Business Brokers in Fort Worth, TX

When It Makes Sense to Bring In a Broker

A broker earns their keep once a company does about $1 million or more a year. At that size, the gap between a well run sale and a rushed one is usually worth far more than the fee.

Owners tend to call for a handful of reasons: retirement, a partner who wants out, health, burnout, or an offer that showed up out of the blue and is hard to judge.

Not ready to sell yet? A valuation still helps. Knowing your number now gives you time to fix the weak spots before a buyer finds them.

Why Owners Don't Sell Alone

Selling on your own can work when the buyer is already at the table, like a key employee or a competitor down the road. Even then, owners often give up money on price, payment terms or how much is paid at closing.

Confidentiality is the other big reason. If word gets out that a company is for sale, employees start looking around and competitors start calling your customers. A broker keeps your name out of it until a buyer is screened.

Most of all, a broker brings more than one buyer. Competing offers are what move the price and the terms in your favor.

What Buyers Look For in a Fort Worth Business

Buyers pay for earnings they can count on. For smaller companies, brokers measure seller's discretionary earnings, or SDE. For larger ones they use EBITDA. The price is usually a multiple of one of those numbers.

Expect questions about add-backs too. These are personal or one-time costs run through the business, and adding them back shows a buyer what the company really earns.

The multiple climbs when revenue is steady, customers are spread out, the books are clean and the business runs without you on every call. It drops when one customer or one person holds everything together.

Fort Worth has no shortage of buyers. Individuals using SBA loans, local competitors who want to grow and private equity groups building regional platforms in the trades, logistics and healthcare all shop here.

What Business Brokers Charge

Most brokers are paid a success fee at closing, out of the sale proceeds. BizQuest puts the usual rate at about 10% for businesses selling for $1 million or less, with minimum fees of $10,000 to $25,000.

Bigger deals often use a sliding scale, where the percentage drops as the price goes up. Some firms also charge an upfront fee for valuation or marketing, so ask before you sign an engagement agreement.

How Long a Sale Takes

Many sales take six to twelve months from listing to closing. A realistic price, three years of clean financials and quick answers during due diligence all shorten that.

Have these ready before your first talk with a broker:

• Three years of profit and loss statements and tax returns
• A list of equipment, vehicles and other major assets
• Your lease and any key customer or supplier contracts
• A short list of personal or one-time expenses run through the business
• A rough idea of your timing and whether you'd stay on to help the new owner

A Texas Step to Plan For

Under Texas law, a buyer can end up owing the seller's unpaid state taxes, up to the purchase price, unless the Texas Comptroller confirms nothing is due. Buyers ask for a Certificate of No Tax Due before closing.

That request needs to go in early, because the Comptroller can take weeks to answer. A good broker builds it into the closing schedule so it never holds up your payday.

Serving Owners Across Fort Worth and Tarrant County

Fort Worth's economy runs on aerospace and defense, freight and logistics, healthcare and a building boom that hasn't let up. That mix produces exactly the kind of established companies buyers want.

We serve owners across Fort Worth and nearby cities, including Arlington, Southlake, Weatherford, Keller, Grapevine, Colleyville, Mansfield, North Richland Hills, Burleson and Benbrook.

Ready to find out what your business is worth? Request a free, confidential valuation with the form above, or call (817) 555-0142.