Written down
An ongoing set of articles on how deals actually get underwritten and financed, what the market is doing, and the parts of this business that stay behind the curtain.
SBA 7(a) vs 504 for Buying an Assisted Living Facility
The 504 gives you a cheaper fixed rate on the building but will not touch the business, the license value or your working capital, and most care acquisitions need all three financed.
Read it →How to Buy an Assisted Living Facility
You are buying a building, a business, and a license at once, and each one can fail on its own at closing.
Read it →Why Your Deal Is Too Small for HUD 232, and What That Leaves You
HUD does not set a minimum loan size, but the economics of the program quietly do, and smaller buyers need a different plan.
Read it →Payroll Moves With Census and Acuity, Not Square Footage
Underwriting assisted living expenses per square foot is a multifamily habit that hides the largest cost in the building.
Read it →How Independent Living Gets Underwritten Differently Than Multifamily
A community full of apartments can still be an operating business, and the underwriting, the lender, and the risks all follow from that.
Read it →What a Rent Roll Tells You That the OM Does Not
The offering memorandum tells the story the seller wants told, and the rent roll is where that story gets checked.
Read it →SBA Personal Guarantee: What It Actually Puts at Risk
The SBA guarantee is unlimited, but how far it reaches depends on your ownership share, your home equity, and who else signs.
Read it →Multifamily Operating Expenses per Unit: Price Them at Market, Not What the Seller Paid
The seller's expenses reflect the seller's taxes, insurance, and habits, and none of those come with the building.
Read it →Debt Yield vs DSCR: The Lender Test Most Borrowers Never Run
DSCR moves with the interest rate and the loan terms, while debt yield does not, which is exactly why lenders use it to cap your loan.
Read it →Michigan Property Tax Uncapping After You Buy a Rental or Care Facility
The seller's tax bill is built on a capped value that resets the year after you buy, and the jump can erase your first year of cash flow.
Read it →Michigan Adult Foster Care vs Home for the Aged: Which License Are You Buying?
Most small care homes listed as assisted living are licensed as adult foster care, and the license decides who you can serve, how far you can grow and who has to live in the house.
Read it →Can You Get an SBA Loan for Independent Living?
SBA will lend on assisted living because it delivers care, and it will not lend on independent living because, under its rules, renting apartments to seniors is still renting apartments.
Read it →Value-Add Renovation Premium: What to Do When Renovated Units Won't Rent Higher
A value-add plan only creates value if renovated units rent for enough more to pay back the work, and the market sets that number, not the pro forma.
Read it →Commercial Real Estate Due Diligence Checklist: The Documents Nobody Asks For Until It's Late
Every checklist covers the rent roll and the T12, and the deals that go wrong usually go wrong in the contracts, deposits and records nobody requested until a week before closing.
Read it →SBA Owner-Occupancy Rule: What It Means for a Mixed-Use Building
SBA will finance a building you share with tenants, but only if your business fills enough of it, and the measurement is stricter than most buyers expect.
Read it →HUD 232 Loans for Assisted Living: Requirements and Timeline
HUD 232 debt is long, fixed and non-recourse, and you pay for it with a slow approval, strict eligibility and a property that has to prove itself first.
Read it →Assisted Living Labor Cost as a Percentage of Revenue
Labor is the largest expense in assisted living, and a seller's margin is only believable once you rebuild payroll for the staff you will actually have to hire.
Read it →Memory Care vs Assisted Living: Does the Premium Cover the Cost?
Memory care charges more per resident than assisted living, and the extra staffing, training and secured space can absorb most of that premium before it reaches your margin.
Read it →Minnesota Assisted Living License With Dementia Care: What Buyers Need
The state licenses two kinds of assisted living, and the one you need depends on whether the building has a secured dementia care unit, not on what the seller calls it.
Read it →Senior Housing Turnover vs Apartment Turnover
Senior housing residents stay longer than apartment tenants, but they leave for reasons no rent cut can fix, and every vacancy takes longer and costs more to fill.
Read it →RUBS Income: Will a Lender Count Utility Bill-Backs?
A ratio utility billing program can add real income to an apartment building, but lenders count what tenants have actually paid, not what the seller says the formula should bring in.
Read it →Colorado For-Cause Eviction Law: What It Means for Apartment Buyers
Since April 2024, a landlord needs a legal reason to evict most long-term tenants or decline to renew their leases, and that changes how fast a new owner can reposition a building.
Read it →Tennessee Franchise and Excise Tax on a Rental Property LLC
There is no tax on your wages, but the LLC that owns your apartment building pays tax on its earnings and its net worth every year, and on its gain when you sell.
Read it →South Carolina Property Tax After a Sale and the 25 Percent Reduction
A sale resets your rental or commercial property to full market value, but an exemption most buyers never claim can take a quarter off that value if you apply on time.
Read it →SBA Loan for Adult Day Care: What Lenders Require
An adult day care center qualifies for SBA financing, but approval turns on licensing, payer contracts, your own cash and how the lender reads your experience.
Read it →Interest-Only Period Ending: What Happens to Your Cash Flow
Interest-only years make a deal look stronger than it is, and the payment jump when amortization starts can cut cash flow by close to half.
Read it →Assisted Living Level of Care Fees: How They Work and Why Sellers Overstate Them
Care fees can carry a large share of assisted living revenue, and they are among the easiest numbers in a seller's statements to inflate.
Read it →Arizona Assisted Living License Transfer: Why Buyers Start Over
The license stays with the seller, so the buyer applies for its own and cannot operate a single day until the state issues it.
Read it →Illinois Supportive Living Program: How It Pays for Assisted Living
The state pays for services in certified supportive living buildings through a Medicaid waiver tied to nursing home rates, while residents pay a capped amount for room and board.
Read it →Independent Living Dining Costs: What Meal Programs Do to Your Model
Dining is the largest service cost in most independent living communities, and its mostly fixed labor makes margins sensitive to every empty apartment.
Read it →What Lenders Look for in a First-Time Apartment Sponsor
The building has to qualify, but so do you, and the net worth, liquidity and experience tests decide whether a first deal gets financed at all.
Read it →Multifamily Insurance Costs: Why the Seller's Premium Won't Be Yours
Insurance has been the fastest-rising apartment expense, and the premium on a seller's T12 reflects a history, a policy and a market that may not carry over to you.
Read it →Florida Property Tax After You Buy: The 10 Percent Cap Reset
The cap that held the seller's assessment down resets when you buy, and the jump to market value shows up on the first bill after your first January 1.
Read it →Washington Real Estate Excise Tax on an Apartment Sale, Including LLC Transfers
The state taxes every apartment sale on a graduated scale that tops out at 3 percent, and selling or buying a controlling interest in the LLC triggers the same tax as a deed.
Read it →Texas Assisted Living Change of Ownership: The License Doesn't Transfer
The buyer needs its own temporary license, then a three-year license after an inspection, and the paperwork has to reach the state at least 30 days before the sale.
Read it →North Carolina Certificate of Need for Adult Care Homes: Why Licensed Beds Carry Value
Adding beds requires state approval that is only available where the state projects a need, so the licensed beds in an existing home are a scarce asset you are buying along with the building.
Read it →Oregon Assisted Living Staffing: How the Acuity Tool Sets Your Payroll
Staffing is set by each resident's measured care needs rather than a fixed ratio, so payroll rises as residents age in place and a seller's schedule can understate what the building really needs.
Read it →Buying an Adult Day Care in Texas: The Temporary License and 90 Day Clock
The license stays with the seller, the buyer works through a 90-day temporary license and an inspection, and the Medicaid contract that pays most centers has to move separately.
Read it →How the SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 Update Changes Equity Injection
The 10 percent minimum on a first business purchase can no longer be waived, at least half of it has to be money that is genuinely yours, and some costs buyers used to count no longer qualify.
Read it →The 1.25 DSCR Rule in the SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 Update
First-time buyers now need 1.25 times coverage measured on the business's past results, and projections can no longer carry a loan that the history does not support.
Read it →Quality of Earnings Reports Under the SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 Update
Acquisitions and expansions with a business price of $3 million or more now require an independent review that tests the seller's earnings against the bank records, and the lender has to size your loan on what that review finds.
Read it →Seller Consulting Limits in the SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 Update
A seller can now stay on for up to two years after the sale instead of one, which gives buyers of relationship-driven businesses more time but brings new questions about payment and control.
Read it →1031 Exchanges After the 2025 Tax Law: What Changed Around Them
The exchange rules for real estate came through the 2025 tax law untouched, but permanent bonus depreciation and a rebuilt opportunity zone program change how sellers and buyers should think about them.
Read it →Nothing filed under that yet.