Tips to Liquidate Your Business Assets
Ending a business, or one particular venture, can often be a smart business decision. Sometimes an entrepreneur needs to cut their losses and move on to the next project. When a business owner reaches that point, they may be wondering about how to get back the dollars they invested into their business. If your business has any assets the answer may just be liquidation.
If you are thinking about liquidating your business, or just a few business assets, below are a few tips to consider.
Prepare the Assets You Want to Liquidate
Oftentimes, preparing the assets for liquidation is overlooked. If your business owns assets, such as real property, vehicles, computer equipment, inventory, office furniture, or production equipment, then you may be able to liquidate those assets. But if those assets are all used, you may want to spend some time and/or money on fixing up those used assets to be more attractive to buyers.
If you are closing your business, frequently, liquidating the assets is one of the last steps in a bankruptcy, or is done in order to pay off creditors. If you put some smart care into fixing up the right assets, you may be able to reap a much better reward from the sale.
Don't Collect Unnecessary Assets
Asset liquidation does not have to involve closing a business though. If your business has some equipment, physical locations or anything of value that is sitting unused, your business can sell those assets and use the money. Most assets, real property excepting, tend to lose value over time, or depreciate. If an asset is sitting unused and will not produce value for your business, then liquidating the asset might be advisable.
Rely on Professionals for Tax and Financial Advice
When liquidating assets, working with a professional is advisable (see the FindLaw Asset Liquidation Checklist). There may be ways to maximize your gains from the sales depending on the financial condition of your business and the timing of the asset sales.
Use Professional Sellers
Posting an ad on craigslist may seem like the simplest way to off-load an asset for free, but, in the business world, sometimes you need to get a professional in order to sell a piece of professional equipment (take commercial kitchen equipment for example). There are professional liquidation services that can help businesses liquidate assets, and will often be able to help move sales of commercial equipment along faster, for a fee of course.
Related Resources:
- Find Business and Commercial Lawyers Near You (FindLaw's Lawyer Directory)
- Should Your Business File for Bankruptcy? (FindLaw's Free Enterprise)
- Business Bankruptcy: Which Type Is Best for You? (FindLaw's Free Enterprise)
- Business Debt and Bankruptcy (FindLaw's Learn About the Law)