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How to find businesses for sale

2,246 Views | 12 Replies | Last: 3 mo ago by one safe place
JMac03
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AG
The title says it all. Where do you find these like this? Specifically BCS area.

Honestly woudl love to won something fairly low maintenance (laundromat, carwash, etc). Nothing food. No quick franchise/startups that seem to fizzle out after 1-2 years.

Just wasn't sure where to even find this stuff.
Petrino1
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Biz Buy Sell is exactly what youre looking for.

ttps://www.bizbuysell.com/texas/houston-businesses-for-sale/
JMac03
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AG
Thanks!
GoAgs92
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AG
Loopnet.com
BO297
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Try and find an actual business broker to work with. I know there is one who posts here. I think bizbroker or something like that is the user name.

My parents neighbor was a broker and I talked to her for a while.

She told me she will pitch a new client a few businesses and start to feel you out. Once she has an idea of how you respond to certain ones, she can get a picture of what you are looking for.

She says it can take time, and she might pitch several businesses to you. And then one day she has the right fit and it all comes together.

You might also find off market deals this way.

If you have never owned a business, and you have a GOOD broker, their knowledge can really help you.
one safe place
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Owning a business for the first time is the easy part. Running a business the first time is the hard part and why so many fail.
JMac03
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AG
one safe place said:

Owning a business for the first time is the easy part. Running a business the first time is the hard part and why so many fail.


Understood. Honestly, that's why we want something low-key. And it's not a we have to have something, I refuse to run a restaurant or anything like that. I want something that's fairly easy. I do have fairly good business sense. I also have another business, but it's not a storefront or anything.

Just trying to think of additional ways to help supplement retirement when the time comes or help us get there faster.
one safe place
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JMac03 said:

one safe place said:

Owning a business for the first time is the easy part. Running a business the first time is the hard part and why so many fail.


Understood. Honestly, that's why we want something low-key. And it's not a we have to have something, I refuse to run a restaurant or anything like that. I want something that's fairly easy. I do have fairly good business sense. I also have another business, but it's not a storefront or anything.

Just trying to think of additional ways to help supplement retirement when the time comes or help us get there faster.
Good for you. And I 100% agree on the restaurant. I had my own CPA practice for over 3 decades and everyone that came to me (whether I took them as a client or not) and every one of them in my town and neighboring towns failed, except for a couple of Mexican food places both of which had a ton of family as employees.

It's a tough deal, inventory that spoils, lots of employees and employee issues, open 363 days a year, not for me!

Personally, I would not want any business where I had to carry significant inventory or had a lot of employees. I'd look into mini-storage, RV and boat storage, mobile home parks, wedding venue, or other rentals.
JMac03
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AG
My preferred is a laundromat or carwash. Recently I actually was thinking about storage or RV park as well. We both have full time jobs (plus a business), and rent houses, so it needs to be something that is somewhat of an absentee owner. Def can't be there daily.
12thMan9
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AG
You're going to have to build for those 2. But, they are sorely needed.
Ronnie '88
one safe place
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JMac03 said:

My preferred is a laundromat or carwash. Recently I actually was thinking about storage or RV park as well. We both have full time jobs (plus a business), and rent houses, so it needs to be something that is somewhat of an absentee owner. Def can't be there daily.
We own an RV park, only 30 spaces, but bought it from a motivated seller. We run it ourselves, and are actually at the park 3 or 4 days a week, for four hours each time. We have a small laundromat on premises. Laundry equipment is pretty expensive. If you go that direction, be sure the supplier services the equipment unless you possess that skill set yourself. For the most part, the equipment we have had has been pretty reliable.

If I had it to do all over again, I would had invested the money into storage rather than an RV park. My son and I are somewhat looking for a place to build RV and boat storage. I say somewhat because he now works for a company and is making amazing money, that wasn't the case when we first thought about doing this.

if you look into RV parks, building one can be a burden, depending on where you are looking. Some places do not want any more than there already are and have made it hard to build one. The requirements, in my area, were such that the park we bought cost less than just the roads in a park I was looking to build. The cost of putting in the electrical stuff will make you cry big tears, lol. If you are looking to build one, meet with the local officials as to the requirements, ordinances, etc. before you go one step further. In most places, buying an existing park will be preferable to building one. Of course, you have to find someone who wants to sell. If you decide to buy one, do not use a standard earnest money contract, have your lawyer draw up the agreement. You will want to specify that you can talk to the tenants (you will want to find out about problems the park has with electrical outages, crime, lighting at night, sewer, etc., things the seller might not want to mention). There are many things he or she can put in the earnest money contract that are not in standard ones. Also, have an electrician you trust evaluate the electrical system. A former tax client of mine had a park with around 90 spaces. He was looking to sell, I was looking to buy, but he did his own site installation work and I was uncomfortable with his electrical infrastructure. He sold it, and 6 or 8 months later, one side of the park more or less melted down. Fire marshal shut down that side of the park until it was brought up to code, then when it reopened he had to close down the other side and then bring it up to code. I do not know for sure, but I would guess they spent $200,000 on all that, probably more.

My son and I looked into putting in a carwash, nothing too fancy, like four stalls with the old timey wand, and a couple of touchless pull through stalls. The touchless equipment is pretty high priced and neither he nor I would be able to service the touchless equipment so we decided not to do it. The trend (at least in my area, maybe it has been going on for awhile in the bigger cities) is the monstrous carwashes that sell memberships at like $30 per month. A former client just built one and someone built one near where I live. My, I'd love to know how much money they put in that project. I know they paid $1 million for the land, it took several months to build it, tons of concrete, and for three months or so, there were probably 40 or so people working on building the thing. I would guess the building and equipment and the construction costs were at least $2 milllion.

Not trying to be a Debbie Downer, just some things I have experienced and seen. You are on the right track to get something going now. I am retired and the RV park money is nice to have. Based on some recent sales, I think I could get 2 to 2.5 times what we paid for it plus the improvements we have made.
JMac03
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AG
Thanks for the info!

I definitely don't think we want to build anything. Don't really have the time nor do I want to mess with it. Ultimately my guess is we probably won't end up doing anything unless something perfect falls into our lap. But it sure would be nice.
one safe place
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JMac03 said:

Thanks for the info!

I definitely don't think we want to build anything. Don't really have the time nor do I want to mess with it. Ultimately my guess is we probably won't end up doing anything unless something perfect falls into our lap. But it sure would be nice.
My advice to my son is it is ok to not do something, ok to turn down a deal, if it just isn't right. Not to do a less than optimal deal just to do your deal.

The RV park we bought wasn't even for sale. Looked up on the property tax records and wrote the owner a letter.

You have the right mindset, keep your powder dry and pounce on the right thing when it presents itself.

We almost bought another park. This older couple owned it, and one of them got hit by a vehicle out in front of the park and was killed. The surviving spouse wanted away from the place, for obvious reasons. I heard he or she wanted to sell, and at a way below market price. But didn't move on it, due to how soon it was after the accident. Just didn't feel right. By the time I decided to call about it, it had been sold.
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