Buyers have become more selective
The years of near-automatic interest in almost any practice have passed. Groups are underwriting more carefully and are more willing to decline. That has not reduced what a well-prepared practice can achieve — it has widened the gap between a prepared practice and an unprepared one.
Doctor staffing is now the first diligence question
Veterinarian recruitment remains the binding constraint across the profession, and buyers know it. A practice whose earnings depend on a single departing owner, or that has an unfilled associate position, is underwritten differently from one with a stable multi-doctor roster.
This is also why owners who address doctor capacity a year or two before going to market frequently do better than those who go to market and then try to explain the gap.
More of the price is being deferred
Earnouts and holdbacks are more common than they were. That is not automatically bad — an earnout can raise the total you receive — but it changes what you are agreeing to, because part of your price now depends on performance during years you are still working.
It makes the terms of your post-closing role considerably more important. If your earnout depends on the practice's results, then how much authority you retain over staffing, scheduling and protocols is no longer a comfort issue. It is a financial one.
What it means if you are two or three years out
It means the preparation window is worth using. Doctor capacity, cost of goods, records that reconcile, and a clear-eyed view of what the practice needs to deliver for you — those are the things that move the outcome, and none of them can be arranged in the month before you go to market.