Considering Buying Real Estate for Your Practice? Part 1 – Weighing the basics M Lloyd Manning is a semi-retired business appraiser and financial analyst who is now a freelance business article writer. He resides in Lloydminster, Sask. He can be reached at [email protected]. any chiropractors are moving to the suburbs, and rather than renting are buy- ing their clinic-office real estate. They believe it makes financial sense and provides a more stable and accessible location for patients and staff. Then, by later reselling or leasing the practice, it could aid in deferring the financial pangs of old age. Options for buying practice real estate would include building a new struc- ture, buying and renovating an existing property, and buying into a shared use property such as a condominium. On the other hand, a high percentage of professional practices prefer to lease rather than own, feeling they must have high-priced uptown digs in order to uphold a certain image. Big-box stores enter into longer-term leases. They say this gives them more flexibility and they make more money by investing their capital into merchandise for resale, rather than in bricks and mortar. Yet, you are not Wal-Mart, and your needs, and those of your patients, are different from the requirements of other types of professionals. The bottom line is that the decision for buying the real estate for your chiropractic clinic should never be made lightly, but only after carefully considering the upsides and downsides. You will be living with your decision for a long time. CONSIDER REAL ESTATE AN INVESTMENT Although intended for your chiropractic practice, owning the clinic-office real estate should never be considered as a part of that practice, but as an investment. Weigh its pros and cons against your objectives and constraints, and include, in that weighing process, the consideration of leasing rather than buying. Renting from another pro- vides 100 per cent leverage on your dollar, and is normally far more adjustable to meet 26 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | MAY 2010 www.canadianchiropractor.ca Lloyd Manning, AACI, FRI feature
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