The Silver Tsunami is coming. That’s right. It’s no secret Baby Boomers are retiring and entering a new phase of life, and looking for an alternative to traditional assisted living facilities.  

In the third episode in our Profitable Niches series, we explore the world of residential assisted living homes.

We chat with leading national expert and President of Residential Assisted Living (RAL) Academy, Gene Guarino, about this compelling investment opportunity, and four of his students who are successfully investing in this space.    

In this episode of The Real Estate Guys™ show you’ll hear from:

• Your happy-to-assist host, Robert Helms
• His in-need-of-assistance co-host, Russell Gray
• RAL Academy President Gene Guarino
• A few of Gene’s star students, Sherry Ellingson and Rocky McKay, Loe Hornbuckle, and CJ Matthews

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An explosive demographic with specific needs

So much of real estate is about understanding specific demographics and their needs. All around the world, and especially in the United States, there is a massive population that has created business opportunities through every season of their lives … baby boomers.

Baby boomers are retiring in droves, and they aren’t too far away from not being able to live independently anymore. Unlike generations before them, boomers (in general) are adamant about not living in an institution or hospital. They want to live in a home and have a social life.

That’s what makes residential assisted living homes such a fascinating investment niche. This specific demographic and a unique financial model means more CASH FLOW than a typical single-family home investment.

Gene Guarino is the leading expert in this investment niche. As president of the Residential Assisted Living (RAL) Academy, he teaches investors everything they need to know to get started.

“It all starts with education. Get educated first. If you don’t, you’ll most likely go out, make mistakes, and bang your head against the wall,” Gene says.

We’re all about education for effective action. So, we sat down with a few of Gene’s star students to learn about their experiences and what advice they have for other investors.

Building your brand from the ground up

Sherry Ellingson and Rocky McKay are business partners who attended Gene’s class several years ago.

“We kept hearing about senior living,” Sherry says. “We both have parents who are going to be entering into this category before long, and after taking a look at some of the current options in our area we thought, ‘You know, we could do this a little bit better.’”

Rocky and Sherry first acquired an existing assisted living facility that needed some updating. The property is 10 beds with jack-and-jill baths and lots of places for residents to be able to visit with friends and family. The goal is to have residents feel at home and have a happy, safe place to make their own.

How do they attract tenants? Case workers from hospitals and rehab centers refer potential residents and their families to placement agents who find out what they are looking for in an assisted living facility.

Then, the agents take them on tours and show refer them to various home options. That’s why a good reputation is so important.

“The reputation of a home is attached to the owner, so your focus should really be on creating your own reputation and brand from the ground up,” Sherry says.

“The demand for a good home is extremely high, and as we provide such an essential service for our residents, it feels like we are doing the right thing,” Rocky adds.

For investors just starting in the niche, Sherry and Rocky recommend looking for an existing home and remodeling it into a residential assisted living home. They also suggest having a fixed rent rate with everything included so families can set their budget and not worry about hidden fees.

And don’t forget that there is benefit in adding more properties. More residents means the ability to buy supplies in bulk and save even more money on operation costs. Sherry and Rocky hope to have a couple hundred operating homes in the next several years.

Raising capital and expanding your network

After going through the RAL Academy course, Loe Hornbuckle found his passion. Since then, he has opened 40 beds in residential assisted living homes and is in the process of developing an 80-bed facility made up of five homes on six acres as a planned community.

“I look at residential assisted living as a tool to keep people out of nursing homes or institutional environments that may not be right for them,” Loe says. “There are a lot of people who are placed inappropriately in those settings.”

Even though he was passionate about the type of investment he was making, Loe says he still had a lot to learn when it came to raising capital.

“The first time I raised capital, I put out my business plan, and at the end of the first day my wife found me in the fetal position on the floor. It was harder than I thought it would be,” Loe says.

Proper education changed this for Loe. He learned you have to build a network to effectively raise capital. He suggests that RAL investors attend events and conferences so they can meet the many people out there who are willing to help them along the way.

“Your network is everything. When you build your network, you have the power to step into good business like residential assisted living,” Loe says.

Syndication and working smarter

As a self-proclaimed real estate addict, CJ Matthews was looking for an investment with good cash flow and without a huge amount of ongoing work. After hearing Gene speak on RAL homes, she knew she had found the perfect niche.

“With residential assisted living, you do the work to set everything up, and then you become the business owner. At that point, someone else can actually run the day-to-day business for you,” CJ says.

The biggest advice CJ offers to potential RAL investors is to learn about and apply effective syndication.

“Before learning to syndicate, going out and asking for money felt risky or scary to me, but after I attended the Secrets of Syndication seminar, I knew what I needed to do,” CJ says.

When it comes to working with partners, CJ recommends choosing people who have skill sets you don’t. That way you can work synergistically and accelerate your success. And don’t forget this particular investment niche requires a special touch.

“This space isn’t for everyone. You need to love real estate, love making money, love putting in work on the front end, and most importantly have a heart. If you aren’t willing to care about these people and making the last years of their lives happy, then this may not be the investment for you,” CJ says.

Interested in learning more about investing in residential assisted living? Listen in to the show to hear more from Gene and his students. You can also email us at [email protected], and don’t forget that Gene will be cruising with us on our Investor Summit at Sea™. We’d love to see you there!

Listen to other episodes in our Profitable Niches series (like Stacking up Profits with Self Storage or Making Money with Mobile Homes) to step off the beaten path and learn more about other lucrative, but as-yet unexploited asset classes.

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