Are you thinking of opening medical locations in other areas of the state or country but are hesitant to navigate the process? In this episode of Finding MOB, I’m going to show you five critical mistakes to avoid when opening multiple medical locations. I’ll also share a real-life example of how we helped one of our clients achieve his goals and secure the right deals for him.

Opening Multiple Medical Locations

Whether you are a startup public or private company, opening medical locations in other areas of the state or the country is no easy task. You may start by calling every local commercial real estate agent in all 50 states, but over time that becomes cumbersome. Plus, you’ll get stuck in any problems you run into.

My team and I have a trusted network around the country—and that can still be difficult for us. Even worse, you’ll get sick of pitching your business and starting all over as time goes on. It’s just not an efficient way to do business. To help you navigate the process, I’m going to show you five critical mistakes when opening multiple locations. The reason this is important is that establishing new healthcare real estate space has many nuances, restrictions, and needs.

Understanding The Process

When opening multiple medical locations in other areas, you have to think about the whole process for site selection and how long it takes to become operational. Do you have the right resources in place to answer questions about medical office space? How do you know if you’re hiring the right team to help you? Are you able to handle multiple points of contact? What do you do when you’re looking to acquire business along with leasing space?

All of these are issues that can come up and lead to major delays. When you’re starting out and you don’t have a lot of moving pieces, it may be manageable. However, things become more difficult as your business grows. Now that you know why this is important, I want to help you diagnose the situation so you can make a more educated decision.

First and foremost, you need to understand the market you want to be in. Time to get permits for medical office space is a big concern, so if you need to get work done within a specific timeline, we need to be able to set expectations for what can be done.

Working With The Right Team

Second, you need an advocate that knows the commercial real estate industry and the needs of your business. We are your informants that keep things moving forward. Third, hire the right team. When you hire the right team, we’re going to be able to translate and communicate back to you what the deal terms are and make sure you have a clear understanding of the process.

Don’t be afraid to test one location and make sure the brokerage firm you hire is the right firm for you. It will save you time, money, and make you look like rock stars. Additionally, acquiring new space or buying an existing business can involve more than one broker.

While you are negotiating the business side of an acquisition, make sure your program or asset manager is in the loop. They should be delegated to the real estate team to negotiate a new deal with the landlord. Why leave money on the table?

A Real-Life Example

To put this in context, I want to give you the latest example of how we add value. We have a client that doesn’t know much about commercial real estate. However, they do know they need over 10 new locations in multiple states—and they need to open quickly.

They interviewed and hired us, relying heavily on our expertise to help them. They checked in with us about realistic timelines. We made sure their objectives matched how long it takes to find, select, and negotiate the deal. Certain locations that require long permitting times were eliminated, and those that weren’t located in medical office buildings were eliminated as well.

Next, they checked in on how much space they needed. It helps when you know what you need in the space, but what happens when you’re starting from scratch? We were able to provide floor plan examples, give them an estimate of how much space they need, and develop a realistic plan for each location based on their need.

They also had a team leader in place. They had a point of contact and kept us updated every step of the way. Deals get delayed way more because of miscommunication, so this helped us get our job done effectively.

I’m Here To Help

I hope this gave you a good idea of the five critical mistakes people make when opening medical locations around the country and what you can do about it. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me and my team directly and we’ll be happy to help you. You can also watch my Webinar on why you need a tenant representative in your next commercial real estate deal here.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel so you never miss an episode of Finding MOB, my show where we discuss all things medical and healthcare real estate. Stay tuned to see what I feature next!