SBA 7(a) Dental Office Feasibility Study in Florida

Third in the nation, with larger loans than elsewhere

Florida ranks third among states for SBA 7(a) dental office loans by count, with 511 approvals from FY2017 to FY2026 worth $485.4 million in gross dollars. Within Florida the class lands 8 of 39. The distinguishing figure is the median loan of $612,000, 1.24x what dental borrowers elsewhere take at the median, while the central half spans $220,400 to $1.3 million. Practices are bought or built in Florida at a larger scale than the typical American dentist borrows.

A class with no franchising and few losses

No loan in this cell is franchised, with the share printed at 0.00%. Cancellation after approval reached at least 10.2% of FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, or 10.7% if you count loans never disbursed as cancelled. In the funded cohort of 209 loans, 1.4% are charged off to date, while the within-five-years measure prints as 0.00%. Those figures are floors, and a zero floor is not a promise: loans that remain open can still fail.

Holders and places

Live Oak Banking Company holds 84 loans worth $139.2 million, by far the largest amount for each loan. Bank of America, National Association holds 51 worth $32.9 million, United Community Bank 48 worth $56.9 million, and Wells Fargo Bank National Association 37 worth $29.3 million, and The Huntington National Bank 36 worth $40.8 million. The holder listed may differ from the originator, and the table says nothing about a bank's requirements. Miami-Dade County has 71 loans, Broward 54, Hillsborough 50, Palm Beach 44 and Orange 36. Annual approvals fell to 22 in FY2020 and rose to 80 in FY2024.

Questions for a Florida dental practice study

The program covers working capital, equipment, a practice purchase or improvements, so the study must specify which. Patient demand within the trade area and the number of competing offices matter as much as the build-out. The study should test insurance acceptance and the mix of fee-for-service patients, the production per operatory a new or purchased practice can reach, and retention of patients when ownership changes. With loans centred well above half a million dollars, equipment and leasehold cost should be justified against collections, and loan payment coverage shown through a slow first year. The appraiser values the practice on adjusted earnings.