As the baby boomers move closer to retirement the need to be able to sell different kinds of businesses is only continuing to increase. Within the next 20 years, 76 million baby boomers are expected to retire, out of this number 12 million own businesses. This means that need for local business brokers to assist in the buying and selling of businesses will only increase. A local business broker is someone who helps owners who are looking to sell their business find buyers. They are compensated in one of three ways through hourly fees, retainer fees and success fees. The success fees are the most common and are usually 10% of total sale once the business is sold. In general local business brokers have the flexibility to set their own hours and the income potential is unlimited. According to a study conducted by Babson College in Massachusetts local business brokers on average earn $253,000 dollars a year. There is not a lot of red tape or initial up front requirements, as far as licensing is concerned there are no federal licenses and in 16 states you are only required to have a real estate license to become a local business broker. While this is no doubt enticing for many people the fact of the matter is that you must consider several factors before you decide to become a local business broker.
