Help Andy & Candie’s future with a B&B in Maine

Hello. Thank you for reading our story

A Brief History

Candie and I were born in different countries. Candie is American and I am British. We met 15 years ago when she came over as an exchange student at my local college. 12 years later, we reconnected through social media, realised we're both different people from when we were younger and fell in love.

Over the past few years, we have struggled to find a future together. Mainly, which country we could both be allowed to live in. At one point we wanted to both live in the UK, but due to the Non-EEA immigration system, this would be impossible unless I either earned £18,600 after tax, or I had £95,000 in savings in the bank. This would only allow Candie to enter the UK for three years and then we would have to reapply. The uncertainty with this didn't make us both feel there is a future for us in the UK. We planned to quietly get married in January 2017, but we changed our minds after we decided for a full on wedding. This is an aim for 2017 or 2018.

The Bed and Breakfast

Candie's elderly grandmother owns a property in Old Orchard Beach, ME and has offered to sign the deeds over to us after we get married. Her grandmother would love for the place to be converted from a residential property to a rentable Bed and Breakfast or lodging house for short breaks. The property is in need of repair and we would have to pass a health inspection before a licence can be issued to us. Her grandmother does not have a lot of money and has had a number of bad contractors which has made a bad situation worse. We would love to convert the property to realise Candie's grandmothers dream whilst she is still with us.

Potential business

After doing a lot of research in the area for the need for the Bed and Breakfast, I found that there is a high demand for more in the area. The main tourists are French Canadians which drive from Quebec and surrounding cities.

Old Orchard Beach is a seasonal town and can get very busy in the summer periods between Memorial Day & Labor Day, which is around a 12 - 13 week period (3 months). If we tap into the market, we could potentially have the property rented out 45 - 65% during this period in the first year of trading.

We also plan to open up the place for winter stays to bring in extra income as Old Orchard Beach gets some amazing snow in winter.

Donations

The donations we receive will go towards inspectors, contractors, decor and other construction payments to help get the house up to scratch. We plan to keep a record of everything that is spent so other can be inspired about our dream. We are also using our own savings and earnings to go towards the property, although our own income doesn't stretch that far currently.

Please help which ever way you can to help us find our dream. Every penny will help us. Thank you.

Stay tuned for more updates as we progress this project.