Is anything ever easy for a business broker?

Another contract signed for a manufacturing business. OMG what a roller coaster of a ride for me and the seller of the business. It started a few weeks ago, when I had an inquiry. After having a Confidentiality Agreement signed and qualifying the potential buyer, I organised an inspection and a meeting with the owner. The meeting went well and the buyer wanted to make an offer but insisted on a quick settlement, a matter of weeks. The seller felt pushed but reluctantly accepted. The negotiations started and went almost non stop from Friday 7:30am to 9:30pm and then again from 9:00am to 3:30pm on Saturday. The seller just couldn’t believe all of the conditions the buyer was introducing as we were negotiating.

The seller wanted to just give up and honestly I didn’t blame her, but I managed to convince her to keep going and eventually at 3:30pm we had a deal that both parties agreed to, an unconditional contract. The buyer wanted the contract ready to sign on Monday as he was pushing for a very quick settlement. With the fantastic assistance of our incredible contracts manager Jodie-Lee Phillips the contract was ready before lunch. That’s when it all started again, every day, sometimes several times a day, the buyer would raise questions, would request more information, appearing to just delay the signing of the contract. This continued every day. The seller became increasingly frustrated. Ten days after the contract was meant to be signed, I was contacted by another potential buyer, who I had been talking to a few weeks earlier and thought was very genuine, but seemed to have just dropped off the face of the earth.

Unfortunately she had a death in the family. I told her that we were meant to have a contract signed, but the buyer was dragging his feet. As I always do, I told her that until we actually have a settlement, the business is still for sale, but once the other buyer signed the contract, the only way for her to buy the business was if settlement did not occur. She was very interested, I organised a meeting with the seller the next morning. The new buyer, wanted to make an offer, I recommended that if she wanted it accepted, she should make it the best she could, as I had no intention of turning this into an auction. She made an offer which was acceptable, but she wanted another discussion with the seller. Two weeks after the original contract was meant to be signed, it still wasn’t. I really tried to convince the buyer to sign the contract every day, but he just came up with excuses and a different question. Anyway the good news is, I now have a new unconditional contract signed by the new buyer within three days after the inspection of the business. We now have an ecstatic seller, an extremely pleased buyer and one very disappointed buyer who couldn’t stop dragging his feet. What do they say “You snooze, you lose”?