Should You Buy a "Used" Franchise Business?

If you’re thinking of buying a franchise as a way to secure your future, you’re not alone. The US job market is still pretty tough. Competition for high-paying jobs is quite intense.

It’s it any wonder that downsized executives and middle management personnel are looking at some career alternatives? Could becoming a franchise owner be a good one?

About a 1/3 of the folks that contact me for a franchise search help ask me if I know of any existing franchise opportunities that may be available. Buying someone else’s franchise can be a great way to get into franchising, for sure…

There’s certainly some positive aspects to buying a used franchise. Like;

• Immediate cash flow

• An existing base of customers/clients

• A built-in mentor

Of course buying a franchise, whether a start-up, or in this case, an existing franchise business, has many other advantages.

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Lowering your risk

Almost everybody looking to buy an existing franchise thinks that it will really lower their risk if they buy a business that already has money coming in. Sometimes, it can.

Anne Barr, A fellow franchise professional , (who also left the same national franchise brokerage franchise that I was a member of) does quite a bit of work in franchise resales, and wrote this short post about purchasing an existing franchise business. Contact her if you’re in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She really knows her stuff.

There’s certain steps that you’ll have to take in order to purchase any existing business of any type, and some of them even involve a favorite and fun topic of all of ours;

The Law.

Business.Gov

The folks over at Business.Gov lay these steps out nicely;

• Thoroughly research the business and look for legal red flags. Learn as much as you can about how the business’s operations from the current owner, including details about existing contracts, insurance policies, licenses, employee agreements, and commercial leases. Leases in particular can be a tricky issue for new buyers – you may need to have the landlord’s permission to legally transfer a lease – and you could be held to contractual commitments over employee compensation and benefits.

Here’s the rest of “The Legal Steps to Buying a Business,” from my friends over at Business.Gov.

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** (The legal steps that you need to take to buy a franchise or non-franchise business are really important. Don’t be cheap. Get a competent attorney.)

Here’s a fun recent post that concerns an attorney.(Check out the rather colorful comments)