Orange County Register

The sale of Orange County businesses rebounded in March, although transactions are still sharply down from a year ago, according to data from BizBen, a web site for California businesses for sale.

In March, 123 Orange County businesses sold, a 34% rise from February, but still down 52% from March 2008. This trend is true for Orange and the surrounding counties and California as a whole.(click on chart for a larger view):

Source: Bizben

Sales have been hampered by the recession and credit freeze with many buyers unable to get loans and less able to pull equity out of their homes to purchase businesses. The uptick in sales may be an early sign of recovery or just a continuation of erratic sales over the past year.

This chart shows the roller coaster ride of recent business sales:

Source: Bizben

But Peter Siegel of Bizben sees the March production as the thawing of the market.

“The banks are loosening up a bit, and owners are being much more realistic about carrying back notes on their business sales,” Siegel said. “Money was so easy to get for so long that it took brokers a long time to persuade sellers to do this.”

Also helpful, he says, are sellers more willing to lowering their asking prices and more people laid off off from corporate jobs taking the leap into business ownership.

Among business brokers, “there will always be WAMs — whiners and moaners — but a lot of brokers are more upbeat,” Siegel said. “They are changing their business practices. They are doing more creative marketing, more article writing, putting photos in their listings.

“They’re getting back into the saddle of basic marketing and it’s paying off.”

Siegel projects that business sales could fluctuate in the coming months but by the end of summer the general upward trend should be evident.

Other economy stories…

• Free car payments
• Don’t forget tomorrow’s sales tax increase
• County independents join Republicans against auto bailout
• Red Bee coupons good tomorrow only
• Up to 20% off at U.S. Toy Company
• Bella Terra bargain hunting
• U.S. lost 651,000 jobs in February
• Fed stimulus help could endanger small-business cash flow
• Two reports show massive job cuts in February
• O.C. bankruptcies in January jumped 57.8%

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