Get Your Business Funded: Creative Methods for Getting the Money You Need

What's in It for the Seller?

You may not think that an owner of a business would want to finance its sale to a buyer who otherwise could not qualify . . . and you would be right. Sellers don't usually want to do this and only agree to it when they have no choice. Usually, a seller will try to sell the business the old-fashioned way first. If successful, great, but if not, they become like the homeowner whose house has been on the market too long: they want to get out and look for creative solutions and new options.

That's where you come in.

By offering the owner a way out, a chance to sell the business if they carry some paper, you put yourself in position to kill two birds with one stone: You get financing to buy a business and the owner gets to sell their business. You become a solution to their problem. Is it perfect? No, for the seller, of course not. But your offer to buy with owner financing is probably more than they have right now, so it is something.

Of course, you have to offer more than just a warm body. Consider what the seller wants: she wants to get out of the business, to take the money and run. So you have to show her how working with you helps her accomplish her goals. You will need:

• Experience
• A vision for the business
• Some other financing (hopefully)
• An offer that makes sense
• A viable and timely exit strategy for the seller

Aside from an actual sale, another benefit of owner financing for the current owner is that it should create a faster sale. By making it ...