[turbo6bar]

It would appear there are several mines in the gas station industry.

1) Gas being sold as a loss leader to drive traffic.
2) Environmental liabilities.
3) Labor intensive.

I have seen three stations for lease. The rent is between $1750 and $5900 NNN. Back of the envelope calculations suggest monthly net income is between $8000-12000/month and does account for employees and less actual management. The owners want $35000-100000 + value of inventory.

The selling price of the business is anywhere from 3-6 times monthly income. It seems like a very low multiplier. The stations are actually in good parts of town, with low/moderate competition. In all cases, the gas sales produce tiny profits. Inside sales are THE profit.

I am not keen on buying commercial industrial or commercial for a few reasons. CAP rates are pretty low (a few points over borrowing rates). Light commercial is overbuilt in the more desirable parts of Memphis. Governments were eager to zone commercial for the property taxes, investors were looking for stable income, and the area became overbuilt, IMO.

I need to do more research. I already do very well on rental properties. I'm not interested in going into a convenience store unless the numbers are really, really good.

stomachmonkey, thanks for the link. Good info in that article.

KC911, I have definitely heard of Sheetz. I plan to make thousands of pennies before they expand to West TN. :-)

Jurgen