Spring is here!

It is scramble time for people thinking they would be in a property, living the innkeeper life for the 2012 Season.  By the looks of the traffic in Bar Harbor today, the "season" is here. 
It isn't too late though.  When I started my Inn Brokerage career in the last '80s, almost all of our closings were between April 1 and May 15.  If you didn't have your property lined up by then, you waited until the next season.  Since then, we have had many a closing in the middle of the high, high season, August 1, July 20th - turnover has been seamless in most cases.  The only complication is the guests that check in with one owner and have breakfast with another.  However, most of them love the idea of being the first guests of owners beginning their innkeeping life - a chapter many have waited and dreamed about for years. 
Most of the Inns we worked with years ago were very seasonal too - so closing in spring only made sense.  More and more properties have extended seasons or are open year round.  There is more and more of a call for that in many regions of Maine.
My favorite recent conversations have been those with bankers saying they want to finance strong Inn/B&B properties for new owners.  They are ready to help us make things happen.
So, don't let the fact that April 1st has passed make you think it is too late for 2012 - we still have time to get new buyers in place to enjoy what promises to be a strong Maine visitor year.  Life is short!  Let's roll!