Maximize Your Profitability Through Dental Real Estate

By: Ken Jorgenson, CARR

Let’s start with some basics regarding your dental real estate:

  1. Unless you own a mobile clinic, you will need an office space to see patients.
  2. A practice’s office lease or mortgage is typically its second-highest expense.
  3. In today’s economy, maximizing profitability is not only a desire, it’s essential for most practices to stay in business.

If you own a practice, you most likely have an office. That office carries with it many expenses, including monthly rent or mortgage. With an office space also comes staff and payroll as well. These two items are not only needed to have a practice but are also the two highest expenses for most practices.

That being the case, only one of them is negotiable.

Dental Real Estate is Negotiable

Real estate is 100% negotiable.

You can decide if you want to be in an office building, retail center, or medical office building, and you can choose to lease or own.

You can determine the size, location, and amenities your space will offer. You can choose to be in a stand-alone or multi-tenant building.

You can determine the length of the lease, concessions you ask for, economic terms, business terms, etc.

So How Can You Maximize the Opportunity?

To start, you need to understand how the game is played.

You are a healthcare professional who might engage in two to six commercial transactions in your career.

Most landlords and sellers, however, negotiate professionally for a living. You specialize in your field, and they specialize in their field.

Have Real Estate Representation

The process and outcome are based on comprehensive real estate market knowledge, authoritative posturing, and negotiation expertise.

Winning requires having more options, understanding the correct timing, posture, and negotiation tactics that landlords use, and being able to withstand the stress and conflict that many landlords and sellers use to exploit unsophisticated tenants and buyers.

Let’s focus on a few of these concepts.

  • Timing: If you start the transaction at the wrong time, you lose leverage and posture.
  • Market: If you don’t know the market, you are simply begging or bluffing.
  • Conflict: If you can’t handle conflict, you will most likely receive even more pressure and stress from the landlord or seller to make you uncomfortable and force you into making a decision that you will regret.

And even if you could overcome all of these, without professional representation, you are going to be viewed as a novice and are not going to receive the respect that is necessary to achieve the most favorable terms available to you.

Up Next: Dealing with “Imposter Syndrome” in Your Dental Career

Photo Credit

Note: “Neon Real Estate Sign” by griffithchris is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Ken Jorgenson

Ken Jorgenson

Ken Jorgenson is CARR’s National Director. He leads several Corporate Teams creating platforms and efficiencies which help support CARR’s Agents, Clients, and Relationships. Prior to joining CARR in 2015, Ken had a successful career in the advertising industry.