May 27, 2008

Small Businesses on DiscountBy Elizabeth OlsonNYTimes.com

To all the usual reasons that small businesses are put up for sale — personal problems and personnel squabbles among them — add economic woes this year. But even as for-sale listings rise around the country, so is buyer interest.

“When economic times get tough and people can’t find a job, they will go out and buy a job,” said Ronald W. Hottes, president of the Business Team, a broker in Torrance, Calif.

The problem, though, for owners seeking to sell their businesses is that prices appear to be softening — a reflection of a variety of causes, among them tighter credit markets, rising costs and fewer customers.

The country’s largest listing site, bizbuysell.com, has 50,000 businesses for sale — up from 43,000 this time last year, said Michael K. Handelsman, the site’s general manager. The number of businesses being sold also rose, to 1,795 listings that closed in the first quarter of this year, a 66 percent increase from 1,081 sales in the same quarter of 2007.

In Gaithersburg, Md., mill3nnium.com reported that businesses for sale on its site had surged in the last year. The site focuses on the metropolitan Washington area, and one reason for the surge was a decline in customers. Those businesses included delis, dry cleaners, dollar stores and gas stations.

“We have 80 to 100 listings, double the number we had last year,” said the site’s owner, Moses A. Zuniga. “Every business is hurting.”

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