What is a Contingency?
A contingency in the sale of a business is a condition in the contract of sale or offer that must be resolved, satisfied or rectified by either a buyer or seller. If they are not satisfied then the sale will generally not go forward. Most offers on a business contain one or more contingencies. The sale may be subject to the buyer obtaining financing, or the seller repaving the parking lot. Experienced business brokers have seen just about every contingency there is. Most of these are placed in the offer by a buyer who has concerns about one or more issue and needs it or them to be satisfied before proceeding with or closing the sale.
It may be as simple as the sale is contingent upon the buyer receiving a five-year extension of the lease by [a certain date]. Or, the offer to purchase may state that the sale is conditional upon the buyer’s approval of the seller’s books and records.
The difference between the two examples is that in the first one, it is a specific event that must be satisfied, and a time limit is specified. The second example is open-ended, meaning that a buyer could opt out of the deal by disapproving the books and records essentially for any reason.
Here are some tips on contingencies:
- There should be a time period in which the contingency must be satisfied. Without it the deal could go on almost forever.
- It, or they, as the case may be, should be reasonable. There is no point in making the sale contingent on moving the building to the next state. As they say – “it ain’t going to happen.”
- Contingencies should be limited to very important or critical issues – those that impact whether a buyer will actually purchase the business or not. Minor items should be resolved prior to an offer being written.
- Confidentiality or proprietary issues may influence whether a buyer will buy the business, but the seller is not willing to proceed until an offer containing price and terms is agreed upon.
- Contingencies come in all sizes and shapes. Very few offers don’t contain at least one, and usually more than one. They are an inevitable part of selling – and buying a business. A business broker knows what is reasonable and what is not.
A Lease Primer
The following is provided as a simple explanation of common leasing arrangements within a small business transaction. It is not intended to provide legal advice.
The New Lease
A new lease is created generally when the prior lease has expired or is about to and when there are going to be substantial changes to the existing lease. A new lease would be executed between the purchaser of the business and the landlord. It is a new document either drafted by an attorney or used in a standard form that is available at stationery stores and in many books. A new lease involves negotiations between the owner or purchaser of the business and the landlord.
The Sub-Lease
A sub-lease is nothing but a lease within a lease. For example, if the seller of a business is permitted to sub-lease the premises, he or she, as far as a new owner is concerned, is the landlord. In this case, the actual landlord is still dealing with the seller and has no relationship with the buyer. Obviously, the seller needs the permission of the landlord or lessor to assign or sub-lease.
The Assignment of the Existing Lease
This is the most common form of allowing a buyer the use of the premises in which the business is located. In an assignment, the seller is “assigning” all rights to the existing lease to the new buyer. Once the assignment is executed, the seller usually has no more rights in that lease. However, in most assignments, the landlord reserves “all rights” in the lease. In other words, the seller, who may be a tenant or an assignee, is still responsible to the landlord if the buyer does not perform.
Don’t Take the Lease for Granted
The cliché is that the key to business success is: location – location – location. If you own a business in which the location is an important reason for the success of the business, and you are considering selling, then the lease is a very critical issue in the sale. The time to deal with this is not in the middle of a sale, but before you even place the business on the market.
Business brokers can recite many a story where, on contacting the landlord in the midst of a pending sale, they are told that the landlord has other plans for the space when the lease is up next month. Fortunately this is not a common occurrence, but if the lease is an issue, the time to deal with it is now.
The Steps In Dealing with the Lease
The first step is finding the lease.
The second step is to read it.
The third step is to visit the landlord and work out any lease issues.
Before placing your business on the market, you need to see where you stand on the all-important issue of the lease. After reviewing it, set up an appointment to visit the landlord. If there are only a few years left on the lease, see about getting an extension. If you have more than that left, still check into getting an option to renew the lease at the expiration of the present term. After all, if the location works, the longer the lease the better in most cases. It might also be a good time to see if the landlord has ever considered selling the premises. By owning the property, you will never have to worry about leases again.
If location is not important and the business is such that moving it is a non-issue, then obviously the lease is not important. However, if the business is one that is dependent on its existing location, then the lease issue is crucial. The time to iron out any details is before the business is placed on the market.
The Very Expensive Desk Lamp
This is a story based on a true incident – only some of the details have been changed. The buyer and seller were ready to close on a business when the buyer asked to look at the list of fixtures and equipment that were to be included in the sale. After a few minutes reviewing the list, the buyer said that the desk lamp on the owner’s desk was not listed. The seller explained that the lamp was a gift from his parents many years ago and therefore it was not included. The buyer got very upset, stating that the lamp was just perfect for that desk and he wanted it. The seller tried to explain that the lamp had lots of sentimental value, but that he would replace it with another desk lamp. This did not satisfy the buyer, and in order to stop the sale from falling part, the seller agreed to subtract $1,000 from the purchase price to keep the lamp. That made the desk lamp a very expensive one.
The point of this is that when buyers look at a business, they assume that everything they see is included in the sale. Sellers should keep this in mind when selling their businesses. If something is not going to be included in the sale, remove it from the premises prior to any prospective buyer looking at the business. Sellers sometimes think that they can remove the painting on the office wall since their grandmother painted it. The picture really looks good on the wall never imagining that the buyer also will think it looks great on the wall – and the problems begin.
Business broker professionals have seen deals fall apart over a piece of family memorabilia that was never intended to be included in the sale, but was there when the buyer looked at the business. The word to sellers is to remove anything – and the key word is anything – that is not included in the sale. The alternative is to list everything that is not included on the listing agreement, but it is usually less complicated simply to take them home.
One other thing – if there is a piece of equipment that is inoperative, such as the computer on the back desk, or the refrigerator in the basement of the restaurant – get rid of it. Or make sure the listing agreement states that the following equipment is inoperative. Again, it’s really easier just to remove these items.
A professional business broker will see that these potential dealbreakers won’t disrupt the closing.
How Important is the Asking Price?
Depends on whom you are asking. If you’re the seller, you might say that the asking price is too low. The buyer would say, obviously, that the asking price is too high. How can they both be right? Who decides?
Most sellers have an idea of what they want for their business. It can be based on their knowledge of the industry and what similar businesses have sold for. It may be, however, based on just a wish. There is the old, but true, story of the two partners who decided to sell their business. When asked what the price would be, they both responded with the same answer – $2 million. When asked how they arrived at that price, they each said that they wanted to be a millionaire and two times $1 million was $2 million.
Sellers often say that the asking price doesn’t make any difference since it can always be reduced. What they don’t realize is that if the price is not realistic, buyers won’t even look at it. Buyers are aware that they can make an offer, but if the starting point is too high, what they consider a fair price may be so low that why bother even making the offer.
Studies using various data bases comparing actual selling prices of businesses with their asking prices show that the difference is about 15 percent for small businesses. The larger the business, the smaller the spread. Businesses sold for $1 million-plus sell for about 90 percent of the asking price, while smaller ones sell for about 85 percent of the asking price. The important thing to remember is that the data is based on sold businesses only. There is no data, obviously, comparing the businesses that didn’t sell.
Sellers have to keep in mind that starting with too high an asking price may well prevent a very qualified buyer from even looking at the business. You know your price is too high and that you will come down, perhaps even significantly, but the buyer doesn’t. What is the right price? A business broker professional has tools to help sellers arrive at a reasonable starting point. There may be comparable market data based on similar sales. There are methods based on the cash flow of the business and a multiple using other business factors such as location, down payment requirements, competition, annual sales variations and other determinants.
Ultimately it’s the marketplace that decides the ultimate selling price. Serious sellers listen to the marketplace. After all, if 10 buyers are willing to pay X for the business and there are no other buyers, the price is X. The seller doesn’t have to accept that price, but he or she must accept the fact that the market will only pay X for their business.
Since studies of thousands of business sales show that the sales price ends up being, on average, 85 percent of the asking price – so sellers shouldn’t dream or wish for too much.
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