Case Studies

A General Dentist Buys Her Building In Roseville, Macomb County

The Situation

Dr. Julie Nunu built a solid, well-run general dentistry practice in Roseville, Michigan. Her patients were loyal. Her staff was strong. Her days were full.

And her lease situation felt fine — until the day it wasn’t.

Dr. Nunu had inherited her lease when she purchased the practice. Her relationship with her landlord — Dr. Richard Golden, a well-known Detroit dentist and inventor — was good. Better than good, actually. He never raised her rent, stayed on top of building maintenance, and the arrangement had been content enough that she never had reason to worry about it.

But there was a detail buried in the foundation of that comfort – she was a month-to-month tenant.

This had never been a problem, until the afternoon Dr. Golden walked a group of potential buyers through her space — while she was seeing patients.

The building hadn’t been formally listed for sale, so she was completely taken off guard. There was no broker, no listing, and no public marketing. Dr. Golden was well connected in both the dental and business worlds, and he was marketing the property directly through his network, which made it harder to see coming and harder to get ahead of.

The wrong buyer could close on the property, decline to renew her tenancy, and she would be looking for a new home for her practice with almost no notice.

In an instant, everything changed.

• Dr. Nunu’s first call was to someone she trusted: Steve, her Henry Schein representative. And Steve’s first call was to us. That phone call set everything in motion and fast.
• We were operating on two tracks simultaneously, and both were urgent:
  • Track one: protect the practice. We needed to understand the sale. What was Dr. Golden looking for in a buyer? What were the terms? How far along were his conversations? Was there a path for Dr. Nunu to purchase the building herself? We went directly to Dr. Golden to get answers right away.
  • Track two: prepare for the worst. If the building was sold to someone else, Dr. Nunu would need a place to go. That meant immediately researching relocation options, so we began identifying alternative spaces, touring properties, reviewing and underwriting leases. This was our way to ensure that no matter what happened with the sale, her practice had a landing spot.
• At the same time, we helped Dr. Nunu assemble her full team on a compressed timeline, including:
  • A lender to evaluate financing for a potential acquisition,
  • A general contractor to assess buildout costs for both the current building and alternative spaces,
  • A real estate attorney to review the sale, the lease exposure, and the purchase structure, and
  • A CPA to model the financial implications of buying versus relocating
• All of these conversations, which would normally unfold over weeks or months, were happening in parallel, under pressure, with a timeline dictated by a private sale process that was already in motion.

The Solution

• The days that followed were relentless. We went on site visits, reviewed leases, conducted financial modeling, had conversations with Dr. Golden and alternative landlords, evaluated every option, and every scenario was underwritten.
• Dr. Nunu didn’t slow down. She ran her practice during the day and made the decisions that would determine its future at night. What should have felt overwhelming became an exercise in focus – one problem at a time, one decision at a time, and moving forward even when the outcome wasn’t clear.
• And then, with some fortunate timing and a lot of preparation behind it, the path opened. The building didn’t sell to an outside buyer right away, so Dr. Nunu had the opportunity to make her case and she was ready.

Dr. Julie Nunu bought her building – yes, the entire building. The building that almost displaced her was now hers, and she – the month-to-month tenant – was now the owner.

Today, Dr. Nunu has:

• Her successful dental practice, which now pays rent to herself,
• Two stable tenants who now pay her rent to generate additional income and cash flow the property,
• Long-term equity in a property beyond her dental practice, and
• Peace of mind that she now has complete control over her tenancy!

Congratulations, Dr. Nunu!

Once just a month-to-month tenant, she’s now the property owner of a multi-tenant building.

This story could have ended very differently.

A month-to-month tenant, in a building being quietly marketed through a well-connected owner’s personal network with potential buyers already touring, could have easily lost the home for their practice. 

But instead, Dr. Nunu made the call, moved fast, and she trusted the process even when the process was moving at a speed she’d never experienced. She assembled a team in days that usually takes months to build. And when the opportunity to buy presented itself, she didn’t hesitate.

Dr. Nunu’s tenacity through this process was inspiring to watch. She didn’t just save her practice. She transformed a vulnerability into the strongest position she’s ever been in.