictions & exchange rates it could do very well.

You have vision. We didn’t. We did not want to be that busy. I still have no idea how you guys do everything you do. (Not just you.) Weddings, spas, more rooms, breakfast menus, we just couldn’t do it.

That said, we did accomplish what we set out to accomplish which was preserving our retirement after our corporate jobs were eliminated. We came close to doubling our retirement funds in the 17 years we were in business. So, even with the months we were closed, and the disinterest in expanding, we’re feeling good about what we did.

Kudos to everyone who ups the game!

 

[gillumhouse]

All I asked of mine was to pay the expenses of the house. I DID start Elopement Packages and we had a fair amount of them. The house has lived up to what I asked of it. Even with the last 2 years. I thought about selling twice - backed down both times when I thought about packing up even my 2 rooms. I am currently vusier than I want to be - and with no ads, only posting on Instagram, FB, & Twitter every so often. Go figure - when I was busting chops marketing, zip. Almost none - busy (by my standards, not the occupancy levels many here do.)

 

[Anon Inn]

Chuckle. 'The Vision thing"
The corporate job ditched the defined benefit plan a little over 20 years ago. We had envisioned my pension would be one leg of a three leg retirement plan: pension/social security, our long term rentals, and the B&B. All of a sudden the B&B portion became a lot more important and I started spending a lot of time of sites like this. We stepped up the property search, found 'the one' then spent several years of weekends and vacation time remodeling. We moved and I found a job more local when we opened in 2007 and continued working part time away from the inn for several years. My better half used to be underwhelmed by what the B&B was bringing in, but several years into it acknowledged that the B&B part of the plan was bringing in what he called 'real money'.
Like Gillum, we are in a very out of the way rural area that most people in our state have never heard of. Who knew that Covid was coming and people would be seeking exactly those places no one has ever heard of.
His vision was weekends only. Mine was: this is a business and needs to operate like one. With time we did come to alignment. <3

 

[Anon Inn]

we did accomplish what we set out to accomplish which was preserving our retirement after our corporate jobs were eliminated.

Yep. That was the prime motivator here too. I did go back to work part time after Covid struck. Our local station manager altered operations so that a couple of us (older age group) could work completely remotely. I blocked two days per week off from B&B. So still working daily in the busy season, but used the remote work days to catch up on washing, ironing and shopping. I will 'really' retire (from paycheck work) at the end of this year, but will continue to block off the same two days per week in the busy season. Absolutely needed for sanity.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

We considered buying a second one. I know we could have made them work. But we are slowing down now, not ramping up. So we let those opportunities pass us by and we are concentrating on our one house. Balance is good.