What Are the Memory Care Investors Saying?

On March 9^th, we hosted a webinar entitled “Building or Buying Memory Care,” with moderator Steve Monroe and panelists Clint Malin of LTC Properties, Mark Myers of Marcus & Millichap, Michael Stoller of LCB Senior Living and Matthew Turner of MorningStar Senior Living. The panelists covered a range of topics (you can listen to the discussion here) including the risks of overbuilding, effectiveness of memory care conversions and fill-up risk, among others. But our audience also chimed in, answering three poll questions throughout the webinar. First, when asked if they would build stand-alone MC, assisted living with MC or stand-alone AL, 60% preferred the mix, 32% would build stand-alone MC, and just 8% of respondents would build pure AL. That 8% surprised us, given the added risks and costs of memory care. Our listeners were then asked what they would buy today among those three options, and just 5% said they would buy a stand-alone assisted living community. AL/MC took 68% of the vote, with stand-alone memory care favored by 27%. For a webinar entitled “Building or Buying Memory Care,” perhaps our audience already came in with the idea of investing in memory care. Finally, we asked should stand-alone MC properties have a higher or lower cap rate than stand-alone AL? Not surprisingly, given memory care’s added risks, costs and care levels, 76% believed they should be higher. To hear the 90-minute discussion, you can purchase the webinar here.