Hi, doctors,

I bought my first dental practice 7 months ago. My landlord has talked with me twice regarding selling the building. She will even carry the note and will work with me on terms. Low or no downpayment, low monthly payment, competitive interest rate, paying about the same as my current lease. I am the type of person who probably over-analyze and paralyze because it took me couple years to get this practice. So, I might as well start thinking. Feel free to let me know whether I should just go for it now, save up a big chuck for emergency fund, or wait till ____ to buy the building. Or slow down and don't move too quick.

My current office is a small office 1000 sq ft with 3 operatories in a small town in Calfiornia. The numbers are fairly good. The patients are very nice and retention rate is decent with 20-25 new patients every month. Currently, I have a 4 years on my lease and an option for 5 more years.

Along with that 30 plus years old building, there is a second unit, also about 1000 sq ft, that is currently rented to a chiropractor. He has two years lease and an option to another five years. I have a feeling that I will grow out of this space and will be looking at expansion in the future.

The pros: main street exposure. There are two other dental offices behind me, but nobody sees them.

There are about 7 different offices(CPA, lawyer, hair salon, pet salon, etc) in that business center. These buildings are owned by another landlord. So it drives traffic. Not a lot of walking traffic, but lots of car traffic.

Cons: My current space is a bit too small. Right now, I could put a pano in, but I wont have much space left.

The asking price is $650k. I think it is a bit expensive considering there are vacant properties all around town, but the two units have street exposure and rented out. I would get lease payment from the chiropractor to help to build equity.

If I decide to expand, I will have additional cost plus higher rent. (There is a hallway separating the two offices. When I close that off, the total area will be around 2300 sq ft).

Now, my other option is the vacant building next door. The distant owner bought it at high and now willing to negotiate. Her broker mentioned something between high 400k to low 500k for 2300 sq ft of space. I will get a much bigger parking lot and even more exposure, but I will lose some traffic from other businesses. And I am not moving far, so my patients wont get lost.

Pros: One building for myself. With renovation, the cost is about the same as my current office plus chiropractor's office.

Cons: I havent checked yet, but I probably wont have the flexible financing.

Potentially, there will be a period that I will be paying triple the lease. Luckily, I can bring over almost all my equipments.

That building, for some reason, has a bad name with failed mobile phone store, failed realtor office and now vacant for at least 7 months.

It is only asking for $2000 rent and I don't know why nobody is renting. I am paying close to $3000 for my space now.

There are graffetti on the windows.

Both buildings are two blocks from the police station, so security is not a major issue.

I have at least 2 more years to talk with this landlord to buy the building from her.

My third option is to buy land and build from scratch.

For one acre business land, it is about $310k nearby. It is on the bigger street and close by, but it is not as good as the first two building.

Besides a brand new building, I like this way least because there are other abandoned projects within walking distance to that piece of land. And like I said, there are many vacant offices in town, but they are in shopping malls with anchors and not for sale.

For those of you who have experienced moving, is it worth it? If you have the choice of expanding next door, will you do it rather than moving to a bigger space?