Monthly Archives: November 2009

I meet with prospective business sellers routinely.  We get chatting about the value of the business.  They give me the materials to value their business.  I come back with a proposal, a likely formula might be terms of 1/3 down by the buyer and the seller finances 2/3.  Two of three sellers then say, "Oh, I won't sell my business and finance the buyer.  I must have all cash." The usual concern is [...]

Certainly in the art of buying and selling businesses, financing can be a key component, perhaps one of the larger features needing attention, often of both buyer and seller.  This year of economic downturn, financing has become in some cases very complex and in others much more simple.  The latter "simple" is reflective of the ONLY way a buyer will be financed is with a willing buyer.  Typically when I meet with a [...]

When I take a break from selling and working with businesses, my husband and I often take a walk past some horses.  On each of these outings we get all the way to where the horses are and THEN remember we should have brought carrots.  Now the horses will likely never forget they like carrots even if we don't bring them every time or bring too few.  Likewise, entrepreneurs are not going to [...]

Business sellers like most folks really don't enjoy paying taxes.  Yes, really. A wise business buyer, uncertain about the true revenues of a business for sale, can get a sense of reality by examining sale tax and federal income tax filings.  Usually sales tax filings include a record of revenues received and are usually filed close to the end of the reporting period.   Likewise federal income tax reporting shows total revenue, though often [...]

Both a business and house for sale need cleaning. In fact the business for sale may have more cleaning to do than the house.

When is it too soon for preparing a business for sale? Is the buying stage too early? Perhaps not.