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| September 26, 2026Loading content…
Talk it through.
Zolid AI can make mistakes.
Zolid AI can make mistakes.
The BizBuySell Guide to Buying a Small Business (2015 second edition, Ed Pendarvis) walks a buyer from choosing an existing business through search, SDE, financing, a written offer, due diligence, and closing. Businesses under $1 million in gross sales normally sell for 2 to 4 times seller's discretionary earnings, averaging 2.3 times. Pendarvis treats seller financing as the usual path for a Main Street purchase of about $300,000 to $400,000 when a bank will not make an acquisition loan.
Buyers of a U.S. Main Street business can follow the search-to-close sequence, apply the 10 to 20 percent SDE check, and write a seller-financed offer. Brokers and CPAs advising a first-time buyer can use the same recast, contingency, and closing steps.
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