Licensed capacity and how full you are
Enrollment as a percentage of licensed capacity is the first number a buyer looks at. Room to grow inside your existing license is upside they will pay a premium for.
El Paso Owner's Guide · Daycare, Preschool & Childcare
How to Sell a Daycare or Childcare Center in El Paso, Texas
Childcare is one of the most consistently financeable businesses in the country: enrollment is recurring, demand outruns supply, and licensed capacity is a barrier no competitor can shortcut. What sinks these deals is almost never demand — it is documentation.
- 2×–3.5×
- Typical multiple of owner earnings for a licensed center
- $5M
- SBA 7(a) financing available to qualified buyers
- 100%
- Confidential — staff and parents never know
The Local Market
What buyers pay for in an El Paso childcare center
El Paso has a young family population, Fort Bliss, a growing medical district, and waitlists at good centers across the city. Buyers understand the demand. What they underwrite is your licensed capacity, your enrollment history, and your compliance file.
Tuition collection and recurring enrollment
Autopay tuition, low delinquency, and stable month-to-month enrollment are contracted-feeling revenue. Waitlists are the strongest signal in this industry.
Directors and credentialed staff
A qualified director who stays after closing, credentialed teachers, and low turnover are what make a center transferable. Buyers pay for continuity of care.
A clean licensing and inspection record
State inspection history, staff-to-child ratios, and background-check documentation get examined closely. A clean file protects your price; citations invite renegotiation.
Free Estimator · No Email Required
What is my El Paso daycare worth?
Move the slider. This uses owner's discretionary earnings (SDE) — your net profit plus your salary, personal expenses run through the business, interest, depreciation, and one-time costs — the number buyers and SBA lenders actually price.
$180,000 / year
$40K$1.2M
Which of these are true today?
Illustrative Range
Estimated enterprise value
$396,000 – $639,000
That’s roughly 2.2× to 3.6× your owner’s earnings, before any real estate you own.
Every box you check is a lever you can still pull before you list. Owners who fix the books and the lease first routinely land at the top of their range instead of the bottom.
Illustration only — not an appraisal or an offer.
Step by Step
The six steps that get a daycare sold — in that order.
- 01
Document earnings, enrollment, and capacity
Three years of P&Ls and tax returns, reconciled, plus enrollment by month, tuition rates by age group, licensed capacity, and waitlist data. Buyers underwrite the enrollment curve.
- 02
Commission an independent, certified valuation
Not a broker's opinion. We commission a certified valuation from an independent NACVA-credentialed appraiser — the caliber of report banks, buyers, the IRS, and courts rely on. It sets a defensible price and survives diligence.
- 03
Put a director in your chair
A center that runs on a qualified director rather than the owner is a different asset entirely. Make that transition before you list, not during the sale.
- 04
Fix what diligence will find
Licensing status and transfer requirements, inspection and citation history, staff credentials and background checks, ratios, lease term and assignment, playground and facility compliance, and unpaid taxes.
- 05
Market it confidentially — never publicly
No word to your staff or your parents. Nothing rattles a childcare business faster than uncertainty. We market blind to vetted, financially qualified buyers under NDA and tour after hours.
- 06
Negotiate, survive diligence, and close
Offers, escrow, licensing sequencing for the new operator, lease assignment, staff retention, and funding. We stay on it through closing and the transition that keeps families enrolled.
Costly Mistakes
Six mistakes that cost daycare owners real money.
Being the director and the owner
If you are in the classroom every day and hold the parent relationships, buyers see a job. Hiring or promoting a qualified director is the highest-return project before a sale.
Letting enrollment drift before listing
Value follows the enrollment curve. Buyers price a declining trend hard, even when demand in the market is strong.
Collecting tuition informally
Cash tuition and inconsistent collection make revenue unverifiable. Autopay and clean records are worth real money.
Unresolved licensing citations
An open citation or a pattern of ratio findings gives a buyer both a reason to renegotiate and a reason to walk.
Telling parents early
Parents make decisions on stability. Word of a sale can move families out and take your enrollment with them.
Ignoring facility and lease issues
Playground compliance, square footage per child, and a short lease all cap what a buyer can do — and therefore what they will pay.
Questions Owners Ask
Daycare owners ask us these first.
Straight answers, no hedging. If yours isn’t here, call us and ask it directly.
Profitable licensed centers commonly trade between roughly 2 and 3.5 times owner's discretionary earnings, with full centers that hold waitlists and run on a director pricing at the top of that range. Real estate, if you own it, is valued separately. Only a certified independent valuation survives a lender's underwriting.
Licensing does not simply hand over with a sale. The buyer must satisfy state requirements in their own right, and that timeline has to be built into the closing schedule from the beginning. Handled early it is routine; discovered late it is a deal-killer.
Yes — qualified buyers can access SBA 7(a) financing up to $5 million, and lenders are comfortable with licensed childcare. It requires clean, reconciled financials and a defensible independent valuation. SBA pre-qualification is a preliminary, non-binding lender assessment, not a loan commitment.
Not from us. There is no sign and no address in any advertisement. Your center is marketed blind to vetted buyers who sign a non-disclosure agreement before they learn who you are, and tours happen outside operating hours.
You have two assets and three good options: sell both together, sell the business and lease the building to the buyer for ongoing income, or sell the business now and the real estate later. We model all three so you choose with numbers in front of you.
Possibly — but call us before you decide. Sometimes the right answer is a year of rebuilding enrollment; sometimes the market and your buyer pool argue for moving now. We will give you the honest read either way.
Where we work
Daycare owners we represent across El Paso, West Texas, and southern New Mexico
Whether your daycare sits on the east side, downtown, out in the valley, or across the state line in Doña Ana County, the sale process is the same: verified financials, an independent certified valuation, and a confidential, competitive market of qualified buyers. We meet owners at a time and place of their choosing.
- El Paso
- West El Paso & Upper Valley
- East El Paso
- Northeast El Paso
- Central & Downtown
- Horizon City
- Socorro
- San Elizario
- Clint & Fabens
- Canutillo
- Anthony, TX & NM
- Fort Bliss corridor
- Las Cruces, NM
- Sunland Park, NM
- Doña Ana County
- Alamogordo & Deming, NM
- Van Horn & Fort Hancock
- Midland & Odessa
Daycare Owners · Confidential
Find out what your center is actually worth.
One confidential conversation with a partner — not a coordinator. We will tell you where your numbers put you today, what would move the multiple, and whether now is your moment.
- Confidential — nothing is shared or listed without your written consent.
- A reply within one business day, usually the same afternoon.
- No fee, no obligation, and no pressure for the first conversation.