The rate at which small and mid-sized California businesses sold last month reached a 22-month high, with 1,444 completed deals. Chief among the reasons for booming sales is improved availability of money needed for purchases, and growing buyer confidence that the economy is healthier.
March 2011 volume exceeded the figure recorded the previous March by 24%, and was ahead of February 2011 sales totals by 21%.
Most of the major metropolitan areas shared in the increase. Los Angeles County recorded 446 completed deals, up nearly 46% from the 306 transactions in March 2010. The Orange County increase to 135 closed escrows last month represents nearly 22% growth from the 111 tally of the previous March. San Francisco sales more than doubled in March 2011 to 70 transactions from only 22 sales recorded the prior March.
Another important factor in the upward trend, after a very disappointing drop in activity during 2010, is the resourcefulness of California’s entrepreneurs, learning to adapt to new realities in the market. Sellers are learning to get their businesses pre-qualified for SBA lending programs before putting their companies on the market. And they’re becoming more flexible about carrying back part of the purchase price for qualified buyers.
And purchasers who've been successful in completing deals on businesses they want to acquire are becoming much smarter about getting the funds they need. The typical loan application now includes a detailed business plan to show the lender how the borrower/buyer expects to operate the business profitably and generate revenue to repay the loan.
The March sales totals, by county, listed on the BizBen.com Index, at
http://www.bizben.com/stats/stats-monthly-mar.php are as follows:
Alameda: 69, Amador: 1, Butte: 1, Contra Costa: 29, El Dorado: 3, Fresno: 26, Humboldt: 1, Imperial: 1, Kern: 28, Lake: 1, Lassen: 1, Los Angeles: 446, Madera: 4, Marin: 10, Mendocino: 3, Merced: 14, Monterey: 16, Napa: 3, Nevada: 3, Orange: 135, Placer: 11, Riverside: 72, Sacramento: 44, San Benito: 1, San Bernardino: 51, San Diego: 126, San Francisco: 70, San Joaquin: 20, San Luis Obispo: 17, San Mateo: 29, Santa Barbara: 20, Santa Clara: 77, Santa Cruz: 7, Shasta: 5, Solano: 15, Sonoma: 10, Stanislaus: 10, Sutter: 1, Tulare: 15, Tuolumne: 3, Ventura: 41, Yolo: 4
This information is provided by the BizBen.com Index, which for the past 15 years, has collected California small businesses for sale statistical data.
Posted on April 11, 2011 | 
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