Securing the Sale on Your Real Estate Firm

By Gail Snyder, Real Estate Business Magazine, April/May 2007

Preparation is Key

Are you the broker/owner of a real estate firm with dreams of selling your business and/or retiring? Even if you aren't planning on doing either for years, you should be running your business as though you were doing so tomorrow, according to Drexanne Evers, ABR, ABRM, CRB, a nationally recognized expert on real estate topics who specializes in determining the value of real estate brokerage firms. "I feel that every brokerage owner should groom his or her company for a sale at all times even if they never plan to sell," Evers says. "It's the best thing they can do for their companies."

Evers should know. She's been in the real estate business in a variety of capacities for 34 years, including 15 years as a Master Instructor with the Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers (CRB Council). As an instructor, she was often bombarded with questions during and after class from her students, inspiring the establishment of her consulting company — Drexanne Evers International — which provides financial analysis and operations evaluation to real estate brokerage firms. Evers points out that the essential reason broker/owners should operate as though their businesses will soon be on the market is not only to find out how much their companies are worth, but to discover and correct any problems that may be limiting profits.