This is common. No you can't do your due diligence before you make an offer.For clarification, I'm talking about small business here (under $500,000 asking price).Let's say a restaurant for sale for $150,000.Why would/wouldn't someone show you the financials before you've even made an offer? Don't get me wrong, some will, but generally Sellers will require an NDA at the very least before releasing their information to you.What they are avoiding is showing the numbers to a random civilian who then makes a lowball offer that swiftly gets declined.Queue the most common response - "Well how can they expect me to make an offer without knowing what they make?!"Easy! Pick a number that you're comfortable with and ask your agent to submit it. Maybe they accept it, maybe they counter it, maybe they decline it.Once your offer is accepted, you then typically have three weeks to do your due diligence. If your accountant reviews the numbers and they're less than you expected - adjust your offer. Or walk away.Either way you're not bound to complete as the offer failed to pass due diligence.
Another thing to consider is that a fully vented restaurant with a commercial kitchen will sell for $125-150,000 across BC and Alberta WITHOUT SALES. You read that right. It will cost you easily $350-400,000 to build it new, so everyone knows that a used one will sell for $125-150k. What are you buying? Time savings for one. Vancouver is currently running a NINE MONTH WAIT FOR PERMITS.You're paying rent while you wait. Then your architect or engineer needs to get paid. Then you start construction.Up to you...but you're NOT going to get that restaurant for $50,000 even if the Seller hadn't sold a dollar worth of food.
