What about owning and running a B&B in your retirement?
by Juliette Swenson
Many people as they look at retirement are interested in a part-time job of sorts and start to consider what it would be like to have a Bed and Breakfast. They imagine that they will have fun decorating all the rooms differently and setting a perfect breakfast table and cooking special breakfasts. I am not sure they are realistic, however, about the work entailed in the day-to-day running of a Bed and Breakfast.
We have bought four inns and sold three over the past ten years. The first was in Port Townsend, Washington, the second was in Petersburg, in central Virginia, the third in Camden, South Carolina and now we own Twelfth Night Inn in Staunton, near the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia.
Here are some considerations for you to evaluate to see if this life-style fits your retirement plan:
Can you be friendly and chatty with complete strangers at 8am?
Do you like to maintain a spotlessly clean house? How about ironing the sheets? Just kidding!
Are you 'handy' - you need to be to fix broken toilets, leaking hot-water heaters, torn shower curtains, water marks on wooden furniture, etc
Will you mind being tied down? It is easier if there are two of you to 'mind the store'. Also having a cell phone means you can take your reservation book to the supermarket with you.
Are you good at marketing and on the Internet? Marketing B&Bs is mainly done on-line these days.
Are you a problem solver? Are you resourceful? Dealing with the public can be demanding and in-your-face, so you need to keep your cool. Most guests treat you like friends, but a few treat you like a servant.
Are you willing to work hard and make little money? Most 4-6 room B&Bs only generate about $50,000 gross per year. You might be able to pay the mortgage for a nice old house you enjoy but you'd need another income to pay for those trips to Europe and Tahiti to rest up! If you want to get into the big leagues where you can gross over $100,000 per year (net is usually about 50%), then you need a location in a high-volume tourist place such as Carmel or Williamsburg, or a larger city, which gets a lot of business travelers.
A recent B&B I knew of sold for $1,250,000 in Norfolk, VA and their gross was about $175,000 and the net around 50% of that. This is UNCOMMON and due I believe to the fact that there was little competition there. We have 7 Bed and Breakfasts in Staunton and competition is fierce.
If I didn't ask about cleaning toilets you'd be disappointed, so here it is -
Are you good at cleaning three toilets a day? Are you detail oriented? Re-doing rooms with many amenities takes a while. We supply bedside chocolates, candy, ice buckets and wine glasses, water glasses, and all the usual bathroom amenities. The more extras you have the longer it takes to 'do' rooms.
In general there is a lot of 'looking after' everything. Perhaps the hardest thing about the whole business is that you have to keep everything working and up to 'par'. A broken dishwasher cannot wait for a couple of weeks to get fixed - you need to get a new one or have it repaired immediately! A broken dining chair could be just as critical if you only have 6 chairs and 6 for breakfast tomorrow! I enjoy having a very homey feel at our B&B, and so have lots of houseplants everywhere and usually have a flower arrangement in the guestrooms and on the dining table. This kind of thing also adds to the effort one has to put in.
Many people want to scale back as they get older and have smaller houses and less yard. Most Bed and Breakfasts are fairly big houses and have large yards. The advent of Bed and Breakfasts over the past 25 years has saved many a large old house. Few people have 4-6 children these days and so having a huge house with many bedrooms is not required. I am glad that these beautiful old houses have found a new lease on life in the hands of innkeepers.
I love the fact that the 'world' comes to your door and you meet people from all walks of life. We always have in common that we like to travel, and my interest never wanes as far as finding out where they are going or where they came from. Does this sound like you - or not?
Juliette Swenson
402 East Beverley Street
Staunton, VA 24401
540-885-1733 FAX 540-885-4213
Email: juliettes@rica.net
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