Career Opportunities

VR is nearly fully staffed at this time and has but one opening for a highly qualified individual fluent in Japanese for the Honolulu market. Contact if interested.

Market Saturated
The market for business brokers in Hawaii is saturated. Hawaii has one of the highest concentrations of commercial and residential real estate agents in the world. (For example, the Maui board of realtors had 1800+ agents serving a population of 120,000 in Dec 2007. That is 1.5 agents for every 100 people.) As there is nowhere near enough real estate activity for all of these agents to earn a good living, more than 100 of these agents "dabble" in business brokerage, representing 1 or 2 businesses per year. Almost all have no idea how to sell businesses – just as we have no idea how to sell real estate – but that doesn't stop them from trying.

In addition, dozens of local attorneys, CPAs and business consultants frequently attempt to sell their clients' businesses. They reason that they know their client and the task seems related to their field so why not give it a try. Again, they have almost no experience or training, no knowledge of where or how to market a business to get maximum value for their client, no database of buyers to reach out to, etc. But they do have the client's trust and an established relationship, and that goes a long way in Hawaii.

Finally, some business brokerage firms are continually selling business brokerage franchises here in Hawaii, to further flood the market. The vast majority of new business brokers fail, but if the franchise seller gets a big franchise/ training fee up front, that is not their concern. More than 80% of the Hawaii business broker agents that were active when VR opened its office here have left the market. Some of the remaining are on their way out due to declining fortunes. Turnover in this business is extremely high.

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