Is a real estate business worth anything?

Question

Excluding property value and rental income, is there much value in lead generation systems, buyer lists, marketing,  phone #, email, branding, etc for a wholesaling / rehabbing business?

Matt Motil · Answer

Iit depends on if there are systems in place that can be repeated and scaled. If there are, then there is "value" that can be sold. If there aren't set systems in place, you are going to have a hard time finding a buyer for what you're selling. Hope that helps.

Sky Mikesell · Answer

i agree with @Trevor Ewen   so much of real estate biz is based on the people involved.   On the investment side having an operation that is systems based is essential. we run a turn key operation in charlotte and have great systems in our business based on 10 years of experience but even at that i am not sure our business would be salable to the same type of gross multipliers "widget" type business' are sold on.     I would be curious to hear from a business broker how much brand recognition plays into the sale of the business.

Trevor Ewen · Answer

@Larry Flanagan

Many businesses are people motivated, you take the people out, my company is worth about as much as our computers (rapidly depreciating technical assets).

Since real estate is so relational, I would guess the same thing. If you can keep the other people in place, but remove yourself from the equation (contractors, managers, assistants, etc.), then you may have some value to sell.

Another way to go about it is give away the leads, and just say that if they lead to the close of a deal, you want a piece of the action. Not sure how to specify that, legally, but it's also possible to do it informally.

Is a real estate business worth anything?

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