Residential Assisted Living vs Traditional Real Estate

Isabelle Guarino On The Differences

If you invest in single-family homes via fix and flip. You buy the house, fix it up and sell it. As soon as you sell it you are out of the deal. You have to go out and buy another one and fix and flip it again. There is no cash flow. Instead, you have cash now.

Isabelle Guarino from the Residential Assisted Living Academy is our guest in March, and she is not a big fan of cash now because you are continually stuck in the ‘rat race ”

If you invest in single-family or small multifamily rentals, you can get passive income But you only make a couple of hundred bucks a month To get the cash flow you need to hit your “freedom number,” and you will need a lot of doors.

There is also the option of Airbnb. There is an opportunity here to make quite a bit of cash flow. BUT, you’ve got cities like Atlanta, Miami, and San Diego changing the rules and shutting them down. Isabelle shares that she doesn’t “want to be at the beck and call of the powerful hoteliers who have a lot more power than us solopreneurs ”

The Cash Flow Opportunity

Owning and operating a residential assisted living home is different When you own the building and operate the business, you can cash flow a minimum of $10,000 a month on just one house. Not only is the cash flow amazing, but US demographics support this as a viable model.

Consider, there are 76 million Baby Boomers right now that will need assisted living in the next 10, 20, or 30 years. Isabelle and Gene Guarino, her father before here have studied the trends coming and the cash flow is there, and the impact on the community is there

There is an incredible opportunity to be able to give back to your community and your family The senior housing options we have are not okay and we should be upset about what we’re seeing out there. We need to do something better and different.

Do Good and Do Well

The motto of the Residential Assisted Living Academy is “Do Good and Do Well : This is very important when you are talking about real estate investment It’s not only about turning great profits but making a big impact

I love being a part of that movement. Our company motto is, “To do good and do well.” That’s important when you’re talking about investments. It’s not only making a lot of money but making a big impact.

The Academy teaches these concepts and practices what they teach. They own and operate three care homes in the Phoenix area. They also teach students how to do the same in all 50 states across the country Step by step, how to get their first home, and how to operate them from either an active or a passive perspective

A Good Assisted Living Property

The best properties for Residential Assisted Living are houses that have the space for anywhere between 6 and 16 residents per property This is a good size to be able to provide 24/7 care in the home.

You could provide rental houses for Seniors that are more of the Golden Girls Style. This is not Residential Assisted Living, but rather co-living with seniors as renters who look after each other.

With Residential Assisted Living, you want to provide caregivers on site that manage the day-to-day of the home They help with all the activities of daily living Anything a senior needs to do anytime – brushing their teeth, bathing, eating, going to the bathroom, showering, dressing, and more You typically need one caregiver for every 4 to 5 residents.

Then you need a licensed administrator who is licensed through the state This administrator can oversee between 2 to 4 properties and manage the hiring and firing of the caregiving staff

Assisted Living Vs In-Home Care

The average cost of in-home care, in your own home, and aging in place averages $27 an hour nationally So if one is in their own home and they need care 24 hours a day, 30 days a month, that’s going to cost a family $19,000 a month. Not many Americans can afford this much for very long.

The average price for an assisted living home is around $4,500 per month per person at the national level. More if you have your own room or need more hands-on care Which is significantly less than staying in your own home

Assisted Living Vs In-Home Care

The average cost of in-home care, in your own home, and aging in place averages $27 an hour nationally So if one is in their own home and they need care 24 hours a day, 30 days a month, that’s going to cost a family $19,000 a month Not many Americans can afford this much for very long.

The average price for an assisted living home is around $4,500 per month per person at the national level. More if you have your own room or need more hands-on care. Which is significantly less than staying in your own home.

A Lead Source for House Flipping

Isabelle and her family only focus on the care side of the business They own and operate their 3 homes But some investors use the Care Home as a lead source for seniors who need to move to care and also have a home to sell first There are 21 million homes out there that are going to need to go somewhere as their owners move to assisted living These owners are going to need the equity out of their homes to pay for their assisted living needs

What About Regulations

These are homes in areas that are zoned residential If an angry neighbor or HOA, city, county, or state tells you no, the Federal Fair Housing Act is on your side because they can’t discriminate against disabled people Plus, when Gene Guarino started, there were not a lot of rules and regulations around Residential Assisted Living. He started the RAL National Association which represents 30,000 care homes across the country. So if anyone tries to fight you, the association can help you get it sorted out.

There are rules in every community of course How many homes can be in a given area? How many residents you are allowed to have based on the square footage or the number of windows and doors or bedrooms and bathrooms? But they can’t flat-out say no.

Plus as a part of the RAL National Association, as laws are being proposed, they want to know about it That way they can help you and the entire association speak up to pass or fight legislation as needed.

So How Do I Learn More

Mark your calendar for two dates in March. Isabell Guarino is going to be joining us here at MAREI on the 14th at the meeting to give us a high-level overview of Residential Assisted Living. For those that want to dig a bit deeper or who can’t make it to the meeting, she will be hosting a virtual workshop on Saturday, March 18th Both will introduce you to the opportunity and what it takes to get started Learn more at www MAREI org/Calendar