Question and Answers

The following is a series of answers to some of the more common questions that we have been asked over the past 15 years.  This page is continually changing; please visit it again shortly.
 

• Why doesn't your website have a list of the businesses that you are offering for sale?

The SBB website was developed as a tool to provide information about our firm, our people and the process of buying or selling a business, not as a means of marketing the businesses that we or others represent for sale. We utilize much more productive and efficient means of selling the businesses that we represent than can be achieved through efforts to draw people to our company website through search engine placement etc. We are obsessed with keeping our clients' interest in selling their businesses confidential and by grouping the businesses that we represent together on our site, that confidentiality would be compromised. As founding members of some of the largest business-for-sale websites in the world and which are known to every serious buyer both nationally and internationally, we provide maximum exposure for our listings without compromising confidentiality.  

• What is the typical down payment I can expect to have to put down on the purchase of a small business?

There is not a definitive answer to that question because the answer is dependent on a number of things such as the current state of the credit market and the size and type of business being purchased.  For many buyers, the SBA has been a traditional source of funding for acquisition of small businesses. This has become somewhat problematic the last two years as the SBA has repeatedly changed both how much they are wiling to loan as well as the percentage of the loan amount that they are willing to guarantee to the direct lender. Still, they remain a popular source of funding and at the time of this writing a buyer, without seller participation can expect to be asked to make a down payment of 20% to 30% of the purchase price. Sellers will sometimes offer to finance the purchase when there is no other source of financing available but this too can be challenging because it can result in a Seller's requirement that the Buyer put 40% or more up as a down payment. A word of caution: as mentioned elsewhere in this website, buyers should not allow themselves to be misled into believing that they can obtain a traditional bank loan to purchase a business; it simply does not happen without the loan being secured with other liquid assets that the bank can tie up as security. All this being said, Sunstate Business Brokers can usually find sources and methods of financing that meet the needs of most Buyers and Sellers.

• How long will it take to sell a business?

Again, it is impossible to definitively answer this question. Businesses that are appropriately priced, competitive with the current market and without any significant potential ownership transition issues, will always enjoy a brisk trade.  A number of factors contribute to the time taken to sell, from the time the business is taken to market till the ownership changes hands: implementing the marketing strategy and publishing ads, obtaining Buyer interest and qualifying each one, exchanging financial information, answering questions related to every aspect of the business, development of a purchase agreement, the buyers due diligence process, financing (SBA can take up to 90 days), etc.. A one year period, sometimes longer, is realistic. It can take more or less time, sometimes as little as 45 days, sometimes two years.