Hi,
My name is Justin Murcia I am a NACHI member and master certified home inspector. I have owned and operated my home inspection business for 10 years. I am in the process of selling my business. I am located in Los Angeles, California. If anyone is interested, please feel free to contact me.
Thank you, Justin Murcia
818-263-5447
justin@inspectahome.net
Good luck, Justin.
It would help if you would list the assets included in the sale. 
Hi Guys,
Thank you for your input. I was not using this forum to advertise the business, but only to get the word out to see if anyone was interested. All the specifics about the sale of my business are on the “business for sale” websites that I am posted on. What would be included with the business is;
Website; domain name, website hosting acct.
business email, email hosting acct.
Clickcease acct.
Quickbooks acct.
P.O. box
All preexisting inspections/ reports, 2,800
Client list, 1,400 realtors
phone number
logo trademark
SCorp
Google adwords account
All SEO to date
Social media accts; facebook, twitter, linkedIn
Code books
Construction book library
Uniform shirts
Inspection tools
Computer/ printer/ ipad, misc office supplies, office furniture
If you or anyone that you know would be interested in purchasing the business please, feel free to contact me.
Thank you, Justin
Are you around to help/train the new owner, going to disappear never to contacted again, or open a competing business in the same market? Each option greatly impact the value. If it’s just you that you are selling and you are leaving there isn’t much value.
Hi Matt,
I will be around to train the new owner. I do not plan to open a new business in the same market. I had this conversation several times with many brokers. I do believe it drops the value when the inspector leaves the business, but I still think there is value there, such as; the website, client list, online accounts, SEO, Google Ads account, and more. I think it’s much more beneficial to buy an already established business as opposed to starting a business brand new.
Thank you for your input.
Justin
I concur, Justin. People spend good money on home inspection franchises for the reasons you listed. A franchise provides Professional Website, Online accounts, Developed Real Estate brokers links and more, but you invest in an initial upfront investment fee, tens of thousands, & pay a royalty fees if I am not mistaken.
Appears you established a good repour with real estate agents. That should be expressed to the prospective purchaser.
Again, good luck with your endeavors.
Regards.
Robert Young
Hi Justin, You’ve been trying to see this for 4 years.
Can we be honest and look at why no one’s buying?
The problem is, you have nothing to sell. All your website, social media, etc is all about YOU and why YOU are awesome.
And well, ok, you are awesome. Your credentials are super impressive!!!
But those all leave when you leave. The new owner doesn’t get to claim those credentials. All your credibility goes with you.
I could buy you out, but what would I get? Nothing but a phone number of people who would be disappointed you weren’t coming to their inspection.
And then your prices are super under market value. I can’t spend money to buy a business just to lower my price. I mean, no wonder you want to sell, you’re barely making a profit because you don’t charge enough. Even to a brand new person, that makes no sense to buy an established business that is set up to not be profitable.
A cleit list is fairly useless because most people don’t need a home inspection more than once every 7 years (with occasional exceptions). 1400 realtors, ok, but I can goto to the board and get several thousand names. A quick google search can land me 1400 names and email addresses of realtors.
But mostly, your established realtors aren’t going to care about a new owner when you don’t show up for the inspection. They’re loyal to you, not your business.
Accounts are just accounts. They don’t hold much value, because one has to pay for and/or maintain them. Starting a new account from scratch is easy.
Same with an S-Corp.
Your facebook has 67 followers and hasn’t been updated since 2017
Your LinkedIn has 8 followers. There is no value in that!
Your yelp page only has 29 5-star reviews.
You say you’ve been in business for 10 years, and have 2800 reports. So your average is less than a typical successful one-man shop of 300-400 inspections a year.
Your website isn’t even complete; your blog page is blank, your sample report page doesn’t have a sample report. It’s a very simple design.
For the money you’re asking, I’d rather just buy advertising to market my own business. I built my own business from scratch for less than your asking price.
Please read the book “Built to Sell” by John Warrillow.
Hi Ian,
I would disagree with most of what you said. I have not been trying to sell it for 4 years. I am just trying to sell it again, since 2017 my revenue has doubled. I’m not saying the business is worth a lot of money, but I think it is worth the amount that can be transferred to a new owner/ inspector. I think it’s all about how I structure the transition between myself and the buyer. It should be done in a way to retain most of the value. If that person is a home inspector and has good experience, and if I train with this person and introduce this person to my realtors, then we should be able to retain most of the value. The realtors may be disappointed I’m not there anymore, but they also want to complete their sale. They are going to see that you are a qualified inspector and they will just continue with you. I think today’s transactions happen very fast, with 3 - 7 day grace periods. I don’t think they are going to waste their time searching for a new inspector when they can just use you. As for my pricing, you are right it is very low considering my qualifications, but they are at the market price of all the other companies in the area. Yes, you can get a list of 1,400 realtors from Google but you will have to pay for that list or build the list yourself, which will take time. My client list is already established relationships, that’s different from a list on Google. In addition, those Google/ realtor lists are not always current or accurate. As for the online accounts, they are business pages that are connected to my individual page. So they can be separated from my name, and attached to the new owner’s page, and those pages can be built on to increase the social media presence. The website is extremely extensive with 18 pages, resources, and a cost estimation sheet. The sample report is accessible by clicking on the part that states “click here”. The sample report is by “Report host” I think they are a great report company, it’s very easy to use and understand. I have tried others and they are not as extensive as report host. My sample report has 133 deficiencies to show the typical deficiencies in each area/ trade. I think that’s good. You are right about the blog I set it up but never used it. I don’t think it’s worth the time. My clients mostly wanted the cost estimation sheet. They want to know the cost of the repairs needed. Yes, you can spend the money on marketing but SEO is a scam when you are trying to compete with major companies like yelp, home advisor, Zillow, and others. Or you can try Google ads/ pay per click, in which case the normal bid amount that used to be $8 - $12 is now $18 - $26 and I even saw one for $45, which is very expensive. Google is constantly changing the parameters to increase competition, increase exposure, and increase the bid amounts, which increases the number of wasted clicks/ wasted funds you get and equals less business. So things are changing. I guess it’s all about preferences and what you like and are familiar with. Yes, you can start a home inspection business for less than what I am selling for, but you won’t have an already established business with $128k in revenue. It will take that new business at least 4 years to get to that point. If that new business gets to that point sooner, then the owner was most likely taking on extreme risk, filtering out phone calls from dissatisfied clients, avoiding lawsuits, and paying money to remove negative reviews. I will say this, my 2021 revenue was $128k. The business is valued at around $95k - $110. There will be a percentage of business loss due to the transition of ownership which is why I listed it for $45k, just under 50% loss. It’s all about how the transition is handled and how much Google changes in the coming months/ years.
It is all in the details of how a solo owner passes the baton.
I had a plumber friend who bought a phone number (days of the yellow pages). His phone rang like mad at first, until the customer realized their plumber was no longer available. He converted a few, but in the end he determined it was a mistake. Maybe he was not a good plumber, good salesman or he over payed of the number.
My takeaway, it could work well under the correct circumstances. It certainly needs to be mutually beneficial. I hope you get back what you put in. Best of luck.
Just a bit of posting advice Justin. Paragraphs are very helpful in a post, a wall of text is not. It also helps in your explanation and doesn’t lead the reader astray, like I was. 2 sentences and I was out. Think about us “slow” readers…
That’s a big “if” and will likely work for awhile, or probably just for that 1st “who are you?” transaction.
Like it or not, you are the face of your business, and that’s why you’re successful as a one man shop.
Oh and I agree, one giant paragraph is hard to read…
No, no they’re not.
I price shop HI in the Los Angeles area all the time. You’re way, way below the market standard for the Los Angeles area.
My client list is already established relationships,
Right, but they’ve established to YOU and not your company. Those relationships go out the door with you.
Yes, you can start a home inspection business for less than what I am selling for, but you won’t have an already established business with $128k in revenue.
Except the new owner doesn’t get $128K in revenue. A HI business has no reoccurring revenue. Just relationships that go with you. If they market their rear end off, they might make $128K, but chances are, they won’t. They just have to hope when they answer the phone, no one’s disappointed you don’t answer.
Also, last year the RE Market was hot. This year, it’s not. To think anyone’s going to do in 2022 what they did in 2021 isn’t being all that realistic.
It will take that new business at least 4 years to get to that point.
I started at the mid-end of 2014. My 2017 revenue was $130K. And I was slow compared to many others I know.
My full 4th year was $155K.
The avg NACHI inspector that survives past year 3 is doing roughly 300-400 inspections in their 4th year, at roughly $450 avg ticket fee = $135K - $180 in gross revenue.
And with the avg Los Angeles area inspection closer to $500, those numbers should be a tad higher for our area.
Hi Ian,
Again. I would disagree, that’s your opinion.
Are you interested in buying the business?
I am willing to negotiate.
Thank you, Justin
Pages of discussion and this is the crux of the matter (as I said in my post a week ago). An inspection company will always be worth the most if the greatest amount of clients/agents, etc. will come a long with it. Seller should be VERY clear about how the transition would take place. Seller MUST be willing to facilitate the transition and “sell” the new buyer to the existing clients. Databases, client lists, phone numbers and websites aren’t really worth much unless the new owner can monetize them. It’s kind of a funny thing because to many/most there is no value but to the right person there is a ton of value. The trick is finding that person.
I went to work for a multi-inspector company in 2000, bought out the owner in 2003 and have been running it since then. I’m now in a position where I live 2500 miles away from that business but regularly travel to work and oversee it. I’m working with some employees to buy me out but am in no hurry as these things take time and can fall apart at the last minute. “Cold Calling” the internet never occurred to me due to the very reasons you are struggling to find a buyer: Your business has no value to a stranger. Your best bet would be to locate and take on an employee or two, work with them for a bit, and transition the business to them slowly.
That is exactly how to build a company to sell. Totally agree.