Jon Harder Gets Sentence Commuted
When was the last time anyone thought about Jon Harder, the founder and CEO of Sunwest Management who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the “misuse of investment funds during the real estate crisis” of 2007 to 2009? Well, that is an understatement if we ever saw one. At its height, Sunwest was one of the largest senior living companies in the country. Back in the day, in the 2000s, when Mr. Harder was building his empire, overpaying for properties and then not properly managing them, people often wondered, “how is he doing it?” We heard from many brokers that the runner up bids were often 10% to 20% below what Sunwest was offering, not even close enough to ask anyone... Read More »
The Welltower Census Decline
Welltower’s seniors housing partners continue to suffer from census declines and operating costs. We do appreciate the transparency that Welltower has been providing investors, but boy does it provide a window onto what is happening. In its monthly update, Welltower informed us that it suffered its worst monthly census decline since May. December’s SHOP occupancy fell 100 basis points from November, compared with -70 basis points in November and -170 basis points in May. With the pandemic spreading, census dropped another 85 basis points to just 75.3% as of January 15. Not looking forward to everyone’s fourth quarter earnings calls. Move-ins were the lowest in six months, and... Read More »
Assisted Living Is Not A Nursing Home
The media continues to throw all seniors housing into the nursing home basket. It has to stop now, especially in this time of COVID. Here I go again, or better yet, here goes the uninformed New York Times again. In a story last week called, “Voices From Inside Nursing Homes,” I didn’t know whether these would be the voices of workers, or the residents who felt isolated with little social interaction. It was mostly neither. It was voices from children of residents, and in two cases, the resident; one “voice” was that of a staffer. The problem was that most were not voices from nursing homes. They were from a residential care facility, a seniors housing complex, an assisted living community,... Read More »
Active Adult: Is Now The Time
The active adult market may fill a lot of voids in seniors housing, including price points and attracting younger “seniors.” Join our webinar as we dissect the market with industry leaders and see how these new properties are trading in the market. First of all, Happy New Year. It has got to be better than the last one. The coronavirus pandemic has certainly disrupted the senior living industry, at least for now. Are consumers going to be afraid of moving into a senior living community once the vaccine is widely distributed? Will cost become a more important factor for choosing the type of community to move into? How about paying for what you only want or need? These will... Read More »
