Hi. I am Hazuki, the owner of THE EVERGREEN HOSTEL. I’m writing how this hostel was made based on the writings that I had accumulated in the past.
■ October 8th, 2015 Signed a temporary contract!
I got a phone call from Mr. N. “The owner of the property said ‘it’s not impossible only because it’s a hostel.’ I know that there are many things that are not sure. It’s OK with conditions, so I need you to sign a temporary contract in writing.”
I made it! A step forward!
The form of the contract was the original form of the real-estate agent. I had to write a brief description of type of business, income and expenditure such as a sales forecast, my career, etc. Although it was a temporary contract, I had to get two co-signers’ names.
The first thing I did was to call my dad. Thank God I told him about starting a new business three days ago. He said to me, “It’s very nice!” (Maybe it was just because the documents that I showed him was excellent…) He wasn’t running his own business, but it was surprising that he didn’t oppose to his daughter’s sudden idea of starting a hostel. Maybe that was because I’m his oldest daughter. Lol.
As a first step, he kindly agreed to sign his name.
Next, I asked my husband. Of course he was careful, but he said OK and signed his name, too. I can’t thank him enough.
No matter how much you had a desire to start a new business, it’s impossible to do it by yourself. You need to consider whether you had supporters (from a legal perspective) if you are planning to run a hostel by renting a place (tenancy) although you’re confident in raising the necessary funding. (I particularly realized it at this late date.)
There are many contracts that you need to close. And they are all important.
■ October 9th, 2015 Need to go and see the property!
I thought that I could begin a negotiation process since I had submitted the form… However, I saw the property on Google Map many times, but I realized that I had never visited it!
I have to move into action in Hiroshima (to check the location such as transportation, to get an estimate of the interior, etc.), otherwise I have no progress at all…
OK, let’s go to Hiroshima.
I immediately booked an overnight bus (to Hiroshima) and a LCC airplane ticket (from Hiroshima) for the next weekend. It costs a lot of time and money to work in a remote location. I was impressed by chain hostels.
I called Mr. N.
“I’m going to Hiroshima next weekend. Can I inspect the property?”
“Oh dear, I’m surprised at your sudden visit.” He got confused.
However, as I would expect of Mr. N, he said,
“Because you’re coming all the way from Tokyo, I have another property that I want to show you.”
He made an excellent suggestion. Actually it was Property C. The property had a space of just about 100 square meters, which was the right size that you don’t have to change the use of the property. It was close and walkable from Hiroshima Station. It was a walking distance of Hiroshima Castle and Shukkeien.
It costs time and money to change the use of the property. It takes at least a month. I’m not sure how much money it costs because it depends on the property, but I assume it costs additional million yen. There are a lot of technical documents that I have to prepare. By the way, I didn’t guess this amount, a million yen. I made an unreasonable inquiry to the local design offices like “I know you have to conduct a sight inspection, but how much does it cost in general terms?” (I’ve calculated the balances strictly such as how much linen costs, etc. For those small expenses, I use the estimate based on the interviews to the local companies if at all possible.)
I liked Property B at a glance because the exterior was lovely and it had the large window glass, which gave me an air of openness. However, I had to pay a large amount of deposit and change the use of the property. I had already made a temporary contract for Property B. But if the Property C was good after the sight inspection, I might think “which property is more easy to open the hostel?” I know it’s dull. However, you can talk about your dream but it’s useless if you don’t OPEN the hostel. So, I think it’s important to choose the property that is “easy to OPEN a hostel and think about the possibility.” Property B and C were both easily accessible, so I couldn’t decide which was good and which was bad until I made the sight inspection.
