All Forum Posts by: Charlie MacPherson

I run the Augusta, Maine office of Inbar Group, Inc - Business Brokers and M&A Services. Our HQ is in NYC with other offices in NJ, PA (Philly & Pittsburgh), MA, CT and DC.

I'm looking to semi-retire as I'm 69 years old, so I'm looking for a new person or two to come on board to service some (negotiable) parts of northern New England.

Normally, a new broker should expect about 9 months to the first commission check, but my plan for the Maine / NH / VT broker is to hand them about some of my active listings to give them a jump start in the business.

The successful candidate will have meaningful business experience. You should be able to read at least the highlights of a tax return, P&L and Balance Sheet. You should be mid-level proficient with Word & Excel.

Business owners, managers and entrepreneurs are all good candidates. Realtors *might* be, but while business brokering looks like real estate brokering from 1,000 feet away, it's a very different practice.

However, I don't expect any candidate to have business brokering experience, so we will train you from the ground up.

As a former Realtor, I spent a lot of time un-learning real estate as terms, processes, duties and procedures are all quite different.

The position is 100% commission, so you'll need a plan to get you through start up.

However, unlike being a Realtor, Inbar Group pays all marketing expenses. That includes thousands of postcards mailed to prospects each month, an outbound telemarketer whose job it is to fill your calendar with appointments and an admin person that is shared by our office.

BTW, the telemarketer is incentivized with a bonus whenever we close a sale, so she's motivated to send you on good, qualified appointments. Again, that costs you nothing.

If you're relatively close to Augusta, we have a space for you at my office (12 Shuman Ave, #10). We will consider opening another office for you as well. Otherwise you can work from home - and we'll provide a company cell phone too.

The only expense you have to cover is your vehicle and related expenses.

One key to success is to go out to meet the seller face-to-face, so plan on driving quite a bit. But if your trip results in a $1,000,000 listing and a $50,000 commission, is that worth driving for a few hours?

We charge sellers 10% of the sale price at closing and you'll make about 50% of that.

A big advantage for business sellers in dealing with us is that we charge sellers nothing up front and no other fees aside of the 10% commission at closing. I have heard of one competitor charging a $7,000 listing fee and another that sells the seller on a flashy analysis and PDF book - for $30,000 up front.

We have no fee unless we're successful.

We sell almost any kind of business. Examples include local convenience stores, restaurants, trash haulers, motels, precast concrete companies, medical facilities, etc. We especially like distribution and manufacturing.  

We refuse adult-related and marijuana-related businesses.

We've sold some really unique businesses too. For example, a company that makes elevator counter-weights. One that is a reptile wholesaler. A machine shop that makes caps for perfume bottles and one that makes furniture-leveling devices. I've even sold the company (FBO) that operates the Maine State Airport in Augusta!

Take a look at our website and you'll see what we have on the market right now. www.InbarGroup.com.

This is a very good time to get into the business as there is a glut of retiring baby boomers. They've spent decades building their businesses and many have never really thought about an exit plan. When we show them the way to retire with a pile of money, many are all too happy to sign a 12-month exclusive listing agreement with us.

This can be a very, very lucrative opportunity with real life earnings in the mid to high 6-figures.

Interested? Give me a call on my cell at 207-352-1000 or email [email protected] and let's chat.

As a former Realtor, now Business Broker (5 years+), I have experience with both being a Realtor and helping people buy and sell businesses.

Real estate is a hard way to make a living.  My experience was that it took 5 years of grinding before I started getting referrals and repeat business.  I did just OK income wise.

Plan on paying for ALL of your own expenses. Business cards, yardarm signs, open house signs, marketing expenses (Car expenses, Zillow, Realtor, mailing postcards, contact management software, Google ads, social media ads, desk fees, tech fees, NAR membership, MLS fees, etc). In my best year, my expenses were 42% of my gross income.

Buying a business can be a MUCH better idea.  But know a few things going in:

1. You'll probably use an SBA (Small Business Administration) loan.  Those require a 10% down payment and <$10K in closing costs.  You MIGHT get some help with seller financing, but don't count on it.

2. You must have meaningful, relevant experience in whatever business you're looking at or you won't get a loan.  Especially in restaurants and motels.  Being a waiter or housekeeper won't cut it.

3. Connect with SCORE.org.  That's the Service Corps of Retired Executives.  A free service of the SBA.  They can help you with thinking things through and even writing your business plan.

4. Don't bombard your business broker with requests for information until you're prepared to move forward.  Get pre-approved for a loan with an SBA lender to show you're serious.  When you send inquiries, don't leave fields blank.  Provide your full name, phone number, real email, when you plan to buy, etc.  If you don't, I won't take you seriously.

5. Understand that business brokers are swamped with un-serious and unqualified people.  I think I get about 30 inquiries for every 1 that is ready, willing and able to transact.  That means I spend a LOT of my time ruling people out.

6. Realize that you are probably buying yourself a job.  Be prepared to work HARD at it - and start out with the end in sight.  What's your exit plan?  Pass it on to the next generation?  Retire at 50 years old and sell the business for a big profit?  Work until they carry you out feet first?  Whatever it is, keep that goal in sight.

7. Keep your business ready for sale.  Do NOT make a habit of sticking unreported cash in your pocket.  That $10,000 cash you pocketed might have saved you $2,000 in taxes.  But when your business sells at a multiple of 3X net earnings, that's going to cost you $30,000 in your asking price.  I have walked away from several businesses because their books were more than questionable.  Keep yours squeaky clean.

Good luck in whatever you decide!

In every jurisdiction I'm aware of, it is illegal for a licensed real estate person to pay an unlicensed person for leads. 

I was recently told that the same also applies to life and heath insurance sales.

When I was a licensed Realtor, I made the STUPID decision to focus my efforts on rehabbers.

Get a crappy commission on the crappy house.  Get another larger commission when I sell the rehabbed house.  It sounds good if you say it fast.

My experience was that they think nothing of running you through every frozen, abandoned foreclosures on the market, in the middle of a New England winter, in hopes of finding their next deal.  

Fun fact #1 - in the winter, abandoned homes are usually 10 - 15 degrees colder on the inside than the outside.

Fun fact #2 - you often have no idea who or what is living inside.  I always carried a gun.

Fun fact #3 - the rehabber to whom you have shown 8 frozen properties thinks nothing of buying their next project from another Realtor - regardless of the days chasing new foreclosures, the miles driving all over creation and the opportunity cost of not working with qualified buyers.

Retail buyers weren't much better, but I was dumb enough to believe that those in the business would treat each other with some amount of respect.

I turned my RE licenses (MA and ME) in 5 years ago to get into business brokering.  I told my wife that if I dropped dead that day, it would take the undertaker a week to get the smile off my face.

The low cost condo with a high special assessment is an option I hadn't thought of.  Great idea!

I'm thinking of buying a second home (condo) so we can get away from the Maine winters for a few weeks.  I started looking in FL, but I'm learning that there's a problem that apparently was uncovered after the Miami Surfside condo collapse in 2021, where 97 residents were confirmed dead.

The problem is that many FL condos have historically underfunded their reserves.  The state is now requiring inspections on those over 3 stories and over 30 years old and enforcing "proper" reserve funds. 

Owners in some places are being hit with low-mid 6-figure Special Assessments.  With some owners on a fixed income, these units have flooded the market, making it a strong buyer's market.

That scared me away from Florida for the moment, so I'm thinking about Galveston, TX.  Yes, I know the entire city is in AE flood zones or worse.  I'm paying cash, so no lender worries.  I don't yet know if the same problem exists there.

It raised the question for me.  I can get a look at the reserve account to see how much is in there.  But how do I know how much SHOULD be in there?  I imagine that a high-rise will be vastly different than a 2-story.  One with 300 owners will be vastly different from one with 60.

I have no idea as to how to evaluate this. 

I know I can look at the condo association meeting minutes to see what special assessments were discussed, but that only answers part of the question.

Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated!

I hate to rain on your parade, but wholesaling is illegal in most places as it's considered brokering real estate without a license.

Wholesaling generally involves putting a property under contract.  That's a property for which you have neither the money nor intent to close on.  That's "Fraud in the Inducement" and you can be sued for it.

Wholesalers have to acquire a property (or more precisely, the rights to a property) at well below market value.  You do that by:

1. Finding property owners that are completely ignorant of the true value of their property and are not sharp enough to call a Realtor to see if your lowball offer is as bad as it has to be.  You sneak a garbage offer by them because they're not smart enough to realize that it's garbage.  Or,

2. Finding property owners who are in a desperate situation.  Maybe facing medical, drug or gambling debts.  Maybe they're staring down the barrel of foreclosure.  Maybe they lost their job and can no longer pay their bills.  Maybe they're at end of life and are trying to sell the property to provide for their loved ones after they die. 

You need them to be so desperate to get out of their situation that they'll take your garbage offer.

You then try to sell your position in the contract to someone else at a higher price.  (Unlicensed brokering in many states)

When you fail to find that someone else, you default on the contract and the property owner is still stuck in whatever situation they were in before - except that maybe a few months have gone by while you search for the next buyer.  That means that the owner's financial position is probably worse, thanks to you.  You will actually end up hurting people.

No matter how you cut it and no matter the lame excuses that wholesalers will give in response to this post, you can only make money by stealing equity from a seller.

So my advice is to walk away.  Don't buy courses or guru seminars.  Every single one is garbage and they'll suck your wallet dry with promises of easy money.  It's all lies.

Honestly, good welders are in very high demand and command strong salaries, good benefits and a work schedule that will leave you time to enjoy life.  If I were your age (I wish...), I'd focus on welding.  Learn and hone your trade.  You will be in high demand when you hit the job market.

As to firefighting, I have nothing but the highest respect for the profession.  People who choose to run into burning buildings to save others are genuine heroes.  If you're ok with long shifts that include nights, weekends and holidays, that's also a good choice.

Good luck - and please don't choose wholesaling.

I run the Augusta, Maine office of Inbar Group, Inc - Business Brokers and M&A Services. Our HQ is in NYC with other offices in Upstate NY, NJ, PA (2), MA, DC and CT.

I'm looking to semi-retire as I'm closing in on 69 years old, so I'm looking for a new person or two to come on board to service some (negotiable) parts of New England - preferably NH and VT. We are also looking for a second broker in downstate NY / LI.

Normally, a new broker should expect about 9 months to the first commission check, but my plan for the NH / VT broker is to hand them about some of my active listings to give them a jump start in the business. The same *might* be available in NY.

The successful candidate will have meaningful business experience. You should be able to read at least the highlights of a tax return, P&L and Balance Sheet. You should be mid-level proficient with Word & Excel.

Business owners, managers and entrepreneurs are all good candidates. Realtors *might* be, but while business brokering looks like real estate brokering from 1,000 feet away, it's a very different practice.

However, I don't expect any candidate to have business brokering experience, so we will train you from the ground up.

The position is 100% commission, so you'll need a plan to get you through start up.

However, unlike being a Realtor, Inbar Group pays all marketing expenses. That includes thousands of postcards mailed to prospects each month, an outbound telemarketer whose job it is to fill your calendar with appointments and an admin person that is shared by our office.

BTW, the telemarketer is incentivized with a bonus whenever we close a sale, so she's motivated to send you on good, qualified appointments. Again, that costs you nothing.

If you're relatively close to Augusta, you can use my office there (12 Shuman Ave, #10). We also have an available office in Portsmouth, NH. We will consider opening another office for you as well. Otherwise you can work from home - and we'll provide a company cell phone too. There is already an office in NYC with support staff there as well.

The only expense you have to cover is your vehicle and related expenses.

One key to success is to go out to meet the seller face-to-face, so plan on driving quite a bit. But if your trip results in a $1,000,000 listing and a $50,000 commission, is that worth driving for a few hours?

We charge sellers 10% of the sale price at closing and you'll make about 50% of that.

A big advantage for business sellers in dealing with us is that we charge sellers nothing up front and no other fees aside of the 10% commission. I have heard of one competitor charging a $7,000 listing fee and another that sells the seller on a flashy analysis and PDF book - for $30,000 up front. We have no fee unless we're successful and then it's only the 10% commission.

We sell almost any kind of business. Examples include local convenience stores, restaurants, trash haulers, motels, precast concrete companies, medical facilities, etc. We especially like distribution and manufacturing.

We avoid adult-related and marijuana-related businesses. Jewelry stores can be tricky when it comes to inventory.

We've sold some really unique businesses too. For example, a company that makes elevator counter-weights. One that is a reptile wholesaler. A machine shop that makes caps for perfume bottles and one that makes furniture-leveling devices. I've even sold the company (FBO) that operates the Maine State Airport in Augusta!

Take a look at our website and you'll see what we have on the market right now. www.InbarGroup.com.

This is a very good time to get into the business as there is a glut of retiring baby boomers. They've spent decades building their businesses and many have never really thought about an exit plan. When we show them the way to retire with a pile of money, many are all too happy to sign a 12-month exclusive listing agreement with us. Not to mention that lending rates are coming down as Prime Rate is finally coming down.

This can be a very, very lucrative opportunity with real life earnings in the mid to high 6-figures.

Interested? Give me a call on my business cell at 207-352-1000 or email [email protected] and let's chat.

I've only done one, so I'm not the world's foremost expert.  Starting out, I'd suggest keeping it simple.  Look for a solid house that's in need of nothing more than updating.

Major structural, utilities and foundation repairs might be a big bite for your first one.  They're also harder to budget.  When you get a few under your belt, you'll be ready for more of that kind of work.

Work with a local Realtor to come up with ARV. You need to be very confident in that sale price. Allow 10% - 20% for a fudge factor. Ask the agent to do comps manually. The automated systems do not account for the interior condition of properties, so they're not especially reliable. (Unless something has changed in the 5 years since I turned my real estate licenses in!)

Know how you'll finance.  And know what your cost of lending is on a daily basis.  A $300,000 hard money loan will cost you about $100/day to carry.  Every single day $100 gets lopped off your profit.  That means that speed = cash, so identify the slowest moving parts of the project and do whatever you can to speed them up.

Do your research on the neighborhood.  Make sure it's desirable and that there are no upcoming events that would make it less so.

If it's a family-style house (3+ beds), make sure that the local schools are very good.

Work with a local Realtor to answer a lot of these questions.  If you're not buying through that agent, pay him for his time and expertise.  And consider listing the house with that same agent when you sell.

Watch out for school zones, flood zones, local noise sources like heavy manufacturing and airports.  

That should get you started.  Good luck!

When I used to be a Realtor, I ran comps manually using a simple spreadsheet I built.  I compared other properties in terms of age, sq ft, acres, beds, baths, basement, garage and a subjective measure of interior condition.

I have a huge problem with the automated comps (Zillow, RPR, etc) because they could not account for the interior condition.  Two identical homes located next to each other would come up with the same value, even though House #1 was just renovated to a very high standard and House #2 hadn't ever been renovated since it was built in 1949.

I always tried for an identical (or nearly so) beds, baths, sq ft of living area, garage and acres.  Ideally, I wanted within 1 mile and sold within 6 months.  Then I'd push those factors out if there were no good comps.  2 miles, 6 months.  2 miles 12 months , etc.

It takes some local knowledge to know when you're pushing those parameters out too far to be useful.  If you find your comps are 10 miles away in a different town, you've probably gone too far.

To do automated comps is easy.  Push the button and hit "print".  To do them right takes a lot of work.

Good luck!