Posted on Wed, Jul 07, 2010
This long established Heating and Cooling (HVAC) business located in Tucson, Arizona, has an excellent reputation and good customer base.
In 2009 the revenues were down due to the economic downturn. This year the seller has decided to wind down the construction side of the business and concentrate on Service and Retrofit
It is the Service/Retrofit division that is for sale! Management is layered for optimal performance. Real estate is available for $600,000. Good location, well built structure, and large yard space for storage and vehicles. This business can be relocated, combined into a larger operation, or the seller is willing to work with a buyer on a property lease or lease with purchase option. Seller works less than 20 hours per week in the business.
Asking Price: $450,000
Annual Revenue: $825,000
Years in Business: 33
Business Structure: Corporation
Reason For Selling: Retirement
Inventory: $26,500 (incl)
Equipment: $28,000 (incl)
Acct. Rec. @$68,000 (incl)
Vehicles: $78,000 (incl)
Facility Size: 6450 sq ft
Real Estate: $600,000 (additional)
Business Hours: M-F 7:30 am to 5:30 pm
Employees: 11 FT
Down Payment Terms: Sellers Prefers Cash
Business Structure: Corporation
Covenant Not to Compete: Yes
Training: 3 mos. (longer w/ salary)
Licenses Required: C39R, L39, L45, and L37
Assumed Debt: None
For more information, contact us at 520-327-4454. To download a printable copy of this listing, visit the listing page by clicking here.
If you'd like more information on this subject, please contact us at 520-327-4454 or visit us at www.allenandyoung.com
Posted on Wed, Jun 09, 2010
When you are preparing to place your business for sale in Tucson ( or anywhere else for that matter), it is extremely important to ensure that you are current on all of your federal, state and local taxes. While that may seem pretty obvious, in the heat of the battle it's possible that something may have slipped through the cracks so it is best to double check.
Additionally, those qualified investors considering buying a business in Tucson will be impressed by you as a seller if you are knowledgeable about the taxes that your business is subject to, and open and transparent about sharing your knowledge. Taxes of course can be complicated, and they are continually changing. Taxes in the City of Tucson are no exception.
The purpose of this article is to continue to explore the resources that are available online at the City of Tucson to help understand Tucson business taxes. If you are considering a Tucson business investment, or buying or selling a business in Tucson, here are some important areas where further investigation will be beneficial to you
- If real estate is involved in the business transaction, make sure you understand the tax implications if you will have rental income. For example, if you lease property to an S Corp that you also have an interest in, the transaction is taxable. You will also need a business privilege license.
- If some of the Tucson business' sales are conducted with out of state customers, investigate the proper handling sales tax to customers out of state. The State of Arizona allows taxes to waived for out of state residents making purchases while in Arizona, but the City of Tucson only waives the taxes if the customer is physically outside of Arizona at the time of purchase.
- Similarly,if your business takes orders from a location within the limits of the City of Tucson, you must pay the 2% sales tax even if the customer is out of state.
If your business is for sale in Tucson, don't let confusion about how local taxation works create a misstep in the process as you prepare to sell a Tucson business.
Click here to download the City of Tucson's "City Tax FAQs" document now.
If you have any additional questions about this, visit the City of Tucson's Web site at:
http://www.tucsonaz.gov/finance/BusInfo.html
If you'd like more information on this subject, please contact us at 520-327-4454 or visit us at www.allenandyoung.com
Posted on Thu, Jun 03, 2010
This great article by Mitch Biggs from Associated Content, raised 5 important questions that any potential business buyer or seller should think about when interviewing a business broker.
I like Mitch's to this, and fully believe that business brokers should be 100% transparent with their prospective clients and willing to answer these questions:
1. How long have you been a business broker?2. How many active listings do you currently have listed?3. What is the price range of your current listings?4. How do you get paid?5. How will you market my business and what success have you had with each method?To see the Mitch's original article, just click here.
If you'd like more information on this subject, please contact us at 520-327-4454 or visit us at www.allenandyoung.com
Posted on Thu, Jun 03, 2010
Whether your considering buying a business in Tucson, or placing a business for sale in Tucson, at some point as you move forward towards a transaction the issue of licenses and permits will come up in the conversation. The questions will be: does the business you're buying or selling require a Business License in The City of Tucson, and, if so, is that Tucson Business License current?
It's better to be safe than sorry, it could be costly & inconvenient to say the least if the failure to maintain a necessary business license up to date caused a business transaction to fall through. So how do you know if the business in question needs a business license?
Here are the first two questions you need to ask yourself?
- Will your business be located within the city limits of Tucson? Or, Will you conduct business within the city limits?
If you answered yes to either of those questions, then the business does need a Tucson business license. But it's not that simple, I'm afraid. We are dealing with the government here, after all!
The next question is:
- Do you know if your business is zoned to conduct your type of business in your part of town? Or, Do you know if the property /space you are about to rent will pass building and fire code requirements? Or, Do you have a Certificate of Occupancy for your business name?
If you answered yes to all the above questions, then you are in good shape. But guess what? There are 15 more questions that cover the gamut of things like the type of signage you will use, whether your business serves food, liquor, is a manufacturer, operates out of the home, etc.
If you are considering buying or selling a business in Tucson, this could be the right time to familiarize yourself with these requirement. Click here to Download the City of Tucson Business License Process.
To view the entire set of tax and licensing related regulations in Tucson, visit the City of Tucson's Web page devoted to these questions by clicking here.
If you'd like more information on this subject, please contact us at 520-327-4454 or visit us at www.allenandyoung.com
Posted on Thu, Mar 11, 2010
Have you considered that in today's economy buying a business is essentially buying a job that you can never be laid off or fired from?
If you have the requisite skills and access to capital and / or financing, there could not be a more favorable time to buy a business. Most buyers today have less than $100,000 to invest, and much of this may be pulled from a 401k or home equity. A buyer's motivation is generally to gain more control over their own life and achieve pride of ownership.
What would your dream job look like? How many hours a day would you work? How long would your commute to work be? Where would you live? What would the weather be like? What would your average day be like, what kind of activities would you be performing?
It is important to ask yourself these questions, because buying a business is really the same thing as buying a lifestyle. In addition to the choice of what kind of business to buy, whether that be a manufacturing business, service business, restaurant, franchise or any other kind, there is the choice of where to buy that business.
Buying a business in Arizona offers many different lifestyle options, for example:
- Buying a business in Phoenix offers access to the nation's 5th largest city and year round warm temperatures. Proximity to Sedona, Flagstaff and the White Mountains offer weekend escapes.
- Buying a business in the White Mountains area, including Pinetop and Show-Low, affords buyers with 4 seasons and mountain and lake sports.
- Businesses for sale in Tucson or Southern Arizona offer buyers less extreme weather than Phoenix, access to Mexico, and plenty of great hiking and outdoor activities.
There are many different lifestyles available to investors considering in buying a business in Arizona. We would be happy to answer any questions or point out of state buyers in the right direction to discover more facts about life and business ownership in in Arizona.
If you'd like more information on this subject, please contact us at 520-327-4454 or visit us at www.allenandyoung.com
Posted on Wed, Dec 02, 2009
Whether you are selling or buying a business, allowing a business broker to assist you with the due diligence process is a good idea. Most business brokers would use a simple definition of “due diligence” to mean the process through which a potential buyer evaluates a target company or business for the purpose of acquisition.
According to the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, business brokers must conduct a due diligence investigation for the businesses they are selling and disclose their discoveries in order to not be held liable for non-disclosure.
In Arizona, business brokers are governed by the Arizona Department of Real Estate, which requires them to disclose material information that could affect a buyer’s interpretation of the sale price as well.
The due diligence process is similar to a forensic analysis. According to many business brokers, relevant areas of concern can include financial reports, the business’s place in the market, real and personal property, insurance and liability coverage, review of debt, employee benefits, immigration, and international transactions.
Business brokers say that due diligence should be performed before a company goes to market. This helps to uncover any hidden or unexpected costs that may be associated with the sale of the business, ensuring that the seller is receiving a fair sum from the buyer. The best advice is to employ the help of a qualified business broker.
Protecting the seller is a business broker’s job, and properly performing due diligence is one of the most important steps to take when selling your company. Broker’s may also be retained to protect the interests of buyers.
Portions of this post originally appeared on Web site of the International Business Brokers Association, Inc.
http://www.ibba.org”>http://www.ibba.org
If you'd like more information on this subject, please contact us at 520-327-4454 or visit us at www.allenandyoung.com
Posted on Tue, Dec 01, 2009
How long have you been looking at businesses for sale for the the right opportunity to buy a business in Tucson, or make a Tucson Business Investment.
Several months ago, Bizquest.com (a national business for sale listings site) conducted a survey and learned that nearly 70% of the would-be business buyers who responded had been looking for a business for over 7 months. The same group of buyers also reported that they had also met with fewer than 3 sellers during that period of time.:
If you are looking at Tucson businesses for sale, with an eye to making a Tucson business investment, then what this means for you is that if your strategy has been similar to those prospective buyers in this survey, it is time to make a major change to your approach. Otherwise, you might still be sitting in front of your computer in a year, no closer to buying a business in Tucson than you are now.
You can look at businesses, at a superficial level, from your computer. But you can’t buy one that way.
And you won’t ever buy a business if you’re just a “looker,” someone who never gets beyond the executive summary
to really dig in and get to know a business, meet the seller, understand the numbers, etc.
If you want to buy a business, you have to get off the porch and play with the Big Dogs, as they say. You need to get out and meet with people who have businesses for sale if you plan to make a Tucson Business Investment. You should meet them, ask them questions, and arrange to visit their businesses. And you should do this with quite a lot of businesses, because there is no other, and therefore no better, way to to expand your understanding of what different businesses have to offer you in terms of lifestyle, operating model, and return on investment. We believe that your decision to purchase in the end will be based on these factors, and that the lifestyle a business offers you will turn out to be perhaps the most important consideration. If you don’t go meet sellers, and get a feel for what their life is actually like while running the business they intend to sell, how else are you going to get a reality check on what your life would be like if you were running their business? You need to answer the question “what are the fundamentals that I am looking for in a business?”
The more sellers you meet with, the better you will get at rapidly and accurately analyzing a business, getting your questions answered, and working with your broker to determine what you think it is worth. If you don’t go through these steps, you will never actually get to the point of being ready to make an offer. And it goes with saying that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. If you don’t go through these precursor steps, you will never be in the position to buy a business. Preparation and practice are essential to buying a business. If you are not working with your broker to better prepare yourself, and you are not practicing by researching and interviewing, then quite frankly you are spinning your wheels and wasting your time.
Businesses for sale come and go on the market continuously. Will you be ready to seize upon the right opportunity when it presents itself? Buying a business can be intimidating, and time consuming, until you take the time to get into the process and understand all the steps involved and develop your own judgment at each stage. Once you’ve made that investment of time, you’ll take the mystery, and any hesitation, out of the process. But unless you take off your gloves and roll up your sleeves and get in there and meet real live sellers and get your hands dirty by digging into the numbers, you will never buy a business, and instead will remain part of the 90% of lookers who never become buyers.
So, unless you’re willing to get out in the market, don’t tell people that you are trying to buy a business. Because the only thing you’re really doing is wasting time.
If you'd like more information on this subject, please contact us at 520-327-4454 or visit us at www.allenandyoung.com
Posted on Tue, Nov 03, 2009
Do you plan on selling a business in Tucson or Southern Arizona? Think for a moment about what someone who wants to buy a business in Tucson would love to see. Wouldn’t they be simply delighted to find all of your accounting and customer records completely accurate, computerized, and ready to be used without the need for any confusion or translation
If you’re already running Quickbooks or a similar small business accounting package, you can increase the value of your business by taking the next step and organizing your customer records using one of the many affordable small business Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems that are available today. These systems will allow you track all manner of customer information, take notes, make appointments, broadcast email campaigns, etc. They build on the customer record in your accounting package, and let you do much more.
CRM systems are available as both “on-premise” solutions (meaning that you buy and install the software on your computers) or as Software As A Service (SaaS), or internet hosted solutions that you pay for monthly on an a per-user basis. The latter have the advantage of continual upgrades to the software itself, and do not require any expenditure on hardware.
By exporting your customer records from your accounting software into a CRM system, you will gain the ability to cost-effectively communicate with your customers and to track their activity in a more detailed fashion than the accounting software generally allows.
Why will this increase the value of your business? Well let this business broker tell you!
In terms of marketing expenditures, it is nearly always more cost effective and profitable to gain additional share of business from current customers than it is to prospect for new customers. Existing customers are also typically less price sensitive and therefore higher margin, whereas you will generally need to offer new customers some form of an incentive to switch to your product or service, which lowers your margin.
Using a CRM systems can also transform the way sales and marketing work within your organization when combined with analysis of past sales, and the visibility they offer for managing the pipeline of future sales. If you fully understand the products, services, channels or customers that make the largest contribution to your bottom line, a CRM system will allow you to redirect your marketing resources and sales efforts in a highly targeted fashion to focus on the areas of your business that matter most.
From the perspective of a prospective buyer of your business, imagine how much more confidence they would have in their investment if you could clearly demonstrate who your customers are, what their sales patterns have been, what orders or repeat business is in the pipeline, and by deduction, what the future value of those customers are.
A buyer will generally not pay for future value, preferring instead to base their evaluation of your business’ value on its historical financial performance. However, if you can show them this level of detail about your business, and give them the greatest possible level of confidence that they could hit the ground running after buying it and expect the same or better results, then they are likely to be willing to pay you a higher price.
Don’t wait until you want or need to sell your business in Tucson to take advantage of the power and insight that your customer records can provide when you use a CRM system to manage them.
If you'd like more information on this subject, please contact us at 520-327-4454 or visit us at www.allenandyoung.com
Posted on Fri, Oct 02, 2009
If you are like most small business owners who have ever thought about selling your business in Tucson or Southern Arizona, you have probably asked yourself on many occasions “I wonder how much my business is worth.”
A small business is typically the owner’s principal asset, aside from a home. And yet, surprisingly few business owners in Tucson or Southern Arizona thinking of selling a business put themselves in the shoes of a potential buyer when asking that question.
The value of your business will be determined by the market. In other words, the asking price is what the seller wants, and the sale price is what the seller gets from a buyer. The amount that a buyer may be willing to pay for your business is a direct consequence of the money they believe your business will put in their pocket. Buyer’s have a number in mind, a desired rate of return. And they have many investment options available to them when making a Tucson or Southern Arizona business investment. How will you demonstrate to them the potential cash flow that your business offers a buyer in exchange for their investment?
The answer: by showing the buyer accurate and verified financial and accounting records.
Don’t wait until you think you want or need to sell your business in Tucson or Southern Arizona to begin organizing and standardizing your accounting records. There is nothing that will discourage a buyer wanting to make a Tucson or Southern Arizona business investment more from further evaluating the purchase of your business than incomplete, inaccurate, or unprofessional accounting practices and records. If you put yourself in the buyer’s shoes, you would expect the same.
Seek the advice of a professional CPA in order to review and standardize your accounting practices, and, if you have not already, invest in a small business accounting software such as Quickbooks that most buyers will be familiar with. Make sure that any personal expenses that were charged to the business are clearly disclosed or annotated as such, to make the process of explaining to a prospective buyer the true Discretionary Income generated by your business clear and direct. Keep a file containing those receipts for future cross-reference and spot check by a potential buyer during due diligence. If a buyer wanting to make a Tucson or Southern Arizona Business Investment can quickly understand the financials of your business and find them trustworthy, they are much more likely to move to the next stage of evaluation.
Don’t wait until you need or want to sell a business in Tucson or Southern Arizona to invest the time in developing accurate, standardized and systematized accounting records. Having them will allow you better visibility into your business, and lead to better decision making that will increase it’s value. It will also allow you to immediately show a buyer that your business is worthy of their consideration.
If you'd like more information on this subject, please contact us at 520-327-4454 or visit us at www.allenandyoung.com
Posted on Thu, Oct 01, 2009
If you are considering buying a business in Tucson or Southern Arizona, you will no doubt be interested in learning more about SBA Loan Programs and what it takes to quality for an SBA Loan
The SBA has a basic loan guaranty program called the 7(a) loan guaranty. This program may be available to help people seeking to buy a businesses in Tucson or Southern Arizona obtain loans that they normally would not obtain. The SBA guarantees that the lender will receive most of their money back if the business defaults on the loan.
Lenders can become Certified Lenders by showing that they have the ability to process, close, service, and liquidate loans. They must also have a satisfactory history with the SBA, an acceptable SBA rate, and have shown the ability to work well with the SBA. In return the SBA promises a fast loan decision. The proceeds of the loan can be used for any business purpose. If the loan is for working capital then the maturity is 10 years and if it is for fixed assets then the maturity is 25 years.
Another loan program is the Certified Development Company program which is also called the 504 loan program. This program allows people seeking to buy a business in Tucson or Southern Arizona, or anyone wishing to make a Tucson Business Investment to purchase real estate, machinery, or equipment for the purpose of expansion or modernizing the business.
The Micro loan is a very popular loan program for those who need up to $35,000. This loan can not be used to purchase real estate or to pay existing debt and they are not guaranteed by the SBA. The Low Doc program is a loan program in which the lender doesn’t require as much paperwork as with other traditional loans.
SBA lenders will generally require the following from anyone seeking to buy a business in Tucson or Southern Arizona, or make a Tucson Business Investment:
Confidential Business Profile – this is our prospectus we have prepared for our business opportunities that will detail the specifics of the business and financial statements and projections that a bank will be interested in.
Business financial statements- Tax returns and/or P&L statements for the prior three years in most cases.
Personal financial statements- Detailed personal financial statements will be required for any owners, partners, or any stockholder holding more than 20% interest in the business will be required to provide this information.
SBA Loan Request – A standard form showing description of how the funds will be used, etc.
Collateral- Describes the collateral used to secure the loan.
For more information about how the SBA program could work for you if you are planning to buy a business in Tucson or Southern Arizona or make Tucson business investment, please give me a call at 520-327-4454.,
If you'd like more information on this subject, please contact us at 520-327-4454 or visit us at www.allenandyoung.com