• 60 Seconds with Swett: Senior Care’s PR Problem

    Recently, we have seen stories circulating about the connection between REIT ownership and the way skilled nursing facilities provide care, stemming from a study written by the nonprofit journalism outlet KFF Health News. We’ve seen this before, headlines like “real estate investors profit while patients suffer,” usually with graphic cases of... Read More »
  • Blueprint Sets Pricing Record in New York State

    Blueprint advised a repeat private equity client in a record-setting sale of two standalone memory care communities in high barrier-to-entry submarkets in New York State. Combining for 104 units, these assets were purpose-built in the late 1990s and were stabilized at the time of the deal. Not only that, they were generating cash flow in excess... Read More »
  • CareTrust Keeps Its Foot on the Gas

    CareTrust REIT has deployed nearly $1 billion in closed transactions so far this year, after closing around $1.8 billion in investment activity in 2025, and its pipeline includes $450 million of near-term, actionable opportunities, excluding larger portfolio transactions. The REIT announced that it closed a few separate transactions in mid-April,... Read More »
  • VIUM Capital Announces Slew of HUD Closings

    VIUM Capital closed four HUD 232/223(f) financings in March totaling more than $63 million across a mix of skilled nursing and seniors housing communities. Two of the financings involved skilled nursing facilities in Oklahoma totaling 176 beds. The assets were originally acquired as part of a larger portfolio and refinanced following a... Read More »
  • Lument Secures HUD Express Lane Transaction

    Lument closed a refinance through HUD’s Express Lane for a 120-unit seniors housing community in Lincoln, Nebraska. Built in 2017, Pemberly Place Senior Living features 132 licensed beds and offers independent living, assisted living and memory care services. It also has an on-site medical clinic to offer a range of other healthcare services. The... Read More »
Newmark Sells Connecticut Community

Newmark Sells Connecticut Community

Newmark Knight Frank closed on a large senior living community in Farmington, Connecticut a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic let loose in the Northeast. The community was built in 2015 and has 89 assisted living and 45 memory care units for a total of 134 units. Occupancy was at 97% when it went to market, which is fantastic in any market.   Assisted living rates average about $4,100 per month plus care levels, while memory care rates range from $5,600 for a shared room to $7,700 for a private studio. Based on that, we have estimated revenues to be just above $8.0 million assuming occupancy has remained high. Farmington is one of the nicest towns in the middle of the state with a... Read More »
Dwight Capital Refinances Utah Assisted Living Community

Dwight Capital Refinances Utah Assisted Living Community

Dwight Capital got a HUD financing closed in West Jordan, Utah (Salt Lake City MSA). The target was a Beehive Homes community built in 1996 and 2007 on over 1.5 acres. It currently consists of 50 beds in 50 units and is located less than a mile from Jordan Valley Medical Center. The license allows the community to care for 11 AL Type-1 residents, 16 AL Type-2 residents and 16 residents in a secure memory care unit.   To refinance the property, Kevin Lifshitz of Dwight Capital arranged a $4.28 million loan with a 35-year term and amortization. We’re sure it was no easy feat.  Read More »
Stock Buybacks vs. Dry Powder

Stock Buybacks vs. Dry Powder

Should REITs be using excess cash to buy back their shares at cheap prices, or wait and go bargain hunting for cheap properties? Good morning. I am in day nine of my 14-day self-quarantine, and have yet to go stir crazy. Apparently, in Connecticut, liquor stores are exempt from the shut-down. Hmmm. While we hear anecdotally that occupancy levels in seniors housing remain relatively unchanged, I do not see how that will remain so in the coming weeks and months. Companies and owners, such as REITs, are just beginning to report confirmed cases of COVID-19, along with the unfortunate deaths. While expected, we still continue to hope they can keep it to a minimum. One thing I am a little... Read More »
Senior Living Investment Brokerage’s Brookdale Sale

Senior Living Investment Brokerage’s Brookdale Sale

Sales are still getting done at Senior Living Investment Brokerage, with Brad Clousing, Jeff Binder and Patrick Burke handling the sale of a 78-unit assisted living community in Northport, Alabama. In 2019, Mr. Clousing had also sold a 161-bed skilled nursing facility in Northport, so we’re sure that experience helped in this transaction.  Built in 1999, the community is situated on about four acres along the Black Warrior River near Tuscaloosa. In addition to the 68 assisted living units, it includes 10 units and 16 beds of memory care. A Mid-Atlantic-based owner/operator bought the community, its second in the state of Alabama, and plans to invest in physical plant... Read More »
Meridian Capital Group’s Impressive March Activity

Meridian Capital Group’s Impressive March Activity

Meridian Capital Group has had a productive start to the year, including an especially busy last few weeks. We imagine they gained some knowledge from closing deals during that period, which could not have been straightforward. So far in 2020, the group has arranged $563 million in financing for skilled nursing, assisted living and memory care communities, and in the last three weeks they closed $301 million in financings across seven states.   Working through a commercial bank, the team of Ari Adlerstein, Ari Dobkin and Josh Simpson first arranged a $34 million refinance of four memory care communities totaling 264 units in Florida, New York, Ohio and Arizona. Also, in Florida, they... Read More »
Creativcap Announces Sale and Several Loan Closings

Creativcap Announces Sale and Several Loan Closings

It’s good to see business still getting done these days. Scott Kavel, Founder and Principal of Creativcap, took that to another level by announcing four transactions in the last week, including one sale and three loan closings. The transactions were likely nearly finalized before much of the mayhem started, but to close a deal in this environment is an accomplishment.  The sale included a stand-alone memory care community in the Southeast. Built in 2015, it features 65 units and nearly 54,000 square feet. Occupancy was over 95%, and operations stayed on track throughout the sales process. Its location is undisclosed but was in a top-tier market in the Southeast. That location, along with... Read More »
REITs Announce Share Repurchase Programs

REITs Announce Share Repurchase Programs

Amid the cratering of share prices across most industries, a couple of healthcare REITs announced share repurchase plans. LTC Properties announced that its Board of Directors approved a share repurchase plan involving an aggregate of up to five million of its outstanding shares of common stock. The company made the plan public on March 12th, when the company’s stock price closed at $29.53 per share, down from $48.84 per share on March 5th. Its stock price has since fallen a little further, hitting bottom (we hope) at $24.49 on March 18th, the same day when most stock indices also reached their near-term lows. LTC plans to use the proceeds from several asset sales to execute on some of the... Read More »
The HUD Doors Are Still Open

The HUD Doors Are Still Open

One thing to come out of the coronavirus crisis (among many things) has been record-low interest rates, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling as low as 0.318% on March 9 and the federal funds rate being cut to 0-0.25%. It has been in the federal government’s interest to maintain liquidity in the market, as much as possible, so how has that policy affected HUD lending in the senior care industry? We asked Michael Gehl of Housing & Healthcare Finance a few questions, and here are his answers:  1) First question is, is HUD still doing business?  Yes, HUD is still doing business, as you can imagine a number of people are working from home, which does create its challenges not... Read More »
Welltower Prepares for the Worst

Welltower Prepares for the Worst

Welltower announced a couple of moves to significantly increase its near-term liquidity. With all the uncertainty going around right now, that seems to be a prudent move. As of March 20, 2020, the REIT had $338 million of cash and cash equivalents and about $1.5 billion of available borrowing capacity under its unsecured revolving credit facility. Now, Welltower has added a two-year unsecured term loan of $1.0 billion, bearing an interest rate of 30-day LIBOR +1.20%. The company will also have the right to increase the loan amount by an additional $200 million. Proceeds from the loan will be used to repay borrowings under Welltower’s unsecured revolving credit facility and commercial paper... Read More »

Irrational Valuations for REIT Shares

What a week it has been. At the market’s close on Wednesday, Ventas was yielding 18.7%, Omega Healthcare Investors 18.0% and Sabra Health Care REIT 30.4%. This assumes they all maintain their current dividend rates. Ventas just announced the payment date for its dividend at the same rate as last year.  Of course, Ventas plunged by 19% on Wednesday, Omega by 17% and Sabra by 20%. These drops, on top of the previous weeks’ plunge, caused yields to skyrocket. Obviously, this is irrational, even in these days of the coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic (CV-19). All of the other healthcare REITs fared poorly as well. But does this represent a buying opportunity?... Read More »
Genesis HealthCare Sees Share Value Rebound

Genesis HealthCare Sees Share Value Rebound

It’s no surprise that Genesis HealthCare has seen a significant drop in its share value as a result of Covid-19. The company owns and operates facilities that care for a medically-complex population that is most vulnerable to the virus, which is a huge risk in itself. The horrifying situation at a Life Care Centers facility in Kirkland, Washington, where 129 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed (81 residents, 34 staff members and 14 visitors) and 35 people have died (more than half of the state’s total), has also colored the image of SNFs in this situation, probably contributing to the flight of capital from the sector’s stocks.   During the massive... Read More »