School owners decide to sell their schools for several different reasons. They might have health concerns that no longer allow them to properly run the school. Some might be getting close to the age of retirement or just feel burnt out. Regardless of the reason, you will need an expert that understands how to sell your school. Gateway School Sales’ proven track record of successful transactions will allow you to reap the financial reward and enter into the next phase of your life right.
Gateway School Sales will assist you with determining a value for your school, establishing an asking price, developing a marketing package specifically for your school, identifying buyers with an expansive buyers list, facilitating negotiations, and most importantly closing the deal. This allows you to continue to focus on your school and not be distracted trying to sell it.
There are 7 steps in selling your school:
1. The first step is to determine a fair market value of the school. The school will need to be sold at a fair price so the next owner will be able to make a living and have a return on their investment.
2. We will develop a marketing package called a Confidential Business Review (CBR) that will provide an overview of the school including the school’s historical performance, photos of the school, identify growth opportunities, and equipment list.
3. After we have completed the CBR we will start marketing the school to potential buyers in a confidential manner. Our database is filled with potential buyers that have all expressed interest in buying a school. Our buyers have been vetted to make sure transactions go as smoothly as possible. Our buyers are made up of individuals looking to purchase their first school to corporations looking to expand and purchase additional schools. Ideally, we will have several buyers express interest in your school. We will give them a confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement and then present them the full CBR.
4. After the interested buyers review the CBR package and still remain interested they will want to see your school and meet you before they maker an offer to purchase. We will normally try and schedule this meeting when the school is closed to uphold the confidentiality of the transaction. This meeting allows both parties to meet each other and get an idea if they would like to continue with the process.
5. If all goes well, we will then work with the buyer to make an offer for your school. Offers can differ in structure. Some can be all cash while others may have financing involved. If there are multiple offers you can negotiate the offer and choose the one that is best for you.
6. After the negotiation process a verification process known as Due Diligence will begin. The buyer will ask for back up documents like tax returns, supplier invoices, bank statements, and other items. During this period the buyer will also be working to get bank financing, licenses, permits, insurance, and other items that are needed for the purchase and to run the school. At the end of all of this we will then work with the closing company, title company, CPAs and attorneys to draft the closing documents to smoothly transition the school to the new owner.
7. After all of the closing documents have been signed the transition to the new owner begins. There usually is a training period where you will show how the new owner how to manage and run your school. This normally lasts a couple of weeks with some phone support if need afterwards.