All Forum Posts by: Charlie MacPherson

I sell businesses and I'm looking for REFERRALS. 

If you introduce me to a business owner who wants to sell his business and we get the listing, I will pay you 10% of our commission at closing!

We sell ANY kind of business (except adult and pot related).  From a local convenience store to multi-million dollar healthcare facilities and everything in between.

For example, I recently sold a group of 9 assisted living facilities.  That would have been a $135,000 referral fee.  An FBO at a small airport (airport operations company) $37,000.  A precast concrete company, $130,000.  A home care company, $61,000.  A pair of small motels, $61,000.

Make an introduction, make a nice fat check!

I can NOT work in the following states:

• Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois , Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.  These states all require a real estate license to sell a business.

My main focus is New England (Mass, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont) - but can work elsewhere as well.

Want to chat?  Give me a call during Eastern Time Zone business hours at 207-352-1000, or if you're near Augusta, Maine, let's have coffee.

Charlie MacPherson, Business Broker
Inbar Group, Inc.
12 Shuman Ave, #10
Augusta, ME 04330
[email protected]

@Russell Brazil Nailed it.  Write an offer that makes sense for you and present it to the agent.

You might want to research "unlicensed real estate brokering" in whatever state you're planning to "invest" in.  In some states there are just fines.  In others it's a felony.

No matter how you cut it or what the gurus claim, in virtually every circumstance, you need a real estate license to effect the transfer of a property that you do not already own.

Real estate laws are put into place to protect the public from unlicensed and unscrupulous operators.  They're there for a reason.

You might look for a bank that does business in both countries.  For example, I'm working with a guy who is both a Canadian and Jamaican citizen.  

He wants to buy a business I have listed, but both USDA and SBA (the most common funding methods) require the borrower to have a green card or to be a US citizen.

I suggested that he contact TD (Toronto Dominion) Bank, which he did, as they are a Canadian bank that does business in both countries. They have approved the loan, pending a signed P&S.

Your instincts are right.  It's a net listing, which is illegal in almost every state. 

Elliott has given you bad advice here.  Being transparent about an illegal act doesn't make it legal.  In addition, your MLS probably has regulations that prohibit net listings, but YMMV.  Run it by your broker.

If you get it under contract without both the ability (money) and intent to perform to that contract, you have committed "fraud in the inducement" - a tort for which you can be sued.

You *might* be able to buy it and then resell it, but check with your state's RE regulations.  There may be restrictions there as well, because this seems like a thinly veiled attempt to get around the net listings laws.

The best option is to simply do your job.  List it, sell it and collect your commission.

Quote from @Jeet Sangha:

Quote from @Charlie MacPherson:

We use DMM in a few ways. 

1. Postcards mailed blindly to business owners with a few bullet points on how we sell businesses.  These are in a #6 envelope.
2. The same postcards mailed to targeted business owners, but with a handwritten sticky note with something like "we have buyers for motels just like yours!"  Also in a #6 envelope.
3. Mail merge letters in a #10 envelope, targeted to individual business owners with slightly more messaging.
#1, 2 and 3 all have first class stamps and are hand-addressed.
4. A bulk mail house sends letters with bulk mail permits to specific lists and bulk mail indicia postage.  These are machine addressed.

It's hard to measure response rates precisely, but my sense is that we're looking at 0.05% for #1 and #2.  Maybe 0.10% for #3.  #4 comes out of the mailing house, so I don't know their raw numbers, but I strongly suspect it's far less than the others.

By response, I mean that the recipient calls or emails us.

The zinger is that some postcards end up in a drawer and generate a contact many months later.  I don't see that with the letters.

For us, just one that generates a closed deal can mean commissions ranging from a few tens of thousands of dollars to several hundred thousand dollars, so for us, the juice is definitely worth the squeeze.  That's a number you'll have to work out for yourself.

 I guess it's the consistency that matters. From what I've read, you have to mail the same list for at least eight months at a minimum. 

Yes - we mail and call the same lists repeatedly.  Calling twice a year seems about right for us, but we probably mail 5 times in a year.

Anybody who thinks that they can do a single mailing and have success should invest that money in Dogecoin.  It'll perform better!

We use DMM in a few ways. 

1. Postcards mailed blindly to business owners with a few bullet points on how we sell businesses.  These are in a #6 envelope.
2. The same postcards mailed to targeted business owners, but with a handwritten sticky note with something like "we have buyers for motels just like yours!"  Also in a #6 envelope.
3. Mail merge letters in a #10 envelope, targeted to individual business owners with slightly more messaging.
#1, 2 and 3 all have first class stamps and are hand-addressed.
4. A bulk mail house sends letters with bulk mail permits to specific lists and bulk mail indicia postage.  These are machine addressed.

It's hard to measure response rates precisely, but my sense is that we're looking at 0.05% for #1 and #2.  Maybe 0.10% for #3.  #4 comes out of the mailing house, so I don't know their raw numbers, but I strongly suspect it's far less than the others.

By response, I mean that the recipient calls or emails us.

The zinger is that some postcards end up in a drawer and generate a contact many months later.  I don't see that with the letters.

For us, just one that generates a closed deal can mean commissions ranging from a few tens of thousands of dollars to several hundred thousand dollars, so for us, the juice is definitely worth the squeeze.  That's a number you'll have to work out for yourself.

Former Realtor here.  If I had an exclusive listing for your property and you wanted to do additional marketing, I'd be thrilled.  Go for it - you might just be making my job easier.

Just don't try to cut a deal behind your agent's back.  Not cool.

Depending on the amount, you might consider small claims court.  Here in Maine, we try to keep EMD to $6,000 or less as that's the maximum allowed in Small Claims - and every state is different.

It seems like a cut and dried case.  You bargained for the property as it was shown.  The seller changed the deal and you have every right to either get out of the deal unscathed or to the original deal as it was shown.

I've gone to small claims twice.  Once as a plaintiff (I won) and once as a defendant in an escrow dispute (I won that one too).  You can go without a lawyer and represent yourself and with a case that's so clear cut, I (as a NON LAWYER) think it seems like you should win.

The other thing you could try is to pay an attorney to write a demand letter.  It might cost a couple of hundred bucks, but could possible get your money back to you a lot faster.

Good luck!

Whatever you do, put *EVERYTHING* in writing. 

- Decide in advance what each of your responsibilities will be. 
- Know what your exit strategy will be. 
- Know who will get what percentage of the net profits.
- Most importantly, when partnering with a contractor, decide how much time he will put in to your deals - meaning know if he is working exclusively on your rehabs or has 5 other jobs going at the same time.

If the contractor has several other jobs going at the same time as your flips, that's going to slow you down. 

If you're using hard money, those costs can add up very quickly.  The same can be said for opportunity costs of tying up your own money as it can't be used for other investments while the project is ongoing.

On the other hand, the contractor needs to feed his family, so probably cannot wait to get paid at the end of the project, so maybe work out progress payments along the way, or factor into your timeline his other projects.

All of this needs to be very, very clearly spelled out in your agreement so there are no misunderstandings.

Good luck!