Selling an Optometry Practice: The Process and Timeline

Selling an optometry practice is not a single event; it is a process that usually runs a few months from first serious conversation to close. Knowing the stages in advance helps you prepare, avoid the delays that kill momentum, and keep the sale confidential until you are ready. Here is how the process actually runs and roughly how long each stage takes.

Stage 1: Preparation and valuation (2 to 6 weeks)

Before any buyer sees your practice, get your financials clean and your story straight: normalized earnings, the split between clinical and optical revenue, patient retention, and associate coverage. This is also when you establish a defensible valuation. Practices that arrive at this stage prepared move through the rest of the process far faster.

Stage 2: Confidential buyer outreach (2 to 6 weeks)

Next, you reach qualified buyers, PE-backed platforms, regional groups, or individual optometrists, without tipping your staff or patients. This is where a confidential process protects you: buyers see a blind profile first and only learn your identity after signing a confidentiality agreement. The goal is to create genuine interest, ideally from more than one buyer, before you negotiate.

Stage 3: Offers and letter of intent (1 to 3 weeks)

Interested buyers submit offers, and you negotiate toward a letter of intent that sets the price, structure (cash, rollover equity, earnout), and your post-sale role. The LOI is usually non-binding on price but starts an exclusivity period, so it is worth getting the key terms right before you sign.

Stage 4: Due diligence and close (4 to 10 weeks)

The buyer verifies everything: financials, patient and billing records, equipment, leases, and compliance. This is where unprepared sellers lose time and leverage. With clean records ready in advance, due diligence is a confirmation step rather than a renegotiation, and you close on schedule.