• 60 Seconds with Swett: Sticks and Bricks in ’26?

    The talk around new development is getting a lot more serious in the seniors housing industry, leading us to wonder if our 2024 prediction of “Sticks and Bricks in ‘26” may actually come true, somewhat. Back then, we may have thought that interest rates would have come down a bit more by now, but that the FOMO of getting involved in seniors... Read More »
  • Wyoming SNF Sale Sets New State Record

    There was a new record set for skilled nursing pricing in the state of Wyoming with the sale of Big Horn Rehabilitation and Care Center in Sheridan. Built in the 1960s, the facility features 128 beds and was 61% occupied. It was owned by a regional operator that was looking to recycle capital.  Before the marketing process, Evans Senior... Read More »
  • Owner/Operator Acquires Facility Out of Bankruptcy

    A senior care facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, sold as part of a bankruptcy process with the help of Patrick Burke and Toby Siefert of Senior Living Investment Brokerage. Built in 1970, Donna Kay Rest Home features 60 licensed beds in 31 units, providing a higher level of care and supervision than assisted living but at a lesser acuity than... Read More »
  • Civitas Sells Community to Clarion

    Hap Knowles and Nick Stahler of the Knapp-Stahler Group at Institutional Property Advisors announced that they led the sale of a seniors housing community in the Phoenix, Arizona MSA, to the fast-growing real estate investment firm Clarion Partners. The deal appears to be The Retreat at Alameda, a 110-unit assisted living/memory care community in... Read More »
  • Blueprint Handles Recapitalization

    Blueprint handled the recapitalization of Forest Hills Commons, a 2017-developed, 119-unit assisted living/memory care community in the Louisville, Kentucky MSA. A Louisville-based senior living owner/operator/developer engaged Blueprint in the third quarter of 2025 to begin the process. The asset demonstrated strong in-place performance and... Read More »
The Secret Sauce To Success

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 »
The Secret Sauce To Success

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 »
The Secret Sauce To Success

Thank Wayne Kaplan

Offering free meals to federal workers without a paycheck is the way to go. For all of you who have descended on Los Angeles for the annual ASHA meeting this week, please thank Wayne Kaplan of Premier Senior Living for their generosity, and smarts. At the company’s 23 assisted living and memory care communities located in six states, they have been offering federal workers going without a paycheck free meals at their communities. It can be breakfast, lunch and dinner. While we don’t know how many people took them up on this offer, think of the goodwill it will generate across their locations, especially when the word gets out. We are making the assumption, of course, that the food is good.... Read More »
What Did the Experts Say on Seniors Housing’s Occupancy Woes?

What Did the Experts Say on Seniors Housing’s Occupancy Woes?

Occupancy issues have spared few senior living operators in the past year, and signs are not good for the next year either. An overactive development market and declining absorption rate made for a relatively abysmal year for census figures in seniors housing and care. With that increased competition, sales and marketing are even more crucial to the success of every community. New communities have to fill their units without the aid of resident reviews and an established local reputation. Older communities have to convince seniors why their communities are better than the shiny new competitor down the street. But how do you reach those potential residents? How do train your sales staff to... Read More »
The Secret Sauce To Success

The Good and the Bad of NIC’s Latest Occupancy Numbers

Fourth quarter occupancy may have been flat, but it is sure to decline in the early part of this year. We need to find new ways to deal with it. What great timing, with NIC’s occupancy and construction numbers just released for the fourth quarter, given our webinar tomorrow. Here’s the good news. Occupancy was stable in the fourth quarter, and new construction as a share of existing inventory, while still high at 6.0%, is 130 basis points off its recent high in the fourth quarter of 2017. And, at long last we seem to be reaching equilibrium between new supply and demand. The bad news is that assisted living occupancy is still low at 85.4%, and while unchanged from the third quarter, was... Read More »
Capital Senior Living’s New CEO

Capital Senior Living’s New CEO

The day after it was announced that Kim Lody had been appointed as the new CEO of Capital Senior Living, we had the opportunity for a little one on one with her. Since she has been a director for the past four years, she was obviously well versed in the company’s issues and opportunities. But when asked why shareholders should be confident in her moving forward as CEO when she was a director during the largest collapse in shareholder value ever for the company, she had a decent response: “I wasn’t the CEO, so I had limited influence.” Well, now she is, and the buck will stop with her. The good news for shareholders is that she has a very strong background in sales and marketing, which is... Read More »