Business Buying Scams to Avoid
By Linda Collett, J.D., GABB Affiliate1. They want you to hold money in your escrow account (usually a large dollar amount so the deal is attractive). The risk is that the deal or client requires you to transfer some or all of the money out of your account before you bank has time to verify the funds are legit and can cover the transfer. This actually happened to a Georgia attorney awhile back and it was in the AJC. Talk about bad publicity for the attorney who got suckered; he was very embarrassed.
2. The transaction involves an overseas or out-of-state company wanting to do a deal with either an individual or a business in located Georgia, and they need a Georgia attorney or other professional to represent them.
GABB Spring Conference: Learn How to be a Better Business Broker
Do you want to learn more about Business Brokerage?
The Georgia Association of Business Brokers is offering a Spring Conference that will cover the basics of business brokerage including
- Reading a Profit & Loss statement to help determine business value
- Components of a Balance Sheet
- Qualifying Buyers
- Finding Seller’s Discretionary Earnings
- Basic Legal Issues in Business Brokerage
- Avoiding Legal Pitfalls
The Spring Conference will be held on April 30th at the Georgia Realtors Building at 6065 Barfield Rd. from 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at the Georgia Association of Realtors Conference Center. The cost will be $125, but GABB members can register for $75 if they register by April 15. If you want to just take half a day of classes, that’s $75. Scroll to the bottom of the page to register.
Breakfast and lunch are included. Patrick Norris, Esq., of Norris Legal Atlanta Law Group, LLC will provide lunch, and Kim Eells and Susan Kite of Renasant Bank are providing breakfast.
The morning session will cover some basic business brokering skills, while the afternoon session will tackle legal issues. Attendees may register for the entire conference, or just the morning or afternoon session. The classes are offered through the Georgia Association of REALTORS school #271 and have been approved for six hours of continuing education credit towards renewing your Georgia real estate license.
AM: An Introduction to Business Brokerage: Business Profitability and Qualifying Buyers: (70542) Real Estate CE / 3 credits
Greg DeFoor, former GABB president and 2018 GABB Board member
DESCRIPTION: The student will be able to identify, understand and complete basic documents used to determine the potential sales value of a business, will learn how to identify key elements of a profit and loss statement, calculate a business’s profitability and value using the business’s tax returns, and determine a business’ discretionary earnings. At the conclusion of the session, attendees will be able to determine the profitability of a business and if a buyer can qualify to purchase it. 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
How to Read a P&L statement and Balance Sheet: Former GABB President Greg Defoor, Founder DeFoor Business Services, Inc.
OBJECTIVE: Upon completion of this segment of the class, students will be able to identify important features of profit and loss statements and balance sheets, and demonstrate how to determine the ways balance sheet items affect cash in the bank.
Ryan Stoll, SBA lender, Cadence Bank
Determining Real Estate Loan Structure using Business Tax Returns: Ryan Stoll, SBA Banker at Cadence Bank
Objective: Upon completion of this segment, students will be able to determine whether a buyer can qualify or not to purchase a business based on their tax returns, as well as determine the profitability of a business and its value. Students will be able to use a tax return to determine CADA.
Dan Browning, JD, MAFF, ABAR, DB Consulting, Inc.
Discretionary Earnings and Business Valuation: Dan Browning
OBJECTIVE: Upon completion of this section of the class, the student will be able to demonstrate how a Seller’s Discretionary Earnings affects the value of a business. The student will be able to identify and explain private and bank valuations, how to determine owner’s compensation, and how to identify items that will not enhance the value of a business.
BREAK FOR LUNCH
GABB Spring Conference: PM Session: Business Brokerage Basics: Legal Issues (70543) Real Estate CE / 3 credits
1:15-4:30 p.m.
Tanya Nebo, Nebo Law Firm, LLC
DESCRIPTION: Participants will learn how to identify potential legal problems that could arise in the purchase or sale of a business such as identifying asset purchases versus stock purchases; how to verify a business’ legal status; identifying ownership structures; how to use the basic legal forms provided by GABB; identifying and understanding the steps in the due diligence process; and securing their commission and avoiding litigation
Basic Legal Issues in Business Brokering: Tanya Nebo
OBJECTIVE: Basic Legal Issues in Business Brokerage. After completing this hour, students will be able to identify and explain basic legal issues business brokers may encounter in the sale or purchase of a business, identify types of purchases, identify legal entities, and demonstrate how to verify the status of a business, and demonstrate an understanding of the due diligence process.
Shannan Collier Stalvey, business and estate attorney
Legal Forms Used in Business Brokerage: Attorney Shannon Collier Stalvey
OBJECTIVE: The student will be able to identify and use common legal documents used in the purchase of a business, including how to obtain and use GABB Forms, identify legal problems that a broker may encounter when using a standardized forms, demonstrate the use of a standardized form, and identify situations in which a broker should consult an attorney.
Avoiding Legal Pitfalls in Business Brokering: Attorney Larry Domenico
Lawrence Domenico, litigation attorney
OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to identify and explain legal pitfalls when selling a business, demonstrate ways they can avoid lawsuits, identify asset purchase agreements and non-compete agreements, and demonstrate how they can avoid problem clients
Register for the class.
PLEASE BE SURE your registration went through by watching for the notice on the screen, and the emailed receipt. If you don’t see those, your registration didn’t go through. Please try again?
Contact GABB at georgiabusinessbrokers@gmail.com or 404-374-3990 for help if you have difficulty.
If you wish to pay by credit card, select the PayPal Option. If you are paying by check, please mail your payment to
GABB Treasurer
4780 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Suite A-241
Atlanta, GA 30338-5564
Interested in Buying a Business? Check Out These 3 Commonly Overlooked Areas
When it comes to buying a business, nothing is more important than the factor of due diligence. For most people, this investment is the single largest financial decision that they will ever make. And with this important fact in mind, you’ll want to leave absolutely no stone unturned.
Let’s examine the three most commonly overlooked areas when it comes to buying a business: retirement plans, 1099’s and W-2’s, and legal documents.
1. Examine All Legal Documents
While it may sound like a “pain” to investigate all the legal documents relating to a business that you are vetting for purchase, that is exactly what you have to do. The very last thing you want is to buy a business only to have the corporate veil pierced. “Piercing the corporate veil” refers to a situation in which courts put aside limited liability and hold a corporation’s shareholders or directors personally liable for the corporation’s actions or debts. Everything from trademarks and copyrights to other areas of intellectual property should be carefully examined. You should be quite sure that you receive copies of everything from consulting agreements to documentation on intellectual property. Your business broker can recommend attorneys who are familiar with legal issues involving the purchase of a business.
2. Retirement Plans
Forgetting about retirement plans when you’re buying a business is a mistake can quietly translate into disaster. Before signing on the dotted line and taking ownership, be sure that both the business’s qualified and non-qualified retirement plans are 100% up to date with the Department of Labor and ready to go.
3. W-2’s and 1099’s
If 1099 forms were given out instead of W-2’s, you’ll want to know about that and be certain that it was done within the bounds of IRS rules. Imagine for a moment that you fail to do your due diligence, buy a business and then discover that you have problems with the IRS. No one wants IRS problems, but a failure to perform due diligence can quickly result in just that. So do your homework!
There can be many skeletons hiding in a business, and you want to be sure that you protect yourself from any unwanted surprises. One exceptional way to protect yourself is to work with a business broker. A business broker knows what to look for when buying a business and what kinds of documents should be examined. There is no replacement for the expertise and experience that a business broker brings to the table.
Copyright: Business Brokerage Press, Inc.
Read MoreSix Ways Business Brokers Can Avoid Litigation
Lawrence Domenico
GABB member Lawrence Domenico, an experienced litigator, spoke to the Georgia Association of Business Brokers about how you can avoid litigation. Here’s what he had to say:
For you guys as Business Brokers, it almost always is better to avoid litigation if you can. Courts and Arbitration proceedings take a long time to complete and lawyers are expensive. The quickest you can expect to have a trial in Fulton County is a year after you file suit. Most business cases take several years. Moreover, there are lots of lawyers out there who are very happy to litigate to the death.
Before I tell you how to avoid litigation, please keep in mind, I don’t see most deals of business brokers because most go through to closing or the listing expires without success.
I only see the matters where brokers contact me because something is wrong with the listing.
It is probably not possible to never have a problem listing. There is a percentage of people that you cannot please and you will be in conflict them.
There are people that do not care about living up to their obligations, be it in a contract or otherwise.
These are often the same folks who have a tenuous grasp on reality and have a hard time telling the truth.
But there is good news, because these kinds of people exist, I will always have work to do.
What I would like to help you all with today is not dealing with these folks that I have just described. You will either have to sue those folks or walk away from them.
What I want to help you with today is minimizing the number of times you have to sue folks who have a grasp of reality, who generally do respect their obligations, but for some reason or another don’t see things the way you see them.
I have 6 recommendations for you to avoid litigation.
- First, avoid these problem clients. Easier said than done, I know, but I think you already know how to spot these people. First and most importantly, trust your gut. Call it instinct or experience or karma, whatever, when you have a bad feeling about working with a client, you are probably right. Almost all my clients say at some point, “You know, I had a bad feeling about this guy way back when, but I went ahead with the engagement.”
In my own practice, I know this is true. The greatest regrets and biggest losses of money in my practice were when I blindly trusted a client, or thought they would change once they saw how sincere and diligent I worked for them, or got blinded by the potential fee.
If your gut is not warning you about a client, there are still things you need to do to avoid problems.
Ask yourself, what do you really know about new client?
Sometimes the concern is not so much stealing money from you as wasting your time. A referral is the best, in my experience
This is true for hiring help, too. I far prefer to hire someone already known to me or someone at my firm. I always ask, “Are they crazy?” If not, you are way ahead.
Other options: make a personal visit to business; Google them; D&B; check references.
What do you know about the business? Co-broker if you’re not comfortable with the business or your experience.
- Next, you must, must, must have a written listing agreement. Since the late Middle Ages, there has been a law called the Statute of Frauds that says certain contracts have to be in writing. Real estate contracts have to be in writing. Contracts which take more than a year to perform have to be in writing. So, if you want to sell a business, your listing agreement has to be in writing.
Don’t call me if you don’t have a listing agreement. I won’t have anything to work with.
Use the GABB form listing agreement. If not that, at least look at it to see if there is something you should add or change in the form you use.
The listing agreement must be in writing. If the seller is hesitant to sign, that is another strong sign that you may have a problem client. You should think long and hard about continuing your efforts for that client.
Also, if the client only wants to sign a listing agreement in the name of the company, and not individually as an owner, that is another strong indication that you have a problem client. Most of the business sales I have ever seen are really asset sales. The selling company still exists after the sale, but it has no assets. If you have a listing agreement only signed by a company with no assets, you have a problem.
- Once you think you know something about the potential client, one of the best things you can do to avoid problem clients is to ask for a modest upfront fee. I know you guys typically get paid your fee at closing, but you do all your work before closing. If a client is not willing to pay you a small fee up front, and you can call it a marketing fee or an administrative fee or a listing fee, that is a strong indication that the client is going to be a problem going forward.
It’s the same in my business. If someone is not interested in paying me a retainer, that is a red flag.
- Include a minimum fee in your listing agreement. I have had a number of cases where the listing agreement said the fee was a percentage of the consideration paid at closing. But what if there was no closing? Most of the cases in which I represent business brokers are cases in which there was no closing. The seller withdrew the business from the market or sabotaged the sale. If you don’t have a minimum fee listed, and there is no closing, the judge or arbitrator is going to have a difficult time awarding you any damages.
Judges and lawyers are familiar with contingency fees. If you don’t have a minimum fee provision in your listing agreement, it is going to look like a contingency fee agreement to the judge or arbitrator.
- Put a mandatory arbitration clause in your listing agreement. Arbitration is slow and expensive. Litigation is painfully slow and painfully expensive.
In arbitration, you get a lawyer to make the decision as to who wins and who loses. In litigation, 12 people off the street make that decision. A jury is a crazy way to make decisions. In my humble opinion, juries make sense in criminal cases. They are a check on the government. But in a business case, I don’t think they make any sense. If you have ever interviewed jurors after a case, you would hear the most random explanations for why they made the decisions they did. Your jury may think $20,000 is a lot of money to award you for a year’s worth of work. Speak with an arbitrator after he or she makes a decision, and you’ll get a thoughtful, reasoned decision, even if you don’t agree with it.
- If you have a signed listing agreement, I encourage you to communicate regularly with your client. In my experience, clients don’t really understand what you do to market their business. Either through ignorance or willful ignorance, some clients think all you do is show up at closing to get a check. To fight against that ignorance, I recommend that you send regular letters or emails to the client detailing what you have been doing. Don’t go 3 months without communicating with your client. Regular updates to your client will not only combat the notion that you are not working for the client, it will be great evidence at a trial or a hearing if you end up in a dispute with the client.
Document your disputes. Lawyers are always asking clients whether they have anything in writing to document a dispute. I find that many people think that the kind of writing that lawyers are looking for is only a document that says Contract at the top of the page and is signed and notarized. That is not the case at all.
What is a “writing?” It can be a letter, or email, or a check. And here’s your tip of the day, confirm your agreement in a writing even without client’s signature. Send your client an email, “Jim, thanks for meeting with me today. I appreciate your promise to get me those financial statements by Monday. I’ll contact the buyers today and tell them the financial statements are on the way. As we discussed, this is one of the things you promised in our engagement agreement and if we don’t get those financial statements we cannot market your business.”
There is an assumption in the law that the recipient of a communication will respond if he or she does not agree with the communication.
This kind of email will give the judge, jury, or arbitrator a date, time, and the precise terms of the communication. It is not a “he said, she said” matter.
That’s my 6 recommendations. Probably not worth thousands of dollars. Don’t be afraid to call me or another lawyer before your relationship with the client has totally fallen apart. A good lawyer will tell you the good and the bad of your situation. Most times there are things you can do to save the situation. With counsel, you can make a bad situation better. And even if things fall apart, and you want to litigate, having a lawyer involved earlier will probably help you prepare your case for litigation which will increase your chances for winning.
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Don’t Want to Get Sued? Come to GABB on Tuesday, Feb. 23
Lawrence Domenico
Lawrence Domenico is the kind of lawyer you hire when you litigate, or sue someone. And he’s represented a lot of Georgia business brokers in disputes over the years.
On Tuesday, Feb. 23, Larry will offer advice worth hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to members of the Georgia Association of Business Brokers and their guests. Namely, how NOT to need to hire Larry or someone like him. How to avoid legal disputes will be the topic of the GABB meeting on Feb. 23. The GABB, the state’s only professional association dedicating to buying and selling businesses and franchises, will meet at 10:30 a.m. at the South Terraces Conference Center, preceded at 9:45 a.m. by a free light breakfast and networking session. The South Terraces Conference Center is at 115 Perimeter Center Place, Atlanta, near Perimeter Mall. The meeting is open to the public at no charge.
Samantha Martin, SBA lending specialist with the Fifth Third Bank, is sponsoring the meeting.
Mr. Domenico is a managing partner of the law firm of Mozley, Finlayson & Loggins. He practices extensively in the areas of commercial and business litigation, products liability defense, and general litigation. Mr. Domenico also has extensive experience in assisting start up and existing businesses. In addition, Mr. Domenico has broad experience in alternate forms of dispute resolution including arbitration and mediation.
Mr. Domenico received a B.A., cum laude, from the University of the South in 1985. He attended the University of Georgia School of Law where he received a J.D., cum laude, in 1988. Mr. Domenico is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa honorary fraternities. He belongs to the Atlanta and American Bar Associations, the State Bar of Georgia, and the Defense Research Institute. Mr. Domenico is active in a number of civic organizations and is a member of the 1995 class of Leadership DeKalb and the Rotary Club of Dunwoody.
The Georgia Association of Business Brokers (GABB) maintains a website that lists hundreds of businesses and franchises for sale throughout Georgia in a variety of fields, including automotive, business services, child care, cleaning, construction, electronics equipment, fitness, flooring, floral, food, gas stations, landscaping, manufacturing, medical, shipping, restaurants, retail, security, signs, and businesses related to the internet.
According to GABB President Greg DeFoor, selling a business is a complicated process with multiple steps and a lot of moving pieces.
“Our broker members are licensed business brokers, whereas everyone in the industry may not be properly licensed,” said DeFoor, who owns DeFoor Business Services, Inc. “GABB members benefit from continuing education, networking, promotion of professionalism and ethics in the industry, research tools, and forms prepared by a team of attorneys specifically for our association.”
“We are the go-to organization for business sales and acquisitions as a result of our dedication to the profession and our members being among the best in the state at what we do,” said DeFoor. “Our members have represented probably over a thousand transactions, and we have a dedicated membership of business brokers, lenders, attorneys and other professionals to assist business buyers and sellers at every step of the process. We work behind the scenes and go mostly unnoticed, but we’re an integral part of Georgia’s business community.”
For more information about GABB, email georgiabusinessbrokers@gmail.com or call 404-374-3990.
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