Bed and Breakfast Diary Part 1

It’s only recently that I’ve really begun working on this project seriously and decided to blog my journey of turning a very special building into a bed and breakfast, which has been my long time dream. What triggered this is a few things—several of my existing tenants in the quadplex will be moving out in the next few months, and I decided to sell the house I’m living in because I wanted to downsize—I found taking care of a large living space (regardless of how attached I am to my garden) didn’t make sense for me, financially or practically. I couldn’t focus on this house, the apartment building, and the dojo (I run the Long Island Aikikai with my husband, and own the property it’s on) and had myself spread way too thin. I also wanted, after years of helping my husband with his dojo dream, pursue my own especially since 2020 taught me so many things about myself and about not waiting to grasp at opportunities.

Several other things lined up too, universally speaking:

• All throughout the pandemic, I’ve been hosting travel nurses who came here on crisis contracts, which last anywhere from 8-13 weeks. So many nurses had their housing cancelled at the beginning of the pandemic due to COVID fears, but since I had two spare units (a room with a private bathroom fully separated from the rest of my house, and a unit I kept for my own use in the building), I decided to become a host. I’ve made so many new friends and learned a lot about short term furnished leases as well as travel nursing.
• I began taking courses on hospitality (such as hotel management) over Coursera, because NYS was giving out free accounts.
• The hospital closest to my building (less than a 5 minute drive) not only underwent an almost complete renovation, but is now a university hospital under the Northwell Health umbrella. A lot of medical students, nurses and doctors, are likely to need short term housing for their residencies, and families of patients too.
• Bay Shore has been really making a name for itself as a tourist destination area, especially since it has the ferry to Fire Island, which is a very popular destination during the summer. It also has street fairs every weekend during the summer months, which makes the area wonderful for a staycation.
• Housing prices in my area are at an all time high, with bidding wars sometimes resulting in 30k over asking price.
• While apparently doing straight Air Bnb is illegal in my township (transient lodgings of less than 14 days are not currently allowed expect for a select few industries), I can do a change of use to an owner occupied bed and breakfast and accessory apartments are allowed.
• Robert Moses beach and Connetquot State park are both a 15 minute drive (which we went to a LOT last summer.)

So that’s how I made the decision to dive in. I don’t actually expect to open for business to the public until late 2022 – early 2023, since you’ll see all the things that I still have to do listed below, but the journey of building up a business starts way before doors open. The theme of this venture will actually not be much different from the theme of this blog, namely, an introduction to self sufficiency and growing/raising your own food (with themed activities for guests if they’re interested—tour of my garden, foraging lessons, cooking lessons, creating their own backyard homestead). The lot the building itself is on is quite large at about 10,000 square feet which is more than enough for a food forest (version 2) and some poultry. It has four units total—two 1 bedroom and two 2 bedroom, one of which my family will be occupying. The dojo is but a five minute drive which means taking care of both properties will be much easier. I plan, as part of an added value for visitors, to provide coupons for free Aikido classes at the dojo (which can be a fun activity for couples and travelers alike), and will have food from my garden that guests can sample (jams, chutneys, pesto, fresh eggs, etc.)

Below are the things I have done and what I still need to do so you can get an idea of the work that comes with it.

Things I have done:

• Furnished the second floor rear apartment.
• Changed out the windows for the first floor rear apartment.
• Cut down and removed all the dead and dying trees in the lot.
• Got large wood chip deliveries to prepare the ground for planting.
• New front paved patio.
• Chose a name (sshhhh, it’s still a secret right now)
• Decide on menu and price points
• Put in a commercial sump pump.
• Replaced all the electric panels.
• Removed the ivy (I love the way ivy looks but it’s so destructive to the brick.)

Things I still have to do:

• Finish up the business plan.
• Due to the fact that it is a brick building that was built in 1886 (deeded as a hotel and saloon, whatever that means), the brick is in need of a wash and repointing.
• Change of use to owner occupied bed and breakfast.
• New fence and baffle—since it is right next to the train tracks, it can get loud outside.
• Plant all the things I need to plant.
• Spread the mulch chips.
• Drip sprinkler system.
• Manual well pump… this one is sort of a wishful thinking since the water table is high but I don’t know the legalities.
• Put in flooring for the 3rd floor so I can use it for storage (half of it is finished but the CO for the 3rd floor had been revoked previously and the fully finished portion is not part of my personal unit. If I wanted to make it livable, I’d have to put in a fire sprinkler system since all buildings 3 floors and over need that.)
• Solar.
• Electric car charging stations.
• Door and window frames changed out.
• New coat of paint in the lobby.
• Vending machine? Or small gift shop?
• Commercial card operated laundry units.
• Rabbit hutch for quails.
• Chicken/duck/geese coop.
• Pergola for the back patio.
• Outdoor furniture.
• Parking lot to be graveled or paved (currently dirt.)
• Greenhouse.
• Garage/large shed.
• Furnish and renovate all empty units
• Build a website, and advertisements/marketing.
• Put together the digital welcome package (things to do around town, how to order food, get more towels, hospitals and what to do in case of emergency, coupon for dojo, history etc.)
• Change out all thermostat to smart thermostats.

I have actually learned a lot as far as the layout and what I would like to grow this time around. For example, I won’t be doing peaches anymore since it’s been a constant battle with the leaf curl virus on humid Long Island and the only inorganic method is very time consuming. Hardy kiwi is far too fast growing and invasive, so while it is lovely, I also won’t be redoing them. Cherries and plums and asian pear have done amazing, so I will actually be planting more of those. Raspberries and blackberries will have to be confined and in raised containers, since they run all over the place, and I realized I don’t actually enjoy eating goji so I won’t be planting much of those. Grapes have been amazing all around (leaves and fruit) so definitely more of those!

In any case, this is all going to be quite a bit of work, so feel free to follow me on this journey as I navigate the trials and tribulations of getting a business off the ground from scratch. Each of these projects will likely have a post on their own, which acts like a sort of checklist for myself that I can monitor my progress and keep myself accountable for.