Okay, what about this idea -- Small hotel/B&B on North Shore (Captain Cook: rentals)

[alex7777]

I basically want to semi-retire on Hawaii eventually, at least for half the year. Don't want to work for anyone else, don't want to continue my current career there.

Oahu's North Shore sounds like a good place for me, not too crowded, still somewhat rural. It seems like it would therefore be a tourist destination year-round, but especially in the winter.

I think I'd enjoy owning/running a small hotel or B&B, maybe out of a larger house in the right zoned area. It would have living quarters for the manager, and I could hire someone cheaply to run it while I'm not around (in exchange for the room), and then live there while I'm on the Island, helping to run it.

I stayed in a place like this on the Atlantic Coast recently, and think it would be a great way to enjoy the area and have some income without working too hard. Is anyone aware of any smaller motels/hotels/B&B's like this up there, and if so, what do you think it would cost to purchase one?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

[blueherons]

Originally Posted by alex7777

I basically want to semi-retire on Hawaii eventually, at least for half the year. Don't want to work for anyone else, don't want to continue my current career there.

Oahu's North Shore sounds like a good place for me, not too crowded, still somewhat rural. It seems like it would therefore be a tourist destination year-round, but especially in the winter.

I think I'd enjoy owning/running a small hotel or B&B, maybe out of a larger house in the right zoned area. It would have living quarters for the manager, and I could hire someone cheaply to run it while I'm not around (in exchange for the room), and then live there while I'm on the Island, helping to run it.

I stayed in a place like this on the Atlantic Coast recently, and think it would be a great way to enjoy the area and have some income without working too hard. Is anyone aware of any smaller motels/hotels/B&B's like this up there, and if so, what do you think it would cost to purchase one?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

I don't live in Hawaii but I do have 20 years in the hotel/hospitality industry and I would suggest you go to work for a hotel before you undertake this project.

Most likely, unless you really have a lot of experience, you'll lose all your money. You will not find any GM willing to take the position 'cheaply'. What you'll find is inexperienced help with no idea what they are doing and they'll run your buisiness into the ground.

Hotel GMs that salary $250,000 and bonus on top of that get to live rent free in penthouses on their properties. Even small time hotel GMs (think interstate motel) make upwards of $60,000 plus bonus and other perks.

You cannot be a part time hotel owner of a small business and not be daily hands on. What happens when the hotel gets bedbugs and you are 2500 miles away and your cheap GM quits? The AC goes out? Insurance guy shows up and you are not in complience? Your hot water heater goes out and the health department shuts you down because you cannot sanitize linens and you have a full house? There are a zillion things that can and do go wrong.

Anyway, good luck with this.

[whtviper1]

I could be wrong - but it is my understanding short-term rentals were banned starting in 1989 except for the area zoned around Waikiki. Therefore a new Bed and Breakfast would be banned on the North Shore. There were some places grandfathered when they banned the short-term rentals but you'd be limited to buying one of those properties (assuming you could transfer the grandfathering to the new owner)

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by blueherons

Most likely, unless you really have a lot of experience, you'll lose all your money....

AND

You cannot be a part time hotel owner of a small business and not be daily hands on.

Yep, yep, and yep.

There are maybe 50 B&B operators in my neighborhood on the Big Island, running the gamut from a full on multi-building lodge with restaurant, to spare-room hustlers, and I doubt that more than 3 or 4 of them generate enough cash to support the kind of "remote owner" scenario you propose. For the most part they are run by husband and wife teams, where he gets up and goes to work while she gets up to make breakfast for the guests, and they both fall asleep exhausted after everyone is tucked in. And the ones I know personally share a common complaint that they are tied to the property, and it's very hard to get away for even a few days.

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by alex7777

I think I'd enjoy owning/running a small hotel or B&B, maybe out of a larger house in the right zoned area. It would have living quarters for the manager, and I could hire someone cheaply to run it while I'm not around (in exchange for the room), and then live there while I'm on the Island, helping to run it. I stayed in a place like this on the Atlantic Coast recently, and think it would be a great way to enjoy the area and have some income without working too hard.

Interesting thoughts. But my reaction is to think that if it were as easy and lucrative as that, everyone already here would already be doing it. [I've a friend in windward Oahu that finally took his 2 B&B units and changed them over to straight rental units. It was just too much work for the income, they do better with straight rentals.]

[kaimuki]

Originally Posted by alex7777

I basically want to semi-retire on Hawaii eventually, at least for half the year. Don't want to work for anyone else, don't want to continue my current career there.

Oahu's North Shore sounds like a good place for me, not too crowded, still somewhat rural. It seems like it would therefore be a tourist destination year-round, but especially in the winter.

I think I'd enjoy owning/running a small hotel or B&B, maybe out of a larger house in the right zoned area. It would have living quarters for the manager, and I could hire someone cheaply to run it while I'm not around (in exchange for the room), and then live there while I'm on the Island, helping to run it.

I stayed in a place like this on the Atlantic Coast recently, and think it would be a great way to enjoy the area and have some income without working too hard. Is anyone aware of any smaller motels/hotels/B&B's like this up there, and if so, what do you think it would cost to purchase one?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

Many folks on the North Shore will not approve of your idea. I would pick another location, preferably far away from Hawaii.

[eureka1]

Another instance of the Captain Cook syndrome.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by eureka1

Another instance of the Captain Cook syndrome.

What, do you mean "running amok," first observed and reported by a Westerner in the person of Captain Cook?

Running Amok: A Modern Perspective on a Culture-Bound Syndrome

[JanineLaw]

There are many road blocks to vacation rentals, bed and breakfasts and hotels on the North Shore and West side of the island. When you find one listed as available any where - you will not see an address because they will come and shut them down. Research the articles in the Star Advertiser and maybe on VRBO or craigslist forums as well

[Aiea Nana]

The island is quickly becoming (if not already become) too populated to support itself. Natural resources, ability to produce food, waste disposal, etc. and houses are going up like crazy. The North Shore is as close to rural as you can probably get here. More hotels, motels, rooming houses, etc. are really not a great idea. Maybe another island but Oahu just cant take it.