Waukegan Home Health Agency Sale | Illinois Broker
A home health agency in Waukegan is priced on adjusted seller’s discretionary earnings after a buyer compares this book to Gurnee — not on a statewide rumor multiple. Illinois CBS-1 (10 business days). No Chicago 45-day city notice unless the business also operates in Chicago. The statewide home health agencies playbook is on the industry hub; this page is the Waukegan file. Confidential sale. No upfront listing fee.
Confidential • No upfront fees • Illinois statewide
Waukegan market
Selling a home health agency in Waukegan
A home health agency in Waukegan is priced on adjusted seller’s discretionary earnings after a buyer compares this book to Gurnee — not on a statewide rumor multiple. Illinois CBS-1 (10 business days). No Chicago 45-day city notice unless the business also operates in Chicago. The statewide home health agencies playbook is on the industry hub; this page is the Waukegan file.
Waukegan is Lake County’s seat: a lakefront industrial and downtown city with a working port heritage, not a North Shore boutique village.
Great Lakes Naval Station payroll and I-94 industrial parks attract operator and logistics buyers. Do not price this like Libertyville or Gurnee Mills tourism. Municipal licenses, harbor-adjacent environmental questions, and a bilingual customer base show up more often than a lifestyle-suburb teaser.
Waukegan has about 87,157 residents in Lake County, inside the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin area. Nearby markets buyers already compare this book to include Gurnee, Libertyville. That comparison changes who shows up: a buyer who will drive from Gurnee is not the same buyer who will fly in from a coastal platform.
Planning facts
Typical multiple
3x–6x EBITDA
Typical timeline
6–15 months
SBA eligible
Often — confirm
County
Lake County
Population
87,157
Metro
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Nearby comps
Gurnee, Libertyville
Closing clock
Illinois CBS-1 (10 business days). No Chicago 45-day city notice unless the business also operates in Chicago
DuPage, Lake, Kane, Will, McHenry, Kendall, and neighboring collar shops sell on household density and the I-88, I-90, I-94, and I-55 corridors.
There is no Chicago 45-day city notice unless the business also operates in Chicago. Buyers still compare this suburb to the next one on the same highway.
Waukegan demand for home health agencies is the customer list and the license path — not the Census population figure. About 87,157 residents is context for who already lives in the trade area. It is not a sale price.
Home Health Agency in Waukegan
What a Waukegan buyer will underwrite on this home health agency
A home health agency in Waukegan is a personal license plus a panel that will still drive here after the seller leaves. Parking, payer mix, and who can own the clinical entity are Illinois rules; the trade area is Waukegan versus Gurnee, Libertyville. We will not invent a ZIP premium.
Home Health Agencies statewide typically plan around 3x–6x EBITDA and a 6–15 months process when books and the lease are ready. That is a planning range, not a price for this Waukegan shop. Buyers here usually argue medicare/medicaid certification, caregiver count, census stability, geographic coverage.
Closing clock for this Waukegan file: Illinois CBS-1 (10 business days). No Chicago 45-day city notice unless the business also operates in Chicago. License path: IDPH licenses home-health agencies. The industry hub teaches the statewide rule. This URL is the Waukegan application of it.
In a suburb like Waukegan, healthcare systems, pe-backed home care platforms, operators are the names that usually appear on the NDA list. A buyer who will drive from Gurnee is not the same buyer who will fly in from a coastal platform.
Buyer pool
Who buys a home health agency in Waukegan
Split buyer pool: North Shore and Libertyville businesses attract SBA and strategics who want household income; Waukegan and industrial I-94 businesses attract operator and logistics buyers. Great Lakes Naval Station and tourism along the lake change seasonality for some retail and hospitality books.
Illustration: a Medicare-certified home-health agency in DuPage County with a 45-census mix, a staying DON, and a selling administrator who still takes the hospital-liaison calls. Not a closed sale.
A home health agency whose customers already sit in Gurnee, Libertyville is a larger business than one that stops at the Waukegan city limit. Tell the truth about the route. Buyers will map it.
SDE recast
How a buyer will read the books on this Waukegan home health agency
Home-health buyers recast census and contribution after a market-rate administrator and director of nursing. Pull the selling nurse’s field visits and any one-time CARES or settlement income. Medicare episode economics and Medicaid waiver rates are different businesses inside one tax return. A 3x–6x EBITDA band assumes the Medicare number can change hands and the census is not a single hospital’s leftover.
Illustration only — not a quote for any Waukegan shop. A home health agency whose tax return shows $104,000 of net profit is not worth $104,000 × a rumor multiple.
Add back the owner’s $66,000 W-2 and payroll tax, $20,000 of discretionary benefits, $17,000 of accepted one-time cost, and $4,500 of personal expenses that a buyer will not run. Then subtract $1,000 of replacement labor if the owner still diagnoses, sells, or closes the books.
Adjusted seller’s discretionary earnings are $210,000. At the planning range 3.0x–6.0x, enterprise value is $630,000 to $1,260,000. Mid-range 4.50x is $945,000 before debt, working capital, holdback, and tax. A Waukegan buyer will argue the multiple after they ride with the staff and read the lease.
At 4.50 times $210,000 of seller’s discretionary earnings, enterprise value is $945,000 before debt, working capital, holdback, and tax. That is the planning conversation. It is not a listing-site guess.
SDE line items
Reported net profit (tax return, not the marketing P&L)
+ Interest expense
+ Income taxes (not payroll, sales, or property tax)
+ Depreciation and amortization
+ Owner W-2, bonuses, and payroll taxes on the owner
+ Discretionary owner benefits that a buyer will not keep (auto, personal travel, family on payroll with no role)
+ Accepted one-time or non-recurring expenses
− Market-rate replacement labor for owner work that will not transfer
= Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE)
Illustration recast for a Waukegan home health agency — not a quote
Net profit
$104,000
Owner W-2
$66,000
Benefits
$20,000
One-time
$17,000
Personal
$4,500
Replacement labor (subtract)
−$1,000
Recast SDE
$210,000
Planning EV at 4.50x
$945,000
Recast Seller’s Discretionary Earnings, then apply a planning multiple for home health agencies.
Replacement labor is subtracted. This is a planning tool, not an appraisal.
Recast SDE—
Planning enterprise value—
Before debt, working-capital peg, holdback, and tax. Educational only.
Enter your annual Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE) — your net profit plus owner's salary and any personal expenses run through the business — to estimate a range.
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1x3.0x8x
Estimated Value Range—to—
This is an estimate for planning purposes only. Actual value depends on lease terms, asset quality, customer concentration, and current market conditions. Request a professional valuation for a precise number.
Lake County closings use state CBS-1 plus municipal licenses (Waukegan, Gurnee, Libertyville, and North Shore villages each differ). No Chicago 45-day notice unless you also have a Chicago location. Lake County health and contractor registrations are common diligence items for food and trades.
IDPH licenses home-health agencies. Medicare CCNs and Medicaid enrollments transfer only through a change-of-ownership process — they are not bill-of-sale assets. The administrator and director of nursing have qualification rules. A buyer who closes without a CHOW plan buys a name and a lease, not a reimbursable agency.
Labor and lease
What has to keep working on Monday after close in Waukegan
For a home health agency in Waukegan, the first labor question is: A realistic Medicare/Medicaid CHOW path.
I-94 is the spine. Route density is real between Buffalo Grove and Gurnee and thinner toward the Wisconsin line. Leases in outlet and tourism corridors can be franchise- or landlord-controlled. Winter lake-effect operations matter for home services.
Lake mixes Fortune-campus remnants, naval payroll, and bedroom suburbs. Do not price a Waukegan industrial book like a Libertyville professional practice.
Diligence
What a serious home health agency buyer will open
Levers that move the multiple in this vertical: A realistic Medicare/Medicaid CHOW path; Staying DON and administrator; Diversified referral sources; Clean survey and denial history; Caregiver bench that is not 1099 fiction.
Have these ready before anyone hears the name of the Waukegan business: Census by payer (Medicare, Medicaid waiver, commercial, private duty); CHOW path, IDPH license, and any survey or condition-level findings; Administrator and DON contracts and whether they stay; Referral-source concentration (one hospital or one physician group); Caregiver roster, wage, and overtime reality; Billing contractor, ADR/denial rates, and any ZPIC or UPIC history.
Buyer tool
SBA payment sketch for a Waukegan home health agency buyer
Most Illinois owner-operator acquisitions use SBA 7(a). This is a payment sketch, not an approval.
SBA 7(a) loans are the most common financing for business acquisitions. Estimate your monthly payment and required down payment based on the purchase price.
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This calculator provides estimates for planning purposes only. Actual SBA loan terms depend on your credit profile, the specific lender, and current market conditions. Contact us to connect with SBA-approved lenders in Illinois.
Sale steps
How to prepare a Waukegan home health agency for sale
Recast this Waukegan home health agency. Start with the tax return. Add owner pay. Subtract replacement labor if the seller still does the work a Waukegan buyer must hire. Do not treat a spike year as the new normal.
Name who can operate on Monday. List every credential that lets this home health agency pull a permit or see a patient in Waukegan, and whether that person stays. Personal licenses do not transfer with the assets.
Tell the truth about the Waukegan trade area. Map customers against neighboring towns. Buyers will. A book that already covers those towns is larger than a book that stops at the Waukegan limit.
Open the lease and the labor file. Remaining term and assignment in Lake County. Whether the crew can run without the seller living eight minutes away.
Calendar the notices that apply here. Illinois CBS-1 (10 business days). No Chicago 45-day city notice unless the business also operates in Chicago. Start them at letter of intent, not the week of funding.
Read the statewide playbook, then talk. The Illinois home health agencies hub is the statute and recast teaching. This page is the Waukegan file. Confidential consult — no upfront listing fee.
Answers for owners and buyers in Lake County, including local closing steps.
Illinois home health agencies typically sell for 3x–6x EBITDA. Medicare/Medicaid certification, census stability, caregiver count, and geographic coverage are the primary value drivers.
Significantly more. Medicare certification represents a government-granted payer relationship that is difficult and time-consuming to obtain independently. Buyers pay a substantial premium for certified agencies.
Illinois home health agencies providing medical services must be licensed by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). Non-medical home care agencies are subject to different requirements. We assess your specific licensing situation early in the process.
Caregiver retention is critical in home health. We structure transactions to minimize operational disruption, and buyers are highly motivated to retain staff — the caregivers are the business.
Buyers include regional home health operators, national home care companies, hospital systems, and PE-backed home care platforms. Illinois has strong buyer demand for certified Medicare agencies.
Most Waukegan asset sales file Illinois Form CBS-1 at least 10 business days before closing. Lake County does not use Chicago’s 45-day city notice unless the business also operates there. Municipal licenses and the lease still need their own calendar.
Buyers in Waukegan are often SBA owner-operators and neighboring operators along the same corridor. Larger recurring books can draw a platform. They will compare this suburb to the next town in Lake County.
No. The planning multiple for home health agencies is a statewide starting point, not a Waukegan appraisal. Buyers in Lake County still adjust seller’s discretionary earnings, then argue the lease, licenses, labor, and owner dependency.
Service Area
Home Health Agency Brokerage Near Waukegan
We serve home health agencies owners and buyers across Lake County and the surrounding region.