I have watched an owner sign a purchase agreement for eight million dollars, sit through a closing six weeks later, and then stare at a wire confirmation that started with a four. Nothing had gone wrong. Nobody cheated him. He had just never asked what his cash at closing number would be, and the answer had been sitting inside his own deal terms the entire time. In thirty-three years of appraising and selling Florida businesses, that conversation is the one I most wish I coul
