Why Most Orthodontists Get Their Commercial Leases Wrong

More than 90% of dentists and orthodontists negotiate their office real estate with no representation, and it costs them. Colin Carr explains that lease renewals are the single transaction where healthcare providers lose the most money, with the average practice leaving a couple hundred thousand dollars on the table, and roughly $300,000 on a standard 10-year lease for a 3,000-square-foot space. He walks through why savvy landlords treat an unrepresented doctor as an easy target, why ChatGPT and a family-law attorney friend cannot substitute for a healthcare-specialized broker, and why the broker commission is already built into every deal whether the tenant uses it or not. The episode closes with clear timing: start a renewal, relocation, or purchase conversation 18 months out, a ground-up build 18 to 24 months out, and a startup 9 to 12 months out.