How do I find a nanny agency for sale?

Nanny and household staffing agencies are small, often owner-run businesses, and few reach a public listing. Buyers usually find them by searching several places at once and by being clear about what kind of agency they want. The words in a listing are loose, so the first job is working out what the business really does for families and for the people it places.

Where these agencies come up

Start with online business-for-sale listings and search for nanny, caregiver, housekeeper and household staffing together. Brokers who work with service businesses may know of quiet sales. Some owners will talk if a buyer writes to them directly. If the agency is part of a franchise, the franchisor may know of resales. Tell people in your network what you are looking for, including your accountant and lawyer.

Placement agency or something else

A listing that says nanny agency may describe a placement agency that introduces a worker to a family, a home care company that schedules its own caregivers, or a service that handles payroll for families. Each earns money differently and carries different records and duties. Ask the broker or owner to explain in plain words who pays the agency, who pays the worker and who supervises the work. Compare the answer with how two kinds of home care agency differ.

First questions to ask

• What does the agency sell, and to whom?
• How much of the work depends on the owner personally?
• How are candidates found and screened, and where are those files kept?
• Why is the owner selling, and how long will they stay to help?

Ask for a short, written description of the business before you sign a confidentiality agreement or request financial statements. If the answers stay vague, the listing probably is not the business you thought it was. For the later steps, see how buyers find a niche business in another sector and adapt the same questions.