Numbers a tutoring buyer asks to see
- Active students by month for the last three school years
- Prepaid hours or packages not yet used
- Tutor headcount, turnover and who teaches the most hours
- Where new families come from: referrals, schools, reviews, ads
- Lease end date and any franchise transfer terms
Enrollment tells the story
A buyer will plot your student count month by month. Tutoring has a rhythm: busy before exams and in the fall, quieter in summer. That is fine. What a buyer wants to see is each year a little steadier or a little bigger than the last.
Keep your foot on the gas through the sale. A drop in enrollment while the center is on the market makes buyers nervous, and so does a sudden spike that looks staged.
Prepaid packages are a liability, not a bonus
Many centers sell blocks of hours or semester packages up front. That cash is in your account, but the hours are owed by whoever runs the center next. Buyers count unused hours and expect a credit at closing for them.
Keep a clean record of every package sold, hours used and hours left. If your system cannot produce it in a few minutes, fix that first.
Tutors and the director
Parents often stay because of a particular tutor. A buyer asks how many tutors you have, how long they stay, how they are paid and whether they are employees or contractors.
A center director who runs the schedule and talks to parents is worth more to a buyer than almost any piece of equipment.
If you are still the one every parent calls, start handing that role to someone else now. Buyers pay for a center that runs when the owner is away.
If the center is in the District and the buyer keeps your staff, it usually takes on your unemployment tax rate history. The DOES guide explains how that works.
Where families find you
Good reviews, steady referrals and a website that brings in inquiries every week all show demand a buyer can count on. Bring the numbers: inquiries per month, how many enroll and what you spend on ads.
Lease, license and franchise
A buyer wants several years left on the lease, or a landlord willing to extend. In an asset sale in the District, the buyer usually applies for its own Basic Business License and needs its own Clean Hands certificate; check with DLCP on the details.
If you own a franchise, the franchisor usually must approve the buyer and may charge a transfer fee. Read your agreement early so the timing does not catch you.
Pricing
Most centers in this range sell as asset sales priced on owner cash flow. The valuation guide shows how buyers recast the books, and the step by step outline lays out the seven to nine months a sale often takes.
For a private estimate of your center's value, send the request form or call (202) 555-0174.