Underwrite a Deal
The Target
Verdict
- WatchAsking 3.0x against a 1.96x to 2.67x band
Above the cited range for this industry. Either the business is genuinely better than its peers and you can show why, or the ask is soft.
- WatchOwnership or licensing is restricted here
A handful of states, including New York and Texas, restrict non-optometrist ownership of a practice under corporate-practice doctrines; most do not.
- GoodDSCR after your salary is 2.29
Above the 1.25 rule of thumb.
The Number That Should Set Your Offer
At $500,000 of SDE, a $100,000 owner salary, $200,000 of cash, and a 10% seller note, the most this business can carry at a 1.25 DSCR is $2,561,235. The ask sits $1,061,235 under it.
Structure
- Equity (your cash)
- $200,000
- Seller note
- $150,000
- 7(a) loan
- $1,150,000
- Annual debt service
- $174,813
- DSCR
- 2.29
- Implied multiple
- 3.00x
- Cited band
- 1.96x–2.67x SDE
Context
- Deals financed (FY2020 through FY2025)
- 48
- Industry median loan
- $456,300
- Industry charge-off
- not measurable
- State median loan
- –
- State FY2025 loans
- –
The median is a loan, not a price: equity and seller notes sit on top. Charge-off rates come from the seasoned cohort only; FY2020+ loans are too young to have defaulted. Rates are a lower bound (open loans can still fail), so read the ordering, not the level.
Licensing: In restricted states, a management services organization separates the business you own from the licensed clinical entity; confirm the rule state by state.