due diligence – Ryan M Saul

Matthew Alley Speaks at InterFace Seniors Housing Texas Conference

November 20, 2015/in Alzheimer's, assisted living community, assisted living price, assisted living sale, buy assisted living, buy nursing home, cap rate, Capitalization Rate, CCRC, development, due diligence, exclusive listing, financing, independent living facility, internal rate of return, long term care, market, Matthew Alley, memory care, new construction, nursing home price, prepare to sell assisted living, prepare to sell nursing home, private equity, proposal, REIT, risk, sell assisted living, sell CCRC, sell long term care, sell memory care, sell nursing home, sell portfolio, sell retirement community, sell seniors housing, sell skilled nursing, sell to REIT, senior housing brokerage, senior housing sales, Senior Living Investment Brokerage, seniors housing brokerage, SLIB, Texas, valuation, what is my assisting living worth, what is my nursing home worth/by ryanmsaul

On November 19th, I participated in a panel entitled “Investment Market Update: Who’s Buying, Who’s Selling & Will Velocity Keep Going Up and Cap Rates Keep Going Down”. We had a lively discussion on the current market, and I wanted to share a few takeaways.

1. Who are the active buyers and sellers in today’s market? There is more variety in buyers now than in the past decade. REITs, private equity, owner-operators and even some “mom and pops” have been interested in purchasing properties and growing their portfolio. The sellers have been more diverse than normal as well. “Mom and pops” are still very active sellers, but we have seen more regional and national owners look to take advantage of the strong market and either sell their entire portfolio or divest of a couple of properties that don’t match their strategic vision.

2. Are there different buyers for different seniors housing asset classes? Yes, absolutely. Institutional groups typically chase larger, higher quality assets with consistent cash flow. Their low cost of funds has driven owner-operators down the acquisition spectrum to the smaller assets that may be underperforming.

3. What are the most important metrics that buyers are using in today’s market? Cap rates are the most important metric when valuing a cash flowing property. The difficulty comes in valuing a property that is underperforming. In those cases, a potential new operator will put together a pro forma and land on a rate of return that they’re comfortable with. Those deals typically see a wide range in offer prices.

4. What is the optimal size for acquisitions? Typically, the larger the offering, the better. Institutional groups have a lot of equity to deploy and if they can deploy it in 10 $30 million transactions as opposed to 25 $10 million transactions, groups will typically prefer fewer transactions. One-off or small portfolio transactions have a different pool of buyers, which tends to be less institutional and requires a broker to have a greater knowledge of the individual market and its individual buyers.

5. With pricing so strong in today’s market, why are some owners making a decision to hold? The current market conditions have hastened the timeframe for owners that had a planned exit strategy in the next 12-24 months. That being said, some owners are trying to increase their portfolio’s profitability and increase value in that way. Even if cap rates see a modest increase, a major increase in profitability will still see the owner come out ahead by waiting to sell.

6. Should we be concerned about overdevelopment in the seniors housing space? I think it is the biggest risk to the acquisition market moving forward. This is obviously a market-to-market (and sometimes, submarket-to-submarket) risk. If the area that an owner has a seniors housing facility becomes overdeveloped in the future, census levels will obviously suffer and valuations will go down.

7. What does the increase in development do to cap rates moving forward? It adds a level of risk moving forward. Anything that adds risk – whether it be development, reimbursement or labor risk among others – will naturally push cap rates up.

8. Where do you see the market headed over the next 12-24 months? In the near-term, it should be strong – cap rates are still higher than most other asset classes, interest rates are low and institutional equity needs to be placed. Further into the future, overdevelopment, government reimbursement changes, interest rate increases, increased regulation, increased tax rates and the housing market could cause a bit of a pullback in pricing. That being said, I still think the seniors housing space is better equipped to handle this uncertainty than other asset classes.

If you have any questions on the topic of this post or would like a confidential valuation of part or all of your seniors housing portfolio, please contact Matthew Alley at 630-858-2501 ext. 225 or [email protected].

The post Matthew Alley Speaks at InterFace Seniors Housing Texas Conference appeared first on Senior Living Investment Brokerage.

When is the best time to list a seniors housing or nursing home community?

September 17, 2015/in Alzheimer, Alzheimer's, assisted living, assisted living community, assisted living price, assisted living sale, buy assisted living, buy nursing home, cap rate, Capitalization Rate, CCRC, closing costs, confidentiality, development, due diligence, exclusive listing, independent living, independent living facility, Lesley Arlasky, long term care, market, Matthew Alley, new construction, not-for-profit seniors housing, nursing home, nursing home price, operating margin, prepare to sell assisted living, prepare to sell nursing home, private equity, proposal, residential care facility, sales process, sell assisted living, sell CCRC, sell long term care, sell memory care, sell nursing home, sell portfolio, sell retirement community, sell seniors housing, sell skilled nursing, sell to REIT, senior housing, senior housing brokerage, Senior Housing community, senior housing sales, senior living, Senior Living Investment Brokerage, seniors housing, seniors housing brokerage, Skilled Nursing Facility, SLIB, Texas, valuation, what is my assisting living worth, what is my nursing home worth/by ryanmsaul

I’m often asked when is the best time of year to list a seniors housing or nursing home asset? We are all used to residential real estate agents telling us to list in the Spring while the weather is starting to change (at least for us Northerners).

Does it matter for seniors housing communities?

Yes and no. While there is not the seasonality in the seniors housing market as there is in the residential market, there are good and less optimal times for getting buyers’ (even institutional buyers’) attention.

I would argue that we are entering into one of those sweet spots as we get into the middle of September. Typically, Senior Living Investment Brokerage, Inc. has its highest volume of listings in September and early October.

Why is that?

During the Labor Day / beginning of October time frame, Buyers have made it through the Summer and are looking to deploy capital before the end of the year. They are hoping to make one last push to meet their aggressive beginning of the year expansion goals.

With a typical 3-4 month closing period, now is as good of a time as any to consider listing your property with Senior Living Investment Brokerage, Inc. We can help you procure the right Buyer, who can close the transaction prior to year-end. Many Buyers are looking to “get money out the door” by December 31st and this may give you an advantage in coercing those groups into making a more aggressive bid than they would in the middle of the year.

If you have any questions on the topic of this post or would like a confidential valuation of part or all of your seniors housing portfolio, please contact Matthew Alley at 630-858-2501 ext. 225 or [email protected].

The post When is the best time to list a seniors housing or nursing home community? appeared first on Senior Living Investment Brokerage.

How to Sell Assisted Living Facilities Faster (part 2 of 2)

August 3, 2015/in assisted living, assisted living community, Capitalization Rate, due diligence, independent living, independent living facility, Jason Punzel, prepare to sell assisted living, prepare to sell nursing home, sell assisted living, sell nursing home, senior housing brokerage, Survey, Title Report, what is my property worth/by ryanmsaul

Deciding when to sell your assisted living facility (Independent Living Community or skilled nursing facility) can be a daunting task and there are many factors to consider. However, once an owner decides to sell, typically they want to close as quick as possible. As a company, Senior Living Investment Brokerage, Inc has sold more senior living and skilled nursing facilities than any other brokerage company over the past seven years. Over the years, we have found a number of things an owner can do to help sell their senior housing community faster, below is the second half of our top six things to do to sell your facility faster:

4. Have your attorney get a preliminary title report when you list the property – After an offer has been accepted and the buyer is going through their due diligence period, title issues can often cause delays in closing. If a property has been owned for a long time, and no recent debt has been placed on the property, the title probably has not been reviewed by an attorney for years. Old liens, mortgages, improper zoning are just a few issues that could come up. By having an attorney review a title policy early on in the process, many of these issues can be resolved prior to the buyer’s attorney examining the title policy.

5. Have an ALTA survey completed ahead of time – An Alta survey, in conjunction with an attorney review of the title policy can help reduce possible delays in closing. A survey can reveal encroachments, easements and other issues on the site that a buyer may or may not have an issue with. Having a survey that is already completed that a seller can show to a potential buyer will save time and make the closing process go smoother.

6. Fix any major capital items – All buyer’s will perform some type of building inspection and expect that the roof, foundation, mechanicals, etc are in good working order. As a seller, if you know there is something that needs to be fixed, it makes sense to do it ahead of time and not wait and hope a buyer won’t find it.

Many of the above suggestions will cost the seller both time and money ahead of time. The seller must weigh the risk of spending their time and money with helping the closing go quicker. Ultimately, if the seller is committed to selling, these expenses will be a good investment to ensure the smoothest closing possible.

For more information on selling your seniors housing property, please contact Jason Punzel at 630-858-2501 x 233 or [email protected].

The post How to Sell Assisted Living Facilities Faster (part 2 of 2) appeared first on Senior Living Investment Brokerage.

How to Sell Assisted Living Facilities Faster (part 1 of 2)

July 8, 2015/in assisted living, assisted living community, cap rate, due diligence, independent living, Jason Punzel, memory care, Oregon, senior housing, senior living, Senior Living Investment Brokerage, Washington/by ryanmsaul

Deciding when to sell your assisted living facility (Independent Living Community or skilled nursing facility) can be a daunting task and there are many factors to consider. However, once an owner decides to sell, typically they want to close as quick as possible. As a company, Senior Living Investment Brokerage, Inc has sold more senior living and skilled nursing facilities than any other brokerage company over the past seven years. Over the years, we have found a number of things an owner can do to help sell their senior housing community faster, below is a list of the top six (3 will be in this blog and 3 will be in a future blog post):

Price the community reasonably – Of all the things an owner can do to sell their senior housing community quickly, pricing it reasonably is the most important. Overpriced properties do not sell. They tend to sit on the market for months as buyers do a quick analysis and pass. Eventually, the seller drops their price to a reasonable market price. Unfortunately, many buyers will not go back and re-look at the property or they wonder if the sell will have additional price drops. Effectively the property becomes a stigmatized property. Financially qualified buyers tend to be smart and know the market well. They purchase properties that make financial sense and don’t get persuaded emotionally. Over pricing a property in hopes to “get lucky” and find a buyer that will pay the higher price rarely works and usually ends up wasting time and often times can result in a lower price than if the seller priced the property reasonably from the beginning.
Hire an experienced brokerage company – An experienced broker can help a seller price the property reasonably. It is important to make sure the brokerage company has a team of brokers that work together as a team to contact hundreds of potential buyers across the country quickly. Additionally, most owners want a confidential sale of the seniors housing community and many brokers do not do a good job of this.
Talk to an attorney and accountant ahead of time – Owners should talk to their accountant before the marketing process starts to make sure they understand the tax implications of the sale and decide if they want to consider a 1031 Exchange. Additionally, it is very important for a buyer to be working with an attorney who has specific experience in health care real estate sales. Most brokers can recommend a good attorney if an owner does not already know one. If an owner waits until offers start to come in to talk to their accountant and retain an attorney, it can slow down the process and make the seller look very inexperienced.

For more information on selling your seniors housing property, please contact Jason Punzel at 630-858-2501 x 233 or [email protected].

The post How to Sell Assisted Living Facilities Faster (part 1 of 2) appeared first on Senior Living Investment Brokerage.