Dental Real Estate Services
Thousands of Dental Providers Trust Us
Becoming a dental practice owner takes nearly a decade of higher education, an incredible financial investment, countless hours of studying, and perhaps even more time in a specialty residency. Whether you’re launching your first office, moving locations, or looking to buy a pre-existing practice, we recognize how important it is to you to find the most ideal location that allows you to preserve all those years of hard work and build upon your success for the future of your practice by achieving the most favorable terms possible on your commercial real estate negotiations.
At CARR, we work exclusively on your behalf to cover every detail for your office from start to finish — including analyzing the top property locations that best fit your unique requirements, even down to the ergonomics of operatories, the laboratory, sterilization area, consultation room, and technology utilization. Every nuance of the new space and economics should align with your specialty and your business goals. What’s the ideal property type, signage, visibility, window lines, and parking situation? What about the demographics, neighboring tenants and practices, and market location? We’ll help you find the answers to these questions and much more.
Then, we’ll help you partner with key industry leaders to add value to your team, while ensuring the most successful real estate transaction for your dental practice. This commitment to detail and successful outcomes is why thousands of dentists and dental specialists trust CARR to provide them with experienced advice and guidance for all of their dental real estate needs.
Our Dental Expertise
At CARR, our only business is healthcare real estate — and we’re here to help you benefit from our extensive knowledge and unparalleled experience. Given the nature of our clientele, we understand the unique real estate needs of dentists and dental specialists, including:
- General Dentists
- Cosmetic Dentists
- Pediatric Dentists
- Endodontists
- Periodontists
- Prosthodontists
- Orthodontists
- Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
- And more…
As your dental real estate experts, we handle every facet of your transaction, including site selection with demographic and population analysis, purchase vs. lease evaluation, lease analysis, timeline management, and more.
Our expert commercial real estate services and skilled negotiating ensure you obtain the most favorable terms and concessions possible, while saving a significant amount of your valuable time, and avoiding costly pitfalls, complications, and delays.
Dental Real Estate Services
Just as you help your patients work toward sparkling smiles, healthy teeth, living pain-free, and producing happy outcomes, our team assists dentists and practice owners with all aspects of dental office real estate transactions. Because we live and breathe this industry every day, we know the nuances and intricacies of it — meaning we can help you avoid common traps while also setting yourself up for success in the future.
Maybe you’re wondering if you should purchase or lease your office space? If you should locate in an office building or retail center? Or how many square feet you really need? How about what price per square foot you should pay, how long of a lease you should sign, or how many concessions are really available to you?
Our CARR team is here to help. Whether you are opening your first dental office, buying a new practice, renegotiating an existing lease, purchasing a building, or scaling locally or nationally, CARR’s dental real estate experts will ensure your interests are represented at the highest level.
When it’s time to negotiate a new lease, renegotiate a lease renewal, or purchase commercial real estate, there is a lot more at stake than just the price per square foot. Speak with your CARR Agent today.
When it’s time to negotiate a new lease, renegotiate a lease renewal, or purchase commercial real estate, there is a lot more at stake than just the price per square foot.
Our Dental Real Estate Services
Educational Resources
At CARR, we stand by our belief that tenants and buyers should be represented with zero conflicts of interest. We’re here to help you learn along the way, so you feel knowledgeable and empowered about the process, but also comfortable delegating the details to us. Your CARR representative will answer any questions you have about the process, including negotiating and brokering transactions, so you feel completely informed and in charge at every step.
Our dental real estate expertise is expressed in many ways. In addition to the tools we use to inform and educate, our resources include dozens of articles, press mentions, webinars, podcast appearances, and case studies outlining our proven processes to maximize your financial and time savings.
At CARR, we are here to help guide you through the nuances of dental real estate negotiations and advocate for you with sellers and landlords. Just as you delegate tasks within your practice every day to staff and other key partners, we are here for you to delegate to us, so you can use your time and energy on what you do best: running a successful dental practice and helping your patients.
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Podcasts
Healthcare Real Estate Interviews -
Blog
Industry Leading Commercial Real Estate Information -
FAQ
Common Commercial Real Estate Questions -
Photography
Medical Offices Across the Country -
Glossary
Commercial Real Estate Terminology and Definitions -
Videos
Key Concepts | About CARR | Healthcare Spaces
Dental Office Space For Lease & Rent
Whether you’re opening a new practice or moving locations, it’s difficult to get the data you need to decide whether you should rent or buy your dental office. Your expertise is in your field, and it’s challenging to learn a new industry, obtain key market knowledge and relationships, and truly understand how to negotiate favorable terms with needed posture and a custom strategy.
Is It Better to Rent or Buy a Dentist’s Office Space?
Our CARR agents will help you understand the economics and numbers to break down whether it makes more sense for you to rent or buy your office space, based on your goals and current market conditions. The truth is, there is no one-size-fits-all answer here. That is why analyzing the top market options for lease and purchase, with actual data and evaluation tools is essential. We know time is money for you and we go to great lengths to save your time — so you can keep your attention focused on your practice.
How Much Does Rent Cost For A Dental Office?
The amount you pay for monthly rent depends on a number of factors, including your location, office size / square footage, and market lease rates. In bigger, more populous cities, you can expect to pay more than in smaller, rural towns — especially if your office is in a highly trafficked and easily accessible location.
Similarly, larger, standalone buildings generally carry higher prices per square foot than smaller offices or multi-tenant spaces. Additionally, the age and quality of properties can vary significantly even in the same city or market. Of course, all of these prices reflect current commercial real estate market rates, which are driven by these local factors as well as broader economic trends.
What Are Some Other Key Expenses Dentists Have To Pay For?
Monthly rent for your office space is a major cost consideration – typically your second highest expense behind payroll. In addition to rent, several other key expenses need to be accounted for in your facility’s budget, including operating expenses (which typically consist of property taxes, property insurance and common area maintenance expenses. You also need to account for janitorial costs, utilities, maintenance contracts, and more. Depending on the type of lease structure, some or all of these expenses may be included. For other types of leases, you may be responsible for paying many or all of these. It’s imperative you fully know what any potential property’s lease rate includes and excludes, so you have clear understanding of your total monthly budget for your real estate.
Beyond real estate and facilities costs, there are a number of other expenses to make sure to include in your budget: wages for staff, dental supplies, equipment lease and loan payments, lab fees, maintenance contracts, technology and IT services, marketing, consulting, and insurance make up other important items you need to plan for.
Types of Dental Office Leases
There are three main types of dental office leases. Understanding the differences between lease types will help ensure you are comparing costs and options apples-to-apples.
Full-Service/Gross Lease
In a Full-Service/Gross lease, your rent payment accounts for the base lease rate, as well as all property operating expenses, including taxes, insurance, and common area maintenance (commonly referred to as CAM). So, the lease rate might be higher than other properties at first glance — but it’s your only payment for rent and includes everything it takes to run the property for the landlord.
Net Lease
In this type of lease, you pay a lower base rent as the tenant, but you’re responsible for some of the operating expenses in a separate, billable amount. The most common Net lease is a Triple-Net lease, or NNN. In most Net leases, you are invoiced for the base rent as one number, and then one or more other categories of expenses. With a Net lease, its important to ensure you understand all the expenses you are responsible for.
Modified Gross Lease/Modified Net Lease
This type of lease is more of a middle ground option, and has the rent payment covering the vast majority of expenses associated with the property, with the exception of usually one or two carved-out costs. The most common expense or cost that is outside of the lease rate and an additional responsibility of the tenant, are utilities, or janitorial services. Other times the variable could be something unique like snow removal or maintenance.
Dental Office Lease – 10 Mandatory Negotiation Points
Real estate is likely one of the highest expenses for your practice — meaning poor negotiations can dramatically impact your cash flow and profitability. That makes it critical that you negotiate your dental practice lease appropriately from the start. Failing in this area can mean you are forced to borrow tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars more than you needed to, and likewise, pay costly interest on those additional funds. It can also further cut into your profitability through inflated payments and expenses that could have been avoided.
As you prepare to negotiate your next transaction, consider these 10 points.
Contact us today to learn how we can act as your exclusive advocate to secure you the most optimal terms and outcomes for your dental real estate needs. We are the nation’s leading experts in this space and are honored to act as a resource for you!
- Term: The first negotiation point to consider is the term, or length, of your dental office lease. You’ll likely want to target a term between five and fifteen years, depending on a number of key factors.
- Options to Renew: As you’re launching your practice or new location, you want to give yourself time to acclimate to the area, submarket, or neighborhood. Options to renew give you a chance to monitor your practice’s performance, assess your personal life and goals, and make decisions along the way regarding how long you’d like to stay in your current building and space.
- Tenant Improvement Allowance: Most spaces will require a specialized dental buildout for optimal layout, patient flow, and practice success. If negotiated properly, many leases include an investment from the landlord in the form of a contribution to your specific buildout costs. These are called tenant improvements (TIs) and are a common request in long-term leases.
- Lease Type: As discussed above, there are three major types of leases. Make sure you thoroughly assess the different types of lease structures, and what you’re responsible for within the lease. Depending on the type of lease, there may be several items that are still negotiable.
- Rent Rates / Lease Rates: In order to understand if your starting lease rate is competitive, average, or above market, you must first understand what all your top options are in the area you are most interested in locating in. This item is the most heavily focused on, and for good reason.
- Lease Assignment / Asset Considerations: In many ways, your lease can be considered an asset for investment purposes. Because of this, it’s important that you secure the right to assign your lease if you ever want to sell your practice. This will make it more attractive to the buyer, as he or she will be buying your practice (patients), and those patients will be much more likely to continue in the practice with your successor if he or she is conveniently located in the same space you were. In other words, this gives you more leverage when selling your practice to achieve a higher price.
- Personal Guarantee Duration: The shorter the better. If your landlord requires a personal guarantee, it’s worth evaluating to understand if a reduced guarantee is possible, or if the guarantee can ‘burn off’ over the duration of the lease term.
- Right of First Refusal: Owning the real estate of your dental office gives you a major edge when selling your practice someday. A right of first refusal gives you a first crack at buying the building should the current landlord ever decide to sell.
- Proper Signage: For your practice to be successful, patients have to be able to find it! Make sure you pay attention to what type of signage is available at the properties you are considering, and that any signage you negotiate for is properly documented in your lease agreement.
- Allowances for Hazardous Materials: Not all commercial leases are created equally. Dental practices, by nature, use and dispose of hazardous materials that may not be common with other commercial tenants and renters. It’s important to ensure your lease accounts for hazardous material usage, and that the language in your lease protects your right to operate your practice.