SBA 7(a) Dental Office Feasibility Study in New Mexico

Dental offices are the fifth-ranked class in New Mexico, at 5 of 39, even though the state is only 35th by loan count for dental office loans. That tension is what the cell shows beyond its parents: dentistry is a leading use of 7(a) in a small borrowing state. Loans in the cell number 45 and add up to $40.6 million over those ten fiscal years, with a median of $467,500, 0.95x the nationwide 7(a) dental median, which is almost exactly national scale, and half of loans fall between $195,000 and $1.3 million. No loan was franchised: the share is 0.00%.

Two lenders and Bernalillo County

Wells Fargo Bank National Association is listed with 11 loans and $5.1 million, and Live Oak Banking Company with 9 and $18.3 million. The gap is wide: Wells Fargo holds more loans but Live Oak holds more than three times the dollars, so the two sit in different parts of the size range. SBA's holder records give these tallies, which show volume and nothing else. Bernalillo has 22 loans, Santa Fe 9, Sandoval 5, and Dona Ana, San Juan and Torrance 2 each.

A yearly record with a blank

Counts were 9, 6 and 5 in FY2017 to FY2019, then 2 in FY2020, 6, a single loan in FY2022 at $395,000, and 7 each in FY2023 and FY2024. No loans were approved in FY2025, and FY2026 shows 2 with $1.8 million. Cancellation after approval was at least 16.3% of approvals through FY2024, equal to the ceiling.

Loss rate not published

Charge-off experience is not shown for New Mexico dental offices, because the pool of funded loans is thin, and no loss rate should be inferred from its absence.

What a New Mexico dental study has to cover

The study should show chair count and a patient base the area can supply, insurance mix, and whether the borrower buys an existing practice or starts a new one. Equipment and build-out can exceed the real estate, so costs need line-by-line support. Coverage should be run through a slow first year, with a dentist's absence tested. For the appraisal, the study should divide goodwill, equipment and property, and say how the space might be used by another dental or medical tenant.