How did you know it was the One?

[undersea]

While we are still in the exasperating, yet exciting, search for the property to call "home," I was curious how you knew that your current property was "the One" for you?
Was it the location? The value for what you got? The look from the street? Love at first sight? The taxes were unexpectedly reasonable? Was the building just what you imagined? The one you could finally get past zoning? The correct layout with bathrooms and bedrooms? Was it an existing inn/B&B? Something else?
Did you look at a few? Look for years? Look at many?
Did you make one offer or wind up making a few, some of which fell through?
Curious; just saying...

 

[Mary at Bridgewater Inn and Cottage]

Simple, it was my home....( not much help for your question).

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparation.
We'd talked about it and lived our lives and when the opportunity came along, we were prepared.
It was a combination of location and set up. The view mattered. The owners' quarters mattered a lot.

 

[Morticia]

We had a list of must haves:

• In town
• Self supporting
• Multi season
• Not in need of big maintenance
• In a destination area
• Small enough to do without help
• Oh yeah, big, separate owner's quarters

 

[gillumhouse]

I walked into the house and the house said - stop looking, I am yours (truth). It was our 4th and last trip for the year 1994 (the house had not even been on the market on our previous trip). The layout was perfect for OQ on the first floor. Himself moved in in Jan 1995, I came permanently in April 1995, the Duchess moved out in Sept. 1995 so a little redecorating and buying furniture and we opened July 1996. We were a start-up.

 

[Lee2014]

It was my grandparents inn... I'm the third generation to work here.

 

[OnTheShore]

It was my grandparents inn... I'm the third generation to work here..

It was my grandparents inn... I'm the third generation to work here.

Similarly, the Harborfields property has been in the family for 183 years, with the hospitality business started by the grandparents some 67 years ago....

 

[Lee2014]

It was my grandparents inn... I'm the third generation to work here..

It was my grandparents inn... I'm the third generation to work here.

Similarly, the Harborfields property has been in the family for 183 years, with the hospitality business started by the grandparents some 67 years ago....
.

It was my grandparents inn... I'm the third generation to work here.

Similarly, the Harborfields property has been in the family for 183 years, with the hospitality business started by the grandparents some 67 years ago....

Wow! That is neat! Our family has had our place since 1975. They bought it off a college who had used it for a dorm.

 

[EmptyNest]

We had specific criteria
Brick, under a specific $$$ amount, PRIVATE LARGE owners quarters, well built structure with not much updating required, in a destination location.
We searched for several years all along the Blue Ridge Mountains. This one fit the bill on all counts, we loved the innkeepers, loved the area, loved the house and knew after our first night stay..this was the one! And, over all these years....nothing else ever matched it all. So we knew it was meant to be.

 

[Morticia]

We looked at maybe 20 places over the course of one year. Made an offer on a place in VT but could not get the owners to give us the P&L in a timely fashion. So we low balled. They declined. I do see that it has sold since then.
Glad it didn't work out, it's a tough town to live in. We have lots of friends in the restaurant biz and they do nothing but complain about how cheap the folks are who go there.
Loved another place in VT, but the broker we worked with was a loser. She didn't have the authority to show the place but took us there anyway. The owner told her to go away and wouldn't let us inside. We've since had guests here who loved going there. Gorgeous location right on the lake.
Had a lot of great showings but there was always something that didn't work out.
This place checked all the boxes and then some.

 

[JimBoone]

Liked vacations in the Blowing Rock area, proposed the idea to my other half and started taking a weekly paper from the area for a few years, looked only from a distance as most were out of price range.
Visited the area in fall of 1991, as we were heading home the wife and sister wanted to stop in a shop, walked up the street to entertain our young son and picked up a paper to read, 8 hours later after the drive home I got to read the paper and saw this place listed, other side of the county, but the price was more reasonable. Returned with a friend in a couple of weeks for a quick look, returned the next month with the wife for another look and made an offer.
Did I investigate things properly, oh heck no, I followed my dream and took a foolish chance, but fortunately were blessed and made a go of the venture, hope to get to spend the rest of my days at the motel. Much more to the story than would be suitable here, but glad to share in a PM or email.

 

[Ice]

We built ours. We didn't start out for it to be a B&B, but as we were finishing up the inside, the place was really looking awesome, that I thought it sure would be nice as a B&B. They cut my hours at work so I went for it! We had the builder built our cottage. To add 2 guest rooms. Things just seem to fall into place. But then I had this dream since the late 80's.

 

[2cat_lady]

Not old enough to retire and not rich enough to not work. We fell in love with the province and decided to take a great leap of faith and move half way across the country.
The area had to fit the criteria--on the water, four bedrooms, small cabin on the site for our future quarters (separate from B&B), not too far from urban centre but far enough to give it a rural feeling and price. Like JimBoone, probably could have done more research and investigation but it just felt right. After extensive reno, a few hiccups, we're in our second year with lots of ideas still to go.
We're still young enough to hope for at least ten years in this biz and then we'll go from there.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

The longer version of the story. DH and I had looked at many inns but had given up the idea because we were settled in our careers and home. DH had lost his job to the slowing economy three years earlier. He was gearing up to start a new career.
Went for a walk one summer day and saw an open house sign. I love peeking into open houses, so we went down the road. When we saw that it was this house, I said, "I have always wanted to see the inside of that house!" So in we went.
A week later, DH comes to me with a notebook in his hand and says, "This could work." I said something along the lines of, "are you crazy???!!" He kept working the math and it seemed to work. We called a realtor we knew and said, "this may sound crazy, but, how much can we get for our house?"
The math worked because he could take on the business and I could continue at my job. The offer was contingient upon our selling our current house, otherwise, we could not have gotten the mortgage loan. Pieces fell together. Luck = opportunity + preparation.
A few days later, we were cleaning out clutter and on the market!!!!

 

[Ice]

The longer version of the story. DH and I had looked at many inns but had given up the idea because we were settled in our careers and home. DH had lost his job to the slowing economy three years earlier. He was gearing up to start a new career.
Went for a walk one summer day and saw an open house sign. I love peeking into open houses, so we went down the road. When we saw that it was this house, I said, "I have always wanted to see the inside of that house!" So in we went.
A week later, DH comes to me with a notebook in his hand and says, "This could work." I said something along the lines of, "are you crazy???!!" He kept working the math and it seemed to work. We called a realtor we knew and said, "this may sound crazy, but, how much can we get for our house?"
The math worked because he could take on the business and I could continue at my job. The offer was contingient upon our selling our current house, otherwise, we could not have gotten the mortgage loan. Pieces fell together. Luck = opportunity + preparation.
A few days later, we were cleaning out clutter and on the market!!!!.

Pieces fell together. Luck = opportunity + preparation.
I think that's the key!

 

[GoodScout]

Our list was very similar to Mort's:

• In a town we would want to live in
• Self-supporting
• Able to run year-round
• Not needing major maintenance
• At a destination area, either ski or short
• Separate owner's quarters
• A B&B, not an Inn (didn't want to get into restaurant business)
• Appeared to one or more niches (in our case, pet-friendly, LGBT, weddings)

 

[Skamokawa]

The longer version of the story. DH and I had looked at many inns but had given up the idea because we were settled in our careers and home. DH had lost his job to the slowing economy three years earlier. He was gearing up to start a new career.
Went for a walk one summer day and saw an open house sign. I love peeking into open houses, so we went down the road. When we saw that it was this house, I said, "I have always wanted to see the inside of that house!" So in we went.
A week later, DH comes to me with a notebook in his hand and says, "This could work." I said something along the lines of, "are you crazy???!!" He kept working the math and it seemed to work. We called a realtor we knew and said, "this may sound crazy, but, how much can we get for our house?"
The math worked because he could take on the business and I could continue at my job. The offer was contingient upon our selling our current house, otherwise, we could not have gotten the mortgage loan. Pieces fell together. Luck = opportunity + preparation.
A few days later, we were cleaning out clutter and on the market!!!!.

Pieces fell together. Luck = opportunity + preparation.
I think that's the key!
.

Pieces fell together. Luck = opportunity + preparation.
I think that's the key!
Our experience too.

 

[Skamokawa]

Not old enough to retire and not rich enough to not work. We fell in love with the province and decided to take a great leap of faith and move half way across the country.
The area had to fit the criteria--on the water, four bedrooms, small cabin on the site for our future quarters (separate from B&B), not too far from urban centre but far enough to give it a rural feeling and price. Like JimBoone, probably could have done more research and investigation but it just felt right. After extensive reno, a few hiccups, we're in our second year with lots of ideas still to go.
We're still young enough to hope for at least ten years in this biz and then we'll go from there..

eastern or western province?

 

[2cat_lady]

Not old enough to retire and not rich enough to not work. We fell in love with the province and decided to take a great leap of faith and move half way across the country.
The area had to fit the criteria--on the water, four bedrooms, small cabin on the site for our future quarters (separate from B&B), not too far from urban centre but far enough to give it a rural feeling and price. Like JimBoone, probably could have done more research and investigation but it just felt right. After extensive reno, a few hiccups, we're in our second year with lots of ideas still to go.
We're still young enough to hope for at least ten years in this biz and then we'll go from there..

eastern or western province?
.

As far east as you can go. Newfoundland b'y!

 

[Camge]

We bought our B and B at a yard sale, well not quite.... We first looked at the house when it was having a yard sale. I loved it Dear husband not so much. A lot of work to do. Itbsat on the market for over 2 years. We are a niche market area. The Hamptons in Ny, the beach, celebrities etc... My husband and I were looking to retire, and start a B and B. We had an apointment to look at a property inOgunquit Me. Started thinking we would rather be closer to NY. Our house was still for sale, we looked at it again, realized it had location, location location. Found out as we went through the process of buying it that it was grandfathered as a Guest house since it had been run as one since the 1920's. You can't start aB and B now.Luck, and knowledge. And knowing what you want.