Selling a home care agency? Work with an advisor who has run one.

Both strategic and financial buyers are active. Capstone Partners counted 104 home care deals in 2025, up 40.5%, with strategic buyers in 58.7% and private equity in about 41%. Mertz Taggart reported that 10 of 16 home based care deals closed in Q2 2026 were sponsor backed. Active names include Addus HomeCare, Help at Home, HouseWorks, PurposeCare, Avid Health at Home, Choice Health at Home and new platforms from General Atlantic, Warburg Pincus and Gemspring.

Usually through a portfolio company. Private equity backed platforms buy smaller agencies as add ons to build density in a state or region. New platform investments usually need more scale, for example Rallyday Partners looks for at least $10 million of revenue. Smaller agencies are also bought by regional operators, franchisees and SBA financed individuals.

It depends on size, payer mix and how well the business runs without you. Small agencies sold through business brokers from 2021 to 2025 went for a median of about 3.0 times SDE. Advisors publish ranges of roughly 3 to 5 times SDE for a single territory franchise and 4 to 6 times SDE for strong private pay agencies, while regional and scaled platforms are priced on EBITDA, with the largest 2026 deals near 10 times EBITDA. A free assessment gives you a range based on your own numbers.

Most owner operated agencies are valued on seller's discretionary earnings (SDE), which adds back the owner's salary and personal expenses. Once an agency has a management team and earnings above roughly $1 million, buyers usually switch to adjusted EBITDA, which assumes a paid general manager.

Often not automatically. Many home care licenses and some payer contracts are issued to the licensee and may require a new application, a change of ownership filing or a stock sale instead of an asset sale. In California, buyers typically apply for their own Home Care Organization license through the Department of Social Services, and SBA lenders generally will not fund until it is approved, so the application should start as soon as the letter of intent is signed.

Yes. The franchisor usually has to approve the buyer, charges a transfer fee, may require training, and the remaining term of your franchise agreement and territory matter to value. I plan the franchisor's role into the timeline from day one.

Some payer contracts cannot be assigned to a new owner, and some payers are no longer issuing new contracts. If a contract is a meaningful share of revenue, a stock sale may be the only way to keep it, and that changes taxes, liability and how the buyer finances the deal. We review every contract before going to market.

Often it is classification, not performance. Royalties, marketing fees, workers' compensation and background check costs are sometimes booked as cost of services. Buyers compare your margin to industry benchmarks, so we restate the P&L consistently with your tax return before anyone sees it.