Professional Insights

Multiple Offers Are Coming… Who Gets Your Legacy?

04/14/2026

by Jane Panneton, CEPA®, Principal & Managing Director, Transitions and Healthcare M&A, Corcoran Consulting Group

A Step-by-Step Framework for Choosing the Right Buyer for Your Home Care Agency

As I was thinking about exiting my home care agency, one of my fears was the possibility of selecting the wrong buyer or not having buyer interest at all.

Once I started working with my M&A Advisor, I started to feel more confident that there would be multiple offers to choose from, but the final decision on selecting the best buyer for me would ultimately be mine.  What was important to me? How did I envision my business carrying on?  What did I hope for my clients and employees? What did I need financially?

In home-based care today, there is currently more demand for quality agencies than there is a supply, which creates a competitive process driving up valuations, as acquirers compete for a limited supply of agencies for sale.  So, when multiple competitive offers are the norm, how does one go about making the right buyer selection?  

How do you actually choose the right buyer?

Once you move beyond the incoming valuations, the decision becomes much more nuanced. The “best” offer is not always the highest offer, and the right partner is not always the most familiar name. 

In today’s home-based care market, selecting the right buyer is less about accepting an offer and more about evaluating a range of outcomes, such as the likelihood of closing, transaction structure, cultural fit, long-term alignment, and track record.

So rather than thinking of this as a single decision point, it helps to think of it as a filtering process. I’ve put together a framework that I hope will help owners make that very critical decision when the time comes. 

Here’s how I encourage owners to approach it:

1. Likelihood of Closing
   Not all offers carry the same likelihood of actually closing. A strong offer that closes is ultimately more valuable than a higher offer that never makes it to the finish line. Some buyers are well-funded, experienced in the space, and disciplined in execution. Others may be more opportunistic, early in their growth journey, or working through financing layers. These differences show up most clearly during diligence when complexity increases, timelines stretch, and transactions are either confirmed or fall apart.  Also, the level of interest and pre-diligence work an acquirer does up front, prior to making an offer, contributes to less surprises later.  Be wary of a buyer who reads the Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM) and submits an Indication of Interest (IOI) without additional questions or wanting to meet you.        

2. Transaction Structure
   Understanding structure is critical because it determines how real the value is, when it is realized, and what risk you continue to carry after closing.  Two offers with the same valuation can be quite different once you look at the deal structure - cash at close, rollover equity, earnouts, and employment terms. A $4MM offer of all cash at closing is very different than a $4.5MM offer comprised of $3MM cash at closing, $500,000 seller note, and $1MM earnout.

3. Cultural Fit and Operating Philosophy
   In home-based care, this factor is often underestimated until after the fact.  Buyers differ significantly in how they treat caregivers, how they empower local leadership, and how centralized or decentralized their operating model is. The wrong cultural fit doesn’t just impact leadership teams, it can affect continuity of care, employee retention, and ultimately the long-term stability of the business.  On the other hand, when there is strong alignment, it can feel less like an exit and more like a continuation of what was already working.  There are buyers in the market today that are especially intentional on this front. For example, we work with a strong East Coast family-owned home care organization in operation for 30 years; they are consistently recognized for employee and client satisfaction and a great culture.  Their acquisition strategy is not driven purely by scale, but by alignment with the right fit.  They seek partners who value and protect the same employees and clients-first philosophy they have built their reputation on.  This acquirer is an exceptional match for sellers who place equal weight on legacy and culture alongside financial outcome.

4. Future Role and Vision Alignment

Every buyer has a different end goal.  Some want founders to remain deeply involved for years. Others are building toward leadership transition and operational independence. Some are expanding a regional footprint; others are consolidating nationally.  The key question is not just what the buyer intends to do with the business, but what role they envision for you, the owner, after the transaction closes. Alignment here often determines whether the transition feels seamless or uncomfortable.

5. Reputation and track record.
   In a market like home-based care, where many buyers and advisors are well known to one another, history matters. How a buyer behaves in diligence, how they treat sellers post-close, and how they show up in the industry all provide meaningful signals about what a future partnership will actually be like.  Working with an M&A Advisor with strong buyer connections in the industry will ensure that you are getting into partnership with a solid company you can trust. Top of Form

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Closing Thought

For owners thinking about an exit, whether now or in the future, the most important shift is in perspective.  Meaning, the real opportunity is not just in receiving the right offer, but in having the ability to choose the one that best fits what you’ve built and what you want it to become.  You’re selecting a partner for the next chapter of your business. 

If you need help determining long term direction for your agency and/or assessing the right type of partner for the legacy you desire, feel free to reach out to me for a free, no obligation chat: JP@corcoranconsultants.com

If you’d like to read more articles by Jane, go to: https://www.corcoranconsultants.com/news-resources