Broker Vs. No Broker
Thinking of selling your practice but don’t want to pay the broker’s commission? Think again. History shows that any time you sell your business and/or real estate yourself, the chance of failure of the transaction is over 50%. A commission will be much more digestible than the result if you try to do it yourself. We receive calls from senior veterinarians stating they sold their practices and took payments and it didn’t work out. After one year, they often must take the practice back and struggle to resurrect it to try and sell again. This is typically an experience that is new to both buyers and sellers. It takes time, marketing expertise, sales experience, buyer and advisor contacts, and lots of patience.
Your broker may spend hundreds of hours on your transition and your time is better spent at the clinic and planning your retirement agenda. Brokers do lots of specialized marketing which can be costly and time-consuming, and it includes many weekends and evenings meeting with potential buyers. When working with a broker, the average practice sells in about 6 months so selling it alone can be much longer. Your broker should have a list of qualified buyers and a commercial real estate license. If you own your space, it’s often critical to sell the building at the same time or get a solid agreement together for future purchase. Time and time again we see senior veterinarians sell the practice and lease the space with a loose agreement and lose their renter. The buyer decides they like a newer building down the street and leave you with an empty veterinary building.
A good broker will determine the value of your practice and there is much that goes into this process. It’s not just about collections. Everyone’s goal should be to sell at a fair price in a timely manner. If the price isn’t “right”, the banks won’t finance, and you certainly don’t want to carry the loan. If you get pressured to sell too low, which we often see, you can lose tens of thousands of dollars. Brokers spend a lot of time working with all the trusted advisors you need such as veterinary specific banks, CPAs, and attorneys to determine the value of your practice and facilitate a smooth and successful transition.
Broker Vs. No Broker
Thinking of selling your practice but don’t want to pay the broker’s commission? Think again. History shows that any time you sell your business and/or real estate yourself, the chance of failure of the transaction is over 50%. A commission will be much more digestible than the result if you try to do it yourself. We receive calls from senior veterinarians stating they sold their practices and took payments and it didn’t work out. After one year, they often must take the practice back and struggle to resurrect it to try and sell again. This is typically an experience that is new to both buyers and sellers. It takes time, marketing expertise, sales experience, buyer and advisor contacts, and lots of patience.
Your broker may spend hundreds of hours on your transition and your time is better spent at the clinic and planning your retirement agenda. Brokers do lots of specialized marketing which can be costly and time-consuming, and it includes many weekends and evenings meeting with potential buyers. When working with a broker, the average practice sells in about 6 months so selling it alone can be much longer. Your broker should have a list of qualified buyers and a commercial real estate license. If you own your space, it’s often critical to sell the building at the same time or get a solid agreement together for future purchase. Time and time again we see senior veterinarians sell the practice and lease the space with a loose agreement and lose their renter. The buyer decides they like a newer building down the street and leave you with an empty veterinary building.
A good broker will determine the value of your practice and there is much that goes into this process. It’s not just about collections. Everyone’s goal should be to sell at a fair price in a timely manner. If the price isn’t “right”, the banks won’t finance, and you certainly don’t want to carry the loan. If you get pressured to sell too low, which we often see, you can lose tens of thousands of dollars. Brokers spend a lot of time working with all the trusted advisors you need such as veterinary specific banks, CPAs, and attorneys to determine the value of your practice and facilitate a smooth and successful transition.
HARVESTING YOUR EQUITY IN YOUR PRACTICE
You Don’t Have To Retire If You Sell Your Practice
By Rod Johnston, MBA, CMA
A few years ago, I decided to sell my house in Kirkland, WA. I wasn’t planning on moving anywhere. I still planned on living for quite a while longer. I didn’t have any health issues, nor was I downsizing from my 1,100 square foot house to a smaller house. I purchased the house almost 20 years prior and it was nearly paid off, so I had quite a bit of equity built up into it. I had just decided it was time to harvest the equity I had built up in the house and use part of the equity to buy something else, part of it to put towards retirement, and part of it to have as a safety cushion for a rainy day. I’m glad I sold the house as it was over 1/3 of an acre and had a lot of flower beds and landscaping. It was also getting older and required quite a bit of maintenance.
I’m telling you this story because you can do the same thing with your practice. You have put in many years of hard work in your practice. It may need maintenance every year that you may be tired of taking care of. After 20 years of staff issues, they may be getting to you. Maybe you just had a new corporate move in down the street, and you’re worried about competing against them. It could be that you just want to be a veterinarian and just want to see patients – not manage staff, clean the office, pay the bills, deal with the leaking roof, post to the office Facebook or Twitter pages, come up with new ads to get clients in the door or any of the other 100 items that are required of a veterinary practice owner. I know, as I’m also a business owner – and who do you think cleans our toilets on the weekends?
No laws say you must own a practice to be a veterinarian. You can Harvest your Equity from your practice and continue to be a veterinarian. Imagine getting hundreds of thousands, if not millions, out of your practice, continue to work in your own practice, or go to work in a different practice if you choose and no longer have to manage a practice. You can put the money you receive to work for you in a retirement or investment account. You can free up some of your time to enjoy your family. You can buy a vacation home that you’ve always dreamed of, or just simply put the money away for a rainy day and continue to work.
So, what are the steps to Harvesting Your Practice Equity?
- Set up a free consultation with one of our advisors.
- Have a practice valuation done on your practice.
- Meet with your financial advisor to discuss your plan and the valuation.
- Meet again with an Omni Advisor to discuss possible options in selling your practice and the feasibility of working back in the practice.
- Let Omni take over the selling process and find a buyer that matches your needs. The “your” is vitally important as we are matchmakers and want to find a buyer who will be a near-perfect fit for you, your practice staff, clients, and the community.
- Close on the sale of your practice and plan your new, less stressful life.
That’s all there is to it to take back control of your life. Of course, there will be some work between steps such as running reports, meeting with a potential buyer(s), and discussing options with your advisors. But if you rely on Omni and other experts, the process can be simple.
We have helped numerous veterinarians who sold their practice and are working back in their practice or are working for someone else and appreciating their newfound joy again being a veterinarian and helping animals get better. The first step is the easiest. Just give us a call at 360-941-2341.
Broker versus No Broker
Broker/Production/Collection Consultant, Omni Practice Group
Thinking of selling your practice but don’t want to pay the broker’s commission? Think again. Do you ever refer out procedures because you know the specialist has more experience, may get a better result, and take less time? History shows that any time you sell your business and/or real estate yourself, the chance of failure of the transaction is over 50%. A 7-10% commission will be much more digestible than the result if you try to do it yourself. I receive calls from senior dentists stating they sold their practices and took payments and it didn’t work out. After one year, they often must take the practice back and struggle to resurrect it to try and sell again. This is typically an experience that is new to both buyers and sellers. It takes time, marketing expertise, sales experience, buyer and advisor contacts, and lots of patience.
Your broker may spend hundreds of hours on your transition and your time is better spent at the chair and planning your retirement agenda. Brokers do lots of specialized marketing which can be costly and time-consuming, and it includes many weekends and evenings meeting with potential buyers. When working with a broker, the average practice sells in about 6 months so selling it alone can be much longer. Your broker should have a list of qualified buyers and a real estate license. If you own your space, it’s critical to sell the building at the same time or get a solid agreement together for future purchase. Time and time again we see senior dentists sell the practice and lease the space with a loose agreement and lose their renter. The buyer decides they like a newer building down the street and leave you with an empty dental building.
A good broker will determine the value of your practice and there is much that goes into this process. It’s not just about collections. Everyone’s goal should be to sell at a fair price in a timely manner. If the price isn’t “right”, the banks won’t finance, and you certainly don’t want to carry the loan. If you get pressured to sell too low, which we often see, you can lose tens of thousands of dollars. Brokers spend a lot of time working with all the trusted advisors you need such as dental specific banks, CPAs, and attorneys to determine the value of your practice and facilitate a smooth and successful transition.
Want to Sell Your Practice in 2-5 Years?
Broker/Production/Collection Consultant, Omni Practice Group
If you are considering selling in a few years, contact a broker now that has lots of dental experience and can assist you to prepare. You may want to continue the way you have until you sell, but if you have any interest in doing a few things to secure a higher price and have a desirable practice to buyers, continue to read.
There are usually a few easy ways to increase collections which gives you more money now and in the future at sales time. No, you don’t want to do an expensive remodel and purchase all the new equipment and technology available, but you do want to have up-to-date flooring and paint, and good curb appeal. You can determine your new equipment options with your favorite rep if yours is really old and not functioning properly. A new buyer needs to be able to come in and start producing immediately without shag carpet and 1970s decor.
When did you last update your PPO and UCR fees? The last thing a bank wants their new buyer to do is to raise fees immediately and risk losing patients. Confidently set your fees now based upon your skill level and overhead. Patients expect to pay for quality care and by simply adjusting your fees you could add tens of thousands of dollars.
What is your patient retention? If you’re not looking at this and providing tools to your team to be successful, you could be losing patients without even trying! One easy way to calculate this is to determine if about 2 times 85% of your active patient count equals the number of adult and child prophys and perio-maintenances in the last 12 months. So, if you have 2,000 active patients, you should have completed around 3,400 of codes 1110, 1120, and 4910 in the year. How full are your hygiene schedules in 4 months, 5 months? Ensuring every patient has their next hygiene appointment can increase collections by tens of thousands of dollars and it means you are providing ideal care.
Have you spoken with your CPA and/or financial planner? It’s important to have a plan for the money you will get from the practice sale. There are retirement plans that allow you to put much of it in tax-free, but either way, you will want to get a tax plan together to try to ensure you pay off any debt in a way that makes sense, save as much in taxes as possible, and put your money in the right “place”.
Your CPA and/or financial planner will assist you to determine if you have the money needed to fully retire. If you decide for financial reasons or you’re having too much fun to quit completely, determine if your practice can provide enough patients/money for 2 dentists. The banks will want to know that the new buyer is making enough to pay off the practice debt and feed themselves and family. Do you want to do what it takes to increase new patients? Will you be dropping days? It’s also time to think about how you will truly feel “sharing” your practice. You will not be the owner and you will be living with a new roommate in the space and practice that you created and lead for years.
If you don’t want to make any changes as you practice for the next few years, that’s certainly your choice, but don’t expect your practice price to be higher than reality dictates. If your collections have decreased, banks will want to know why. If collections decrease, ensure spending decreases appropriately as well, such as team payroll and dental supplies. A good dental practice broker can assist you to transition out of your practice in a successful and smooth way. This is a very important time for you and your family.