If owning a lakeside bed and breakfast is your dream, here's your chance. For just $125 and a 200-word essay, the Center Lovell Inn in Maine could be all yours.
Innkeeper Janice Sage is running an essay contest to select the new owner. It's kind of a tradition. In 1993, Sage became the owner of the inn by winning a similar contest.
Sage isn't giving up the bed and breakfast for nothing. The property and building are valued at $905,000, and she expects to collect at least that much money from the entry fees.
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In fact, Sage will return all the money if she doesn't receive at least 7,500 entries. That many entry fees would give her about $938,000. She pledges to give the winner $20,000 to get them started.
The Center Lovell Inn has seven guestrooms, two dining rooms, and a screened-in wrap-around porch. It was built in 1805 overlooking the White Mountains and is less than two hours from Boston and a little over an hour from Portland, Maine.
The essays must be about why the contestant wants to own the inn. And keep it short, it must be less than 200 words. Entries have to be postmarked before May 7, and the winner will be chosen before May 21.
Sage will select the top 20 essays and turn them over to two judges who will pick the winner. The judges won't have a vested interest in the business, according to the contest rules.
