Exit
Plan the exit: score resale readiness and build a clean handover for the next owner.
Leaving a franchise well takes longer than selling one
Exit is the stage franchisees plan for last and regret most. A franchise unit is not a share you can sell on a Tuesday: the buyer has to be approved by your franchisor, the lease usually has to be assigned with a landlord's consent, and the value a buyer will pay is set months earlier by decisions you have already made — how well the business runs without you, how long is left on your agreement, and whether your accounts are clean enough to be verified.
That is why exit work starts one to two years before a sale, not when a buyer appears. The things that most reduce a price — owner dependence, a short remaining term, records a buyer cannot check — all take time to fix, and none of them can be fixed during due diligence. By the time a buyer is asking, the discount is already priced in.
The tools on this page are built around that timing. Score your readiness while you can still act on the result, understand what a buyer will actually pay and why, and work out what reaches you after debt, fees, the franchisor's transfer fee and tax — because the sale price and the amount you keep are rarely close to each other.
Start with readiness, not valuation. The score tells you which weaknesses cost most at the table, and most of them take months to remedy. Valuing first tells you what today's neglect is worth.
Read your transfer clause early. Franchisor approval of the buyer, a right of first refusal and a transfer fee are common, and all three affect your timetable and your net proceeds.
Separate price from proceeds. Debt settlement, broker commission, professional fees and capital-gains tax sit between the two. Plan against the net figure, since that is the one that funds whatever comes next.