So we made our first offer...

[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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
.

Morticia I was thinking more of the real estate and business advertisments that promote what a great cash flow a property has and how much one could expect to pocket from a purchase, they all sound great on paper "if I could write a check for the property". I've always enjoyed reading the ads, yet I feel many are written to get the prospective purchaser excited and perhaps overlook the cost of financing.

 

[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!
.

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.
.

It's good to know we're not alone chasing this dream. It seems much like the mythical tale of Sisyphus. It's also like trying to run in quicksand waiting around for banks, lawyers, accountants and brokers... all while watching our IRAs/401Ks shrinking in this terrible market plunge as of late! My wife is actively searching for another job in medicine. We're running down a few family doctor positions actually available in the town we're buying in. We were courted by one back in September and thought it was a lock, but they got squirrely. thankfully there is another better opportunity in town, hopefully! I plan to continue doing my design business, since it's very portable thanks to the internet and reasonable clients. I've been in advertising for 25 years and still have so much I can do to help other businesses no matter what town I live/work in. This one in particular, a resort town, is in dire need of a reliable graphic/web/logo design person with professional photography skills.
Thankfully our house is under contract and closing Nov. 30th, so just in time to help pay for everything! ha ha.
That's our plan to ENJOY what we do, and we think the pride of curating, care taking and owning an inn sounds like a great way to do that!

 

[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.
.

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.
.

It's good to know we're not alone chasing this dream. It seems much like the mythical tale of Sisyphus. It's also like trying to run in quicksand waiting around for banks, lawyers, accountants and brokers... all while watching our IRAs/401Ks shrinking in this terrible market plunge as of late! My wife is actively searching for another job in medicine. We're running down a few family doctor positions actually available in the town we're buying in. We were courted by one back in September and thought it was a lock, but they got squirrely. thankfully there is another better opportunity in town, hopefully! I plan to continue doing my design business, since it's very portable thanks to the internet and reasonable clients. I've been in advertising for 25 years and still have so much I can do to help other businesses no matter what town I live/work in. This one in particular, a resort town, is in dire need of a reliable graphic/web/logo design person with professional photography skills.
Thankfully our house is under contract and closing Nov. 30th, so just in time to help pay for everything! ha ha.
That's our plan to ENJOY what we do, and we think the pride of curating, care taking and owning an inn sounds like a great way to do that!
.

It's a stressful time trying to coordinate everyone and make sure everything happens when it should.
We had a nightmare because in England the exchange of legal documents to say you're going to purchase doesn't happen until a week before the sale, in Scotland it happens a week or two after the purchase is agreed. So we were legally tied into the purchase of this place but our buyers were messing us about. I spent a week desperately trying to arrange a bridging loan which in the end we didn't need thank heavens. We were literally on the road heading north with all our belongings in the van before we got the phone call to say we'd exchanged contracts and completed the sale at the same time.

 

[flyingace71]

Update: I withdrew our offer yesterday after discovering from multiple banking entities that we could not achieve financing. We, needless to say, were upset and disappointed.
Today started with the broker calling me to tell me that the sellers will do owner financing, contract for deed until we can get financed, which should be mid next year when a law suit is closed (my wife is a doctor and tied in with a suit that has nothing to do with her but that the way it is these days!).
So starting next week, we will proceed with the transaction and keep moving forward! WHOA, the ups and downs of all this is driving me insane. I can't wait to be busy with an inn and forget all of this part!

 

[JimBoone]

Update: I withdrew our offer yesterday after discovering from multiple banking entities that we could not achieve financing. We, needless to say, were upset and disappointed.
Today started with the broker calling me to tell me that the sellers will do owner financing, contract for deed until we can get financed, which should be mid next year when a law suit is closed (my wife is a doctor and tied in with a suit that has nothing to do with her but that the way it is these days!).
So starting next week, we will proceed with the transaction and keep moving forward! WHOA, the ups and downs of all this is driving me insane. I can't wait to be busy with an inn and forget all of this part!.

I'm not familiar with the term "contract for deed", but I think every home and business I've bought during my life have been at least partially owner financed, often the terms were simpler than had I gone through a bank, however please carefully look at the terms.
What I wouldn't want is to be locked into too short a term where I would lose everything "if" I couldn't finance a balance at that time. When we purchased the motel I think I had 12 years to pay off the original owner, but only 2 years to sell a piece of property and pay off the most recent owner, sort of sweated getting that part paid.
Be sure you are protected

 

[Anon Inn]

Update: I withdrew our offer yesterday after discovering from multiple banking entities that we could not achieve financing. We, needless to say, were upset and disappointed.
Today started with the broker calling me to tell me that the sellers will do owner financing, contract for deed until we can get financed, which should be mid next year when a law suit is closed (my wife is a doctor and tied in with a suit that has nothing to do with her but that the way it is these days!).
So starting next week, we will proceed with the transaction and keep moving forward! WHOA, the ups and downs of all this is driving me insane. I can't wait to be busy with an inn and forget all of this part!.

Sounds like they want this to work. Your attorney has no doubt had a look at the contract.
What a ride! Please keep us posted.

 

[flyingace71]

Promising update: We signed contracts yesterday with a closing date of Jan 8th! Woo Hoo! My wife and I are excited and scared to death

 

[flyingace71]

duplicate entry for some reason. It also won’t let me post my entire entry, now what I typed is lost. Oh well.
I’ll post again later. Wish us luck and thanks for all the great advice!