Athough I normally write about financing for existing businesses, I wanted to just provide some useful points here for anyone who is considering buying an existing business. Key point: Due Diligence.
I came across this thread where a woman says she is looking for “creative financing” to purchase an existing business. There are some great responses, including a lot of people who are skeptical if the new business is worth buying. It sounds like “Amy”(the prospective buyer) may not have done enough due diligence.
This prompted me to find some links on things to look out for when buying an existing business.
Here are two more articles which are from the UK – but which have good points:
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073861492
http://www.startinbusiness.co.uk/buyingbiz.htm
Or, if you want to purchase a 200 point Due Diligence checklist (I’ve never seen this so I can’t specifically recommend it) you could check out Diomo’s Due Diligence checklist.
Here is the thread which inspired this post on creative financing for puchasing a business.