There are no shortage of inn buyers or sellers these days. It’s almost as if the pandemic has placed an opportunity to hit the reset button, giving many a reality check of what’s important.
But are the banks lending? That’s the question on everyone’s mind.
I closed one inn in February this year. Then Covid hit. Three deals then fell through……
Fast forward 6 months or so, I closed two inns last month, The Inn at Bath (bottom two photos) and Acadia Bay Inn (top two). Both buyers worked with Machias Savings Bank and both utilized an SBA deal offering incentive to close by late September. I’ve frankly never seen a bank push through a commercial loan so quickly but I also didn’t realize Machias is an SBA preferred lender, and as such, perhaps they have means that other banks don’t.
I have a list of hospitality lenders in Maine, but of that list, Machias Savings was the only one interested in taking on new hospitality loans, whereas others were looking to wait until the first quarter of 2021, giving them time to assess the state of the industry a bit before jumping back into things.
My understanding of why Machias might lend and others might not or why others might be more selective of what deals they would be willing to lend on would be that many other banks with a large portfolio of existing hospitality loans have been busy in 2020 forgiving loans, or deferring payments in order to help their current hospitality clients stay afloat. Machias may not have had a hospitality heavy portfolio in recent years and took this as an opportunity to grow theirs.
I have continued buyer interest and Machias Savings seems eager to continue down the path with hospitality buyers. And with the tourism season getting busier into the fall, things seem a lot more positive going forward than they did earlier in the year.
LET’S HOPE THAT 2020 TURNS THE CORNER AND LEADS US INTO A VERY POSITIVE FUTURE IN 2021.
Contact me if you have any questions at all or want me to introduce you to a Machias Savings loan officer!
