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For many business owners, owning the real estate from which the business operates and paying for it out of business operations over a period of years is a key financial benefit of owning a business.  In fact, for many small business owners the real estate is a key component of overall business value and an…

People do not like to answer hard questions, particularly if the truthful answer will make us look bad.  A dishonest person may just lie, while even an honest person will do what they can to avoid answering the question, or at least to answer in a way that minimizes the damage to them personally, professionally,…

Several years ago I worked with a client who was buying a franchised business in the home improvement sector.  The business was marketed as including franchise rights within a multi-state territory.  After a great deal of time and effort by the parties to negotiate terms of agreement, source financing and evaluate financials, we discovered during…

Many years ago I represented the owners of a business that was to be sold to a private equity firm.  As should be expected with an experienced buyer, the terms of the transaction were carefully documented in a letter of intent, to be followed by the actual Asset Purchase Agreement and a multitude of various…

We all know the drudgery of cleaning something significant to get it ready to sell, whether a business, a house or even a car.  You want whatever you are selling to look its best for possible buyers and, ironically, better than you ever cared to have it looking for yourself.  In many ways, a business…

                  There are a handful of questions that nearly every buyer asks when first looking at a business, and one of this is:  “What does the owner do?”  They want to know whether they can replace the owner, so clearly one of the most important ownership transition planning steps for a small business owner is…