Growing up in NYC, you’re taught to move fast, talk fast, and dream big.
But amidst the skyscrapers and subway lines, the multitude of cultures, there is this growing disparity between the haves and have nots that makes it feel like a city I do not know. After three-plus decades of hustle, it’s time to slow down and pursue my dreams.
I think what initially sparked my idea to own a bed and breakfast but I’m pretty sure it was after seeing a “bud and breakfast” (a small hospitality business that incorporated cannabis into its business model). At that time (2017/2018) there were a handful of states where recreational cannabis use was legal- NY not being on the list. I did some research into purchasing small b&bs across the US and they all started at around $1million. At the time I was working in non profit making about $50k a year and had no idea where to find the type of funds needed to start that kind of business venture.
In 2019 my fiancé and I were married and honeymooned in breathtaking Costa Rica. We had been there once before, and I wanted to travel to their Caribbean Sea region. While there, we stayed at a boutique hotel owned by a lovely American couple that had moved from Florida to Costa Rica in the early 2000s. The hotel was intimate, blended in with the natural surroundings, and was close to several attractions. I looked at my husband one morning over breakfast and said “we could do this”. My husband being the good sport that he is, said what he always said “Whatever you want to do babe, I support you”. We love a supportive King. So I got to researching property in Costa Rica. To my surprise, property was listed in USD and started at over $200k. We quickly found out that Costa Rica has been quite the investment for Americans which drove the prices of real estate up. When we got home to NYC I started looking up any sort of training or workshops for bed and breakfast in owners. I was elated to able to sign up for the Aspiring Inn Keepers hosted by Monique Greenwood of Akwaaba Inns! May 2020 couldn’t come fast enough!
Well, say hello to that bitch Covid-19. 😒 The whole world shut down, which meant that our plan to attend the conference was no more. There was a lot of uncertainty and with the future of hospitality so uncertain I gave up on my idea of owning a b&b. I actually made a pivot and started an online boutique. I figured if my online store does well I can use it to invest in real estate. Delulu🥲 chile, running an e-commerce store is not for the weak: you are the owner, social media strategist, photographer, creative director, accountant-you name it. I was very naive in understanding what it would take to make the business sustainable and profitable. I can say now that it did help set a foundation of understanding the digital landscape, marketing, entrepreneurship, and really solidifying that I was not interested in upselling items to people that they could buy on their own for much cheaper🙃
One thing I am extremely grateful for is being connected with a business coach, Monica Sharma-Patnekar, of Business with Monica who I hired to help me get on track with my ecommerce business who helped me to realize that what I wanted all along was to get out of the US and open this bed & breakfast.
A big “why” for me is because the United States is exhausting: no affordable healthcare, police violence, a minimum wage that has not changed in thirty plus years, mass shootings weekly, Black & Brown people discriminated against, and just the overall feeling that you cannot get ahead no matter how hard you try. I want to create a space where you can feel safe and free to relax.
The question now became where would make sense to make this happen? The pricing in Costa Rica was too high for our budget so I started to look at Mexico after a trip with a friend. The pricing seemed reasonable but, again, it’s not like I had lump sum to pay in cash at really any price point. Through my research I found that Americans can own land in Mexico and could qualify for a Mexican loan but the interest rates were somewhere near 30% 😬I had also signed up for a few different real estate agents newsletters and they were overwhelmingly American gringos and it felt very…gentrification to me. Same problem with most of the places that we went to and I thought “we could live here”. I didn’t want to be displacing locals out of their own homes. We’ve seen enough of that in NYC. After a trip to Honduras a light went off and I said to myself “girl you have actual ties to a beautiful island.
Why don’t you look into the process of buying land in Jamaica”?
And thus the process kicked off!
