Are you a bargain shopper? How about 20% off a real business?

November and December are the slow season in what has been a down year for business sales. Yet sellers have resisted cutting their asking price. Consider:

• The sale of businesses in Orange County is down 23% in the first 10 months of the year, says BizBen, a web site that specializes in California business sales.
• The asking price for businesses in Southern California is going up at a time sales are going down, says BizBuySell, a nationwide businesses-for-sale web site.

In similar markets, department stores have big sales. So do car dealers and mattress retailers. Why not a business broker?

Seal Beach business broker Alan Lippincott, owner of BestSoCal Business, has persuaded dozens of his clients to cut the asking price for their businesses by at least 10% through the end of the year. Some are going as deep as 20% discount.

“The holidays are a slower time for business sales, and this year has been uneven for sales because of

Alan Lippincott

flucuations in the market,” Lippincott said. “Other industries have sales. So can we.”

He won’t release the names of any specific businesses because employees often are spooked by the idea that their company is being sold. But participants in his Big Blowout Sale include retailers, auto repair, printers and other services.

“We have started to promote our Big Blowout Sale through our internet ads,” he said.

“What’s hurting right now is the general lack of liquidity. Only a handful of banks are still doing SBA-guaranteed loans so they can cherrypick the best deals.”

Most business sales currently are half cash, half seller financed. Buyers can no longer tap equity in their homes to finance the purchase of a business, a popular choice a few years ago.

Although sellers have promised to cut their asking prices through the end of the year, chances are the transaction will take longer.

Typical used to be seven-and-a-half months, Lippincott said. Now it’s more like nine months.

More economy stories…

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• O.C. yearlong job loss second highest in U.S.
• 90% of U.S. banks tighten small-business credit
• September O.C. bankruptcies hit 3-year high
• Dow dives 444 — 5.4%
• Paulson drives stocks down again?
• Congress punts bailout. You agree?
• Hull: car makers run by bean-counters, not car guys
• And you thought that economic forecast was bad. . .

Posted in: Economy • Top posts • BizBen • BizBuySell • Economy • sale of businesses |

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