Searching for the right place.

So... a small motel up to 25 rooms. With asking price that will not exceed 4 times the gross income. That was a beginning of a thread. We still had no idea where we are going to look for it and how will we know that this is the right one for us.

It was time to actually look at some places and get a better feel as to what we like and what turns us off. This was a very important lesson. If at the beginning, while searching the Internet, we were looking at places all over the U.S.A, we now realized that you cannot really "see" a property without actually visiting it. So now we narrowed the search to 3 states; Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. All within a day driving distance. We located motels "for sale" in these states that were in our price range and asked to see them.

Seeing a motel, we found out, after visiting few is really not much different than seeing any other property. Every motel has a private residence and motel rooms. You go through them and have to decide whether you like what you see (assuming that you did your preliminary work and you established that the price is right).

We decided very early in the process that if the motel does not look like a place that we as travelers will be willing to spend a night in, there is no point of thinking about it any further.

Than come the over all feeling from the location, the way the rooms look (and smell), is the private residence going to work for you and your family.

Of course, it is a business, but one you are going to be in 24 hours, 365 days. So you should at least like it.

We knew that we wanted the motel to have some land around it and yet realized that we will need to compromise. Visibility is very crucial and you cannot be very remote. People want to be close to a town and its' conveniences. We are still amazed at how important it is every day, when people check in and their first question is - "where can we go to eat".

Unless you are very unique, you need to be seen as "walk-ins" are a very big part of successful business.

So, visibility yet some land was one of our first clues for the right place.

A livable owner residence, big enough for us and convenient and PRIVATE.

A place that have tourist appeal, as we felt that we want a place that people want to come and visit.

Family oriented, a place that will lend itself to families. here again the land was important.

A small breakfast room. We are not big on cooking but believe that offering breakfast is a big appeal.

And last but not least an overall good feeling about the place. This is not something that you can explain but we are big believers in that gut feeling and it served us well in the past. Even if everything seems OK but you do not get that " good, I can live and work here" feeling, walk away.