Buy an Ontario Practice

In July 2026 I signed a letter of intent on a practice in Ontario. On paper it was a good one. The appraisal was tidy, the overhead looked right, and the seller was offering a transition. My own screen scored it 14 out of 20: pursue, and verify the low scores in diligence. So I did. I asked for a supervised afternoon in the seller's office, on their system, with a sampling sheet. Every nth chart from the active list, 100 charts, nothing leaves the building. The appraisal put the share of patients on the government plan in the low teens. My sample found more than 60 of 100. That is not a rounding error. It is a different practice from the one that was priced. Then the lease. The seller told me the landlord had agreed to an extension. We asked for it in writing. It never arrived. I withdrew in August, in writing, with the factual reasons. That afternoon with 100 charts is why this course exists. Nobody taught me to do it. I want you to walk into your diligence already knowing how.

You are an associate three to ten years out. You have a track record of income, some cash, and a student loan you can describe in one sentence. You are 12 to 24 months from a deal and you want to stop guessing. Or you own one practice and you are hunting for a second. You know how to run one. You want to buy the next one with a process instead of a feeling. Or you are in a 50/50 partnership and you have started wondering how it ends. I was in one. The bonus module is for you.

• If you want a recording to watch later, wait for the self-paced version. The founding cohort is live, on Tuesday nights, with homework that two members present every week.
• If you want legal, tax or financial advice, this is not that. I teach what I did and why. My lawyer and my banker speak generally, on anonymized facts, and your own advisors make the calls on your deal.
• If you want me to find you a practice or introduce you to a seller, I do not broker. If you practise outside Ontario, you are welcome, but the corporate, tax and college rules in Session 4 are Ontario's.

Every session runs the same way. Ten minutes of homework review, two members presenting; sixty minutes of teaching in four short lessons; a five-minute pause where everyone says which practice they want to own in five years and which cases they want to be treating in it; then questions.

• Guest sessions, dates to be confirmed: my lawyer, then my banker. Sixty minutes each.
• Office hour, date to be confirmed: ninety minutes; you bring a live listing and the room screens it. Not recorded.
• Bonus module: the partnership buyout, taught from the buyout I completed on May 11, 2026.

Fifteen editable files. They are the files I use.

1. Readiness sheet and path chooser.
2. Appraisal anatomy sheet.
3. The 20-minute screen: ten criteria, scored 0, 1 or 2.
4. Deal model spreadsheet: price, debt service, monthly cash flow, scenarios at 6, 7 and 8 percent and 10, 12 and 15 years.
5. Advisor question lists for the lawyer, the CPA, the lender and the wealth advisor.
6. NDA red-flag guide.
7. Diligence checklist.
8. 100-chart sampling sheet, with the comparison table against the appraisal.
9. Go/no-go memo, one page.
10. Bank package checklist.
11. LOI and closing checklist.
12. Corporate switch list and the old-corp versus new-corp deposit tracker.
13. Day-one script and the 1:1 question sheet.
14. First-90-days checklist with the five scoreboard numbers.
15. Buyout playbook, one page.

Plus the practice files for the exercises: a fictional 20-chart pull, a fictional six-month bank and practice-management extract, a sample NDA to mark up, and a fictional staff list.

My lawyer has been on every deal I have looked at since 2022, including the ones I walked away from. The session covers the LOI, the asset and share purchase agreements, lease assignment and the landlord consent process, employment on a sale of business, and the DPC rules. Anonymized facts only.

My banker has seen every one of those deals too. The session covers the package, how a bank values a practice versus how an appraiser does, typical terms, timelines, the working-capital line, what you sign for personally, insurance, and the three things that stall files. The course does not receive referral fees from any bank.

I let the numbers do this part.

• September 2022: bought Cambridge Centre Dental Care with a partner, 50/50. The practice was doing $3.2M a year.
• 2026: collections over $7M in the trailing twelve months. 14 dentists, about 50 team members, open seven days a week.
• May 11, 2026: bought my partner out. Sole owner since.
• 2026: reviewed several live deals from about $600K to $5M. Signed one LOI in July and withdrew in August, after diligence.
• October 2026: with my father, also a dentist, won two practices in Guelph against 15 offers. Diligence runs in November. Closing to be confirmed.

$1,900 for a founding seat. Priced in Canadian dollars; HST applies. Two payments: $1,000 at booking and $1,000 before session one, $2,000 in total; the plan costs more than paying in full, and it says so. No financing, no interest, no third party, no credit check. Twelve seats. Minimum class: twelve paid seats. Fewer than twelve by January 10 at midnight Eastern, and every seat is refunded in full and the cohort moves to the next date. Once it runs, a full refund if you ask within thirty days of Session 1, so until February 11, 2027. The window closes Sunday, January 10, 2027, at midnight Eastern, because the listing you are looking at gets reviewed on Session 1 and the room has to be set before then. Bonus for the founding twelve: the recorded sessions, cut into modules, included when the self-paced version ships on March 15, 2027 (sold separately at $3,500). The recorded version is not a cheaper version of this seat: it has no live review, no office hour and no refund. The price rises for cohort 2.

Buy an Ontario Practice

[live cohort on Zoom]

Dates

Tuesdays January 12, 19, 26, February 2 and 9, 2027; guest sessions and the office hour to be confirmed

Times

evenings, Eastern, start time to be confirmed

Hours

7.5 live plus 2 guest hours plus 1.5 office hour

CE

verify with the provider

RCDSO category

verify; non-clinical courses are Category 3 at most as I read it

Faculty

Dr. Marwan Elaraby, with my lawyer and my banker as guests

Sponsor

none

Register

the button on this page

Is this legal, tax or financial advice?

No. It is education from a practice owner's experience. My lawyer and my banker speak generally, and you engage your own advisors for any transaction.

Do I need a listing to join?

No. The kit has three anonymized listings from my 2026 pipeline. If you are looking at a live one, bring its summarized numbers and it is reviewed, names out, on Session 1.

I am not looking at a listing yet. Is it too early?

Session 1 is a readiness test with numbers, so it will tell you. The course is built for people 12 to 24 months from a deal. If you are five years out, the self-paced version will be there.

I am in a 50/50 partnership. Is this for me?

Yes. Session 1 teaches what the shareholder agreement has to say for the day it ends, and the bonus module is the buyout I completed in May 2026, mechanics only, names out.

I practise outside Ontario. Should I join?

You are welcome, and the diligence and closing sessions travel. Session 4 is Ontario. I will say where your province's rules may differ.

What if I miss a Tuesday?

You get the recording of the teaching block. The homework review, the pauses, the questions and the office hour are live only.

Can I pay in two payments, and what is the refund?

Two payments, yes: $1,000 at booking and $1,000 before session one, no financing. Twelve paid seats or every seat refunded in full. Then a full refund for thirty days after Session 1, until February 11, 2027.

Can my spouse or my accountant come?

Yes, to Session 4, as a guest seat at no charge. One guest per member.

Will you look at my appraisal?

Not the document. Bring the summarized numbers and I will teach you to read them.

Does it count for CE?

Non-clinical, so Category 3 at most under the RCDSO quality assurance program as I read it; verify with the college.

If you buy a practice in the next two years, you will spend about $30K on lawyers and accountants. You will sign personally for a loan with a lot of zeros on it. You will sit across from a broker who is professional, helpful, and paid by the seller. Five Tuesday nights first. Twelve seats. The window closes Sunday, January 10 at midnight Eastern. If it is not for you, I will tell you that too.

Dr. Maro