Best businesses to buy; best to start

[premfan]

Premfan's idea 2 but slightly different worked for my friend. He started buying in 2009 in Arizona and got 100% bank financing from banks who were suffering from receiver's high billings. His cost was half his competitors across the street so his rates are permanently better. A few simple changes like  paint and furniture and 20 shady canopy parking spots resulted in the value tripling. The bank soon sold a second nearby and now he is building a third.

 

Did your friend use the patel employee arbitrage system?( This isn't copyrighted... yet.).  Buy hotel and fire all staff members. Replace staff with family members or friends from India.  Creating a win/win.  The employees make more money here in the U.S. vs India. Plus with hard work maybe in the future one of the patels can finance them a hotel of there own. The hotel owner now has a sustainable competitive advantage with the lowest cost of labor. That is the key element of the Patel hotel empire.  Many new families to the US from Pakistan and etc are copying this blueprint.

[DCG]

Premfan's idea 2 but slightly different worked for my friend. He started buying in 2009 in Arizona and got 100% bank financing from banks who were suffering from receiver's high billings. His cost was half his competitors across the street so his rates are permanently better. A few simple changes like  paint and furniture and 20 shady canopy parking spots resulted in the value tripling. The bank soon sold a second nearby and now he is building a third.

 

Did your friend use the patel employee arbitrage system?( This isn't copyrighted... yet.).  Buy hotel and fire all staff members. Replace staff with family members or friends from India.  Creating a win/win.  The employees make more money here in the U.S. vs India. Plus with hard work maybe in the future one of the patels can finance them a hotel of there own. The hotel owner now has a sustainable competitive advantage with the lowest cost of labor. That is the key element of the Patel hotel empire.  Many new families to the US from Pakistan and etc are copying this blueprint.

 

 

Interesting..How many hotels do you have?

[premfan]

Premfan's idea 2 but slightly different worked for my friend. He started buying in 2009 in Arizona and got 100% bank financing from banks who were suffering from receiver's high billings. His cost was half his competitors across the street so his rates are permanently better. A few simple changes like  paint and furniture and 20 shady canopy parking spots resulted in the value tripling. The bank soon sold a second nearby and now he is building a third.

 

Did your friend use the patel employee arbitrage system?( This isn't copyrighted... yet.).  Buy hotel and fire all staff members. Replace staff with family members or friends from India.  Creating a win/win.  The employees make more money here in the U.S. vs India. Plus with hard work maybe in the future one of the patels can finance them a hotel of there own. The hotel owner now has a sustainable competitive advantage with the lowest cost of labor. That is the key element of the Patel hotel empire.  Many new families to the US from Pakistan and etc are copying this blueprint.

 

 

Interesting..How many hotels do you have?

 

One. Operating for a bit under a year. Did some due diligence and befriended a patel around my area. He gave me the lowdown on there operations. I'm in awe of there family cooperation and humility. To make there system work there is no pride and ego involved. Patel's will eventually rule the world. There arbitrage system is pure genius and many families have too much pride for it to work.

 

P.S.

 

Don't buy an asset from a Patel. They are masters and you will not create a competitive advantage. The cow has been milked.

[turar]

Premfan's idea 2 but slightly different worked for my friend. He started buying in 2009 in Arizona and got 100% bank financing from banks who were suffering from receiver's high billings. His cost was half his competitors across the street so his rates are permanently better. A few simple changes like  paint and furniture and 20 shady canopy parking spots resulted in the value tripling. The bank soon sold a second nearby and now he is building a third.

 

Did your friend use the patel employee arbitrage system?( This isn't copyrighted... yet.).  Buy hotel and fire all staff members. Replace staff with family members or friends from India.  Creating a win/win.  The employees make more money here in the U.S. vs India. Plus with hard work maybe in the future one of the patels can finance them a hotel of there own. The hotel owner now has a sustainable competitive advantage with the lowest cost of labor. That is the key element of the Patel hotel empire.  Many new families to the US from Pakistan and etc are copying this blueprint.

 

There's actually a fantastic article about this. Oldie, but goodie: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=patel+motel+cartel&safe=off  (first link in search results)

[Aberhound]

 

Did your friend use the patel employee arbitrage system?( This isn't copyrighted... yet.).  Buy hotel and fire all staff members. Replace staff with family members or friends from India.  Creating a win/win.  The employees make more money here in the U.S. vs India. Plus with hard work maybe in the future one of the patels can finance them a hotel of there own. The hotel owner now has a sustainable competitive advantage with the lowest cost of labor. That is the key element of the Patel hotel empire.  Many new families to the US from Pakistan and etc are copying this blueprint.

He brought in a Sikh manager (female) he had used previously and used a combination of existing and new staff. He said the key is finding a manager you can trust. I will mention the Patel method to him which he uses without knowing the name by hiring Sikh architects, builders etc..

[dolce far niente]

Business Ideas:

2.) Take busted independent hotel. Turn it into a respectable representation of a lower economy brand hotel ( we have done this ). Watch revenues increase 2-3.5x due to being in the franchisors reservation system. The operating leverage is beautiful.

 

4.)  Downtown busted commercial property. Fix and rent out.

 

Mindset= Don't buy pretty things. Find garbage in great location.  Turn garbage into something respectable. This is the way of high returns in the private world.

If garbage is not cheap, commit to a franchise business. Knowing that one franchise unit is not enough.  You need at least three franchise cash machines to start making some respectable money.

 

Thank you for the insight premfan. That hotel's investment is easily retuning your equity capital every year.

Congrats!

[giofranchi]

Business Ideas:

2.) Take busted independent hotel. Turn it into a respectable representation of a lower economy brand hotel ( we have done this ). Watch revenues increase 2-3.5x due to being in the franchisors reservation system. The operating leverage is beautiful.

 

4.)  Downtown busted commercial property. Fix and rent out.

 

Mindset= Don't buy pretty things. Find garbage in great location.  Turn garbage into something respectable. This is the way of high returns in the private world.

If garbage is not cheap, commit to a franchise business. Knowing that one franchise unit is not enough.  You need at least three franchise cash machines to start making some respectable money.

 

Thank you for the insight premfan. That hotel's investment is easily retuning your equity capital every year.

Congrats!

 

Hey! If this is really the best you can find in the private world… then I must acknowledge how incredibly lucky I have been until now ;D… and also that I am going to encounter great difficulties when the need to add a third business will present itself! ::)

 

Gio

 

[Valuebo]

Some good posts here, thanks.

 

The average person is likely best to find a trade he can do very well and expand it as he starts to become unable to handle it all himself. You can be an engineer like Gio, a plumber, electrician, programmer, lawyer, ... Work hard and build something.

 

There is a reason you don't see automated vending machines on every street corner. Margins are thin, insurance, stocking, money transport, ... The same is true for a lot of other businesses. Definitely not an easy way to get rich and with lots of risks.

If you plan to be "really" entrepreneurial with an original idea, chances are much higher that you will fail than in you focus on building your trade and being the best that you can be. And if you do choose to go the more entrepreneurial route, learn and steal from the best. Take something that exists and make it better.

[oddballstocks]

Some good posts here, thanks.

 

The average person is likely best to find a trade he can do very well and expand it as he starts to become unable to handle it all himself. You can be an engineer like Gio, a plumber, electrician, programmer, lawyer, ... Work hard and build something.

 

There is a reason you don't see automated vending machines on every street corner. Margins are thin, insurance, stocking, money transport, ... The same is true for a lot of other businesses. Definitely not an easy way to get rich and with lots of risks.

If you plan to be "really" entrepreneurial with an original idea, chances are much higher that you will fail than in you focus on building your trade and being the best that you can be. And if you do choose to go the more entrepreneurial route, learn and steal from the best. Take something that exists and make it better.

 

I agree with this.  Buying a business is difficult.  Most businesses that individuals without significant financial backing can buy are low margin companies that are difficult to scale.  A small established business might cost a few hundred thousand for an outside investor to purchase.

 

What I wonder is how many individuals are really buying small private companies?  Most of the people I've known or met who own their own companies start from scratch.  This is because they wanted to be their own boss and had a skill but had almost no capital.  Most small companies start out in a scrappy way flying on a shoestring.

 

Buying a business outright requires a significantly higher level of capital than what most people have access to.  Even if a hotel were to be available at $500k that's out of reach for most individuals.

 

What happens is you get people who are either older and saved and are established looking to buy these companies, or younger people with family money.  Everyone else is going to have to start from zero unfortunately.

 

The best advice I can offer on this is look at your own skill set and find a niche.  I believe Gio runs an engineering consulting firm.  Consulting is a great way to get into business.  You can bill people out hourly and cover their cost.  Projects are easier to find, but the business isn't that scalable.  What consulting companies need to do is look for commonalities across clients and develop a product to solve the problem.  Then the transition from a consulting to product company can take place.  This entire process can be funded by consulting.  Consulting is easier to sell.  If you have a product it's hard to find and sell potential customers.  If you're consulting in something you already have experience with I'm guessing you already know people who would consider hiring you on a project or consulting basis.  You go from there, get yourself in the door and as demand grows add people and build up and out.

 

I think I recommended the book The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses on this thread.  The author spends a lot of time discussing why most entrepreneurs go into low margin companies with low barriers to start.  These are the companies mentioned in this thread, hotels, vending, plumbing etc.  He then discusses why these companies can't scale and while they will provide a great living for the owner they won't become big companies.  One other thing the author talks about extensively is that most startups have no original ideas.  They are doing exactly as tombgrt says, they take an existing idea and make it different or better.

 

A lot of people talk about buying a company that's on auto-pilot or that can run itself.  I have yet to see a company like that.  If you buy a company prepare to immerse yourself in the company.  If you want to own a company hands-off just buy public stocks.

 

One last thought.  The person posting about the hotels and garbage assets above is unusual.  Most private transactions happen at or around fair value.  The purchaser brings their ideas and expertise that they hope will enable them to grow the business above what it is currently.  If you bring no ideas or operational efficiencies then you will be getting whatever return the business is doing.

[premfan]

Some good posts here, thanks.

 

The average person is likely best to find a trade he can do very well and expand it as he starts to become unable to handle it all himself. You can be an engineer like Gio, a plumber, electrician, programmer, lawyer, ... Work hard and build something.

 

There is a reason you don't see automated vending machines on every street corner. Margins are thin, insurance, stocking, money transport, ... The same is true for a lot of other businesses. Definitely not an easy way to get rich and with lots of risks.

If you plan to be "really" entrepreneurial with an original idea, chances are much higher that you will fail than in you focus on building your trade and being the best that you can be. And if you do choose to go the more entrepreneurial route, learn and steal from the best. Take something that exists and make it better.

 

I agree with this.  Buying a business is difficult.  Most businesses that individuals without significant financial backing can buy are low margin companies that are difficult to scale.  A small established business might cost a few hundred thousand for an outside investor to purchase.

 

What I wonder is how many individuals are really buying small private companies?  Most of the people I've known or met who own their own companies start from scratch.  This is because they wanted to be their own boss and had a skill but had almost no capital.  Most small companies start out in a scrappy way flying on a shoestring.

 

Buying a business outright requires a significantly higher level of capital than what most people have access to.  Even if a hotel were to be available at $500k that's out of reach for most individuals.

 

What happens is you get people who are either older and saved and are established looking to buy these companies, or younger people with family money.  Everyone else is going to have to start from zero unfortunately.

 

The best advice I can offer on this is look at your own skill set and find a niche.  I believe Gio runs an engineering consulting firm.  Consulting is a great way to get into business.  You can bill people out hourly and cover their cost.  Projects are easier to find, but the business isn't that scalable.  What consulting companies need to do is look for commonalities across clients and develop a product to solve the problem.  Then the transition from a consulting to product company can take place.  This entire process can be funded by consulting.  Consulting is easier to sell.  If you have a product it's hard to find and sell potential customers.  If you're consulting in something you already have experience with I'm guessing you already know people who would consider hiring you on a project or consulting basis.  You go from there, get yourself in the door and as demand grows add people and build up and out.

 

I think I recommended the book The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses on this thread.  The author spends a lot of time discussing why most entrepreneurs go into low margin companies with low barriers to start.  These are the companies mentioned in this thread, hotels, vending, plumbing etc.  He then discusses why these companies can't scale and while they will provide a great living for the owner they won't become big companies.  One other thing the author talks about extensively is that most startups have no original ideas.  They are doing exactly as tombgrt says, they take an existing idea and make it different or better.

 

A lot of people talk about buying a company that's on auto-pilot or that can run itself.  I have yet to see a company like that.  If you buy a company prepare to immerse yourself in the company.  If you want to own a company hands-off just buy public stocks.

 

One last thought.  The person posting about the hotels and garbage assets above is unusual.  Most private transactions happen at or around fair value.  The purchaser brings their ideas and expertise that they hope will enable them to grow the business above what it is currently.  If you bring no ideas or operational efficiencies then you will be getting whatever return the business is doing.

 

Oddball,

 

Your post's are well written and insightful. Easily, one of the top six posters on the board. Regarding the last paragraph.  Being unusual is good in business! Case study:

 

Busted downtown building with 30 commercial office units available. 17 units are rented and 13 units need to be remodeled and are currently non-operational.  The building is priced via the cap rate method.  You do due diligence and talk to contractors you get a rough estimate of the total budget to fix the building. Details so far:

 

- Central downtown property in gas producing state. Long trend economics of the state look solid

- Building is priced below replacement cost. Building is at fair price according to the current cap rate

- Current office rents slightly below market rent.

 

Deal looks good right?  There is pricing power once the building gets completely remodeled. Also unit growth via turning the non-operational units into operational units. These type of "distressed" properties are commonly priced below replacement cost. The reason most people wouldn't do this deal is :

 

- To remodel the property will have to take cash  from other business to finance this project.

- Start to finish this process will take 6 months-2 years.

- The unwillingness to not make a return from day 1.

 

Quality comes at a fair price. I can either buy my high quality green juice smoothie via jamba juice or invest in a blender.  The case study above is like investing in a blender. More work, more vision, and more fun. Its a beautiful thing to see garbage turned into something respectable. Vision is needed.

[giofranchi]

I believe Gio runs an engineering consulting firm. 

 

Yes. But also a for-profit Master School inside the Politecnico of Milan University. That is not consulting, and it is where the bulk of my free cash is coming from these days.

 

Of course, that business is not on auto-pilot… far from it! And I constantly take decisions and oversee its operations. But one thing is taking decisions and overseeing, another is (like I have already said) talking on the phone or sending e-mails all day long! Or whichever operation is required.

 

Those are two very different things. And, if you are not free from performing yourself all the operations necessary to run a business, the truth is you don’t have a business, you have a job! This is an idea you find in [amazonsearch]The E-Myth Revisited[/amazonsearch], and I agree.

 

My experience furthermore is perfectly in line: if in my daily business life, I had to take care of all the operations myself, I wouldn’t be able to put together a portfolio of stocks… nor (obviously!) to post 3266 times on this board!! ;D

 

I take decisions and oversee, then I delegate.

 

Gio

 

[premfan]

Business Ideas:

2.) Take busted independent hotel. Turn it into a respectable representation of a lower economy brand hotel ( we have done this ). Watch revenues increase 2-3.5x due to being in the franchisors reservation system. The operating leverage is beautiful.

 

4.)  Downtown busted commercial property. Fix and rent out.

 

Mindset= Don't buy pretty things. Find garbage in great location.  Turn garbage into something respectable. This is the way of high returns in the private world.

If garbage is not cheap, commit to a franchise business. Knowing that one franchise unit is not enough.  You need at least three franchise cash machines to start making some respectable money.

 

Thank you for the insight premfan. That hotel's investment is easily retuning your equity capital every year.

Congrats!

 

Hey! If this is really the best you can find in the private world… then I must acknowledge how incredibly lucky I have been until now ;D… and also that I am going to encounter great difficulties when the need to add a third business will present itself! ::)

 

Gio

 

Hi Gio,

 

I don't believe you will encounter difficulties because you focus on quality. Quality comes at fair price but, if you have some insight that can be added to the business you will have a home run.

[oddballstocks]

Some good posts here, thanks.

 

The average person is likely best to find a trade he can do very well and expand it as he starts to become unable to handle it all himself. You can be an engineer like Gio, a plumber, electrician, programmer, lawyer, ... Work hard and build something.

 

There is a reason you don't see automated vending machines on every street corner. Margins are thin, insurance, stocking, money transport, ... The same is true for a lot of other businesses. Definitely not an easy way to get rich and with lots of risks.

If you plan to be "really" entrepreneurial with an original idea, chances are much higher that you will fail than in you focus on building your trade and being the best that you can be. And if you do choose to go the more entrepreneurial route, learn and steal from the best. Take something that exists and make it better.

 

I agree with this.  Buying a business is difficult.  Most businesses that individuals without significant financial backing can buy are low margin companies that are difficult to scale.  A small established business might cost a few hundred thousand for an outside investor to purchase.

 

What I wonder is how many individuals are really buying small private companies?  Most of the people I've known or met who own their own companies start from scratch.  This is because they wanted to be their own boss and had a skill but had almost no capital.  Most small companies start out in a scrappy way flying on a shoestring.

 

Buying a business outright requires a significantly higher level of capital than what most people have access to.  Even if a hotel were to be available at $500k that's out of reach for most individuals.

 

What happens is you get people who are either older and saved and are established looking to buy these companies, or younger people with family money.  Everyone else is going to have to start from zero unfortunately.

 

The best advice I can offer on this is look at your own skill set and find a niche.  I believe Gio runs an engineering consulting firm.  Consulting is a great way to get into business.  You can bill people out hourly and cover their cost.  Projects are easier to find, but the business isn't that scalable.  What consulting companies need to do is look for commonalities across clients and develop a product to solve the problem.  Then the transition from a consulting to product company can take place.  This entire process can be funded by consulting.  Consulting is easier to sell.  If you have a product it's hard to find and sell potential customers.  If you're consulting in something you already have experience with I'm guessing you already know people who would consider hiring you on a project or consulting basis.  You go from there, get yourself in the door and as demand grows add people and build up and out.

 

I think I recommended the book The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses on this thread.  The author spends a lot of time discussing why most entrepreneurs go into low margin companies with low barriers to start.  These are the companies mentioned in this thread, hotels, vending, plumbing etc.  He then discusses why these companies can't scale and while they will provide a great living for the owner they won't become big companies.  One other thing the author talks about extensively is that most startups have no original ideas.  They are doing exactly as tombgrt says, they take an existing idea and make it different or better.

 

A lot of people talk about buying a company that's on auto-pilot or that can run itself.  I have yet to see a company like that.  If you buy a company prepare to immerse yourself in the company.  If you want to own a company hands-off just buy public stocks.

 

One last thought.  The person posting about the hotels and garbage assets above is unusual.  Most private transactions happen at or around fair value.  The purchaser brings their ideas and expertise that they hope will enable them to grow the business above what it is currently.  If you bring no ideas or operational efficiencies then you will be getting whatever return the business is doing.

 

Oddball,

 

Your post's are well written and insightful. Easily, one of the top six posters on the board. Regarding the last paragraph.  Being unusual is good in business! Case study:

 

Busted downtown building with 30 commercial office units available. 17 units are rented and 13 units need to be remodeled and are currently non-operational.  The building is priced via the cap rate method.  You do due diligence and talk to contractors you get a rough estimate of the total budget to fix the building. Details so far:

 

- Central downtown property in gas producing state. Long trend economics of the state look solid

- Building is priced below replacement cost. Building is at fair price according to the current cap rate

- Current office rents slightly below market rent.

 

Deal looks good right?  There is pricing power once the building gets completely remodeled. Also unit growth via turning the non-operational units into operational units. These type of "distressed" properties are commonly priced below replacement cost. The reason most people wouldn't do this deal is :

 

- To remodel the property will have to take cash  from other business to finance this project.

- Start to finish this process will take 6 months-2 years.

- The unwillingness to not make a return from day 1.

 

Quality comes at a fair price. I can either buy my high quality green juice smoothie via jamba juice or invest in a blender.  The case study above is like investing in a blender. More work, more vision, and more fun. Its a beautiful thing to see garbage turned into something respectable. Vision is needed.

 

Thanks! I agree unusual is good.  You're doing exactly what I described, what's awesome is that it's working.  You're buying things at 'fair price' where you see improvement.  In theory the current owner of the office building can do the same things you're doing, but they aren't.  So you see opportunity and are taking advantage. 

 

I think we're trying to say the same thing.  In the public market it's possible to buy a good company at a bargain price because of market sentimentality or emotions.  You can buy something and just do nothing and it will eventually mean revert.  A bargain purchase in the private market is because the buyer sees opportunity via work.  You see these properties that need to be redeveloped and with your expertise and capital turn garbage into gold.

 

What's shocking to me is how many people I've talked to who expect to find a public market bargain in the private market.  They expect to find a great company that runs hands off for 2x FCF or some low number.  Those things just don't exist.  The trade-off is that when you own a company you have control.  If the CEO of a public company is going to Bermuda shareholders can only complain.  As the owner you can decide whether a trip to Bermuda is better than a capital investment.

[Valuebo]

Some good posts here, thanks.

 

The average person is likely best to find a trade he can do very well and expand it as he starts to become unable to handle it all himself. You can be an engineer like Gio, a plumber, electrician, programmer, lawyer, ... Work hard and build something.

 

There is a reason you don't see automated vending machines on every street corner. Margins are thin, insurance, stocking, money transport, ... The same is true for a lot of other businesses. Definitely not an easy way to get rich and with lots of risks.

If you plan to be "really" entrepreneurial with an original idea, chances are much higher that you will fail than in you focus on building your trade and being the best that you can be. And if you do choose to go the more entrepreneurial route, learn and steal from the best. Take something that exists and make it better.

 

I think I recommended the book The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses on this thread.  The author spends a lot of time discussing why most entrepreneurs go into low margin companies with low barriers to start.  These are the companies mentioned in this thread, hotels, vending, plumbing etc.  He then discusses why these companies can't scale and while they will provide a great living for the owner they won't become big companies.  One other thing the author talks about extensively is that most startups have no original ideas.  They are doing exactly as tombgrt says, they take an existing idea and make it different or better.

 

I found this for whoever is interested: http://bhide.net/part1.pdf

 

 

[giofranchi]

Hi Gio,

 

I don't believe you will encounter difficulties because you focus on quality. Quality comes at fair price but, if you have some insight that can be added to the business you will have a home run.

 

Well… It is sometime now that I have been thinking about a really awesome patisserie in Milan… I know the owner very well and he is among the very best salespersons that I have encountered… ever! And… oh!... the extraordinary amount of cash he generates selling those delicious croissants!! ;)

 

Cheers,

 

Gio

 

[Morgan]

Oddball,

 

Your post's are well written and insightful. Easily, one of the top six posters on the board. Regarding the last paragraph.  Being unusual is good in business! Case study:

 

Busted downtown building with 30 commercial office units available. 17 units are rented and 13 units need to be remodeled and are currently non-operational.  The building is priced via the cap rate method.  You do due diligence and talk to contractors you get a rough estimate of the total budget to fix the building. Details so far:

 

- Central downtown property in gas producing state. Long trend economics of the state look solid

- Building is priced below replacement cost. Building is at fair price according to the current cap rate

- Current office rents slightly below market rent.

 

Deal looks good right?  There is pricing power once the building gets completely remodeled. Also unit growth via turning the non-operational units into operational units. These type of "distressed" properties are commonly priced below replacement cost. The reason most people wouldn't do this deal is :

 

- To remodel the property will have to take cash  from other business to finance this project.

- Start to finish this process will take 6 months-2 years.

- The unwillingness to not make a return from day 1.

 

Quality comes at a fair price. I can either buy my high quality green juice smoothie via jamba juice or invest in a blender.  The case study above is like investing in a blender. More work, more vision, and more fun. Its a beautiful thing to see garbage turned into something respectable. Vision is needed.

 

This is exactly what we do in our residential real estate business. We buy cheap buildings that need work, renovate, raise the rents and fill the units up. We've gone from 8 units to 50 units in two years or so. Always looking to add more and take the skills learned there and apply them to building other larger projects. It's a lot of work, but good fun. From my position, real estate is something more or less anyone can get involved with and grow to be quite large if desired.

 

PS - Oddball you've always got good posts for us.  ;D

[netnet]

What's shocking to me is how many people I've talked to who expect to find a public market bargain in the private market.  They expect to find a great company that runs hands off for 2x FCF or some low number.  Those things just don't exist.  The trade-off is that when you own a company you have control.  If the CEO of a public company is going to Bermuda shareholders can only complain.  As the owner you can decide whether a trip to Bermuda is better than a capital investment.

 

Actually, I have seen private transaction trade for 2-3XFCF normalized.  You just have to wait for the distress sale and be ready to buy.  (This is a bit like some rich guy telling you to keep a spare 5 or 10 million around to buy something cheaply.)  Although it generally takes more work in the private market to get to the normalized cashflow.  In the old days of radio, you could buy from the lender at the bottom and sell when the market turned.  I was not looking private market in 2009, but I'm sure there were some great bargains private market as there were in the public markets.

 

How about buying four coin operated laundries in the same area and raise prices by $.25 or $.50 and have operational efficiencies of multiple sites? Higher prices, with (hopefully not too much of a drop off in customers) and lower labor costs per site.