The Journal for Future Innkeepers
Spring 2007
Spring is finally upon us and it gets everyone thinking
of things to come! It could be a new job, vacation, or
maybe moving forward with dreams of innkeeping.
So depending upon where you are in your process,
we hope that this newsletter will be of assistance.
We wish you
the best of everything!
From all of us at Oates & Bredfeldt, LLC
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How to Know if the Price of the Inn is Right?
Of all the questions that we are asked during our
Innkeeping Seminars and in our consulting practice,
the most important, and most frequent, one is "How
can I know if the price for an inn is the right one?"
First, some general background. Most aspiring
innkeepers have previous experience in buying real
estate, mostly for their own residence. They
understand the concept of comparative market
analysis (CMA) in which they, or a real estate
professional, compare what they want in a home to
many, many houses on the market or recently sold.
The problem is that inn businesses are really unique
combinations of assets, and there may be very few
true comparables from which to get price data with
respect to recent sales in a given area. An inn is a very
different bundle of assets than a house. Read more...
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Seminar GraduatesMake the News!
Seminar graduate, Art De La Torre and his wife
Marta
were recently featured in a Money Magazine article
about pursuing their dream of Innkeeping. Art
attended our Seminar in June 2005 and now he and
Marta are actively searching for the right Inn to make
their home. They have an interesting story. You may
find similarities with your own story of Innkeeping!
Read more about Art & Marta...
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Secrets of a Pomegranate
Pomegranates are a wonderful fruit, but it always
seems to be a challenge on how to extract those tasty
little seeds from within! Well wonder no more, as
Martha Stewart has shown us the way.
The first step is to run the tip of your knife through the
outside skin of the pomegranate, starting at what we
call
the belly button of the fruit to the other side. This
process cuts through the tough outer skin. Next,
insert the tip of your knife into the pomegranate and
twist. This will break it into two sections. The next
step should be done over a bowl to retrieve seeds
and juice as it drops. Place the pomegranate cut side
down in the palm of your hand. Use the back side of a
wooden spoon to firmly hit the rounded side of the
pomegranate. This action will result in the seeds
releasing from their nesting place in the fruit and
falling into the
bowl. We found that from time to time you may have to
remove some of the membrane, but this is the
easiest method we have tried.
We hope this alleviates some of your anxiety about
pomegranates!
For Inspiring Recipe Ideas....
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The Art of Obtaining Financial Information
It always amazes me when dealing with
people looking to purchase an inn. The other day I
received an e-mail inquiring on a property valued at
$1.8M. The e-mail was simple. It said “This is the type
of inn we are interested in. So, if you can pass on to
me 3-5 years of financials, I can look them over”. So
here is the dilemma. I don’t know who this person is.
We have only communicated for a brief time via e-
mails and I don’t even know his last name. In
addition, I can’t contact him via telephone because he
hasn’t shared it with me. I’m not sure of his family
status and if he has children, there isn’t room within
the current owner’s quarters. I’m not sure if he wants
to be in a city, country, or mountains. Most importantly,
I don’t have a clue as to his finances! Yet, he
expects me to quickly disclose very personal
information when I know nothing about him.
So here is the real question: If you
owned an inn worth $1.8M would you want me to send
your financial overview to everyone that inquires?
Read more...
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Innkeepers' Words of Wisdom
"We have 10 suites at the
Montgomery--we're
finding it to be a challenge as first time innkeepers,
although a welcome one. We had asked for utility
bills and were given an average, which we're finding
to be anywhere from $500-$1200 under in any given
month. So first word of advice--call for actual bills for
the address you are interested in. I did know better,
just got caught up in the excitement, etc. But...now
that we're here we have strategically set out to change
as many light bulbs to the energy efficient coil style as
possible. Oh, stop cringing, we still use the pretty
ones where it counts, but when they are destined to
be left on 24/7 and covered by a shade, we found that
our average suite has 15-17 bulbs, and that each
bulb is supposed to save around $50, not to
mention they last much longer and have virtually
ended our having to drop everything when a bulb goes
out to go and change it. We changed over 150
lightbulbs in the first 3 weeks of business, so just the
inconvenience was enough to make us "change our
ways". The monetary savings was evident on the next
electric bill. $50 x 300 lightbulbs (we use them in the
common areas, too) is $15,000 over the next 5 years
(life of bulb). Yes, indeed, we saw a $250/reduction in
just one month's electric bill. Plus, it's good for the
environment.... I thought about baking cookies and
pretty bedding, I didn't think about
lightbulbs..."
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Upcoming Seminar Dates
- April 20 - 22 Inn at Thorn
Hill, Jackson
Village,
NH
- June 4 - 6 Captain
Jefferds Inn,
Kennebunkport,
ME
- July 23 - 25 The Settlers
Inn,
Hawley,
PA
- September 23 - 25 Gateways Inn,
Lenox,
MA
- November 2 - 4 Three
Mountain Inn,
Jamaica, VT
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