January Newsletter
Hello everyone
Well, it's certainly been a busy month! In a nutshell we decided we'd move to the Lakes and buy a B&B, we read lots of books, looked at lots of websites and maps, spoke to lots of people, signed up with estate agents, discussed financials with commercial mortgage companies and set up several property viewings for February.
Oh, and we had a 12 day holiday to Club La Santa in Lanzarote too! :-)
So. We made the decision to move. But then what? Well we applied to Location, Location, Location of course! ;-) Haven't heard a peep from them yet, but they do say to give it 2 months. So I've also started following Kirsty Allsop on twitter in the hope that might help!
On the assumption that we won't get chosen for the programme, we've mostly spent a lot of time talking. Talk talk talk talk, endlessly about our options...
Do we want a house that also doubles as a B&B? Or do we want a B&B business that we happen to live in? (by the way we don't know the answers to these yet!).
Do we want to stretch ourselves financially to get the most beautiful, big, country house that we'll love and live in for many years but might get stressed about needing full occupancy?
Or do we want to minimise our risk, keep our mortgage as low as possible and have a smaller place with a relaxed lifestyle and good work/life balance?
Can we have both?
Do we want to be north or south Lakes?
Do we want to be in a town or a village or in a hamlet?
Do we want to take on an additional business (tea shop/store etc)?
So we talked. And we researched. We looked at lots of properties online.
We also got our London flat valued. We haven't put it on the market yet. We want to wait until after our first research visit to the Lakes. Just to make sure that this is definitely 100% what we want. We need to be sure that our idea of a B&B in the Lakes matches the reality!
I've spoken to a number of commercial mortgage brokers. Many of whom are initially negative about our prospects of getting a loan to secure the property in the current market. I've learnt that commercial mortgages work in a very different way to private ones. After discussing the options and our financial situation with the lenders the conversations have all turned out quite positive, which is really encouraging.
I've finished the book How to Start and Run a B&B
I've written a prelim business plan that we can add to when we find the right property.
We've done a detailed financial budget in Excel to help us plan for all the associated costs.
I've passed my Level 2 Food Hygiene course. And looked into the options of become licensed to sell alcohol.
We built and launched a website! And we've undertaken several polls to help us get an idea of where you would visit and how you would search and book a B&B. We'll be doing lots more polls, so please do keep visiting the site. The latest poll will always be on the home page. In fact, there's a new one there right now! You can also view the results of all previous polls here
We've had promotional business cards printed so we can hand them out to all our friends and family to promote the website and encourage people to follow our journey.
I'm half way through a pre-business start up course to help me gain the skills I need to launch and run a business successfully.
We set up a Facebook group and invited loads of people to join :-)
And we booked and planned our stay in Staveley for 12/13/14th February. We are going to be visiting the following properties:
Laurel Bank – Keswick – 4 letting rooms, 2 private bedrooms – www.laurelbankkeswick.co.uk
Hazelwood Guest House – Keswick – 6 letting rooms, 4 private bedrooms – www.hazelwoodkeswick.com
Lyndhurst – Keswick – 6 letting rooms, 3 private bedrooms - www.lyndhurstkeswick.co.uk
Salisbury – Keswick – 3 letting rooms, 2 private bedrooms - www.salisburyguesthouse.com
Woodside – Keswick – 5 letting rooms, 3 private bedrooms - www.woodsideguesthouse.co.uk
Holly Lodge – Windermere 9 letting rooms, 3 private bedrooms – www.hollylodge20.co.uk
Park Beck – Windermere – 8 letting rooms, 1 private apartment - no website
Cambridge – Windermere – 6 letting rooms, 2 private bedrooms – www.cambridge-house.net
I'll write a blog on each one of these properties once we've seen them, which will include photos.
Plus we've arranged / planning on talking to a couple of experienced B&B owners to get some tips and guidance. And meeting up for lunch with some friends. My guess is we'll be doing a lot of driving too!!
We've put together a property viewing checklist for each one so that we can easily compare the different places.
So, that was January 2010... I hope that February holds just as much activity and excitement.
We both thank you very much for your support and we simply can't wait for you to come and visit us in the new guest house!
Sarah and Chris xx
Well, it's certainly been a busy month! In a nutshell we decided we'd move to the Lakes and buy a B&B, we read lots of books, looked at lots of websites and maps, spoke to lots of people, signed up with estate agents, discussed financials with commercial mortgage companies and set up several property viewings for February.
Oh, and we had a 12 day holiday to Club La Santa in Lanzarote too! :-)
So. We made the decision to move. But then what? Well we applied to Location, Location, Location of course! ;-) Haven't heard a peep from them yet, but they do say to give it 2 months. So I've also started following Kirsty Allsop on twitter in the hope that might help!
On the assumption that we won't get chosen for the programme, we've mostly spent a lot of time talking. Talk talk talk talk, endlessly about our options...
Do we want a house that also doubles as a B&B? Or do we want a B&B business that we happen to live in? (by the way we don't know the answers to these yet!).
Do we want to stretch ourselves financially to get the most beautiful, big, country house that we'll love and live in for many years but might get stressed about needing full occupancy?
Or do we want to minimise our risk, keep our mortgage as low as possible and have a smaller place with a relaxed lifestyle and good work/life balance?
Can we have both?
Do we want to be north or south Lakes?
Do we want to be in a town or a village or in a hamlet?
Do we want to take on an additional business (tea shop/store etc)?
So we talked. And we researched. We looked at lots of properties online.
We also got our London flat valued. We haven't put it on the market yet. We want to wait until after our first research visit to the Lakes. Just to make sure that this is definitely 100% what we want. We need to be sure that our idea of a B&B in the Lakes matches the reality!
I've spoken to a number of commercial mortgage brokers. Many of whom are initially negative about our prospects of getting a loan to secure the property in the current market. I've learnt that commercial mortgages work in a very different way to private ones. After discussing the options and our financial situation with the lenders the conversations have all turned out quite positive, which is really encouraging.
I've finished the book How to Start and Run a B&B
I've written a prelim business plan that we can add to when we find the right property.
We've done a detailed financial budget in Excel to help us plan for all the associated costs.
I've passed my Level 2 Food Hygiene course. And looked into the options of become licensed to sell alcohol.
We built and launched a website! And we've undertaken several polls to help us get an idea of where you would visit and how you would search and book a B&B. We'll be doing lots more polls, so please do keep visiting the site. The latest poll will always be on the home page. In fact, there's a new one there right now! You can also view the results of all previous polls here
We've had promotional business cards printed so we can hand them out to all our friends and family to promote the website and encourage people to follow our journey.
I'm half way through a pre-business start up course to help me gain the skills I need to launch and run a business successfully.
We set up a Facebook group and invited loads of people to join :-)
And we booked and planned our stay in Staveley for 12/13/14th February. We are going to be visiting the following properties:
Laurel Bank – Keswick – 4 letting rooms, 2 private bedrooms – www.laurelbankkeswick.co.uk
Hazelwood Guest House – Keswick – 6 letting rooms, 4 private bedrooms – www.hazelwoodkeswick.com
Lyndhurst – Keswick – 6 letting rooms, 3 private bedrooms - www.lyndhurstkeswick.co.uk
Salisbury – Keswick – 3 letting rooms, 2 private bedrooms - www.salisburyguesthouse.com
Woodside – Keswick – 5 letting rooms, 3 private bedrooms - www.woodsideguesthouse.co.uk
Holly Lodge – Windermere 9 letting rooms, 3 private bedrooms – www.hollylodge20.co.uk
Park Beck – Windermere – 8 letting rooms, 1 private apartment - no website
Cambridge – Windermere – 6 letting rooms, 2 private bedrooms – www.cambridge-house.net
I'll write a blog on each one of these properties once we've seen them, which will include photos.
Plus we've arranged / planning on talking to a couple of experienced B&B owners to get some tips and guidance. And meeting up for lunch with some friends. My guess is we'll be doing a lot of driving too!!
We've put together a property viewing checklist for each one so that we can easily compare the different places.
So, that was January 2010... I hope that February holds just as much activity and excitement.
We both thank you very much for your support and we simply can't wait for you to come and visit us in the new guest house!
Sarah and Chris xx
