Anytime you find an acquisition candidate you’ll be asked to sign a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement. These agreements are meant to protect the information shared between buyers and sellers. Often times buyers will request income and expense statements, commission statements and other due diligence material.
Sellers may request a balance sheet, pre-approval letter from a lender or an income and expense statement to confirm their showing their agency to qualified buyers.
It’s reasonable for buyers and sellers to request a non disclosure before showing you any documentation on their agency.
Always read non-disclosure forms carefully to ensure you aren’t being charged a fee just to look at someones financial statements. Believe it or not, we’ve seen people try to charge a fee to allow us to look at their books. (Sounds like a heck of a business plan).
Non-Disclosure forms are the first step of the acquisition process. Don’t take it personally when you’re asked to sign one.
