Summary
Good article, and method. Growing an agency is quite challenging today. Its always a good idea to tie the buying price to longevity of the book and create an incentive to keep current clients renewing during the transition. The smaller agencies may actually have a better chance today than last year to win new business away from the larger brokerage houses because the larger houses are now prohibited from accepting undisclosed contingency fees that were (and in some cases cases still are) hidden from the client. Additional concerns about what the federal government will do with health insurance creates deeper issues about if the health insurance business has future legs to stand on. That said, many agency brokers are looking hard to find $1M-$5M books to buy, but the buying prices are all over the board, and the market is strong for buying them.
Analysis
Several medical stop loss (HMO reinsurance, Provider Excess loss and Self funded) MGU's have sold recently telling me that these "experts" feel the golden years of medical insurance may be over. That leaves many other personal and commercial lines open for growth.
