HHHMMMMMMMMMM - My question would be, "What characteristics did the inns that sold have in common?" My next question would be, "What would an inn have to do to acquire those characteristics?"
2009 Inns For Sale Study Released
Submitted by JunieBJones (JBJ) on Fri, 04/10/2009 - 11:57am
HHHMMMMMMMMMM - My question would be, "What characteristics did the inns that sold have in common?" My next question would be, "What would an inn have to do to acquire those characteristics?"
Those are good questions. Right now there are 2 B&B's for sale in my town (that I know of). Another is on and off the market and will probably go as a home rather than a biz. 3 B&B's have closed in the time I've been here. Others closed prior to that. OTOH, of the B&B's that have changed hands in the past 5 years, most were actively on the market for less than 6 months before getting the offer that bought the place. (Closings were a little longer than that, up to 5 months later. Even tho we had cash in hand, our closing took 2 months.)
We're trying to position ourselves for sale sometime down the road (we have a 10 year plan), so it would be good to know what we should be looking at doing NOW to make ourselves ready for THEN.
Thanks for the post, very interesting information. The one that caught my attention was "there is currently a twelve year supply of inns for sale". Ouch.
I also thought that the reference to 990 total properties for sale was very helpful. I'd been guessing about 1000 were for sale in the US, and it is nice to get some confirmation.
One thing I wonder is how many inns sell at a price based on home/land value and how many sell based on an income multiplier. I feel like it's almost two separate markets.
Thanks again,
Zach
Thanks for the post, very interesting information. The one that caught my attention was "there is currently a twelve year supply of inns for sale". Ouch.
This is, IMHO, the eye catcher that should be readily discarded. Think of it as the great misdirection. There are a ton of meaningful solutions and a fair amount of details that would help us understand what inns sold and why. That takes a lot of work that you won't find in lighter reading.
That was my thought, too - a comment like that is a sound bite waiting to be used for something other than a meaningful discussion about inns for sale. Like someone saying there are three years' worth of used cars on the car lots right now. No one really thinks this is about supply and demand, do they?
I know of one that had 8 guestrooms that sold and is no longer going to be a B & B per the seller who gave me that info. She did not say what it was going to be though. At least 3 others in this State sold as residences.
So what you are saying Gillum is that not all B&B's for sale are listed as B&B's with brokers - so this info is skewed on that aspect as well.
Re the 12 year supply of B&B's - I did not get the point of that comment in the article, was it a warning to those who might be ready to sell to GET THIS B&B BROKER on board immediately? Possibly. That was the only thing that came to mind. The author of the article sells B&B's. So quite possibly. Or don't start one up folks, we have a huge closeout sale going on!
Welcome back Houdini. I love your dissappearing acts. 
So what you are saying Gillum is that not all B&B's for sale are listed as B&B's with brokers - so this info is skewed on that aspect as well.
Correct. Often the innkeepers do not realize there are specialists in the fiels OR with smaller ones, the inn brokers do not want to be bothered with something that small so the innkeeper is actually "forced" to list with a regular realtor.
I cannot imagine The B & B Team taking on my 3 guestrooms in Podunk - not enough juice in it. If I am around when it is time to sell, I will probably list it with the various inn for sale pages of the directories and probably put a notice on my Specials Page that the time has come to think of what is best for my City....... I truly hope to turn it over to someone who wants it as a B &B and not as just a residence. Thinking os what is best for the economy of my City, I have been rethinking my "feet first" plan and hope it happens before the La-La stage. With luck, I will have at least another 10 years.
I think that was a comment that was made..something to the effect...if you have only 3 or 4 rooms..don't try to sell it as a business...as they don't usually consider that size a business
But try to sell it as a residence.
We'll offer ours as a residence but with a caveat that it was and can still be operated as a B & B when the time comes..and I hope that time will be within the next year or two if this economy can turn around. I want out of this big place. We love it here, but the dust is piling up in the top floor of the house which we NEVER use now..and I am tired of cleaning it. I just want to clear out and leave as much of this "stuff" as I can to someone else.
So all of the comments about smaller properties make sense (they probably wouldn't show up in the 1000 number).
I guess the real issue with the "12 year supply" number is that they are measuring current inventory level against sales from the past year, and I have to imagine this was a historically low number.