• Regional Owner/Operator Enters New State

    A regional owner/operator looking to enter the state of Indiana acquired Smith Farms Manor, an independent living community in Auburn, about 30 miles south of the Michigan border. Built in 1998, the community features 51 units and is well maintained. It sits on an attractive four-acre campus down the street from Parkview DeKalb Hospital and off... Read More »
  • Skilled Nursing Portfolio Gets New Operator

    Evans Senior Investments secured a new lease for a skilled nursing portfolio in Tennessee on behalf of an institutional owner. The portfolio features four assets and was operating below 70% occupancy with margins under 10%. Despite that performance, ESI secured a lease $3 million above in-place cash flow, reflecting the operational upside that... Read More »
  • Seniors Housing and Care M&A Remains Elevated in Q1:26

    The number of publicly announced seniors housing and care acquisitions in the first quarter of 2026 reached 231 deals, based on new acquisition data from LevinPro LTC. This represents a 19.8% decrease from the 288 transactions disclosed in the fourth quarter of 2025, but a 25.5% increase from the 184 deals in Q1:25.   “It was always going... Read More »
  • Clarion Acquires Again in Colorado

    Two years after opening a 160-unit seniors housing community in Centennial, Colorado (Denver MSA), MorningStar Senior Living announced an expanding relationship with Clarion Partners, a leading real estate investment company and specialty investment manager of Franklin Templeton, in its acquisition of MorningStar at Holly Park. The community... Read More »
  • Brookdale’s Summer Test Ahead

    Brookdale Senior Living reported its March occupancy results, and it unfortunately took another step in the wrong direction. We will get a better read when peers report first-quarter results and when NIC MAP releases its next tranche of occupancy data, but at this point, it seems as though Brookdale will need a particularly strong performance... Read More »
Genesis Occupancy Stabilizes, Finally

Genesis Occupancy Stabilizes, Finally

After several years of declining occupancy, operations seem to be stabilizing at the largest skilled nursing provider in the country. It has not been an easy past few years for Genesis Healthcare, or for the entire skilled nursing sector. But we always thought there would be some light at the end of the tunnel, and that nursing facilities would not go away, despite predictions of that for two or three decades. Genesis had seen its occupancy decline pretty steadily for several years. But in the 2018 fourth quarter, census actually increased by 90 basis points from the year-ago quarter, to 85.6% based on operating beds. Genesis also posted sequential and same-facility increases. The company... Read More »
Genesis Occupancy Stabilizes, Finally

Capital Senior Living Jumps

After plunging to a low of $3.82 per share after fourth quarter earnings were released, shares of Capital Senior Living are showing some bounce. We are sure the market has noticed that the C-Suite has been buying. The price is now up 26% in less than a week. Timing is everything, and the CEO added to her holdings with the purchase of 10,000 shares at $3.954 on March 7 and the CFO 5,135 shares at $3.886 the next day. Even two directors added to their holdings at the same time. I guess they all thought enough was enough. Investors always want to see insiders making purchases, especially on the price downturn, which demonstrates confidence in future performance.   Activist investor Cove... Read More »
Genesis Occupancy Stabilizes, Finally

The Closing of Rural Nursing Homes

The New York Times recently wrote about the problems rural nursing facilities are having, but didn’t report on my solution. If you happened to see the front-page article in the New York Times this past Monday on the shuttering of rural nursing homes, you might be surprised that I spent more than 20 minutes on the phone with the reporter talking about some good ideas. Instead, he chose a flippant quote which really had nothing to do with the story. I spent my time trying to educate him about the industry, and then explained my solution to the problem. My solution was to turn these facilities into the central healthcare provider for the county, or a tri-county area, if they are very... Read More »
Genesis Occupancy Stabilizes, Finally

Thoughts On NIC Conference

New programming was just what the industry needed. Fresh from three days in San Diego attending the NIC “Spring” Conference, there were some noticeable changes, other than many new faces again. At past conferences, most of the sessions had to do with real estate, valuations, operations, competition and financing alternatives. While all important, this was the first NIC where there was an unusual amount of attention to things that most people either don’t want to hear about, or just plain don’t understand. I am speaking of Medicaid managed care, in both skilled nursing and assisted living, Medicare Advantage plans in assisted living, I-SNPs and value-based care, and, of course, the new PDPM... Read More »
Genesis Occupancy Stabilizes, Finally

The Secret Sauce To Success

Empowering your Executive Directors may be the way to go. I finally found out the secret sauce for success in the senior care market, at least for The Ensign Group. It is called empowerment. Simplistically, the home office does not interfere with the operations at each local community. Other than property, casualty and health insurance, the executive directors are pretty much free to do what they want with expenses. But, they have to succeed. Here’s the deal. A young ED is given full P&L responsibility, with certain benchmarks, of course. He or she is then part of a local team of a few other EDs, and they meet regularly and compare notes on costs and revenues. They can even decide on... Read More »
Genesis Occupancy Stabilizes, Finally

Average SNF And Seniors Housing Prices Hit Four-Year Low

The headwinds facing skilled nursing and assisted living have finally had their impact on acquisition values. We are obviously not in good times right now, but it is also not as bad as it sometimes appears. The mood is cautious for most, but hopeful for many, as occupancy and labor continue to be the problem issues facing the entire industry. What I don’t like, however, is when news reports come out saying that 50% of SNFs nationally lose money. What they fail to say is that this is after depreciation, amortization, interest and lease expense. Before these costs, the vast majority of nursing facilities are still making money, just not as much as in the past. It looks like 2018 was finally... Read More »