Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Stacey Salyer Show, the podcast for property management leaders ready to think bigger about growth. I'm Stacey Salyer and the only acquisition strategist in this industry who sat on all sides of the m and a table. I've been the buyer acquiring a 370 door competitor during COVID using seller financing.
I've been the seller building and exiting a seven figure business. And I've been the corporate evaluator as director of acquisitions, assessing over hundreds of companies nationally. That means I know exactly what you're thinking, what you're missing, and what actually works when it comes to buying and integrating in this space.
On this show, we dig into acquisitions as a real business tool. Not luck, not someday. You'll learn positioning, strategy, numbers, and integration from someone who's actually done it all. Let's go.
Welcome back, my friends, to [00:01:00] the Stacey Salyer Show, where we talk about buying and selling property management companies. I am thankful that you're here with me today.
So today, we're gonna talk about creating your buy box.
So if you've been listening to my show, you have probably decided something about your business. You've decided that you are ready to start looking at growing through acquisition, and you're ready to start buying a company.
So before you go out into your market and start having real conversations with potential sellers, it's really important that we back up a little bit and talk about creating your personalized roadmap for success in what you're going to be buying. So I call that your buy box, and today we're gonna jump in and talk about what that looks like to create your specific buy box.
Basically, kind of set your map for your intention of what you want to, go out and purchase. And I'm gonna walk you through the different steps. And at the end, I'm gonna share with you some different things that I'm doing this summer. So if this resonates with you, be sure and listen to the [00:02:00] entire episode.
So here's the thing. Everybody usually thinks that you wanna start with the conversation first, and that is true. You do have to start with a conversation. But before you start with a conversation, you really need to know where you're going.
And what I mean by that is, what are you looking for? So what are you looking for? What size? What type of business? You know, what area in your market? And all the things in between
And so today I'm gonna share with you what you're going to need to know and what you should have as your guideline before you even pick up the phone or have the conversation at a rotary club or wherever it is that you're chatting with people in your community about buying their business. So I'm gonna start with a little story.
As most of you know, if you listen to my show or follow me on social media, you know I have three kids. Well, they're older now, but my daughter, when she was younger, was obsessed with Dora the Explorer. So I have no idea if [00:03:00] Dora the Explorer is still popular. I imagine she probably is 'cause it's a pretty cute show.
But my daughter was obsessed, truly. I mean, watched every single episode. We had Dora-themed birthday parties for a few years and all the things. So I, in turn, by proxy, got to listen to Dora all the time. And if anybody listening has listened to Dora the Explorer, you know that she has one really important thing in her backpack, and it's part of every single episode, and it gets her exactly where she needs to go.
And it's Dora's map, right? So Dora can't go on her exploring activities unless, of course, she has her map. So that's really what I attribute the buy box to, is you having your personalized roadmap of where you want to go. And that's what we're gonna break down today and, I'm gonna talk about how you can map out your own buy box, and then you'll have your own map.
So, you know, if you're listening to this in your car w- while you're out exercising or taking a walk, you know, [00:04:00] you may wanna save this episode so you can go back and take some simple notes, and then that way you're gonna be set and ready to go
So along with that Dora story, I have another story for you. So I get phone calls or emails or text messages or DMs, whatever, right? Communication all the time from people saying, "Hey, if you know of a company in X market, in X state for sale, just let me know. You know, I, I want to be added to your list." And, you know, I, I will always answer everybody and I'll get back to them and I'll say, "Hey, you know, thanks so much for, um, contacting me.
You know, what I really do is I teach people how to build out their acquisition engine within their company. Um, you know, I'm not out bird-dogging for you, but, you know, let's kind of talk through that. Like, what exactly are you looking for?" And so one day in particular, I had a phone conversation with a gentleman and, you know, we were talking and he said, "Well, I'm looking pretty much like the whole East Coast."
I mean, he rattled off six to [00:05:00] eight different states. And I said, "Okay, okay, so you're looking at like six to eight different states. All right. So are you a broker in every single one of those states?" And, you know, the answer was no. I said, "Okay. Well, can you get a contractor broker?" that was a no. And you know, I kind of just went down through the list and I said, "Okay, well, what exactly are you looking for?
So you've narrowed it down to, you know, six or eight different states out of the 50, but like what size are you looking for? Are you a first-time PMC owner? So do you need a better well-run property management company that has more systems and processes, or are you trying to do like a roll-in or are you trying to do a merger?
Like what is it exactly you're looking for?" And at the end of the conversation, I could tell that, you know, he had really listened to what I said and really took to heart of, "You're right. I actually don't really have my map or my buy box mapped out." And you [00:06:00] know, that gave me a lot of food for thought. I went ahead and sent him the link for my download, um, that I'm going to have in the show notes as well, so you can all download that so you can build out your own buy box with the handout that I have.
But I think that really helped open his eyes to he needs to know exactly what he's looking for because you can't just throw out, I call it like kind of the shotgun approach, right? Like you just have all this, you know, stuff going out into the, the world and you're never going to get what you want unless you know exactly what you want to get.
So let's talk more about that. We're going to dive into actually building out your buy box and what you need to do first
So before we walk through this, I want to reiterate a couple things. Your buy box is a living document, and you have permission to change it up and, you know, decide after a few conversations maybe that you, you know, changed your mind or you wanna change up something about it. So just [00:07:00] remember this is a living document for yourself and your business.
I think one of the most important pieces though, is you don't want to keep it too broad, right? Remember like that one phone call I had, you know, just kind of throwing out there like eight different states and, you know, we want anything. that is a really hard thing to go after when you don't have all the specifics.
So, all right. Let's go through and talk about a few of the different categories. And like I said, in the show notes, there's a download available where you can go in and download your own worksheet so you can build out your buy box if you're more of a visual, like hand writer person. So first, you want to know your deal profile.
Um, what kind of company are you after? So I kind of alluded to that in the beginning. Like let's say you are an investor and you already own 25 doors of your own, you're self-managing and you decide, hey, I want to go out into my community and buy a property management company. I'm going to provide third party property management [00:08:00] business and, then I'm going to put my doors into that business and now I have another vertical, like an asset in the same, category, right? In real estate. So somebody like in, in that case, they may want a company that is a little bit better run, that already has systems and processes, is using some prop tech and maybe, you know, the owner or the seller is just kind of tired and, doesn't want to keep running it.
Maybe the seller has decided, you know, I want to make a deal and maybe I'll stay on and do, you know, biz dev for you, but I don't really like the operations, so let's strike a deal and do something like that. So there's a lot of different creative ways, but you really need to know what kind of deal profile you're looking for.
I know I've shared quite a few times I bought a boomer business. I'm a fan of those personally, but again, you know, I have 22 years of experience in property management. So for me, it doesn't really become a huge undertaking to take a look at that particular type portfolio and say, "Okay, well, you know, [00:09:00] I can roll that in.
I know exactly what to do. I've got the strategies," you know, and, and, and that kind of thing. So you really need to know what kind of deal profile you're looking for and be strategic about it. So number two, you really want to think about your ideal seller profile. so now this of course matters just as much as the company itself.
Now, they kind of may intertwine and mesh a little but it just really is important to really think about the true seller profile. Because again, if you have a lot of operations experience and maybe you've already done one or two like small acquisitions, it may not be a huge undertaking for you to buy a 400-door, you know, kind of more paper run boomer business than, you know, somebody who has zero operations experience in property management.
That may not be the best idea. It may also be a challenge to get approved with an SBA loan as well. So those are kind of different things to keep in mind and conversations to be having ahead of time so that [00:10:00] you really can start mapping out what exactly works for you the best Next, you want to know your deal breakers.
Now, these are just kind of non-negotiable things for yourself. There isn't really a right or wrong when you're looking at, a company, and I always say there's someone for everyone in every single market. And it's just like a house. So, you know, you might put a house on a market, twenty people go look at it.
You know, one person is like, "Yes, this is my house." The other nineteen were like, "Eh, it doesn't really quite fit me." And it's the same when you're buying a business. So not every deal is a good deal. But if you don't have it mapped out ahead of time and you don't really know what your deal breaker is, then it's really easy to kind of get excited and maybe get down the path and then either buy something that doesn't actually fit what you want for your criteria or, you know, kind of get to the end and then decide last minute, "No, this isn't going to work."
So that's anything from, is [00:11:00] the seller going to stay on, for a length of time? What does the seller role look like just for transition? you need staff? Do you not need staff? do you have the capability or bandwidth to be able to go in and, let some staff go and maybe have some of your staff take over?
I mean, there's so many different things that, that you really have to think about for yourself as far as like what deal breakers are. And it's important that you write those down, document them, so again, when you're evaluating and you're having conversations, you know, yeah, this is, this is something I can continue the conversation or, you know, I really appreciate the conversation, but this isn't just really-- it's not the right fit for me.
And then next is your stretch criteria. So what are some extra things that would be amazing to have? So you're gonna have your non-negotiables for sure, and then the next list is going to be, you know, what would be the really great to have, right? So again, it's important that you're really looking at what your goals are [00:12:00] and, you know, what you currently have.
So if you currently own a property management company and you have 500 doors under management, it may not be a big deal for you to bring in 150 at one time. Now, if you're managing 150 and you wanna bring in, you know, 500, that may be a really big deal to bring in. So just kind of thinking, what's your bandwidth?
What's your team's bandwidth? You know, what kind of different incentives might you need to give your current team? whatever the case may be. So just kind of really thinking like, what's your stretch criteria beyond the actual deal breakers?
And so then lastly, very simple, creating your buy box sentence. So this is where you can go to cocktail parties or rotary meetings or, you know, coffee with people at 7:00 AM at the local coffee shop or a NARPM meeting or wherever you're talking to people, and it's simple as this. You're gonna create this sentence for yourself, and this is your buy box [00:13:00] sentence, and it should start with, "I am buying..." And then you want to insert the door count and the property type, and then say,
portfolios in..." Then you want to insert the geography and then say, "... with at least, this particular criteria," and finish it out with that. So when you can say that sentence out loud without hesitating, then you have your map. So again, that sentence is, I am buying the door count, property type portfolios in the geography with at least this particular criteria."
Period. That's it. Super simple. And I recommend, too, that you post that wherever it is that you are sitting or if you have a stand desk or whatever it is, so that you always are looking at that too. So it just is a good reminder for yourself, and then just practice saying it, because you do want to let people know that you're buying businesses.
That's another piece of it, going out to your community and let people know. All right. So [00:14:00] I hope today this was helpful. as I said, in the show notes, there's a link to the resource that I have. you can go ahead and download that. It's a great worksheet, so you can work that out through yourself.
And if this resonated with you, I'm doing something very special On Thursday, July 16th, an all-day event in person in Portland, Oregon, and, Ben Severin with Black Sheep Global and I are co-hosting this event. We are very excited, And so Ben and I are splitting the topics.
We're talking about acquisition, and then we're talking about processes, because they really go hand in hand, as you can probably see when you start mapping out your own buy box, why it's important to think about both. So we wanted to get together. It's an all-day event from 9:00 to 5:00, and then we're gonna have dinner at afterwards.
So the ticket price actually includes all of that. It includes the whole day even- it includes, any of the resources you walk away with, and we're making this an actual working [00:15:00] day event. So when you come, you bring your laptop, and you actually get to work side by side with me, you get to work side by side with Ben.
And so when you leave, you're walking out the door with one live working process that you've built out with Ben, and you're working on a complete buy box side by side with me. So when you walk out, you're now fully equipped to go into your market, and you know exactly what your map is. So it kind of goes back to, like, Dora the Explorer.
You're gonna walk in, we're gonna build out your map, and then you're gonna walk out, and you're gonna have that map for as long as it takes to go out and acquire in your market. So like I said, that's Thursday, July 16th in Portland, Oregon. It's an all-day event, 9:00 to 5:00, plus dinner afterwards, and it includes breakfast and lunch and all the tools.
And it's also sponsored by our friends at Column Bank and Live Oak Bank. So if you have been curious about online trust account, [00:16:00] banking, Column is going to be there, and they have a good 45-minute session to talk all about what that looks like and how their product has a lot of AI, and they do some really cool things, actually.
that alone, like what they're teaching is, a great, great resource. And then, Live Oak Bank is going to be there. So all the questions that you would have about SBA loans and financing, what are they gonna be looking at when you bring a deal to them, like what's in their particular buy box and all that.
And so each of those particular sponsors are also going to have work time that you're gonna get to work with them side by side and learn something new as well. So it's going to be a fantastic event. I would love to see you. I love working with people in person, and I know Ben does as well.
So seats are limited for this particular event, and the tickets are $197 per person. We do recommend either bring, you know, maybe one of your operations people or biz dev people, or both really. It's going to be a [00:17:00] great day of learning and working, and we really look forward to working with everyone.
So this week is simple. I really recommend that you go back and listen to this podcast, take some notes, download the handout that I gave you, and, just start working on your buy box and go through that. And like I said, if this particular episode resonated with you and you know you're definitely ready and you wanna work with me in person, July 16th in Portland, Oregon is your chance.
So thanks for listening today, my friends, and I will see you next time. Have a great day.
Outro: thanks for listening to the Stacey Salyer show. Here's the deal. You can read about acquisitions anywhere, but you can't learn acquisitions from someone who's done it the way I have as a buyer, a seller, and from the corporate side evaluating hundreds of companies. That's why I need you to subscribe and share this with someone in your network who needs to hear it.
And if this episode landed, leave a five star review. It's how [00:18:00] more PM owners find the only acquisition expertise in the space that comes from all sides of the table. And while you're at it, grab my Acquisition Readiness checklist on my website at staceysalyer.com. Then when you're ready to move from Growth Thinking to Growth Building, explore the Built to Acquire program.
Don't leave it on the table. See you on the next episode.
