Purchasing a business vs opening a business

[Harold Mansfield]

Well, the only other business I'd ever considering opening is a Bar, Restaurant/Bar, or Nightclub. I'd never do the nightclub alone at this age, so that's probably out.
As far as bars/ restaurants go, I know of a few great locations of existing venues with bad marketing skills that I would be interested in buying and rebranding/redesigning over starting new.

All things being equal and cash was no problem, if the right opportunity and location arose to build from scratch, I'd do that too.

It all depends on the situation. The main thing being, I know that business. So I could make either work.
I wouldn't ever buy or start a business that required lots of cash, that I didn't already know how to work and run or had a trustworthy team that did.

[vangogh]

It's a tough choice. So far the businesses I've owned have been started by me and they've all been online. I want to say I'd prefer always starting my own business, but I can seeing buying one too. I'll stick to online businesses. There are always sites up for sale. If I thought I could add value to the business I'd consider buying it. For example say a site isn't doing well, but has a good product and gets reasonable traffic. It's problem is poor design and copy. I think I'd be able to improve that site and have it make more money. In that case I'd certainly consider buying the business, depending on price and other typical factors.

I don't see myself owning a business with a physical location, but I'd imagine it would be the same. In my head I'd prefer starting the business, but realistically if I found the right business I'd buy it.

One thing to add is that I doubt I'd actively be seeking a business to buy. It would be more a case of discovering the opportunity to buy it and deciding if I was interested. I might actively seek websites to buy, though if that were the case it would likely be because I started a business fixing and flipping websites.