Assisted Living Investing Q&A!

Assisted Living Investing Q&A!

Charlie CameronBusiness Member
Investor · Niceville, FL · Member since 2017 · 450 posts · 366 votes

What’s up bigger pockets fam! I wanted to briefly re-introduce myself (I’m committing to get more active in BP again!) and offer up question and answer support for anyone interested in investing in residential assisted living, actively, passively, or somewhere in between.

Over my real estate journey I’ve tried a lot of different asset classes and finally landed on residential assisted living as my favorite real estate niche and perhaps the most incredible growth opportunity for the next few decades due to demographics and how that will drive demand to keep outpacing supply.

My partners and I own a portfolio of residential assisted living homes that we commercially lease to the business operators. This affords us excellent cash flow and lower maintenance on a 3-5 year commercial lease.

Recently, we created the first (as far as we are aware) residential assisted living focused fund and have successfully raised for multiple homes, giving our investors and us exposure to the cash flow, and equity upside that comes from owning the real estate and the business.

We also run a residential assisted living mastermind to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. We never imagined we’d be having to much fun growing together in a mastermind format and helping other succeed.

Residential assisted living is so interesting on so many ways, like:

  • There are different levels of active to passive to invest.
  • There are so many ways to approach this model, from buying existing, to retrofitting homes, to building new. You also have the option of only owning the real estate or the business as well.
  • I can’t think of a more fulfilling and pride of ownership opportunity in real estate than owning really incredible homes providing better care than big box facilities. Seniors literally have better health outcomes.
  • The data is undeniable that there’s so much existing and future need for more capacity. So much so that it would be difficult to make even a dent in the need by opening thousands of homes.
  • When done right, these are high cash flowing homes. I don’t know of any other opportunity where you can net $10-20K (in some cases even higher) per month on a single residential property.
  • There’s usually plenty of room to bring investors in and everyone involved still win, even in todays higher interest rate environment.
  • Financially, residential assisted living is usually a more cost effective option for families than alternatives.
  • We are quickly approaching the Silver Tsunami of the boomer generation aging into needing assisted living. This is the biggest need in history for the wealthiest generation in history.
  • Assisted living has historically outperformed most other real estate classes, have maintained incredible occupancy rates (despite the COVID blip), and continue strong rent growth.

Anyway, I’m still a student in many ways, but I’m studying, investing in, and educating on residential assisted living full time. If you have any questions that I can answer, fire away!

The RAL Room Assisted Living Mastermind
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Most Popular Reply

Real Estate Consultant · Houston, TX · Member since 2017 · 114 posts · 44 votes
1y

Oh I see. Hire a manager; is that similar to a property manager of sort but for senior living? How would you source a manager?

See this reply in the discussion

14 Replies

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  • Contractor · Ruskin, FL · Member since 2016 · 17 posts · 3 votes
    1y

    Hello Charlie, I just sent you a connect request, hopefully chat soon.

  • Charlie CameronBusiness Member
    OP
    Investor · Niceville, FL · Member since 2017 · 450 posts · 366 votes
    1y
    Quote from @Steve Vawter:

    Hello Charlie, I just sent you a connect request, hopefully chat soon.


     Looking forward to it! Any questions i can answer here for the masses? 

    The RAL Room Assisted Living Mastermind
  • Contractor · Ruskin, FL · Member since 2016 · 17 posts · 3 votes
    1y

    You have a mastermind class? Id be interested in joining, the link above does not take me there. 

  • Charlie CameronBusiness Member
    OP
    Investor · Niceville, FL · Member since 2017 · 450 posts · 366 votes
    1y
    Quote from @Steve Vawter:

    You have a mastermind class? Id be interested in joining, the link above does not take me there. 

    Link should work! It's a mastermind, so not only classes but a community of fellow entrepreneurs with similar goals, industry experts, and accountability to get it done! Happy to answer any questions about assisted living you might have.

    The RAL Room Assisted Living Mastermind
  • Nichole KinardPro Member
    Member since 2024 · 13 posts · 9 votes
    1y

    I have so many questions! I am stuck in market analysis. We want to own the business and the real estate. To pick a location, I understand I want to evaluate median income, a large population of those approaching retirement age, and a decently dense population. What I don’t understand is how to overlay all of that information to pick a good spot and I also don’t understand the appropriate thresholds for each of those indices (income, percentage in the target age group, and how dense). What resources do you use to do market analysis and what are the nuts and bolts of using those resources to actually narrow down a location?

    Seems like everyone chooses Arizona 😂 but I am 100% sure assisted living is needed in Georgia too. 

    • Boston, MA · Member since 2026 · 18 posts · 4 votes
      6d

      Hey Nichole, the part that's easy to miss here: income and age demographics tell you if a market could support RAL, but they don't tell you if it's already saturated. For that, pull your state's own licensing agency public registry of homes already licensed for residential assisted living in the area you're looking at.

      That's real supply data, not a proxy, and most states publish it. Cross-reference that with a call or two to local placement agencies (the people who actually fill beds) and you'll get real wait times and private-pay rates for that specific market faster than any demographic index will give you.

  • Charlie CameronBusiness Member
    OP
    Investor · Niceville, FL · Member since 2017 · 450 posts · 366 votes
    1y
    Quote from @Nichole Kinard:

    I have so many questions! I am stuck in market analysis. We want to own the business and the real estate. To pick a location, I understand I want to evaluate median income, a large population of those approaching retirement age, and a decently dense population. What I don’t understand is how to overlay all of that information to pick a good spot and I also don’t understand the appropriate thresholds for each of those indices (income, percentage in the target age group, and how dense). What resources do you use to do market analysis and what are the nuts and bolts of using those resources to actually narrow down a location?

    Seems like everyone chooses Arizona 😂 but I am 100% sure assisted living is needed in Georgia too. 

    Hey @Nichole Kinard! You are absolutely right, this residential care model is needed EVERYwhere and the demand will only double over the next decade, but supply will continue to fall behind. Families want their loved ones close. Georgia is a great state from a regulatory standpoint. 
    The best advice I can give you when it comes to operating the business is that you need to be local for your first one or few. Until you understand the operations and how to manage a manager, this is going to be key to success as you'll need to be involved initially. And if you want SBA financing, they're going to require this anyway. If you were simply leasing the home TO an assisted living business, it would be a different story. 
    Most banks won't finance you unless you (or a partner) will live near the home and can have a pulse on the operations. Does that help? 

    The RAL Room Assisted Living Mastermind
  • Real Estate Consultant · Houston, TX · Member since 2017 · 114 posts · 44 votes
    1y

    @Charlie Cameron Excellent post! My question would be becoming a qualified assisted living operator and the certifications / licensing per your state (For me Texas) to get your property up to code? Thanks

  • Charlie CameronBusiness Member
    OP
    Investor · Niceville, FL · Member since 2017 · 450 posts · 366 votes
    1y
    Quote from @Ron Dancy:

    @Charlie Cameron Excellent post! My question would be becoming a qualified assisted living operator and the certifications / licensing per your state (For me Texas) to get your property up to code? Thanks


    Hey Ron! You would want to look at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission website. I believe it is about a 40 hour training. But alternatively, you can hire a manager if the home is big enough to support their salary. The latter is what I'd recommend planning on! 

    The RAL Room Assisted Living Mastermind
  • Real Estate Consultant · Houston, TX · Member since 2017 · 114 posts · 44 votes
    1y

    Oh I see. Hire a manager; is that similar to a property manager of sort but for senior living? How would you source a manager?

  • Charlie CameronBusiness Member
    OP
    Investor · Niceville, FL · Member since 2017 · 450 posts · 366 votes
    1y

    @Ron Dancy in some ways yes, in other ways, no. Your pay is more likely to be salary than a percentage (except for the REALLY big stuff). Another difference is when a PM quits, typically the stakes are pretty low, you just hire another one. Here, there are lives at stake. And they are managing a lot of people, having to market, and other things a PM does very little of. Normally the manager works directly for you rather than another company. So some similarities, but many differences. Does that help?

    The RAL Room Assisted Living Mastermind
  • Real Estate Consultant · Houston, TX · Member since 2017 · 114 posts · 44 votes
    1y

    Yes it does.

  • Member since 2026 · 1 post · 0 votes
    8mo
    Quote from @Charlie Cameron:

    What’s up bigger pockets fam! I wanted to briefly re-introduce myself (I’m committing to get more active in BP again!) and offer up question and answer support for anyone interested in investing in residential assisted living, actively, passively, or somewhere in between.

    Over my real estate journey I’ve tried a lot of different asset classes and finally landed on residential assisted living as my favorite real estate niche and perhaps the most incredible growth opportunity for the next few decades due to demographics and how that will drive demand to keep outpacing supply.

    My partners and I own a portfolio of residential assisted living homes that we commercially lease to the business operators. This affords us excellent cash flow and lower maintenance on a 3-5 year commercial lease.

    Recently, we created the first (as far as we are aware) residential assisted living focused fund and have successfully raised for multiple homes, giving our investors and us exposure to the cash flow, and equity upside that comes from owning the real estate and the business.

    We also run a residential assisted living mastermind to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. We never imagined we’d be having to much fun growing together in a mastermind format and helping other succeed.

    Residential assisted living is so interesting on so many ways, like:

    • There are different levels of active to passive to invest.
    • There are so many ways to approach this model, from buying existing, to retrofitting homes, to building new. You also have the option of only owning the real estate or the business as well.
    • I can’t think of a more fulfilling and pride of ownership opportunity in real estate than owning really incredible homes providing better care than big box facilities. Seniors literally have better health outcomes.
    • The data is undeniable that there’s so much existing and future need for more capacity. So much so that it would be difficult to make even a dent in the need by opening thousands of homes.
    • When done right, these are high cash flowing homes. I don’t know of any other opportunity where you can net $10-20K (in some cases even higher) per month on a single residential property.
    • There’s usually plenty of room to bring investors in and everyone involved still win, even in todays higher interest rate environment.
    • Financially, residential assisted living is usually a more cost effective option for families than alternatives.
    • We are quickly approaching the Silver Tsunami of the boomer generation aging into needing assisted living. This is the biggest need in history for the wealthiest generation in history.
    • Assisted living has historically outperformed most other real estate classes, have maintained incredible occupancy rates (despite the COVID blip), and continue strong rent growth.

    Anyway, I’m still a student in many ways, but I’m studying, investing in, and educating on residential assisted living full time. If you have any questions that I can answer, fire away!


     Nice post Charlie, I am new to RAL. I am trying to get my first property here in North dallas. How do you find operators to rent the property, will you advise finding an operator first.

    • Charlie CameronBusiness Member
      OP
      Investor · Niceville, FL · Member since 2017 · 450 posts · 366 votes
      8mo
      Quote from @Demi Ajayi:
      Quote from @Charlie Cameron:

      What’s up bigger pockets fam! I wanted to briefly re-introduce myself (I’m committing to get more active in BP again!) and offer up question and answer support for anyone interested in investing in residential assisted living, actively, passively, or somewhere in between.

      Over my real estate journey I’ve tried a lot of different asset classes and finally landed on residential assisted living as my favorite real estate niche and perhaps the most incredible growth opportunity for the next few decades due to demographics and how that will drive demand to keep outpacing supply.

      My partners and I own a portfolio of residential assisted living homes that we commercially lease to the business operators. This affords us excellent cash flow and lower maintenance on a 3-5 year commercial lease.

      Recently, we created the first (as far as we are aware) residential assisted living focused fund and have successfully raised for multiple homes, giving our investors and us exposure to the cash flow, and equity upside that comes from owning the real estate and the business.

      We also run a residential assisted living mastermind to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. We never imagined we’d be having to much fun growing together in a mastermind format and helping other succeed.

      Residential assisted living is so interesting on so many ways, like:

      • There are different levels of active to passive to invest.
      • There are so many ways to approach this model, from buying existing, to retrofitting homes, to building new. You also have the option of only owning the real estate or the business as well.
      • I can’t think of a more fulfilling and pride of ownership opportunity in real estate than owning really incredible homes providing better care than big box facilities. Seniors literally have better health outcomes.
      • The data is undeniable that there’s so much existing and future need for more capacity. So much so that it would be difficult to make even a dent in the need by opening thousands of homes.
      • When done right, these are high cash flowing homes. I don’t know of any other opportunity where you can net $10-20K (in some cases even higher) per month on a single residential property.
      • There’s usually plenty of room to bring investors in and everyone involved still win, even in todays higher interest rate environment.
      • Financially, residential assisted living is usually a more cost effective option for families than alternatives.
      • We are quickly approaching the Silver Tsunami of the boomer generation aging into needing assisted living. This is the biggest need in history for the wealthiest generation in history.
      • Assisted living has historically outperformed most other real estate classes, have maintained incredible occupancy rates (despite the COVID blip), and continue strong rent growth.

      Anyway, I’m still a student in many ways, but I’m studying, investing in, and educating on residential assisted living full time. If you have any questions that I can answer, fire away!


       Nice post Charlie, I am new to RAL. I am trying to get my first property here in North dallas. How do you find operators to rent the property, will you advise finding an operator first.


       Yes its a classic chicken and egg problem. The easiest ways to find an operator to lease a home to are:
      - RAL focused real estate agents/teams (uncommon in most places)
      - Facebook communities (we run two of the largest RAL communities)
      - A mastermind community (like the RAL Room) to match up with those that want to operate but not own

      Just keep in mind that the home needs to be able to be licensed for RAL and suitable for it. That means zoning and any building requirements (a common one is installing sprinklers) as well as ensuring the home is modified to best suit RAL (like additional bedrooms). 

      Best of luck to you!

      The RAL Room Assisted Living Mastermind
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