Turnkey Inns vs converting historic homes to B&B's

[Weaver]

and I state my case:
Former rat-infested care home up for sale
[COLOR= rgb(119, 119, 119)]Rye and Battle Today[/COLOR]
Former rat-infested care home up for sale Rye and Battle Today James Emson, auctioneer, said: We have been instructed by the joint administrators of the property, which is considered ideal for reuse as a care home or a bed-and-breakfast or as one or two private residences, subject to consents.
Yeah IDEAL!.

The architecture is cool, the roof looks like it is going to cave any minute. Lots of places can be a B n B if you have the money, the insanity, the therapist (in the event you want to treat your insanity), and the time.
And everything is subject to......

 

[Silverspoon]

I agree with the majority here that those of you whose dream is to run a B&B that turnkey saves lots of grief and in most cases is the sane way to proceed.
My case is rather unique because I got into innkeeping bass ackwards. It was my job to sell the house my parents had lived in for 50 years when they got too old to live there. This was 2005 when most people had a reasonable expectation that houses would eventually sell. It was on the market (priced lower than what the realtor recommended so I could get rid of it fast) for a year without the first nibble. I was despairing what to do with this 5 bedroom house and one day when I was driving past it on my way to work the idea just popped into my head that it would make a great B&B.
For example, the zoning ordinance in my town doesn't even define what a B&B is, health department was very difficult to work with, so obviously if I had done "all" my homework I would have run away from this project very fast.
Fortunately for me I found the Forum and my forum buddies steered me into lots of correct choices during that start up phase. Had I not converted the old house into a B&B I would have missed out on such a great adventure. This is saying a lot because as I explain to the guests who compliment my breakfasts that I was a non-cook before the B&B.
I love my commute, 97% of my guests are super nice people, I've learned how to cook (breakfasts, at least) and I've met lots of wonderful Innmates.
I am fortunate in so many ways. I was able to plow my retirement savings into the undertaking so there was not a mortgage. I've been able to pay my overhead expenses from earnings, but don't yet think I'd earn enough to make mortgage payments. I'm now in my fifth year, and this is the first year that I can say I might possibly have a month with 40% occupancy, and the first year that there have been times that I've had to turn away bookings cause I was already full up!
So I'm still getting the hang of things around here, not ready to contemplate selling, having too much fun... I already know nobody wants to buy this house anyway..

Innkeep, what a wonderful success story! I have a feeling you will have many happy innkeeping years ahead of you. Not having a mortgage is a wonderful feeling in that every day you have guests, you know that you are doing it by choice...not because you absolutely have to. To me that makes a big difference.
We also just happened into the business of innkeeping over 20 years ago. Our challange now is how to scale it back and still offer a quality stay without killing ourselves with work. There is not much chance of our ever selling this place as a viable B+B because it is too small to pay a mortgage. But, it may be just the right size for us to live out our days here just running it weekends. Like you, most of our guests are wonderful and we really do enjoy the social aspects of the business. As people-pleasers, we can't imagine selling this place and retiring to a total life of leisure.