New B&B owners take long road from England

Posted on 05. Feb, 2010 by yvettedavis in News

by Yvette Davis

WENATCHEE — Traveling 5,000 miles to move to a new city and buy a business takes a certain amount of planning.

But for David and Angie Lawrence, the move from Chester, U.K., to Wenatchee to buy the Apple Country Inn Bed and Breakfast at 524 Okanogan St. took every ounce of tenacity they had, and then some.

Plagued with red tape, hindered by financing delays and at the very last moment, when all had at last fallen into place, threatened by an airline strike, the Lawrences pressed on for more than two years with a stiff upper lip, as the British like to say. They arrived in Wenatchee as business owners on Dec. 30, 2009. This is their story.

David Lawrence, a 28-year veteran firefighter, and his wife Angie Lawrence, who has a background in both catering and foster care work, first came to Wenatchee in 2000 to visit friends. Then they came the year after that, and the year after that, then sometimes twice a year.

“It just got harder and harder to leave,” Angie Lawrence said. That’s when the couple knew they ought to consider moving.

In 2007, the Lawrences were put in touch with Penny Wheatcroft at the Children’s Home Society, who thought they might do some foster care work for them. The Lawrences started the work of applying for a visa only to find out that foster care is not considered a paid job. Rep. Doc Hastings got involved, and so did an immigration lawyer in England, but the rules didn’t budge, and they left the country dispirited but not broken.

Back home, Angie Lawrence searched online through more than 150 visa categories and decided the E2 Investment Visa which requires investment into a U.S. business in exchange for entry in the country would be a good match for them, if they could just find the right business. She was due to get an inheritance from her mother and with that money and the sale of their home in England, she thought they could try to buy a bed and breakfast.

“We’ve always fancied doing it,” she said.

So the couple put their house up for sale in the U.K. and began looking at property in Wenatchee. They made an offer on the Rimrock Inn Bed and Breakfast in Pitcher Canyon with Realtor Laura Mounter, and applied to Cashmere Valley Bank for a mortgage.

For a while, “Everything was shipping along quite rosily,” David Lawrence said.

Then came the phone call from the bank saying they couldn’t secure a mortgage for them. The couple scrambled and tried to find a loan in England. Eventually they did, at Lloyds TSB International Bank, but it came four weeks too late. They had already pulled out of the Rimrock Inn deal and it had sold to another party.

The Lawrences knew about the Apple Country Bed and Breakfast for sale by Jerry and Sandy Anderson already, and sent some friends to look at it. They bought the 2,800-square-foot house from England for $370,000 without ever stepping foot inside it. The Andersons owned and operated the bed and breakfast for 10 years.

“We just took it on the chin and started the long process of sorting it all out,” David Lawrence said.

They sold their home in England July 3 and moved out. They came to Wenatchee and were set to close on the bed and breakfast July 17, but the bank sent the loan paperwork to England by mistake. The papers were eventually sent to Wenatchee — via DHL, which doesn’t deliver here on a regular basis, David Lawrence said — but they arrived too late. The Lawrences left on Aug. 9 because they couldn’t extend their flights back to England.

The way the E2 Visa works, the Lawrences said, the investor must purchase the property first, then apply for the visa, which is not gauranteed.

“There’s a bit of a risk involved with the whole process, because at the end of the day, the embassy can deny your request,” David Lawrence said.

So when they at last had their mortgage — from Hong Kong — in hand, they applied to the U.S. Embassy in London for the three-year visa and were told it would take 60 days for the review. On Dec. 18 they at last got their approval.
“After all that work we were in the embassy only about an hour,” he said.

Thankful to have an end in sight, Angie went Christmas shopping while David tried to book flights on the cell phone, only to find out that prices had skyrocketed due to a proposed British Airways strike from Dec. 22 to Jan. 2. Flights from England to New York were normally $600 but went to $2,000 overnight. Although it added to their stress, they said, the airline didn’t actually go on strike, and the couple flew to Seattle Dec. 30 with their two children Jessica, 14, and Libby, 4.

Now the Lawrences are just glad to be here and working on plans to operate the business seven days a week. They already have some reservations set for this spring.

The Lawrences have an open house planned for Feb. 19. For more information, call the Apple Country Inn Bed and Breakfast.

“We want to run it as a traditional bed and breakfast with an English twist,” Angie Lawrence said. She will serve complimentary afternoon tea for her guests.

The bed and breakfast has five bedrooms, plus another bedroom in the detached carriage house. A conference room is available for business parties of 12. They will hold an open house soon to get to know the rest of the community. The people they’ve met so far have been “brilliant,” they said.

Although they said they will miss friends and family in England — including their parents and their two grown children — they know they will come to Wenatchee often to visit.

And now they have the perfect place to put them up.

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