What is a broker opinion of value?
How it works is the process: intro call → recast → blind teaser → NDA → staged room → competing qualified buyers → LOI → diligence → close. The broker opinion lives at the front of that sequence. It is not sworn. It is not for a courtroom. It is not a lender’s collateral report.
BizBuySell’s 2.75x SDE median and GF Data’s 7.2x EBITDA average (both 2021–2026 vintage recaps) are climate the opinion will cite in the correct room. Citing both in the same sentence as if they were one method is how opinions go bad.
Illinois regulates business brokers through the Secretary of State Securities Department (Source: ILSOS business broker page). That is a licensing and notice fact, not an appraisal credential. Do not confuse the two.
What is a credentialed appraisal?
A written report by a person who holds the credential the user of the report requires — lender, trustee, court, or a buy-sell that names “appraiser.” The engagement letter states the standard of value: fair market value, fair value, investment value. Those words are not synonyms. Partner buyouts, estates, and divorce is the assignment page.
A business appraisal is not an M&E appraisal. OLV, FMV in continued use, and FLV are iron standards. A plant may need both reports. A broker opinion is neither.
SBA 7(a) still caps at $5 million (Source: SBA). Some credits will want a business valuation, an M&E appraisal, or both. Ask the lender. Do not assume a CIM recast satisfies the credit memo.
Who needs which document?
| User | Usual document | Why the other fails |
|---|---|---|
| Owner taking a plant to market | Broker opinion | Appraisal timing and cost; not a buyer-set tool |
| Buyer negotiating a CIM | Broker opinion + their QoE | Appraisal may come later for the lender |
| Lender on iron or goodwill | Appraisal / M&E as specified | A teaser is not collateral |
| ESOP trustee | Independent appraisal | Marketed CIM is the wrong instrument |
| Court, estate, divorce, buy-sell | Appraisal under the named standard | Broker opinion is not sworn work |
| Partner who wants a quiet sale | Start with the opinion; add appraisal if the agreement requires it | Do not guess |
IBBA Pulse Q1 2026: 83% of deals over $5 million drew three or more offers (Source: IBBA). That statistic argues for a marketed broker opinion when the job is price discovery. It does not argue for using a teaser as a court exhibit.
Why Jason Taken will not blur the line
Because mixing the jobs is how people get angry at the wrong professional. A seller who needed a divorce appraisal and got a CIM is not served. A seller who needed a marketed process and got a 90-page report no buyer will read is not served either.
About Jason Taken states the role: business broker, HedgeStone Business Advisors. Not attorney, not appraiser, not export officer, not ESOP trustee, not lender. The only conversion path on this page is the intro call. There is no form.
Stanford’s search-fund median (6.2x EBITDA, ~25% margin; Source: Stanford GSB) is a buyer-set fact a broker opinion may cite. It is not a court standard of value.
How should a seller sequence the two?
If the job is a confidential sale, start with the broker opinion and the sell-side process. If a lender, trustee, or court will rely on a number, hire the appraiser the document names. If both jobs exist — a partner buyout that might become a marketed sale — do not use this website as the report. Use it to understand why the standards will not match, then hire the right person for each job.
The valuation pillar keeps the long table. The calculator keeps the cells. This page keeps the professional names from collapsing into one word: “value.”
What the intro call will and will not produce
It will produce a working cell, a buyer-set sketch, and a list of documents that decide whether you need an appraiser this month. It will not produce a sworn value. It will not produce a lender-ready report. It will not produce a divorce exhibit. If that is what you needed, you will leave the call with a referral path, not a CIM outline.
Bring the agreement that names the standard if you have one. Bring the lender’s request if you have one. Bring the tax returns either way. Twenty minutes is enough to sort the jobs. It is not enough to recast a $6 million-EBITDA file.
How the two fees should be thought about without quoting either
A broker opinion is paid as part of a marketed process, typically through the engagement to sell. An appraisal is a professional fee for a report. They are not substitutes and they are not a package discount on this website. Ask each professional. Do not assume one invoice covers both jobs.
M&E and real-estate appraisals are additional engagements. A business appraisal that “includes iron” still may not satisfy a lender who wants USPAP M&E. Ask.
A sequencing that keeps everyone in their lane
Marketed sale only → broker opinion → process.
Lender-required value → ask the lender which report → hire that credential.
Buy-sell / estate / divorce → counsel → named appraiser.
Possible sale after a partner dispute → counsel first, then decide whether a teaser is allowed.
How it works is lane one. This page is the fork. About Jason Taken is the role reminder. Illinois business-broker regulation is not an appraisal credential. Do not blur them in a letter to a judge.
How to leave the intro call with the right next professional
If you needed a marketed range, you leave with a cell, a buyer-set sketch, and a document list for a recast. If you needed a lender report, you leave with the lender’s named standard and a referral to that credential. If you needed a court or buy-sell number, you leave with counsel and an appraiser, not a CIM outline. Sorting those three jobs is the useful output of twenty minutes.
Bring the paper that names the standard if it exists. Bring the credit request if it exists. Bring tax returns either way. Do not bring a slide that says manufacturing is 5x. Illinois business-broker regulation is not an appraisal credential. M&E and real-estate reports are additional engagements. Ask each professional. Do not assume one invoice covers three jobs.
Educational information only. Not an appraisal and not legal or tax advice. No value is guaranteed. Book a confidential intro call when you want to know which document you actually need.
A three-job sort that twenty minutes can actually finish
Marketed range, lender report, or court and buy-sell number. Those are three jobs. They do not share a cover page. Bring the paper that names the standard. Bring the credit request. Bring tax returns. Leave with a cell and a document list, or with a referral to the named credential, or with counsel and an appraiser. Do not leave with a CIM outline if you needed a sworn value. Illinois business-broker regulation is not an appraisal credential. M&E and dirt reports are additional engagements. One invoice does not cover three jobs.
A closer read on three jobs
Marketed range, lender report, or court and buy-sell number. Bring the paper that names the standard. Bring the credit request. Bring tax returns. Leave with a cell and a document list, or with a referral to the named credential, or with counsel and an appraiser. Do not leave with a CIM outline if you needed a sworn value. Illinois business-broker regulation is not an appraisal credential. M&E and dirt reports are additional engagements. One invoice does not cover three jobs. A calculator table is educational. Printing it does not make it a report.
Which inbox should receive which document
A lender who asked for a going-concern appraisal wants a signed report under a written standard. A seller who asked what the plant might bring if taken to market wants a broker opinion sequenced to size band and sub-sector. A court that asked for fair value wants the credential the order named. Putting all three requests into one PDF titled “valuation” is how people later claim they were promised a number nobody was licensed to give.
Jason Taken is a business broker registered where Illinois requires it. That registration is not an appraisal credential. He will say so on the first call. He will also say when the facts point to an M&E report, a real-estate appraisal, or both in addition to a marketed range. One invoice does not cover three professions.
A website table labeled advisor-survey and reported-deal ranges is an educational exhibit. Printing it does not create a report. Citing BizBuySell’s 2.75 times median SDE for manufacturing listings from 2021 through 2025 does not create a report either. Those figures describe a population of listed Main Street manufacturers. They do not appraise your bay.
Bring the credit request, the buy-sell, or the order if you have one. Leave with a cell and a document list, or with a referral to the named credential, or with counsel. Do not leave with a CIM outline if you needed a sworn value. Do not leave with a sworn-value promise if you needed a marketed process.
M&E and dirt reports are additional engagements even when the same plant is for sale. The operating multiple assumes market rent and cash-free debt-free working capital. The building is a second stack. Mixing those stacks is a different error from mixing appraisal and opinion. Both errors show up in week seven if nobody named the jobs in week one.