When selling your vacation rental management company, how do you know if the deal is the right one for your exit strategy? Ben Edward's session navigates you through this process and shows a vacation rental manager ways to avoid common pitfalls.

1. Dissecting the Deal...
A Guide to Buying and Selling Vacation Rental Companies

2. Deliverables
• Introduction & Key Terms
• Thought Process
SELL SIDE
• What to Know Before you Decide
• Preparing Your Company
• The Deal Itself
BUY SIDE
• Thought Process
• What to Know Before you Decide
• What to Look For Specifically
• Preparing Your Company
SUMMARY
• Current Deal Metrics in Today’s World
• Do You Need a Advisor?

3. Introduction
• Buying a business is a complex process, and it
can be confounding because of the interplay
of business, legal, and people issues.
• It can, however, be a rewarding process if you
have done your diligence and researched the
business thoroughly.

4. Key Terms
• EBITDA
– Earnings Before Interest, Taxes (Income), Depreciation and
Amortization
• Motivation
– Buyer - Expand into new markets
– Buyer - Get into the industry
– Buyer - Tuck-in opportunities
– Seller - Retirement
– Seller - External changes
– Seller - Market/Business opportunity
• Types of Purchases
– Asset Purchase (buying the stuff)
– Stock Purchase (buying the LLC, Sub S…The Company)

5. Definitions (cont’d)
• Representations (“Reps”) and Warranties
– You own the stuff you are selling
– You didn’t lie or purposely omit something
– You didn’t inadvertently omit something
– You paid your taxes
– Properly funded Advance Deposit/Trust accounts
– Business has been operated in the normal course
• Holdbacks or Indemnification Amounts
– Funds held back to make sure your Reps and
Warranties are correct.

6. THE SELL SIDE

7. SELL SIDE
Thought Process
• Why do I want to Sell?
• What am I going to do after? What’s next?
• Do I want to stay on and work for the Buyer?
• Do I REALLY want to Sell?
• Am I READY to sell?
• What goes away if I sell? What changes
– Health Insurance
– Cell Phone
– Car Payments
– Memberships in Country Clubs

8. Getting Started
• Preliminary Items
– Is my business ready to sell?
• Financial statements, Income Statement, Balance Sheet
• Operational foundation
– What is my business worth?
– Consult a transaction Attorney or CPA
– Is it better to do Asset vs Stock deal
– What is the tax effect of transaction?
– What’s included?
• Operating company
• The assets
– Vehicles & Equipment
– Personal guarantees on merchant accounts, leases, Notes, etc
– Assignability
• Owner agreements?
• Leases?
SELL SIDE

9. Items to
consider
before
Selling your
business

10. SELL SIDE
Preparing Your Company
• Data
– 3 Years Financials by Month
– 3 Years Tax Returns
– 3 Years Company Metrics (ADR, Occupancy, Unit
Count, etc)
– Inventory of Main Assets
– All Agreements and Contracts fully Executed?
• Letting Your Key People Know
• Setting Up Off-Site Activities to Handle Due
Diligence

11. The Deal Itself
• 90% of the Transaction can be done electronically/offsite
– Data “War Room” in the Cloud
• 60-90 days typically
• Process
– Initial Review….the “Dance”
– Letter of Intent (LOI) – usually non-binding becoming “hard”
– Due Diligence (root canal)
– Purchase and Sale Agreement Creation (PSA, SPA, etc)
– Close – many times concurrently with PSA execution
• Ancillary Items
– Closing schedules
– Employment Agreements
– Consulting Agreements
– 2-5 years. Make it specific!
SELL SIDE

12. THE BUY SIDE

13. BUY SIDE
Thought Process
• Am I ready to grow?
– Do I have infrastructure in place to manage the
growth. What about my time?
– Do I have the resources financially?
• Off-season bleed?
• Will the two company cultures clash?
• Are the product and service offerings
homogeneous? How much additional
marketing will I need to do?

14. BUY SIDE
What to Know Before you Decide
• In What Structure should I Buy the company?
– Separate LLC, within the company, etc??
• 18 month to 24 month cash flow analysis.
• Is it better to tuck-in, or find a new market.
• Do I have a good attorney to draft
documents?
– Not always your company attorney!

15. BUY SIDE
What to Look For Specifically
• Length of Time Units on the Sellers Program
• How Much the Seller Owner is Involved in the
Day-to-Day
– Can you live/grow without them, even if they stay on.
• Company Metrics Chart over time
– Unit count (not net), ADR, Occupancy, Same Store
Revenues
• Key Staff longevity, retirement age, buy-in
• Can I acquire as a stock deal if I want to?

16. BUY SIDE
Preparing Your Company
• Do I have someone that will handle the
transition, or handle the company while I handle
the transition?
• Do I leave the Selling company name or Re-name
it.
– Company name equity locally
• Telling Your Key Employees
• Make sure you have a Transition Plan
– Procedural (insurance, software, accounting, etc)
– Human (accepting employees into new culture, etc)

17. BUY SIDE
Preparing Your Company (cont’d)
• Prepare for emotions.
• Software integration issues.
– Do you have bandwidth?
– Transfer or termination fees on Seller side.
• Set up a Dropbox/FTP or other Portal for your
team

18. CURRENT DEALS

19. Typical Deal Metrics Today
• 3-6 Times TTM Adjusted Ebitda
– Adjusted for all “Owner Expenses”
– Slightly Less Multiple if Real Estate Brokerage a significant
Portion
• Varies by
– Length of time owner contracts are with the Seller
– Assets included
– Time of Year Acquisition Takes Place (Before or After Season)
– Ease of Purchase
• Assignment issues
• Litigation issues
• Growth potential
– Infrastructure for future growth
– How Much Seller “Has their Act Together”.

20. Typical Deal Metrics Today (cont’d)
• All Cash at Closing
– Used to see more Seller financing requirements
• 50% of Time the Seller Stays Around for 1-2
Years
• Key Management almost always kept around
• More than one qualified Buyer looking at any
given time.

21. Example
Gross Revenue $1,000,000
Cost of Goods Sold -$650,000
Gross Operating Profit $350,000
G&A Expenses -$75,000
Interest -$12,000
Owner Compensation -$50,000
Depreciation -$6,500
Total Net Income $206,500
Add Back:
Interest $12,000
Owner Compensation $50,000
Depreciation $6,500
EBITDA $275,000
x 4 Multiple 4
Purchase Price $1,100,000
Aka: Operating Expenses
Aka: Net Revenue
Assumes Owner Not Working
Directly in the Company.

22. A Real Deal
Asset Deal – Eastern US
• Adjusted EBITDA = $210,000
• Purchase Price = $840,000 (4 multiple)
• Terms
– All cash at closing
– Office Lease at Market Rate for 2 Years
– Seller/Owner gets 1 Year Employment Agreement
w/Bonus
– Seller/Owner signs 3 Year Non-Compete
– Kept original company name “for now”

23. Do You Need an Advisor?
• POSITIVES
– Removes the Emotions & keeps the deal on task
– Makes Sure Little Things Don’t Fall through the Cracks
– Provides market perspective to ensure fair practices
– Keeps Buyer Confidential until later in process
– If larger company involved, puts you on level playing
field
– Access to Buyers/Sellers, National Market
• NEGATIVES
– Costs Money (% of Deal + expenses)

24. Questions?
Thank You
Ben Edwards
Ben@WeatherbyConsulting.com
850-496-7360
Jim Olin
jolin@C2GAdvisors.com
850-699-1828