Real estate
How it works
Four stages, in plain order. None of it is a commitment, and the first two are worth doing even if you decide ownership is not for you.
- Step 1
Read the lease you are actually in
Most owners have not looked closely at their lease since they signed it. Before anything else, we go through what it says and what it will mean when you eventually sell or bring in a partner.
- Term remaining, renewal options, and who controls them.
- Assignment language, which decides how easily a buyer can take over.
- What the lease says about improvements you already paid for.
- Step 2
Understand the property on its own terms
The building is a separate asset from the practice. It is worth looking at as a piece of property that happens to house a dental office, rather than as an extension of the practice.
- What the space is as a building, independent of your production.
- How specific the dental buildout is and what that means for reuse.
- Whether the current occupancy arrangement helps or hurts the property.
- Step 3
Test it against your career timeline
Ownership of the space is not right for everyone, and the deciding factor is usually how long you plan to be there. We work through that honestly before anything gets structured.
- How many years you expect to practice in this location.
- Whether a practice transition is coming and roughly when.
- What you want the building to do for you after you stop practicing.
- Step 4
Structure it, then hold it through whatever comes next
If ownership fits, the next question is how it is put together and how it survives a practice transition without forcing a rushed decision on the property.
- Coordination with your own attorney, CPA, and lender.
- How the practice and the property stay separable later.
- What happens to the building if the practice changes hands.
If a practice sale is also coming
Keep the two transactions separate in your head. The practice has one set of buyers and one set of timing. The building has another. Deciding both at the same table, in the same week, is where owners give away the part they spent a career building.
Not sure this applies to you? See who this is for.
The other path
Employee ownership is the other path
A staged exit through an employee stock ownership plan addresses the practice rather than the property. The two are separate decisions and either one can come first.
Explore ESOPAbout the numbers on this page
- Any figures or ranges shown here are illustrative examples. They are not a forecast, a promise, or a typical result.
- Nothing on this page is an offer to buy or sell securities, or an offer to enter a transaction of any kind.
- What a property is actually worth, and how a deal is structured, depends on that property's own market, financing, tenancy, and terms.
- Talk to your own tax advisor and your own attorney before making a decision. We are not providing tax, legal, or investment advice.
Know the practice before you decide about the property
The Practice Report Card gives you the practice side of the picture in a few minutes.