However this will change in October for all commercial properties when all commercial properties will need an Energy Performance Certificate.

If you are thinking about selling your business our advice is to put your business on the market now. Firstly because we are approaching the time when most businesses are sold, and secondly because if you wait you will need to spend hundred of pounds in a few months time.

Another reason to place your business on the market now is to get a lead on other business owners who might have the same idea in August and September 2008.

If you want to discuss putting your business on the market in the East Anglia, Essex or London area simply give us a call Horizon Business Agents

Nationwide Building Society for example do not seem to know what a bank reference/bank status report is, they simply do not provide one in the format required.

So what does this mean to buyers of businesses?

When you buy a leasehold business in the uk, you need to provide a bank reference to the landlord.

Basically if you have been banking with these building societies as your main bank you may have problems providing a bank reference suitable for submission to a prospective landlord. it may therefore affect your ability to buy a business.

Perhaps therefore if you want to buy a business you should be looking at your choice of bank to use.

And if you choose the right franchise opportunity statistics show that you have a much greater chance of making money with only 7% failing according to a Nat West Franchise survey.

Compare this to a 50% failure rate in new businesses in the first few years of trading.

The franchise industry is worth in excess of £10 billion to the national economy and employs over 370,000 people.

Franchise re-sales because they are invariably part of an established brand with a track record are THE most risk free business opportunity a buyer can choose, not only do they have the support of a larger business but also the hard work has already been done in establishing the branch.

So perhaps buyers should look more favourably on franchise re-sales.

Basically, if you are selling a business then all you are concerned with is the net proceeds you will receive after all fees and taxes. Solicitors fees, Agents fees etc.

If you sell a business and do so after 6 April 2008 you may pay more tax, meaning that your net proceeds will be lower due to the fact that taper relief is being abolished.

Our advice is, if you are thinking about selling your business in the next few months then put your business on the market now if you are expecting to sell it at a price higher than your purchase price. You could save 8% in tax.

Alternatively, your business could already be on the market perhaps with another agent or at a higher price. Maybe you should think about reducing the asking price this will improve your chances of selling without affecting the net proceeds from the sale.

The value of residential property will fall in the short term however the value of businesses are not falling.

The value of a business is based upon the ongoing profits of that business and this value has not changed in the last decade at between 1 and 2.5 times profits.

True some businesses may have reduced profits during this time, but there are plenty that are doing very well.

Even if the business is located within commercial freehold premises the value of these premises will not fall if residential property prices fall. Why? Because the value of the premises in the area are often linked to long term rental agreements. So the return on investment for investors is set for the forseeable future.

So if you have spare money to invest, perhaps now is the time to invest in businesses and commercial property investments rather than residential property.

So if you have an 8 bedroom property that you have been using as a Guest House, if you went to an estate agent and tried to sell it as a residential property you would need a HIP.  If you went to a Business Transfer Agent, (and why wouldn’t you as you are selling a business) you wouldn’t need a HIP.

The same applies if you wanted to sell a village shop with a four bedroom house attached, you still would not need a HIP. 

Perhaps you should consider buying a business rather than buying a property.

The price of a business is not based upon comparative residential property prices so if there is a property crash then the value of your business will not fall.  It is based on the profitability of that business.  There are many businesses that are recession proof such as bicycle shops for example. 

Indeed commercial property prices do not change quickly because often business owners have signed long leases and the returns are constant. 

So instead of investing in residential property perhaps now is the time to increase your business portfolio instead. 

The answer is not a detailed knowledge of business values, or to know how to run a business, these although importnat can be learned.

The most important thing to a buyer is to search for businesses which you can afford.

I answer buyers questions on the businesses for sale buyers forum at www.businessesforsale.com.  Direct link http://tinyurl.com/ypq9lq. 

On this forum are so many potential “business buyers” who spend time enquiring about businesses which they actually do not have the money to buy.

Perhaps they think that a bank will lend them all of the money, but the fact is that for a leasehold business you need all of the money in some format or another.  So if a business is advertised at £50,000 plus stock of £15,000 you would perhaps need c. £70,000 to buy that business in one format or another.

So the most important thing a buyer needs to know is how much money is actually has, and whether he can afford to buy a business in the first place.

Knowing this will save him (and sellers) a considerable about of energy and time.

I have valued numerous small businesses and met with a large amount of small business owners who are in this position, and basically because it doesn’t cost anything less to sell a small business as it does to sell a larger one, the conclusion from the owner was that he could not afford our services.

Vandervells have however now developed a service aimed at these business owners which is not a full service but aims to help the business owner sell his business himself and only costs a proportion of the full fee.

For more information visit the Vandervells website at www.vandervells.com

What if you don’t have a recommendation, how do you know which agent to choose.

It’s a difficult one, however it isn’t necessarily the right choice to use the largest Business Transfer Agent in the country.  Why?

Firstly if an agency lists 7,000 businesses how much time are they actually devoting to selling your business.  Do the maths.  They will pick up your file together with the files of 35 other businesses on on 6 March 2007 (a total of 15 minutes in a year), assuming they work though all their clients and give equal time to all clients, it will be a year before they devote another 15 minutes to selling your business. 

But you say they have become the largest so they must sell businesses.  Perhaps they sell a few but as a percentage it will be very small perhaps 1 - 2%.

So how do they get the money to continue trading?  The truth is that they spend all their resources not on selling your business but on obtaining new instructions.  Their listers are instructed to obtain £1,000+ in upfront fees for every business they gain the instruction. 

And the punchline is that their listers get paid a large percentage of this £1,000 which goes straight into their pockets rather than into selling your business.  The rest into supplying glossy marketing material.

How do they pursuade business owners to part with this money?  Well they over value your business, and tell you that your business is worth twice as much as is really is, and of course they are the largest business transfer agent in the country so they know what they are talking about don’t they.

They know how to grow their business at the expense of their customers that’s all.

Who am I talking about?  Just look at Dalton’s Weekly magazine and you will know.

DO NOT BE FOOLED!