Commercial Real Estate Investing
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback
Assisted Living - Independent Living
I have been researching residential assisted living homes. Essentially purchasing and converting a single family home into a home that will house 8-16 seniors and provide caregivers, etc. Does anyone on Biggerpockets do this? If so, I'd love to learn more about your successes, hurdles, etc. Also, has anyone done the training with RALacademy? Thinking about it....
Thanks in advance for your help!
Dave
David,
I bought the home stude from Gene @RAL Academy and am researching local businesses.
Happy to share what I have learned to date.
Feel free to call or email me.
Alan
Originally posted by @David Hoke:I have been researching residential assisted living homes. Essentially purchasing and converting a single family home into a home that will house 8-16 seniors and provide caregivers, etc. Does anyone on Biggerpockets do this? If so, I'd love to learn more about your successes, hurdles, etc. Also, has anyone done the training with RALacademy? Thinking about it....
Thanks in advance for your help!
Dave
I do not have any instruction to offer. However, I'm looking into doing the exact same thing in Chicago western suburbs. Found a perfect house with 5 bedrooms, all one level. Not sure how to actually go about vetting, licensing, etc. though.
@Alan Norton Have you done one? did you find it worth it, or are the estimates he shares unrealistic?
@Brendan Moehn Did you do the RAL Academy program? I think the licensing part is pretty easy. I am more concerned about calculating accurate expenses and how operationally intensive it really is.
Hi David, I too have done the RALA home study course and can give you great feedback - just PM me. In brief i found it was plenty helpful for me to get started on my RAL journey and previously i posted about my experience in starting my own house in Scottsdale (a 10 bed/10 bath) facility. I'm glad to say that as of last week I hit a milestone of 100% occupancy after opening July 1st 2019.
The main thing you will need to do before renovating any house or building is to make sure you have a good team in place (an administrator or a licensed care home manager). They will be instrumental in telling you where to build, how many residents they can handle, and also will give you more accurate estimation on the actual budge to make your pro forma with.
I hope to post more on this topic but getting a manager on your team should be the first thing you...not the last!
check out my previous post about my care home journey) and reach out if you would like more info..
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/753142-my-ral-residential-assisted-living-care-home-journey
@David Hoke I am considering taking a live course this year - maybe we could do it together and reduce our price point :) I think live course is the way to go. 1) Networking 2) You actually go and see houses
Hi everyone, I also have been looking into this, but I’ve only come across vague details. I’m hoping to get specific details on this business model before making a decision to move forward and spend the money on the live 3day course ($5,000 for the course). Next one is March 5-8th.
Any suggestions, details or direction you can point me into would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Miguel
I owned and operate 2 ALFs in Arizona for last 17 years , let me know what questions you have keep mind laws are different in each state you will be under Department of Health licensing rules and City Planning Zoning rules
Good luck!
Honestly you don't need any course to start an RCFE, at least in Ca. I have 2 homes and I never took a course. However for business development or scaling your business to the next level, these courses might offer some help. Licensing is very self explanatory.
Have 2 never took course , any courses are just another way for people make money of you for information you can find free. I just read city and health department rules and went toured some other homes in area and talked to the owners , Take them to lunch really nice place ask if they can give you guidance
Hi everyone,
Like @Marc B. and @Faiz Khan, I have not taken any courses yet but I always think twice would it be better if I take one!? Seeing your reply makes me feel a little better. We're on the planning stage, so far I was able to gather or create most of the documentation by myself. If you search hard enough you can find a sample for most of them. And I listen to any relative videos I can get my hands on, plus my husband is an RN is a great help too of course. It's scary though, I always wonder if I did something wrong and what if we got sued due to my mistake?
Our biggest issue so far is to find a suitable property. So far I found three cities within our target area (Northern Chicago suburb) that accept residential assisted living. Out of the three, one is a high income community but the other two are just right next to it. Obviously, a ranch would be the best, size has to be big enough, with plenty of space for parking so families can come to visit, and if it's located at an easily spot location would be even better. We don't have a ton of capital so we have to be careful and don't go crazy on spending either on the house itself or remodeling.
Does anyone here work with an investor? Can anyone share your experience? Is it beneficial and take some load of pressure off your back? Due to the limited capital, we plan to start with just 5 beds, is it even worth working with an investor if it's only 5 beds? If anyone is willing to share or chat, I would love to learn about anything! And hope soon in the future I can come back here and share my experience too! Thank you!
I've posted an update on a good process of opening a future home. It may be worth your time to read. Our group is currently in process of opening more homes by partnering with other investors. We hope to possibly build RALs in the future or buy ones that were built already.
#3 Coronavirus Conversation Contributor
- Los Angeles, CA
I see you are in California, so maybe you can clarify a few things for me, if you would:
I own a large single family residential property in LA . I posted an ad for rent and the first 2 calls are from businesses who provide care home or assisted living servicing. I have never done any lease like this so far. Came here to learn.
Unlike most people here, I am not interesting in running or being involved in the business. I'm just a property owner looking to deal with an operator, just collecting my rent.
Can anyone tell me what are the things which are different compared to the traditional residential lease in California?
- Do I need a commercial lease ?
- Is there a potential zoning issue (property is residential single family)?
- Do I need a different insurance than the residential income property insurance?
- What is the rule of thumb for the rent (+15% above market? more?)
- What are the downsides for the landlord, compared to a traditional residential lease to a family for instance?
Many thanks in advance.
I actually had a similar project in a residential neighborhood hoping to convert the property to 8 bedrooms, but unfortunately it went south. I would highly urge you to take a look at the jurisdiction codes. If they don't allow it, then you would have to pursue a variance for allowed use, which could be a timely process.
Residential Assisted Living is my specialty.
There are operators that would be happy to be your tenant with a long term lease at up to twice the market rent.
Location is the key.
Check out my info in my signature line below to get more information.
Gene
Honestly you don't need any course to start an RCFE, at least in Ca. I have 2 homes and I never took a course. However for business development or scaling your business to the next level, these courses might offer some help. Licensing is very self explanatory. If you are looking for a 8-bed facility, then you will need to get a permit for zoning as this would be considered a commercial property. At least that is what is told by my city manager in Moreno Valley, CA.
Gene Guarino is someone who specializes in this business and has gotten a good model. You might want to try one of his courses, I have never taken one but I would like to in the future.
As a landlord, you will need to sign a liability release. Also you might charge your tenants a higher amount, but I wouldn't want to go that way as owning and running this business is more profitable then just collecting rents. I won't be able to compare different leases as I have not taken that route yet. Maybe in the future. There will be a contract that you will need to sign with your tenant (business owner) for a certain amount of years. You can extend that lease if both parties want to continue the joint venture. The business owner will carry worker's comp and liability insurance.
Following...
I'm following this post because like David, I have great interest in starting a 5-6 room non-medical independent living facility. I have targeted locations in WI and IL; and can hire licensed care givers in both states. In running the extremely basic financials, the revenue line for each of my selected cities look good, but I need a great source for help.
How has your progress been? @Aaron Jones
Quote from @Aaron Jones:
I'm following this post because like David, I have great interest in starting a 5-6 room non-medical independent living facility. I have targeted locations in WI and IL; and can hire licensed care givers in both states. In running the extremely basic financials, the revenue line for each of my selected cities look good, but I need a great source for help.
hi Aaron, just seeing your post now. Are you still intrigued by RALs? PM if you're still in this space