Three main things...

When I think back to the purchase process I know that it was long and sometimes we felt as if we are going in circles. It will be impossible to remember it all.

Few things however became very clear to us as we were looking at properties and speaking with real estate agents and owners.

* You should keep your goal in mind,

What are the characteristics of the property you are looking for. A small motel, B&B, Campground. Search for what it means to own each one and what fits your personality.

* Location - where do you want to live, since this is going to be your home. And to be even more specific. Do you want some land, do you want to be in a town, in a tourist area...and so on.

* Money - it is all about money. The money that you have for the purchase and the money that the business can generate, because, yes, after all you are purchasing a business.

How to start.

Buying a motel....actually we had no idea where to start.

We were not even sure what kind of motel we want. For awhile we were toying with several ideas. A B&B due to my love to old buildings. or maybe a campground, where we can work over the summer and than recall our old life over the winter. Where to look? We were living in Maine, should we stay in Maine? should we search elsewhere?. How to locate properties for sale and how to determins which one is viable one?

Definetly more questions than answers.

We spend hours...days, trying to get some answers. Realizing that the correct answers are crucial to an effective search. Talking to real estate agents, searching the internet. but mostly talking to one another. I know now that buying a motel or any other hospitaliy property for this matter, is a long process. Unless you are strictly an investor with spare money, you want to be careful and choose the right one for you.

It took us TWO years of hard work and I understand now that this is normal.

When did it all began

About 4 years ago, in the midth of sort of a crisis. We were searching for something new to do, something exciting. Surprisingly we both came with the same idea...motel.

Quiet strange as neither of us had ant prior experience.

I was coming back after 2 weeks of being away and we had a long talk about "the future".

It took 2 years from that day till we accomplished the purchase of our motel. Two years with many ups and downs. Many times we even considered giving up.

The process of searching, looking, evaluating is very stressful. Especially when you have to cover new ground.

Why blog

So that I can share my thoughts and follow this exciting process of buying and managing a small motel.

Welcome

This is my first post.