Our Banks Love Chiropractors!
Buying a clinic is a huge life change, which means it is an inherently stressful process. And getting a loan for your acquisition isn’t as simple as getting a mortgage for a home. There are many more levels of complexity that leave a practice buyer frustrated and empty-handed:
- Shopping for your own loan can significantly impact your credit score, resulting in higher interest rates, or even getting declined for the loan entirely.
- Because the lender has a relatively small return on a single loan, a non-PPS affiliated banker will often have a lower priority for clinic acquisition loans resulting in a significantly longer funding timeline.
- Bankers will often guide buyers into the loan product that best benefits the banker – which may not be the best option for you in terms of interest rate or other loan terms.
- The loan process is very complex, with over 100 steps to complete before funding. And the bank is evaluating your competency and business savvy every step of the way to see if you really qualify for the loan. With PPS there’s no stupid questions – but with the bank the loan applicant’s competency is everything.
- Unfortunately, the chiropractic industry has a higher risk factor (and chiropractors often have more student loan debt) than many banks are willing to work with. This means that most local banks will not be able to lend for a chiropractic acquisition, or if they do offer lending, the terms are often prohibitively expensive.
- Further, most local bankers (who are salespeople) don’t know this, leading buyers to complete the exhaustive paperwork only to find out 4-6 months later that there is nothing the bank can do to help them.
- Buyers must be careful, as business loan brokerage is completely unregulated, meaning there are many unscrupulous loan brokers out there who take advantage of buyers, taking upfront fees and never doing the work needed to obtain the client’s loan.
At Progressive Practice Sales our goal is to make the acquisition process much easier from start to finish! We work exclusively with chiropractic and chiropractic clinics, so we know exactly what is needed to successfully fund these acquisitions. And our long-term relationships with our lenders (and the volume of sales that we send them) means that your loan will be high priority, even if the clinic you are acquiring requires a loan that is smaller by the lender’s standards.
And most importantly, support through our financing support network results in a 50% faster funding timeline, meaning you are in your clinic, and enjoying the cash flow of your new business, an average of 3 months faster than working with other brokers or doing it alone!
SBA lending is the primary source of funding for chiropractic acquisitions because the financial and experience requirements are significantly lower than what is required for conventional loans. But SBA lending is also incredibly challenging to navigate with many rules, layers of bureaucracy + tons of paperwork. Trying to navigate this process alone can be an incredibly daunting process, especially while taking care of an office full of patients. Few doctors have the time, energy + knowledge to do what it takes to get the best loan + bring it to fruition. That’s where we come in.
We’ve been selling chiropractic practices for a long time, and we’ve seen it all–especially when it comes to unscrupulous loan brokers and unreliable lenders. So we’ve built a network of exemplary lending resources you can trust and rely on to successfully:
- Shop your loan with our network of preferred lending partners (in a way that won’t damage your credit) to make sure you get the best terms, from banks that are comfortable lending on chiropractic clinics and to borrowers with chiropractic student loan debt
- Provide an easy-to-use data portal (complete with helpful guidance + examples) to help organize + guide your application process – and we will complete an in-depth review of your entire application package before submission to the lender
- Correspond directly with our lenders to make sure that all follow-up needs + details are taken care of
- Monitor the progress of the loan to make sure that it closes – and you are in your clinic – as quickly as possible
Don’t leave something this important to chance.
Doctors buying a Progressive Practice Sales clinic can receive loan submission support at no charge. Our network also offers low-cost consulting + advisory service packages to provide customized support to understand the SBA lending process, strategize on customized solutions for obstacles to your acquisition, and best-practices to ensure a successful acquisition and transition into ownership. These packages are available to doctors buying PPS-listed clinics as well as clinics listed with other brokers or “for sale by owner.”
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Common questions
What is an SBA loan for a chiropractic practice?
It’s a small business loan backed by a partial government guarantee, which lowers the risk for the bank and makes it easier for chiropractors to qualify. The SBA doesn’t lend the money directly. A bank or SBA-approved lender does, and the guarantee is what gets more doctors approved.
What are the SBA loan eligibility requirements for buying a practice?
Most lenders look for a credit score of 680 or higher, a down payment starting around 10%, and a loan amount that fits what the practice can support. Your experience and the practice’s financial history matter too.
How is SBA financing different from other healthcare business loans?
Conventional loans usually ask for more collateral, more time in business, and stronger financials than most first-time buyers have. SBA loans were built for exactly this kind of purchase, which is why they’re the primary source of practice acquisition financing for chiropractors.
How long does SBA loan approval take for a practice acquisition?
It depends on the lender and how prepared your application is, but working with lenders who already understand chiropractic acquisitions cuts a lot of the back and forth. Our network gets doctors funded an average of 3 months faster than going it alone.
Do I have to buy a practice listed with PPS to use your financing help?
No. Our lending network and loan submission support are available whether you’re buying a PPS-listed practice, one listed with another broker, or a for-sale-by-owner deal.