What we buy, in detail
This is the whole list. If your building or business is on it, send it. If it is not, we would still rather see it than not — the edges of this list move.
Property types
Multi-family. Apartment buildings from about four units upward. Walk-ups, converted houses, small courtyard complexes, and buildings with a shop on the ground floor. Occupancy does not matter to us. Deferred maintenance does not scare us.
Industrial and warehouse. Storage buildings, workshops, truck and equipment garages, small manufacturing space, fenced yards, and flex buildings. Loading doors, ceiling height and power service matter more to us than the finish inside.
Industry-related businesses. Companies that serve those buildings: mechanical and electrical trades, roofing, landscaping and snow, cleaning, repair shops, and parts or material suppliers. Usually the owner wants to retire and there is no obvious buyer.
Land, sometimes. Only when it sits next to something we already want, or has a building on it worth saving.
Size and price
We buy between $100,000 and $2,000,000.
Under $1M we have historically funded the purchase and the full renovation with our own money. That is why we can decide quickly and why a bad roof does not end the conversation.
Condition we like
- Empty or half empty.
- Rents well below what the neighbours get.
- Years of postponed repairs.
- An owner who has run out of patience, time, or heirs.
- A building that has sat on the market because it needs work.
What we pass on
- A price that is already set as if the repairs were finished.
- Ground contamination that needs a formal clean-up.
- Buildings outside Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland.
- Anything where we would be the fourth buyer in a chain of contracts.
If you are not sure which side of this list you are on, send it anyway. It costs you a minute and we answer either way.
Buying a business
We buy small businesses as well as buildings — usually the trades, service, repair and supply companies that work on property like ours. Same three states, same $100,000 to $2,000,000 range.
One hard rule: there has to be a transition plan
We only buy a business when the owner will stay involved long enough to hand it over properly — the customers, the crew, the suppliers, the pricing, and all the things that only live in your head. Usually three to twelve months, often part time. No transition, no deal. That is not a negotiating position, it is the whole reason these purchases work.
What we bring to it
- We come from running things, not from finance. The first year is about keeping the business steady, not rebuilding it.
- We grow it with technology and better process — scheduling, quoting, invoicing, tracking work — the ordinary things that quietly cost small companies money.
- And with hard work. We are the people doing it, not a fund hiring someone to do it.
- We are not here to strip it. Cutting a good business to the bone is how you lose the crew and then the customers.
Who this is for
Owners who are ready to retire or step back and have nobody in line to take over. The business is healthy, or close to it, and what it is missing is a next owner rather than a rescue.
Questions about criteria
- What is the smallest building you will look at?
- Around $100,000 in price. Below that the time it takes to buy a building costs more than the building earns.
- Will you buy a building that is completely empty?
- Yes. An empty building with a sound roof and structure is often easier for us than a full one with problem tenants.
- Do you buy single family houses?
- Rarely, and only when they come attached to something else we are buying.
- What do you turn down?
- Prices that already assume the repairs are finished, ground that needs an environmental clean-up, and anything outside Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland.
- Do I have to stay involved after you buy my business?
- Yes, for a while. We only buy businesses where the owner will hand things over properly. That is usually three to twelve months, and it can be part time.
- Will you keep the staff?
- That is the plan. We buy businesses to keep running them, not to break them up. The people already there know the work.
- Can I stay on longer than the handover?
- If you want to. Some owners want out on day one and a clean handover instead. Both work, as long as we agree on it before we buy.
- What if I do not have a transition plan yet?
- Tell us anyway. A plan can be written together. What we cannot do is buy a business where the owner leaves the same week and takes everything they know with them.
Send it over. The form takes about a minute, and you can attach photos or papers if you have them.
Tell us about your property