Before you read the rest, keep in mind that unlike my lawyer friends, we do not charge by the hour and are only paid once a sale settles. In the life of a business broker, there are more ups and downs than on a roller coaster. Several negotiations don’t come to fruition. Buyers and even sellers change their minds even after long negotiations. I once had a three months’ long negotiation ending with an agreement by both happy parties to be terminated by the seller changing her mind and deciding to take the business off the market on the day we were to sign the contract. I’ve had buyers change their mind on settlement day, even though they we’re losing their deposit. So many things can change the landscape of the process of selling a business. Every business sale is different from another. But I believe the worst thing is a crashed contract that appeared to be completely on track. I just had a $1,000,000+ contract crash and unfortunately, there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it, believe me, I tried all my magic. What’s even worse, for reasons that I won’t go into here, a deposit was not paid. I guess as the old saying goes; It’s not over until the fat lady sings.
Crashed Contract: It’s not over until the fat lady sings
