FranchiseVerdict
Cait’s Estate Sales logo
FV-00439·MODERATEExcellent86

Cait’s Estate Sales

OtherFranchising since 2025Website
Investment
$84K – $116K
28th pct Other
Avg revenue
$596K
21st pct Other
Royalty
6.5%
33rd pct Other
Units
2
14th pct Other
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $84K – $116K including a $50K franchise fee, 6.5% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $596K/year. Estimated payback in 0.8 years.
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 60/100.
  • Emerging franchise — only 1 year of franchising with 2 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Caits Estate Services, Inc.
Incorporated in
Illinois
HQ
10201 191st Street, Mokena, IL 60448
Auditor
Kezos & Dunlavy
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$0
Most recent fiscal year

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one Cait’s Estate Sales unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $596,362
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: generic
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $84K–$116K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $10K–$15K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

82%

Above typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$92K
EBITDA margin
15.5%
Total invested
$113K
Payback
15 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing

What would 25 Cait’s Estate Sales units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

49.9%

7.57× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

1.88×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$1.0M

on $5.1M purchase

Total debt

$4.1M

SBA $2.5M + senior + seller note

Overview

About

Franchisees operate estate sale services, conducting appraisals, managing liquidation events for estates, and handling client acquisition/logistics. Day-to-day operations involve scheduling estate walkdowns, marketing sales to local audiences, coordinating pickup/delivery, and managing back-office accounting and client relations.

CEO
George Venturella
Founded
2025
FDD year
2025
States available
0

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$84K – $116K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$10K – $15K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$50K
Royalty
6.5%
Gross Revenues · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
1.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
7.5%
vs 9–13% typical
Payback period
0.8 yrs
From v3 / Item 19

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$596K
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
Item 19 type
Actual
Sample size
2 units
vs category median 20 · small
Range (low → high)
$147K$1.0M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
9 / 5
vs category median 3 / 5 · above
Revenue rank21th
vs Other peers
Investment cost rank28th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank33th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank14th
vs Other peers
Risk score rank41th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
2
Opened
0
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
2
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
0%
vs corporate-owned
2023
0±0
Franchised units
2024
0
Franchised units
2025
0
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 14 states with active franchisees

The Territory Map

Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 14 states
Not registered

States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

No SBA loan data available for this brand.

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

60
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE60 / 100

Micro-franchise system with unverified financials, no going concern status, and insufficient operational track record to validate investment returns.

Score breakdown · what drove the 60 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDOnly 2 franchise units with unknown growth trajectory indicates extremely limited system scale and unproven scalability
  2. 02MEDNo Item 19 financial performance representations disclosed — cannot independently verify the $596,362 average revenue claim
  3. 03HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE, suggesting potential financial instability or undisclosed operational concerns at franchisor level
  4. 04MINORHigh franchise fee ($49,900) relative to system size creates significant franchisee risk with minimal brand infrastructure support
  5. 05MINOR6.5% royalty on claimed $596K revenue = ~$38,764 annual ongoing payments with only 2-unit reference base for validation

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Geographic Area
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
7 years
Renewal term
5 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
Illinois

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
27 hrs
On-the-job training
36 hrs
POS system
Cait's Management
Operating tech stack

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

14 numbers

Locked
(651) 539-••••
MN
(212) 416-••••
NY
(503) 378-••••
OR

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Cait’s Estate Sales · FDD (2025) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above