Professional Practice Financing
Financing for Professional Practices
Acquisition, expansion, partner buy-in and equipment funding for dental, medical, law and accounting practices, through SBA 7(a), SBA 504 and conventional lending.
Before you read the whole page
Most people arrive knowing what they want to do and not which product does it. Four questions, one screen each, and you get the routes a situation of this shape usually points to, what a lender will ask for next, and when waiting or calling your own bank is the better move.
Fit check · four questions
What are you actually funding?
Four taps and you get the route a situation like yours usually points to, what a lender will ask for next, and when the better move is to wait or to call a bank we do not place with. No email until the end, and the answer is readable without one.
Question 1 of 4
What are you funding?
Pick the closest. If two apply, pick the larger one — it is the one that sets the structure.
Established professionals borrow differently from most small businesses. If you own a dental, medical, law or accounting practice with strong credit and a documented track record, you are exactly the kind of borrower that banks and SBA lenders compete for. The honest starting point is that these lenders usually offer the cheapest money a practice can access. This page lays out how professional practice financing works, which product fits which goal, and when an SBA loan or a conventional bank is genuinely the better call, so you can walk into the conversation already knowing the landscape.
Who we fund
We work with established, licensed professional practices, and the way each profession earns and holds cash shapes how a lender should read it. A lender that treats every practice like a generic small business misreads the ones that matter to you.
- Dental and medical practices. A large share of production is billed to insurers, and reimbursement lags the work by weeks. The practice pays for the lab, the materials and the payroll before the payer settles, so a profitable practice can still feel starved for cash, which our guide to why healthcare practice cash flow breaks walks through in full. Dentistry and medicine are also capital heavy: imaging, chairs, operatory build-outs and equipment are large fixed costs. See our SBA loans for doctors and dental practices page for how those deals are underwritten, and healthcare practice funding for the broader sector.
- Law firms. Cash flow depends on the model. A billable-hour firm collects steadily but carries long receivables; a contingency firm may go months between fees and then bank a large one. Partner-draw structures and trust-account rules mean operating cash and client money must stay strictly separate, which a lender has to understand. See our dedicated law firm financing page for the detail.
- Accounting and CPA firms. Revenue is seasonal, with a heavy concentration around tax season, and the recurring-revenue client book is itself the firm's most valuable asset. That book is what makes succession and partner buy-in financing work. See our accounting firm financing page for how those deals are structured.
- Other licensed practices. Veterinary, optometry and similar owner-operated professional practices share the same profile: a creditworthy owner, recurring revenue, and real fixed assets a lender can underwrite against.
What professional practices borrow for
Most professional funding requests fall into a handful of categories, and the right product is different for each:
- Acquisition. Buying an existing practice. These deals turn on the target practice's cash flow as much as the buyer's credit, and they are a natural fit for SBA financing. For the steps either side of the funding, in the order they happen, see how to buy a dental practice.
- Partner buy-in and buy-out. Buying into a practice as a new partner, or buying out a departing one. The structure has to respect how the profession handles ownership and draws.
- Expansion and build-out. Adding operatories or offices, opening a second location, or a full renovation. Longer, larger commitments that suit a term loan or an SBA structure.
- Equipment and real estate. Imaging, chairs, and technology, or the purchase of the building the practice operates from. Real estate and heavy equipment are where SBA 504 financing is designed to help.
- Working capital. Bridging the reimbursement gap, covering payroll through a seasonal trough, or funding a growth push. This is about timing, not distress.
Funding options compared
Here is the honest version. For a strong-credit professional, the cheapest route is usually a conventional bank loan or an SBA loan, and we will say so before you consider anything else. The point of this table is to show which product fits which goal, and where each one wins on cost or speed.
| Best for | Relative cost | Relative speed | Honest flag | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SBA 7(a) | Acquisition, partner buy-in, expansion, working capital | Low cost | Slower to close | Often the cheapest route for a practice acquisition, with longer terms and a lower down payment; the trade-off is a longer, more document-heavy process |
| SBA 504 | Owner-occupied real estate and major fixed equipment | Low cost | Slower to close | Built for buying the building or large equipment; not the right tool for working capital or a general acquisition |
| Conventional term loan | Strong-credit borrowers who want speed | Low to moderate | Faster than SBA | If your credit and financials are strong and the bank is comfortable, this is often faster and simpler than an SBA loan; start here when the bank will do the full amount |
| Line of credit | Recurring cash-flow gaps and short-term needs | Moderate | Fast to draw once set up | Best for timing gaps rather than one-time purchases; the bank underwrites the line slowly, but drawing on it afterward is quick |
What SBA and conventional lenders look at
Underwriting a professional practice is not the same as scoring a consumer loan. Expect a lender to weigh several things together. Your personal credit and the practice's documented profitability carry the most weight for both bank and SBA loans, which is why the cleanest practices get the cheapest money. Lenders also examine the practice's cash flow and debt-service coverage, meaning whether the business generates enough to comfortably carry the new payment on top of its existing obligations. For an acquisition, they underwrite the target practice's numbers, not just yours. They will confirm that you hold the licenses the profession requires, review time in business and ownership structure, and look at existing debt and the collateral available, whether that is equipment, real estate or the value of the practice itself. SBA programs add their own eligibility criteria on top; SBA.gov publishes the current rules, and we state only what it publishes rather than guessing at thresholds.
Debt-service coverage is the real test
For most professional practice deals, the question that decides the outcome is whether the practice's cash flow can carry the new debt and still pay the owners. If it can, strong credit opens the cheapest doors. If it cannot, a different or larger loan does not fix the deal, it postpones the problem, and an honest lender will tell you so before you sign.
You can calculate it yourself before anyone else does. Our debt-service coverage check takes the practice's collections and earnings, the price or the amount you need, and a rate and term you have actually been quoted, and returns the same ratio an underwriter calculates.
Match the goal to the product
The right product follows from what you are trying to do. Once the goal is clear, the choice usually narrows to one or two sensible routes.
Which SBA product fits
Buying a practice, buying into one, funding an expansion, or covering working capital in a growing firm usually points toward SBA 7(a) loans, the program built for general business purposes. Buying the building your practice occupies, or financing major fixed equipment, points toward SBA 504 loans, which are designed for owner-occupied real estate and long-lived assets. When your credit and financials are strong and speed matters, a conventional bank loan may beat both; our even-handed comparison of SBA versus conventional loans for a practice sets the three side by side on cost, speed and down payment. We will help you weigh them without a thumb on the scale.
If the practice is carrying advances right now
Everything above assumes a practice a bank can read. If yours is currently carrying merchant cash advances, that is a different conversation and it has to happen first: an open advance comes with a UCC-1 filing and a daily debit, and most banks and SBA lenders will not lend behind either. Start with MCA debt relief to end the drain, then read the path back to bankable for what a bank or SBA lender looks for once the advances are cleared, in the order it tends to happen. That page also says plainly when no funding product fixes a business, which is a thing worth knowing before you spend a year working toward one.
New York and New Jersey practices
We work with professional practices nationally, with particular focus on New York and New Jersey. Practices in these two states carry their own cost pressures: high rent and build-out costs, dense competition, and, for healthcare practices, a payer mix that can lean heavily on PPO and managed plans, all of which tighten the gap between doing the work and banking the money. The funding logic on this page does not change at the state line, and the SBA programs are federal, so eligibility is the same wherever you practice. What changes is the local cost base, which is why a New York or New Jersey acquisition or build-out often calls for a larger facility than the same deal elsewhere. If you run a practice in either state, that is exactly the conversation we are set up to have.
Estimate a practice loan payment
Drag the sliders. This is an illustrative estimate, not an offer or an approval.
Estimated monthly payment
$8,265
Total repaid
$991,800
Total interest
$391,800
Illustrative only. Actual rate, term and eligibility depend on underwriting and are set by the lender. Talk to a funding specialist for a real quote.
Those sliders are illustrative. Get it quoted for real.
Nobody is quoting you that rate or that term. Send us the practice's numbers and what you are trying to fund, and we will come back with the routes that actually fit — including when an SBA lender or your own bank is the cheaper move.
The professional practice funding checklist
What SBA and conventional lenders ask for before they fund a practice. No email wall — here it is.
- Two to three years of business and personal tax returns
- Interim profit and loss statement and balance sheet
- Debt schedule with balances, rates and monthly payments
- Practice valuation or letter of intent for an acquisition
- Owner resume, licenses and a clear use-of-funds summary
Individual lenders ask for more. This is the file that gets a conversation started, not a guarantee of one. The long version — sixteen documents, why each one matters and what usually goes wrong with it — is in the practice purchase document checklist. It is printable, ungated, and you do not have to speak to us to use it.
Tell us what you are trying to fund.
A person reads it and replies. We will tell you which route fits, which one is cheaper, and where an SBA lender or your own bank beats us. Nothing is pulled or signed from this.
Or call (929) 977-9070.
Tell us what you are trying to fund. We will tell you honestly whether SBA, a bank, or another route is your cheapest move.
- A person reads this, not a bot — and replies within one business day.
- Nothing is pulled or signed. No credit check and no application reaches a lender until you have seen the numbers and said yes.
- We are a funding firm, not your CPA or your attorney. Take any structure we put in front of you to them before you sign it.
- If a bank or an SBA lender is your cheaper route, we say so — even when it is not us.
Frequently asked questions
We work with established, licensed practices across healthcare and professional services: dental and medical groups, veterinary and optometry practices, law firms, and accounting and CPA firms. The common thread is a creditworthy owner and a practice with a documented track record, rather than a startup or a distressed borrower. If your practice bills clients or payers and keeps clean books, it is the kind of business SBA and conventional lenders are set up to fund.
Yes. Practice acquisition and partner buy-in are among the most common uses of SBA 7(a) financing for professionals. The loan is underwritten against the target practice's cash flow as much as your own credit, so a healthy practice with a strong buyer is a natural fit. SBA.gov publishes the current eligibility rules and program terms; we will point you to the right program and help you assemble the file rather than quote figures we have not confirmed.
Not always. If your credit and the practice's financials are strong and the bank is comfortable with the deal, a conventional loan is often faster and can carry fewer fees than an SBA loan. The SBA route tends to win when you want longer terms, a lower down payment, or when a conventional lender will not stretch to the full amount. We will tell you plainly which one is cheaper and faster for your situation instead of steering you toward one product.
It depends on the practice's cash flow, the purpose of the funds, your credit, and the lender and program involved, so we will not quote a figure we have not underwritten. Acquisition and real estate financing are sized against the value of the practice or property, while working capital is sized against revenue and deposit history. Send us your real numbers and we will give you a grounded range rather than a headline one.
Conventional bank loans are usually the quickest to close when your file is clean, often in a few weeks. SBA loans take longer because of the additional program review and documentation, so plan for a longer runway if you are buying a practice on a deadline. A line of credit, once established, is the fastest to draw on. We will give you a realistic timeline for your specific deal once we see the file.
Practice & firm funding
Talk to a practice funding specialist
Tell us what your practice needs the money for and what your books look like. We will show you the routes that fit and tell you honestly whether an SBA loan or a conventional bank is your cheaper, faster move.
- A person reads this, not a bot — and replies within one business day.
- Nothing is pulled or signed. No credit check and no application reaches a lender until you have seen the numbers and said yes.
- We are a funding firm, not your CPA or your attorney. Take any structure we put in front of you to them before you sign it.
- If a bank or an SBA lender is your cheaper route, we say so — even when it is not us.