Sunday, January 1, 2012
A Bed and Breakfast...the impossible dream?: making the impossible-possible!
A Bed and Breakfast...the impossible dream?: making the impossible-possible!: Today,January first of the new year 2012-marks our new beginning. I've missed you old friend, we've a lot of catching up to do. The summ...
making the impossible-possible!
Today,January first of the new year 2012-marks our new beginning.
I've missed you old friend, we've a lot of catching up to do. The summer just flew by, I had felt it would be a good idea to put aside the bed and breakfast idea just for awhile-seemed like we were running into quite a few closed doors(I wasn't sitting still long enough to pay attention to what God had brewing!) I kept busy with our local theater's presentation of "Music Man",decided to fall off the stage and break my ankle, you know the usual summer fun when out of the blue my friend Helen came up to me to let me know that she would be moving and was going to sell her house. It's a lovely old home and she had this brilliant idea it would be a beautiful place for a bed and breakfast, hmmm.........interesting how we can strive for things and when we leave it in God's hands He brings it back to us at the 'perfect' time.
I hadn't been in her house for awhile, actually not since Joshua had his senior pictures taken there in '07-so it was quite the bittersweet stroll. None the less what great potential this beautiful place possessed-who'd have thought we'd be able to use a place that was kind of 'in-the-family' with such great memories.
I had my friend Everette who is a contractor/builder and another friend Mike-a draftsman, come take a look at it with me to see what kind of expansion would be feasible to give us the best use of space. It only has four rooms marked as bedrooms-but a lot of unused alcoves that -if we added dormer windows-would allow for at least three more bedrooms. It will take a lot of structural reconfiguration-but we know it will be worth the work. Time to figure out how we are going to do this......do we give her an offer, do we put our house on the market? Lots to think and pray about....wow is this really finally happening?
I received a phone call from Helen I think a week or so later with a little hesitance to tell me that there is a new development, a new pastor and his family are moving here from Louisiana-and although she was trying to sell them on our house-they were drawn to Helen's. I had such a peace about it though-I told her if this house is meant to be ours then God would work out the details. But I know God works things out for ALL our good-not just mine.
Interesting newsflash....I just found out in the meantime that another beautiful old home(a Queen Ann Victorian 109 years old)is going to go to foreclosure. Very interesting...I drove around trying to find it-but there are no signs out and I'm not sure which house it is. I think it took me a few days. Wait a minute-is this it? This house that our good friends Rick and Debbie used to own I think eight to ten years ago that I coveted (not really) but so loved it-and when they moved away to Oregon they had asked us if we wanted to buy it knowing our desire to run an inn even back then. Well that wasn't the right time, it was too high for us, out of our league quite frankly-so we walked away they were able to sell it at the price they needed. But that was then and this is now and the bank now owns this baby and they need to unload it on someone-why not us?
This does seem a better fit for us and with it being a foreclosure it looks like we can now afford it....possibly!
Well-let's make an offer contingent on the sale of our home ....they said "NO". Okay-well if it is meant to be our home will sell and then we can put an offer on the Victorian if it is still available. So in one week I got our home full of stuff cleaned up and ready to put on the market.(This happened to be right before I broke my ankle thankfully. Now sit and .....wait. I think in 2 or 3 weeks 2 people came to see it. It is the lesson God is teaching me-you guessed it-patience!! Me excited enough to start packing up 15 years worth of collections, painting and fixing up the house(always the things you should have done while you were living in the house instead of when you are selling it.) But the good thing about that is that I love my home-if it doesn't sell-this is just making it more attractive if we are meant to stay.-if it does sell I definitely will miss this home-it has so much of us in it, longest I've ever lived anywhere-full of happiness and sadness joy and pain all part of our memories here.
Meantime-had a little barbecue in the back yard for some friends-and one of them approached us and asked if there would be any chance we might consider renting our home out? You know we would love it if we could afford to buy the other one without having to sell this one-so well let's put in a new offer on the Victorian without the contingency and see what happens.
Do you know we prayed with our Realtor-Kim- when we started this whole process and our main prayer was that there would be no question that this was from God and that people would see His hand in it. It was funny that in the 3 or 4 weeks it took us to get things together-there were no 'serious' offers on the incredible Victorian. Until that is-when we put an offer in-we were told multiple offers were on the table and we should be prepared to start with a higher offer. Greg and I knew already that without the money from selling OUR home we would be trying to work out where to get all the down payment money as it was-so we weren't feeling comfortable having to raise our offer.-But Kim knows what she is doing and what to expect-we trust her completely,-however the contract she worked up with the higher offer had some discrepancies-so we were sort of 'stuck'-if you will- on the original offer w/out contingency, so she decided to present the bank with that and hope that they would counter if the others were legit, to which we could come back with a higher one.
No need-they accepted our offer-wow-ours,and they didn't even try to counter with any of the other offers to get people to start a bidding war-. We later found out that one of those offers actually came back on their own with a higher offer and raised it-to no avail. The bank honored our offer above the higher offer-incredible.-do you know it doesn't stop there!!!! Any of you that have ever bought/sold property-well it isn't what you would consider a 'fun' process-it puts your whole being to the test. Prayer continually on our part and from friends-helped to keep everything in perspective. We would have to remind ourselves often that God doesn't bring people so far then drop them to fend for themselves. We know without a doubt that we are meant to run a bed and breakfast-We are trusting God for the right time and place-and are learning to let Him carry the burden-He has the whole plan mapped out-and when we remember that-it can be so liberating!
That being said-knowing that nothing on this earth is or ever will be perfect, we had some neglect on our mortgage brokers part which led to Kim having to ask the seller for an extension. Ok-they were amenable to it-though being bank owned-they want it quick and problem-les. No harm no foul-uh-wait-what? Mortgage broker messed up again? And we need to ask for yet ANOTHER extension"God is in control-it will be alright-God is in control-it will be alright(find a happy place-find a happy place!)...." This is not a good scenario -we found out that the people that put in the higher offer are waiting on the sidelines still wanting the house and hoping for our offer to fall through so they can come in a put their offer back in.....and we also learned that it is a full cash offer. Do you know what that means to a bank who has so many foreclosures in their inventory and with the state of today's economy they need to sell them as quick and hassle free as possible-and yet-they are still honoring our offer. And again-a third blunder-yes from the same place as the first two- and yet God is bigger than all of that-they accepted a THIRD yes you heard me right-THIRD extension-(I'm leaving out a lot of gory details )
Living in limbo-always stressful-but if we can learn the lessons that come with it-it's part of our growth-It's all about the journey-so why not enjoy the ride, bumps included!
Am I too far off the path, let's see where was I....oh yes third extension.
Well a little bit of detail here-oh yes we musn't forget we are not the only ones involved here-there is the matter of our friends who are going to rent our house....hopefully. They have to be out of their place by the end of Sept. And before the series of extensions, our plan was to close the new house with enough time to clean it, remove old carpet, fumigate-and whatever else needed to get it move in ready. Then move all our stuff over and scrub the 15 years of grease and grime from the old house to make IT move in ready -well this was all good in theory. As you already know-things don't always go the way I plan it. By the 3rd extension they weren't even giving us a date for fear that they couldn't live up to it once more-so we are now faced with a couple of choices-
1:make them get a hotel for their whole family including animals and put their stuff in temporary storage
2:allow them to start moving their stuff over into our garage
3:figure out a way to move our stuff out not knowing how long it might take and pray that the sale doesn't fall through...
Here we are again Lord-learning to wait on You -it's all good!(get emotions out of it!!)
Well I'm not the sort of person who likes to leave someone hanging-but it's way past my bedtime, so I'm going to have to say ..."stay tuned -same bat time same bat channel!" and I will get you current to 'real time' What a joy it has been -yes even the bumps!
I've missed you old friend, we've a lot of catching up to do. The summer just flew by, I had felt it would be a good idea to put aside the bed and breakfast idea just for awhile-seemed like we were running into quite a few closed doors(I wasn't sitting still long enough to pay attention to what God had brewing!) I kept busy with our local theater's presentation of "Music Man",decided to fall off the stage and break my ankle, you know the usual summer fun when out of the blue my friend Helen came up to me to let me know that she would be moving and was going to sell her house. It's a lovely old home and she had this brilliant idea it would be a beautiful place for a bed and breakfast, hmmm.........interesting how we can strive for things and when we leave it in God's hands He brings it back to us at the 'perfect' time.
I hadn't been in her house for awhile, actually not since Joshua had his senior pictures taken there in '07-so it was quite the bittersweet stroll. None the less what great potential this beautiful place possessed-who'd have thought we'd be able to use a place that was kind of 'in-the-family' with such great memories.
I had my friend Everette who is a contractor/builder and another friend Mike-a draftsman, come take a look at it with me to see what kind of expansion would be feasible to give us the best use of space. It only has four rooms marked as bedrooms-but a lot of unused alcoves that -if we added dormer windows-would allow for at least three more bedrooms. It will take a lot of structural reconfiguration-but we know it will be worth the work. Time to figure out how we are going to do this......do we give her an offer, do we put our house on the market? Lots to think and pray about....wow is this really finally happening?
I received a phone call from Helen I think a week or so later with a little hesitance to tell me that there is a new development, a new pastor and his family are moving here from Louisiana-and although she was trying to sell them on our house-they were drawn to Helen's. I had such a peace about it though-I told her if this house is meant to be ours then God would work out the details. But I know God works things out for ALL our good-not just mine.
Interesting newsflash....I just found out in the meantime that another beautiful old home(a Queen Ann Victorian 109 years old)is going to go to foreclosure. Very interesting...I drove around trying to find it-but there are no signs out and I'm not sure which house it is. I think it took me a few days. Wait a minute-is this it? This house that our good friends Rick and Debbie used to own I think eight to ten years ago that I coveted (not really) but so loved it-and when they moved away to Oregon they had asked us if we wanted to buy it knowing our desire to run an inn even back then. Well that wasn't the right time, it was too high for us, out of our league quite frankly-so we walked away they were able to sell it at the price they needed. But that was then and this is now and the bank now owns this baby and they need to unload it on someone-why not us?
This does seem a better fit for us and with it being a foreclosure it looks like we can now afford it....possibly!
Well-let's make an offer contingent on the sale of our home ....they said "NO". Okay-well if it is meant to be our home will sell and then we can put an offer on the Victorian if it is still available. So in one week I got our home full of stuff cleaned up and ready to put on the market.(This happened to be right before I broke my ankle thankfully. Now sit and .....wait. I think in 2 or 3 weeks 2 people came to see it. It is the lesson God is teaching me-you guessed it-patience!! Me excited enough to start packing up 15 years worth of collections, painting and fixing up the house(always the things you should have done while you were living in the house instead of when you are selling it.) But the good thing about that is that I love my home-if it doesn't sell-this is just making it more attractive if we are meant to stay.-if it does sell I definitely will miss this home-it has so much of us in it, longest I've ever lived anywhere-full of happiness and sadness joy and pain all part of our memories here.
Meantime-had a little barbecue in the back yard for some friends-and one of them approached us and asked if there would be any chance we might consider renting our home out? You know we would love it if we could afford to buy the other one without having to sell this one-so well let's put in a new offer on the Victorian without the contingency and see what happens.
Do you know we prayed with our Realtor-Kim- when we started this whole process and our main prayer was that there would be no question that this was from God and that people would see His hand in it. It was funny that in the 3 or 4 weeks it took us to get things together-there were no 'serious' offers on the incredible Victorian. Until that is-when we put an offer in-we were told multiple offers were on the table and we should be prepared to start with a higher offer. Greg and I knew already that without the money from selling OUR home we would be trying to work out where to get all the down payment money as it was-so we weren't feeling comfortable having to raise our offer.-But Kim knows what she is doing and what to expect-we trust her completely,-however the contract she worked up with the higher offer had some discrepancies-so we were sort of 'stuck'-if you will- on the original offer w/out contingency, so she decided to present the bank with that and hope that they would counter if the others were legit, to which we could come back with a higher one.
No need-they accepted our offer-wow-ours,and they didn't even try to counter with any of the other offers to get people to start a bidding war-. We later found out that one of those offers actually came back on their own with a higher offer and raised it-to no avail. The bank honored our offer above the higher offer-incredible.-do you know it doesn't stop there!!!! Any of you that have ever bought/sold property-well it isn't what you would consider a 'fun' process-it puts your whole being to the test. Prayer continually on our part and from friends-helped to keep everything in perspective. We would have to remind ourselves often that God doesn't bring people so far then drop them to fend for themselves. We know without a doubt that we are meant to run a bed and breakfast-We are trusting God for the right time and place-and are learning to let Him carry the burden-He has the whole plan mapped out-and when we remember that-it can be so liberating!
That being said-knowing that nothing on this earth is or ever will be perfect, we had some neglect on our mortgage brokers part which led to Kim having to ask the seller for an extension. Ok-they were amenable to it-though being bank owned-they want it quick and problem-les. No harm no foul-uh-wait-what? Mortgage broker messed up again? And we need to ask for yet ANOTHER extension"God is in control-it will be alright-God is in control-it will be alright(find a happy place-find a happy place!)...." This is not a good scenario -we found out that the people that put in the higher offer are waiting on the sidelines still wanting the house and hoping for our offer to fall through so they can come in a put their offer back in.....and we also learned that it is a full cash offer. Do you know what that means to a bank who has so many foreclosures in their inventory and with the state of today's economy they need to sell them as quick and hassle free as possible-and yet-they are still honoring our offer. And again-a third blunder-yes from the same place as the first two- and yet God is bigger than all of that-they accepted a THIRD yes you heard me right-THIRD extension-(I'm leaving out a lot of gory details )
Living in limbo-always stressful-but if we can learn the lessons that come with it-it's part of our growth-It's all about the journey-so why not enjoy the ride, bumps included!
Am I too far off the path, let's see where was I....oh yes third extension.
Well a little bit of detail here-oh yes we musn't forget we are not the only ones involved here-there is the matter of our friends who are going to rent our house....hopefully. They have to be out of their place by the end of Sept. And before the series of extensions, our plan was to close the new house with enough time to clean it, remove old carpet, fumigate-and whatever else needed to get it move in ready. Then move all our stuff over and scrub the 15 years of grease and grime from the old house to make IT move in ready -well this was all good in theory. As you already know-things don't always go the way I plan it. By the 3rd extension they weren't even giving us a date for fear that they couldn't live up to it once more-so we are now faced with a couple of choices-
1:make them get a hotel for their whole family including animals and put their stuff in temporary storage
2:allow them to start moving their stuff over into our garage
3:figure out a way to move our stuff out not knowing how long it might take and pray that the sale doesn't fall through...
Here we are again Lord-learning to wait on You -it's all good!(get emotions out of it!!)
Well I'm not the sort of person who likes to leave someone hanging-but it's way past my bedtime, so I'm going to have to say ..."stay tuned -same bat time same bat channel!" and I will get you current to 'real time' What a joy it has been -yes even the bumps!
Monday, March 14, 2011
a wee bit tardy !
I warned you in my very first blog that I wasn't a computer gal nor "blogger"-Though I have enjoyed writing and getting your feedback! I live my whole life in waves, usually running on adrenalin from each new adventure. Then I tend to hit a wall when the mundane 'low tide' hits!! Yes, I hit low tide since my last blog-sorry it took me so long for the tide to come in.....
Such a whirlwind-and in the midst of it all Greg and I are trying to work hard at our regular jobs to help us pay for this new adventure. We met with our business councilor after the news about the business plan contest and found out it wouldn't be the best use of our time. The contest is designed for investors to find innovative 'new' business ideas with the 'X' factor, that will give them a huge return for their investments! Greg and I know that this dream will not create billows of greenbacks, we just see this as the next phase of our life-fulfilling in a myriad of other ways.
We are plodding along with the 'business plan',research strategies and the like-definitely Greg's side of the cranium-not mine! I will admit,however, it is still exciting. I just don't comprehend it as well so it can tend to drag for me! It will take more effort on my part-but I AM in it for the long run! Gleaning tons from our councilor, surely glad we aren't doing this alone!
Small setback....can't remember if I told you we put an offer on the property we really want for our location. The owner could not accept the offer-we were prepared for that because what is owed on the place is quite a bit more than what the tax assessment is showing its worth to be. I don't believe that is a completely closed door, let me clarify. We most certainly want to be wise in this decision and good advice has been given to which(especially in these times) you should never pay more then it is worth. For one reason it doesn't look good to the lenders, and we need them to loan us the money. So as we are taking in this advice, looking at not only other properties here but also outside of Hollister and even outside of california, we keep coming back to this place. Why?
What we know we have going for us:
*We know our county well(we've lived here 15 years)
*We know quite a lot of people here (best advertising is word of mouth)
*This particular place is in the heart of downtown(our city is behind us wanting to build up the downtown area)
*It has 8 rooms with the possibility of 2-3 rooms being added in the full upright attic
*house has almost 5000 sq ft
*our town has no current B&Bs (which is needed to help commerce )
Does this mean anything? well we still need to wait on the Lord, and He's been trying for years to teach me patience. But we also need to walk in faith. So we just need to really lean on the Lord daily, taking one step at a time and really listen to His leading. Easy easy to get ahead of Him and ourselves-which can result in being caught up in the undertow. (Back to my 'waves'!)
So except for a few little perks you haven't missed a whole lot in my lack of writing these past weeks. I will try to keep up a better pace-thanks for missing me!!!
Such a whirlwind-and in the midst of it all Greg and I are trying to work hard at our regular jobs to help us pay for this new adventure. We met with our business councilor after the news about the business plan contest and found out it wouldn't be the best use of our time. The contest is designed for investors to find innovative 'new' business ideas with the 'X' factor, that will give them a huge return for their investments! Greg and I know that this dream will not create billows of greenbacks, we just see this as the next phase of our life-fulfilling in a myriad of other ways.
We are plodding along with the 'business plan',research strategies and the like-definitely Greg's side of the cranium-not mine! I will admit,however, it is still exciting. I just don't comprehend it as well so it can tend to drag for me! It will take more effort on my part-but I AM in it for the long run! Gleaning tons from our councilor, surely glad we aren't doing this alone!
Small setback....can't remember if I told you we put an offer on the property we really want for our location. The owner could not accept the offer-we were prepared for that because what is owed on the place is quite a bit more than what the tax assessment is showing its worth to be. I don't believe that is a completely closed door, let me clarify. We most certainly want to be wise in this decision and good advice has been given to which(especially in these times) you should never pay more then it is worth. For one reason it doesn't look good to the lenders, and we need them to loan us the money. So as we are taking in this advice, looking at not only other properties here but also outside of Hollister and even outside of california, we keep coming back to this place. Why?
What we know we have going for us:
*We know our county well(we've lived here 15 years)
*We know quite a lot of people here (best advertising is word of mouth)
*This particular place is in the heart of downtown(our city is behind us wanting to build up the downtown area)
*It has 8 rooms with the possibility of 2-3 rooms being added in the full upright attic
*house has almost 5000 sq ft
*our town has no current B&Bs (which is needed to help commerce )
Does this mean anything? well we still need to wait on the Lord, and He's been trying for years to teach me patience. But we also need to walk in faith. So we just need to really lean on the Lord daily, taking one step at a time and really listen to His leading. Easy easy to get ahead of Him and ourselves-which can result in being caught up in the undertow. (Back to my 'waves'!)
So except for a few little perks you haven't missed a whole lot in my lack of writing these past weeks. I will try to keep up a better pace-thanks for missing me!!!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
just a tid-bit
I can't wait to tell you all that has happened in the last week-but I only have time for a quick tid-bit. Greg and I are getting involved with the SBDC Small business development center, and they are having a seminar this tues. to help kick off new businesses, with a contest on the best business plan. The winner will receive 50,000 cash and services to help with the start up of your business. And there will be angel investors and venture capitalists there looking at businesses to invest in!- What do you think about that?? Well I have to get back to the plan, but when I'm done I will tell you about the amazing deals I got last week to add to the tea room!! Ta ta!
Friday, January 28, 2011
would you like some tea?
Morning! It's another beautiful day in Northern California. I'm heading up to San Fransisco to see my son Phil. Going to pick his brain-since he graduated from culinary school and has a degree in restaurant management and hotel hospitality. Figured I could gleen from his expertise, enjoying 'catching up' while we are at it. He had said at one point if we got our B&B off the ground he would be our general manager.....wonder if he remembers saying that?! He's got a lot of experience in the field and it would be awesome to have him work with the family.
I met with the Small Business Development and finished my 1st course on "How to Write up a Business Plan" And now they will hook me up with a counselor to walk Greg and I thru each step of this venture....and don't forget-it's still free!! Anything from the financing to marketing and everything in between-this is so cool!!
As I promised in one of my previous blogs-"Marmalade Cafe and Tea House"!-Sounds silly you say? Well I have to live up to my reputation....but hey, it's a catchy name. Don't you think people will say "How fun-we need to try that place"? You know as it says, Bed and Breakfast, breakfast is part of the deal-and since you have it set up already-why not do lunch and tea too? We are trying to utilize different aspects to help build a 'total package' inn. This can help bring in customers while the B&B gets established. We know it generally takes a couple of years for businesses to get off the ground, so adding some fun fluff could fill in the void.
Think of a 'tea house'. What do little girls like to do at tea houses? That's right...'tea parties'!! And not only what you would think of as normal-but how about 'princess tea parties' or 'teddybear tea parties' 'ladies fashion show teas' etc. get the picture?
I have an idea that has evolved a little over a couple of years with a little help from my friends. Being the 'ecclectic' non-tradtionalist that I am, I want to collect all different tea cups from around the world-but not only that-I want them labelled on the bottom with the name of the person I got it from and their favorite scripture as well-so that it can be a conversation piece as well as a special momento. My aunt Patricia who passed away last year loved the idea, and she gave me my first cup and saucer-which will be put in a special shadow box for display in the tea room! So-assignment america!!!: I need tea cups/saucers-if any of you out there have UNWANTED ones tucked away in the garage or attick. I'll start the garage sale circuit soon-once we sign on the dotted line! Then you can be a true part of this adventure!-Can't wait to have you over for tea!!
I met with the Small Business Development and finished my 1st course on "How to Write up a Business Plan" And now they will hook me up with a counselor to walk Greg and I thru each step of this venture....and don't forget-it's still free!! Anything from the financing to marketing and everything in between-this is so cool!!
As I promised in one of my previous blogs-"Marmalade Cafe and Tea House"!-Sounds silly you say? Well I have to live up to my reputation....but hey, it's a catchy name. Don't you think people will say "How fun-we need to try that place"? You know as it says, Bed and Breakfast, breakfast is part of the deal-and since you have it set up already-why not do lunch and tea too? We are trying to utilize different aspects to help build a 'total package' inn. This can help bring in customers while the B&B gets established. We know it generally takes a couple of years for businesses to get off the ground, so adding some fun fluff could fill in the void.
Think of a 'tea house'. What do little girls like to do at tea houses? That's right...'tea parties'!! And not only what you would think of as normal-but how about 'princess tea parties' or 'teddybear tea parties' 'ladies fashion show teas' etc. get the picture?
I have an idea that has evolved a little over a couple of years with a little help from my friends. Being the 'ecclectic' non-tradtionalist that I am, I want to collect all different tea cups from around the world-but not only that-I want them labelled on the bottom with the name of the person I got it from and their favorite scripture as well-so that it can be a conversation piece as well as a special momento. My aunt Patricia who passed away last year loved the idea, and she gave me my first cup and saucer-which will be put in a special shadow box for display in the tea room! So-assignment america!!!: I need tea cups/saucers-if any of you out there have UNWANTED ones tucked away in the garage or attick. I'll start the garage sale circuit soon-once we sign on the dotted line! Then you can be a true part of this adventure!-Can't wait to have you over for tea!!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Taking the off the rose colored glasses?
Skeptics may not always understand why Greg an I would even want to have a bed and breakfast and tend to throw the 'negative' curve ball-however, that's not necessarily a bad thing, for a couple of reasons. One, it causes us to look inside and see if this is definatly what we want, and two, forces us to keep our feet on the ground addressing roadblocks and even the possibility of failure. Dreamers don't always like to take the rosy glasses off, but wisdom tells us in Proverbs 10:17 He is on the path of life who heeds instruction, but he who ignores reproof goes astray-and Proverbs 11:14 Where there is no guidence the people fall, but in abundance of councilors there is victory.!
Does this mean the glasses come off and the dream is over-of course not!!! I want to encourage sceptics to keep asking the questions(though I would ask it be in a positive way-just my preference!!)because it helps us to grow and makes us stronger. But I also want to reassure you that this is not a "whim" or just something we fell into over night. I believe God has been preping us for years. We want to do it right and we value our friends and the wisdom you posses. We are asking you to share your knowledge and insights with us. Lord knows we all need more wisdom-don't we?
Does this mean the glasses come off and the dream is over-of course not!!! I want to encourage sceptics to keep asking the questions(though I would ask it be in a positive way-just my preference!!)because it helps us to grow and makes us stronger. But I also want to reassure you that this is not a "whim" or just something we fell into over night. I believe God has been preping us for years. We want to do it right and we value our friends and the wisdom you posses. We are asking you to share your knowledge and insights with us. Lord knows we all need more wisdom-don't we?
Friday, January 21, 2011
What's next?
Lot's of things swimming in my head, what do I do next? I like to skip the mundane and go right to the exciting,artist that I am, but...focus! I'm now needing to do the steps that cause me indigestion!! (It's the anxiety-which I don't want to admit I have-because it says in the bible "Be anxious for NOTHING, but with prayer and petition let your requests be made known to God; and the peace that passes understanding shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus!" Thanks-Lord, I needed that!!
Information! That's what I need now-We have to get 'comps' to find out where the market is and what the house will appraise for. We know it has dropped dramatically along with interest rates, which is great for us-but not for the homeowner. Who doesn't want a good deal? But we don't want to underbid either. Things to consider * it was turned into offices-they removed the kitchen(which for us is not a bad thing considering we will need a commercial kitchen and probably would have had to gut it anyway)
* It only has half baths, same reason-they removed all the full baths.
* Needs new roof and exterior paint job
* Redecorating the entire inside-(My favorite part!!)
* Not to mention all the permits, start up costs, furnishings-including top of the line beds, bedding, pillows-because without comfy beds-who'd want to sleep there?!
All these things affect us, but on the sellers side since there are offices inside, he is charging rent and that can be very profitable for him. Oh the wonder of it all!!!!!
I am now trying to educate myself on the 'Grant' world. I know that there is money out there available to help with the start up-especially for historic homes, It's just a matter of finding it. And as the Lord would have it, my friend Cindy has a daughter who works with grants-just praying she will want to work with me on finding and applying for them.
On the lighter and fun side, I've been enjoying thinking of the theme of some of the bedrooms. Yes, I know this is the icing on the cake and the batter is not even made yet, but artists have to have some color to get thru all the black and white of life!!! So, that being said, I want the inn to be foremost-classy. I enjoy a romantic flair without being too 'Victorian'. I am very eclectic, but still enjoy the style of the late 1800s early 1900s. I'm thinking one room romantic beach cottage, with soft washed out colors, shells, whitewashed furniture. I know, in honor of my mother who collected giraffes, I would like a safari room-same era-like something from "Out of Africa", which just brought to mind another room idea-antique train car room, and I have always wanted to do an old ship cabin.(I've wanted that long before Johnny Depp and Pirates of the Caribbean.!) Next blog I will tell you some of my visions of the tea house, which I'd like to call The Marmalade Cafe?
I suppose nothing will get done if all I do is write about it! Talk to you tomorrow!
Information! That's what I need now-We have to get 'comps' to find out where the market is and what the house will appraise for. We know it has dropped dramatically along with interest rates, which is great for us-but not for the homeowner. Who doesn't want a good deal? But we don't want to underbid either. Things to consider * it was turned into offices-they removed the kitchen(which for us is not a bad thing considering we will need a commercial kitchen and probably would have had to gut it anyway)
* It only has half baths, same reason-they removed all the full baths.
* Needs new roof and exterior paint job
* Redecorating the entire inside-(My favorite part!!)
* Not to mention all the permits, start up costs, furnishings-including top of the line beds, bedding, pillows-because without comfy beds-who'd want to sleep there?!
All these things affect us, but on the sellers side since there are offices inside, he is charging rent and that can be very profitable for him. Oh the wonder of it all!!!!!
I am now trying to educate myself on the 'Grant' world. I know that there is money out there available to help with the start up-especially for historic homes, It's just a matter of finding it. And as the Lord would have it, my friend Cindy has a daughter who works with grants-just praying she will want to work with me on finding and applying for them.
On the lighter and fun side, I've been enjoying thinking of the theme of some of the bedrooms. Yes, I know this is the icing on the cake and the batter is not even made yet, but artists have to have some color to get thru all the black and white of life!!! So, that being said, I want the inn to be foremost-classy. I enjoy a romantic flair without being too 'Victorian'. I am very eclectic, but still enjoy the style of the late 1800s early 1900s. I'm thinking one room romantic beach cottage, with soft washed out colors, shells, whitewashed furniture. I know, in honor of my mother who collected giraffes, I would like a safari room-same era-like something from "Out of Africa", which just brought to mind another room idea-antique train car room, and I have always wanted to do an old ship cabin.(I've wanted that long before Johnny Depp and Pirates of the Caribbean.!) Next blog I will tell you some of my visions of the tea house, which I'd like to call The Marmalade Cafe?
I suppose nothing will get done if all I do is write about it! Talk to you tomorrow!
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