Next... Time

To our dismay we have found out that the lovely little inn we were so interested in, complete with lavender field, is already in escrow. To make matters worse, we have fallen in love with the idea of the lavender field and having an inn that is in a more pastoral setting. Sadly, the inn we were looking at in Calistoga didn't have enough appeal to sway us otherwise. In the meantime, N has sent us a collection of books on how to run and B+B... so we'll be ready when the time comes!

NEXT!

As expected, our counter offer to the sellers was rejected. The other buyers "win" the property and we "lose". Sad as it may be, this isn't exactly heartbreaking given all the issues surrounding this particular inn. The good news is that there are now TWO new inns on the market that we are interested in seeing. One we have already referred to in a previous post, and the other is an inn in Calistoga. The Calistoga inn (which is different from the other inn that we looked at there) is interesting because it is a 5 bedroom b+b with 7 one bedroom apartments that they rent as monthly rentals. Those 7 apartments are already licensed for renting as part of the b+b if the owner should so desire for a total of 12 rooms. Perfect! I think we'll be making another trip out west soon to see these two properties. And there's even a good deal to SF on Virgin American to boot!

Day Two : Sonoma

Since Day Two did not officially begin until 12pm, we decided that while we were in Sonoma, we may as well visit a winery during our free morning. I know. It was a tough decision. We limited our choices to wineries within the Sonoma area, since that was where we would be for our appointments. Gloria Ferrer, known for their sparkling wines, was the ultimate winner. And so we spent the morning sipping Rose Cuveé and Carneros Cuveé on the winery terrace. It was beautiful. Hot. But lovely. After this we were ready to view the final two properties on our trip. The first was a block or two off of the main square in Sonoma. We had never been to the heart of Sonoma, and it was adorable. Much like a mini-version of Healdsburg. (Healdsburg being already quite small, Sonoma is even more so. Perhaps that is why it was so sweet?). We couldn't believe we had never been there.

The first inn was also quite small. With only six rooms, it felt quaint. There was some potential here, but the two buildings of the inn felt jumbled and tight. It also needed a fair amount of work, despite the solid furniture and great location. We kept this in our mind as we moved on to the second inn—the last we would see this trip.

Inn number two was a five minute drive from the town center. The location, we lamented, could have been better as it sits off of the main two-lane Sonoma Highway. That said, we were immediately impressed with the scale of the property—which included a (relatively) considerable amount of land. The inn itself, also had a good basis upon which to improve. There was decent furniture and linens. Room for expansion. And, of course, the opportunity to improve the business. This, we thought, could be it.

At this juncture, our next step is to sign a confidentiality agreement so that we can receive the financial documents for the inns we are interested in. Once we are able to review those, we will able to fully assess if this is all possible. Or not.

Day One : Napa

We landed late-ish in the day on Wednesday into the Sonoma County airport. Correction, the Charles M. Schultz Sonoma County airport. With Snoopy to welcome us back to the area, we looked forward to two days of searching for properties to "acquire" (as our broker kept saying). Day one would focus on two inns in the Napa area—one in Napa itself, and the other in Calistoga. Since our first day didn't begin until 1pm, we spent the morning exploring the Oxbow market. This was a very very small version of what you see in Seattle's Public Market and even the Ferry Building in San Francisco. We bought some gifts of olive oil from The Olive Press, and set out to the first inn. This luxury inn, located in the heart of Napa, is rated one of the very best in the area. We loved the thought that clearly went into the operation, and were charmed by the charismatic owner. Unfortunately, we felt that although the inn needed work, it didn't need the TLC we were hoping to give. This lead us to the second property, located further up the valley in Calistoga—a historic inn clearly in need of all the TLC it could get. However, we felt that if there ever was a true life Money Pit, this was it. With zoning and water issues surrounding the town of Calistoga, to the structures sorely in need of rebuilding, this project was not for us. We hoped for better on day two.

Options

Today we finally had the opportunity to review the inns-for-sale-websites sent to us by our bed and breakfast broker (there's got to be a shorter, better name for that job). Unfortunately, these sites arrange the inns by state, so that you need to know the various areas within the state to know if the inn is in the location you want. Make sense? So, after scrutinizing the sites several times over we've developed a list of five inns to see when we visit in two weeks. FIVE. That's it. AND that includes one inn that is WAY out of our price range and two that are quite likely bad business opportunities. Sigh. The "expensive" one is a fancy shmancy boutique inn in Napa. It's lovely. It's perfect. It's what we would want to end up with (not start with). The two smaller inns include the historic inn, which we discussed in an earlier post, and a four room inn, which is simply too small to be profitable for us. All this leaves us with the two possibilities we identified initially, both in Sonoma. Though one has an unfortunate name, both are a decent size (six to seven rooms each) WITH space for expansion. We plan to see all these when we visit Napa, but it seems that our biggest challenge in opening a bed and breakfast may simply be finding one to buy.

Looking Forward to August

Yesterday our bed and breakfast broker sent us a cryptic email. This was in response to an inquiry about our schedule for when we visit Napa to look for properties in August. Her email said "I think you and Steve would be better served if we spoke by phone rather than email." Immediately we thought of the negative. Were there no properties to be had? Were banks not lending? Was she quitting the business and abandoning us mid-search? After some hand-wringing, we finally got a hold of her. It turns out that she simply wanted to find out more information about what properties we would like to see while we are there. She forwarded us links for several websites where we can search what is currently available. At first glance it seems that there are only two properties that are based in the area that we are interested in (Sonoma). We will have to do some research to determine if the locations of the others are viable. If nothing else, this narrows down our search considerably!

Historic Inn

This week our bed and breakfast broker sent the first listing for us to review. It is a historic inn located in Calistoga, California. This is on the northern end of Napa Valley and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There is a charming wrap around porch ideal for hosting afternoon wine hour, and the obligatory white picket fence surrounding the property. Although we find this quite appealing, we have concerns about the building's structural integrity (it was built in 1860). We are also concerned that the cottage only has 6 units to rent (our ideal would be 8), and there is no owner's unit currently on the property. This means that we would have to build a separate owner's cottage for us to live in. As fun at that sounds, it could also be an additional expense we would rather not undertake. We'll hold off on requesting more information on this property (ie. financials) for now.