Market Prices of Dental Practices – A Closer Look
“What are practices going for?” I get asked this question a lot. I like to ask the following question back. Are you buying a house to live in or a rental unit? This of course usually gets me a confused look, as the person asking me this is looking for a practice and not a property. Let me explain my analogy.
A residential house is a non-cash producing, market-based asset. Its value is largely determined by the resale value of similar houses in the area. Most of the big purchases we make in life are in this category. Paying ten percent too much for such an asset usually is a bad move. Being a good shopper really pays off.
Conversely, let us look at a rental unit. Actually, let us look at two rental units. Both units are very similar on a physical basis and are two blocks apart. Unit one is selling for $250,000. Unit two is selling for $300,000. Unit one is the better deal, right? What if I told you unit one ends up losing $100 a month after everything is paid for? What if I told you unit two ends up making $200 a month after everything is paid for?
If you approached the rental unit only worried about the asking price, you are looking at the wrong numbers. If you are looking at practices only based on asking price based on a percentage of gross collections, you are doing the same thing. I have seen practices selling for 50% of gross collections that are overpriced. I have seen practices selling for 90% of gross collections that are a steal.
My advice is to not go it alone. Seek out qualified transition specialists. Find the practice that enriches your future.
Read MoreSelling Your Practice Yourself – Penny Smart and Dollar Foolish
You’ve heard the stories of people doing their own electrical work on their house only to be electrocuted when they try fixing the bathroom light while standing in the bathtub full of water. Or the person who decides to fix his brakes on his car only to accidentally cut his brake line and end up driving off a cliff. They have awards for some of these mishaps. They’re called the Darwin Awards.
Deciding to sell your own practice may not give you a fate as extreme as the Darwin Awards, but it could cost you money, your staff, lose patients for the buyer, or end up in a lawsuit. That’s if the sale even makes it all the way to the closing table. I have been selling practices for 15 years. I keep thinking I have seen it all, but then something out of the blue pops up. For example, I was called as an expert witness to review agreements in a prior sale where the buyers were suing the seller. The buyers thought they were buying a practice and a building. They wanted to save money and not use a broker, or an attorney. The buyers showed up at the practice after closing only to find an empty space. It turned out, they just bought the building and not the practice. The agreement used was a real estate purchase and sale agreement and was not for a practice sale – a big and costly mistake on both sides.
Lenders and attorneys report that practices that are sold without a broker have a 50% chance of failing before the practice closes. I believe the failure rate to be higher than that. Reasons they fail include buyers losing interest, seller and buyer can’t negotiate a disputed item or clause, seller and buyer don’t know the steps to the transaction, and confidentiality is breached by one of the parties. A failed sale can disrupt a practice if the staff leaves knowing the practice is on the market.
When selling a practice, you need to wear a lot of hats and possess expertise in a wide variety of areas. Transition consultants need to be knowledgeable in law, accounting, tax, real estate, valuations, psychology, negotiations, design, equipment, technology, software, project management, sales, analysis, practice management, human resources, and mediation. In addition, you need to have a lot of extra time. On average it takes 200 hours to sell a practice a lot more if the sale is to a corporate buyer. That time includes gathering data to do the valuation. Putting the valuation together. Developing a prospectus or offering. Creating advertising, placing the ad, taking phone calls, meeting prospective buyers, doing background checks on buyers, talking with lenders, assisting buyers in due diligence, working with attorneys, negotiating bumps in the road, reviewing agreements, and more.
You also run a financial risk. You could undervalue your practice or get taken by a buyer who is good at talking and negotiating a good deal for themselves. If there is a corporate buyer involved, you need a broker even more. Brokers can assist in negotiating amongst several corporate buyers to ensure you get not only the best value for your practice but also the best terms. Corporate transactions require a lot more scrutiny, due diligence, negotiating, and time. Done right and with patience and you also can reap the reward.
Selling your practice on your own may not get you a Darwin Award. But, doing so comes with a lot of risks and requires a lot of time and expertise. Why risk the equity you have built up over the years to save money? Pennywise and dollar foolish could cost you thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars as well as non-monetary losses.
Give Omni a call today for a free consultation and learn how we can help. Call 877-866-6053 or email info@omni-pg.com.
Read MoreLearn about our Everyone for Veterans Webinar January 22
With Jen Bennett, OMNI Practice Group
Please join us for an inspirational webinar to hear how Dr. Theresa Cheng went beyond oral health to help heal our veteran heroes, and hear from others to learn one simple thing you can adopt in your practice to help veterans in your community.
Steps to Purchasing a Practice
Happy New Year! Thank goodness 2020 is over and we can start looking forward to 2021. We all hope this is a year of change. We hope to begin getting control of COVID-19 with vaccines and some immunity for those who caught and survived COVID. There will be a change in the Presidency. Hopefully, there will be a change and restaurants can be fully open again. But what about you? Is this the year you change and become a practice owner?
Most dentists dream of eventually owning their own dental practice. But dentists tend to put off ownership for a variety of reasons. A couple of big reasons are that you have never done it before, you are not familiar with the process, or you’re just completely afraid of the unknown.
A great philosopher once said, “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball”. What does that have to do with buying a practice? A lot actually. What the philosopher is referring to is that if you can dodge an object, a wrench, for example, you can dodge another object, such as a ball. Applying this theorem to the practice buying world, if you have ever completed a major purchase, or made a major decision, the process and steps are the same.
We know you have made major decisions in your life, otherwise, you wouldn’t have a D.D.S. or D.M.D. behind your name. You decided which dental school to go to. In doing so, you did research. You looked at the pros and cons of each dental school and weighed them. You may have talked with some friends or mentors who went to those schools. You analyzed other factors like the location, cost, and how good of dentist the schools have turned out. You also may look at socio-economic considerations. Then, you made the decision and lived with it. And here you are facing another major decision in your life. Purchasing a dental practice.
Buying a dental practice is similar. The first step is figuring out the variables of what type of practice you want. Where do you want to practice? How many operatories do you want to have? Do you want to own the real estate? Do you want a practice with high production or one that you can build? Cosmetic, or bread and butter crown and bridge practice? Once you’ve come up with your criteria, the next step is to locate potential practices that may be on the market. You may also consider doing a startup. You analyze the practices that are on the market. You may see one or two you like. You contact the broker to get information on the practice. This is typically called a practice prospectus or practice offering memorandum. Some brokers will send tax returns, profit, and loss statements, and practice management reports upfront. You get all this information, and it looks like it’s written in Latin. You may not have any clue how to read the reports. The broker can go over the numbers with you, or you can also hire a Buyers Representative, phone a friend who knows the business, or possibly a CPA. After you have looked at the numbers and that passes your and your advisor’s scrutiny, the next step is to go see the practice.
You contact the broker and set up a showing of a couple of practices. Looking at a practice is like looking at a house for sale. You may see things you like and things you don’t like. But know that things can be changed. I have had doctors decide they don’t want a practice because the carpet is outdated, or the paint is ugly. There are people who can paint and change out the carpet. They do it for a living. They’re called painters and carpet layers. So, don’t exclude a practice because it’s ugly. Have a little vision and think about how you may make it your own style.
Another one that throws potential buyers off is equipment. The patient chairs may be older, or they may not have a pano or cone-beam. Chairs are very reasonable these days. I have seen middle-range quality chairs for $5,000 to $7,500. Remember, you may be in this practice for 20+ years. Spreading out the cost of new chairs, even if it’s $50,000, can be as little as $2,000 per year. That’s a few crowns a year.
After you have looked at the practice, you like the location, but there may be one or two things that do not fit your criteria. Remember that the cash flow of the practice is always the number one consideration. I have been selling practices for 15 years and I have seen some ugly, small, outdated practices collecting $1,000,000 and taking home $500,000. I have seen ugly practices collecting $400,000 and taking home $250,000 on 3 days of work per week. Don’t judge the book by its cover. It’s what’s inside, or the cash flow inside that really counts.
After you have decided that this is a good practice and you would like to purchase the practice, you make an offer through a letter of intent. It’s a non-binding agreement where the broker typically provides a template. You can either come up with your own offer or work with your advisor to come up with the offer. If it’s a good practice and the broker has reasonably priced the practice, make a good offer close to or at the asking price. DO NOT LOW BALL THE PURCHASE PRICE IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT PURCHASING THE PRACTICE! You will just upset the seller and they won’t even want to work with you after receiving a low-ball offer.
You will want to begin contacting bankers who specialize in dental practice financing. Brokers know most all of them and which ones are lending at the moment. Ask the broker for a name or two. The banker will ask for your personal financials. They love to see you have some cash in the bank and not much credit card debt. Bankers will be more interested in how the practice is doing. They love to see a practice with great cash flow.
You next jump into due diligence on the practice after the offer has been accepted. You go into the practice on the weekend and go through the charts, x-rays, equipment, etc. There are checklists you can use to do the due diligence or bring along an advisor. However, be careful with advisors as some will just want to look for the bad things in the practice. Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater if they point out the hygiene is only 23% when it should be 30%. Remember, almost everything can be fixed. Just note it and continue on.
If everything goes well on the due diligence, you let the broker know you are moving forward. The seller’s attorney will draft up agreements. You will then hire your own attorney. Ask your advisor or broker for a dental-specific attorney. Using a non-dental attorney will cost you additional money. After the agreements have been “agreed” upon, the next and final step is closing. At closing, you sign the agreements and take over the practice.
There are some additional steps in the process that your broker can help you with, but these are the basic steps in purchasing a practice. So, just like purchasing anything else or making any major decisions, you just need to go through the steps, rely on your advisors, and dodge those wrenches! As always, we are here for you for a free consultation, just give one of our experienced brokers a call.
Read MoreImportant Information for Associates
Frank Sciabica, DDS, and broker at OMNI Practice Group offers some words of advice for dental associates. If you have questions, call Frank at 425-985-8390 or email frank@omni-pg.com. He’d be happy to help!