When you’re planning to put an ambulance business for sale your price is determined largely by your business valuation, which depends on factors such as cash flow, assets, and reputation. But it also depends on something that you can’t control: the market. Sellers may walk away with more money in their pockets when they list an ambulance company for sale in one of the country’s top 6 ambulance markets:
- Houston
- Boston
- Stamford, CT
- Los Angeles
- New York City
- New Jersey
What makes these markets different? Chock it up to a combination of current customer demand, a history of past customer demand, and a pool of hungry investors.
Buyer Demand
Often times, people with an ambulance company for sale focus on capturing the attentions of a strategic buyer – an individual or private equity group able to realize synergistic benefits from your business, such as economies of scale or increased market share.
But with today’s high unemployment, financial buyers are also willing to pay well for the right opportunity. These jobless or underemployed individuals are looking for an investment that provides immediate cash flow. In essence, they’re looking to purchase a job.
As a result, buyer demand for industries with low overhead – such as the non emergency transport business – is soaring in growing metropolitan areas. When you put a successful Los Angeles or Houston business for sale, you can almost be assured to get bites from several buyers.
Historic Demand
Where health care facilities go, non medical transportation has traditionally followed. Regions with world-class hospital systems like New York and Boston have historically housed the highest demand for ambulance services. People in cities with high population concentrations such as New York City are less likely to own vehicles to shuttle them to and from necessary medical appointments and hospital visits, making non emergency transport services especially appealing.
On the other hand, medical transportation is also handy in spread out regions like Los Angeles, where long, congested freeways act as obstacles for elderly and disabled people living in outlying suburbs. If business owners can demonstrate to investors that a company has a reliable history of market demand, they may increase the likelihood of making a medical transportation business sale.
Customer Demand
Health care jobs are rising at a rapid pace as the country’s 78 million baby boomers begin entering their golden years. More than half of the 30 fastest-growing jobs in the U.S. currently involve healthcare. Statistically, expanding metropolitan regions are home to a growing percentage of the older population.
In Connecticut, for instance, the number of residents over 65 is expected to grow by 64 percent by 2030 while residents ages 21 to 64 will only increase by 5 percent, according to the Connecticut Commission on Aging. In Houston, hospitals are expanding to keep up with the increasing medical needs of older people and obese people.
Studies show that seniors are increasingly choosing to retire close to home rather than move to traditional retirement destinations. All of these reasons make some of the nation’s most populous areas ripe with opportunity for investors in health care services like ambulance transportation.