Do I need an accountant or a CPA?
I always recommend finding professional advisors as an important step. Finding the right people is difficult but vital. Your advisors must be familiar with small business. They need to have a history of small business transactional experience.

What costs are involved in buying a business?
The seller normally pays the broker's fee. Escrow costs normally run $2,500 to $3,000 and are split by buyer and seller. If there are other fees like franchise transfer and/or training fees the buyer typically pays those. An attorney to review the documents prepared by the broker will cost $1,000 to $2,000 and an accountant to do the financial due diligence will cost $1,000 to $4,000 typically, depending upon the size of the business and the level of detail required to perform the due diligence.

What about seller financing?
All those books written and published 10 or more years ago recommend it. But you will pay more and your monthly payments will be more than with a U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loan, so it could impact the amount of cash flow you need to operate the business.

How much cash down do I need?
As a rule of thumb about one year's worth of seller's discretionary earnings (SDE) and you will finance the balance.