10 BIGGEST MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN SELLING YOUR LETTING BUSINESS

Mistake #1
Trying to sell your own business.

It is almost impossible to achieve the best price by selling your own business. A good broker can add value at every stage of the process.

By preparing an accurate information pack that shows the business in the best light. By having access to a database of thousands of potential buyers many of whom you would never have found for yourself . By running a proper marketing campaign over a six week period to produce multiple offers which will drive up the price. By helping you choose a reliable a buyer who won’t try to chip the price at the last moment or use sophisticated accounting tricks to cheat you out of money in the completion accounts that should have been yours. And most importantly of all by using our 30 years’ experience and vast technical knowledge to overcome problems and ensure that your sale completes first time on the terms that were originally agreed.

This is exactly what we do, using our experience as the UK’s leading seller of letting agencies to achieve a better price for your business.

---

Mistake #2
Choosing the wrong broker.

Using one-person operations who do not have the resources to do the job properly or general practice brokers who do not understand how to value and sell a letting agency is a bad idea.

You need to choose a broker who specialises in letting agency sales and has a team of people working for you. That’s how you get expert advice, a proactive marketing process and ultimately the best possible price for your business.

We have sold over 500 letting agencies and we have a team of 8 staff with over forty years’ combined service with us.

---

Mistake #3
Poor preparation.

The way your information pack is prepared will have a massive impact on the price that you can achieve for your business. A carrier bag full of bits of paper simply will not do. You need to show off your business in the best possible light and ensure every detail is accurate and every figure is cross-referenced with the accounts in order to avoid problems later in the sale. Needless to say, that’s how we do it at Adam J Walker & Associates.

---

Mistake #4
Not involving enough buyers.

More buyers mean more competition and a better price. We have over 12,600 buyers on our database which has been built over the last 30 years. Many of these buyers are buyers that you would not find yourself.

---

Mistake #5
Accepting an early offer.

You should not accept the first offer that comes in. Many brokers will push you to do this to save themselves time but running a proper marketing campaign with a formal closing date for offers at the end of the process is nearly always the best way to achieve the right price. It’s how we do it.

---

Mistake #6
Choosing the buyer on price alone.

The highest offer is often not the best one. We will help you to consider all the other factors such as the payment terms, the penalty clauses, the cost of any redundancies, the cost of lease disposals and the way in which the completion accounts will be prepared. These factors can have a huge impact on the net proceeds of your sale.

---

Mistake #7
Choosing the wrong buyer.

Some buyers have a reputation for chipping the price at the last moment or using sophisticated accounting tricks to cheat you of money in the completion accounts that should have been yours . You need a buyer with a spotless track record. With our decades in the business, we know which buyers can be trusted and which can’t, and this will have a huge impact on how smoothly your sale proceeds and the net proceeds that you walk away with.

---

Mistake #8
Failing to deal with due diligence issues.

The due diligence process is immensely complex and it will usually involve at least 100 hours’ work. No business is perfect so our job is to help you to deal with the issues that arise and find ways to resolve them. If necessary, we can involve specialist due diligence consultants to assist with the more complex problems.

---

Mistake #9
Choosing the wrong solicitor.

Your choice of solicitor will have a huge impact on how quickly and smoothly your sale proceeds and indeed on whether it completes at all. We have come across some truly awful solicitors over the years who have sometimes been wholly responsible for allowing sales to collapse unnecessarily. We have also come across some fantastic solicitors and five of the best solicitors are on our panel.

---

Mistake #10
Allowing the buyer to chip the price.

Many buyers will try to chip the price by up to 25% on the day of completion. We know this because we’ve often been asked to remarket businesses after this has happened in private sale or with another broker. By choosing the right buyer and progressing the sale properly, problems like this can nearly always be prevented. And that’s where we excel.

The best way to avoid all 10 of these mistakes is to let Adam J Walker & Associates, the UK’s leading seller of letting agencies, handle your sale.