I've been looking at this auto repair shop about 20 minutes from my house. Shop owner is older around late 60s maybe and in the business since 2001.
There's no broker, i found him through a friend whose dad has been taking his cars there for years. Good guy from what I can tell, not pushy or anything.
Here's the thing though. 2023 and 2024 tax returns both show revenue around $155k to $160k. Net income is basically zero after expenses. I asked him about it and he pulls out this handwritten spiral notebook from his desk drawer and goes "this is what I actually do."
According to the notebook he's doing $45k a month. he says lot of his regulars pay in cash and he doesn't always run it through properly. in 2025 he has nothing official, he just says trust me it was a good year and since i met him i could tell he is genuine.
Also i drove by twice just to check at different times and lot was packed both times. So that's another proof that he might not be lying.
But if he is not lying about revenue then he's basically underreporting to the IRS and he is saying it completely casually. He's asking $465k and i have about $42k saved up. I need to finance this purchase through SBA Loan.
What should i do here? My wife thinks I should just walk away but i keep going back and forth because i feel like business has decent cashflow and revenue. Has anyone dealt with this and actually found a way to verify the real numbers or do I just move on.