[smoosh]

Originally Posted by Aatish

Look into suppliers too. Gas prices are determined by the supplier, and they're what bring (or scare) traffic.

X2.

And I have to stress, start looking at/negotiating with suppliers ASAP. A lot of suppliers will hand out contracts (for pump expansion, tank replacement, etc.) if you buy from them for a certain number of years, and perhaps if you use their preferred brand whom they might have a contract with (BP/Shell, etc.).

Once, a preferred supplier paid for tank replacement at a location which cost something like $75K. Another time, a supplier allowed my parents to pay for oil deliveries at a later time (i.e., 2 years later) due to financial trouble ($35K).

Suppliers are great resources, work with them in good faith and they'll help you out.

[bimmer456]

I still think you should buy stocks. I just made $2.4K just today alone! All you need is money to make more money, and $250K is enough to get started.

[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

I still think you should buy stocks. I just made $2.4K just today alone! All you need is money to make more money, and $250K is enough to get started.

There are people that make $250k a day.....but what if you loose? Aren't markets over inflated now anyway?

[bimmer456]

Yes Mark Zuckerburg makes like a million a day and it's chump change for him. The markets are bullish now and yes you can lose but you'll make way more in the long run, and long run isn't really that long, maybe a year or so. There's risk but that's true with investing in general, including buying a gas station. It's hard to say if the markets are over inflated, I thought that they were last month but it's still going up, you could buy low and sell high in a day or a week and make a killing, but I prefer buy and hold and ride out the fluctuations.

[Naz24]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

Ok take this for what it's worth I buy and sell companies for a living but not gas stations. I'd seek out a professional to consult with. With underground storage tanks and whatnot depending on how the deal is structured asset versus stock and what the seller is willing to rep to, you could be inheriting problems. Big expensive problems to fix.

Sorry I don't know who to even tell you to speak with maybe try asking your lawyer about local business brokers and try to find one who has dealt with gas stations in the past.

Good advice here.

Definitely need to get an environmental firm out there to check things out...

Well it depends, are you purchasing just the business or the property too? READ THE LEASE, i cannot stress this enough, See where the environmental indemnities are, who is responsible for what, etc.

[ASBSECU E93]

Unlike smoosh - I'm on the other side of the equation, Commercial and Corporate banking. Smoosh outlined several valid points and I agree with this assessment. Gas is not where you'll make the profit - inside sales will drive this. If you are in a larger market - competition from big national chains can severely hurt your inside sales. Speaking of inside sales, you'll find that customers, employees, and vendors will all steal product/inventory from you - further eating into profit.

From a W/C perspective - you need the initial investment to fund operations unless a portion of the transaction includes the cash and receivables of the business.

From a lending perspective - C-Store are the least desirable collateral type among lenders. Risks around ground contamination are the greatest concerns and typically C-Stores are more 'cash' business and owners tend to under-report sales. This further leads to challenges when borrowing is needed to support cash flow.

For me - far too many other factors to dig into without a deeper knowledge of the transaction.

[shoei]

Well, if we didn't know before, we most certainly can identify the Indians on the forums and the white people from their responses to this thread...

[///M Power-Belgium]

For our ///M's a gas station is a good investment !

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

For our ///M's a gas station is a good investment !

It should be a shell gas station for M Cars. Official fuel of the M division.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

It should be a shell gas station for M Cars. Official fuel of the M division.

Yeah I agree with the V-Power from Shell , high levels of octane are like dope for ///M's...

[eluded]

I have one friend that makes a fortune from his gas stations. It's about the location. In general you don't make much on gas so it's on everything else and a car wash apparently, adds profit.

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

Originally Posted by shoei

Well, if we didn't know before, we most certainly can identify the Indians on the forums and the white people from their responses to this thread...

DEAD

[The Choosey begger]

I wanna open a strip club. shoei and ASBSECU E93

(Serious inquiry)

[smoosh]

Originally Posted by eluded

I have one friend that makes a fortune from his gas stations. It's about the location. In general you don't make much on gas so it's on everything else and a car wash apparently, adds profit.

Car wash can make plenty of profit, but they require a lot of maintenance.

Sell off-brand (due to high franchise fees for brand name) fresh/warm food like pizza, wings, sandwiches/subs, etc. Easy money maker/customer builder.

We had Hunt Brothers Pizza...not many people have heard of it, but absolutely delicious and very cheap to purchase in bulk. We were "the" place to go to buy it...a gas station, keep in mind. Also had various sandwiches ready to eat in the heater display. Profit margin was 15x the cost of production, and they sold like clockwork because it was convenient for your average construction worker or government employee in a hurry.

So my point is...location is everything.

[Maynard]

Laundries are also real popular in college neighborhoods, especially w/ some add-on sales if you don't just want the 'empty the change' level of involvement - in Ohio they were discovering the 'suds n suds' (beer to drink while your clothes went through) but that needs a liquor license.

[BMW F22]

We looked over the station among other things and at this point we're not going through with it. High investment and the ROI could be a bit iffy. Definitely agree with everyone about location being very important. The ones located near major highways or high traffic areas are super busy all the time.

Originally Posted by 335coupe2007

If I can give you another option- a business that's often looked over is a laundromat . Obviously it's a location based business meaning, it will be most profitable in the " hood" if you will. My father owned one for 15 years and made a lot of money. It runs by itself, it's a cash only business for the most part. You come maybe once a day to take money of the machines etc.
I have three kids climbing over me right now so I can't go much into detail but if you're looking for a great investment and you have some "ehhhh" neighborhoods around you maybe in the next city or two-- look to see if any are for sale...... and do your research on it!

It's a goal of mine to own when I retire

Good luck!

Good recommendation and I agree 100%. Ex's family has one and they seemed to do well. GF's friend's family also has one (maybe two) and they are pretty well off. Will have to look into this more as perhaps my parents can run this when they retire. Thank you.

[Ali Shiralian]

If you wanna find yourself a job maybe, otherwise absolutely not...

[shoei]

Originally Posted by anglo

I wanna open a strip club. shoei and ASBSECU E93

(Serious inquiry)

Strip clubs can make plenty of profit, but require lots of maintenance...

Sell off-brand (due to high franchise fees for brand names) fresh warm foods like pizza, wings, sandwiches and subs etc. Easy money maker customer builder.

Okay all kidding aside, strip clubs aren't as profitable as they used to be. There are exceptions of course - say Vegas or mining towns, etc. Dealing with a building full of dancers isn't a walk in the park either... Topless so you can serve alcohol ? Then you lose customers to fully nude, but fully nude means you can't serve alcohol, so you lose customers who want to booze... I wouldn't recommend it - not with porn so readily available on your cell phones even if you want. Porn industry took a nose dive as well due to amateurs and the interwebs. But I mean, you can do this with just about everything. Blockbuster / Hollywood Video got knocked out by Redbox. Redbox pretty much got knocked out by Netflix. List goes on.

Marijuana industry if you are looking to make a buck. You'd still be a little late to the game, but if you're savvy enough, you could still make better coin than opening up a strip club... You'd also have to live in a specific state(s)...

[Germanauto]

I should know, I'm Indian.

But we moved from being Apu in the 80s and 90s to working in IT nowadays.

[DeliAhjusshi]

Friend owned an Exxon station and said it was the worst mistake he's ever made. Open 24 hours, hard to find good employees that don't steal, had to work 72 hours straight once due to employees quiting flaking etc. You also need a huge amount of cash on hand to purchase gas. It doesn't help that a wawa super gas station went up across the street. He went on and on but that's all I can remember.

Personally I'd just buy a liquor store.

[lexamckenzie]

It surely is a good investment, my friend owned one and so far the income is good compared to their hardware store. It really sometimes depends on the price and the location itself.

[PoorLurker]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

I still think you should buy stocks. I just made $2.4K just today alone! All you need is money to make more money, and $250K is enough to get started.

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

There are people that make $250k a day.....but what if you loose? Aren't markets over inflated now anyway?

Bimmer - how long have you been trading? You bought and sold to make $2400 minus the capital gains... Or your portfolio increased $2400? I remember thinking I could "just" buy low sell high, do technical analysis with multiple charts to see which stocks to buy with multiple outs (such as hold for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, hour, or a day), etc...etc... At the end of the day, when times are good, times are good. When times are bad,... And just remember, when one person is losing money in the stock, someone is making money. People talk about how bad the great recession was, but there were so many people out there making money buying everything at steep discounts. Those with money make money, those leveraged will make money in a boom economy and if they leverage too much, they bust with everyone else. Greed is a hell of a drug.



@OP what does good investment look like? Sit there and make $50k/yr passively? $250k/yr working it?

I see a lot of families owning hotels, liquor stores, and gas stations. Do you want to work one or hire someone to manage it? Like someone mentioned with certain jobs, it's hard to hire quality dependable people with strong work ethic.

Laundromat? This is a photo after my friend Fiona bought a laundromat.


Luckily, she was able to get out with a small profit when a neighborhood developer came through.

shoei is right- In the late 90s, If I was to tell people that a box would bring down Blockbuster, people would laugh in my face. If I was to tell people at Microsoft that they shouldn't invest one penny into a online encyclopedia because a free "user contributed" place would waste their money, people would laugh. Wikipedia isn't laughing.