In-Person Tour Setup: Essential Tips for Assisted Living Investors
Jan 09, 2025
Investing in an assisted living facility is a big decision, and an in-person tour is one of the most important steps in the process. While virtual tours are convenient, physically walking through the property gives you a deeper understanding of the facility's condition, atmosphere, and operations.
An in-person visit lets you observe the little details—like how the staff interacts with residents or whether there are maintenance issues—that can make or break your investment. In this guide, we’ll explore why in-person tours matter, what to look for, and how to set one up effectively.
Check out the video, too:
What Is an In-Person Tour?
An in-person tour is a hands-on walkthrough of a facility where you can:
- Inspect the property’s condition.
- Meet the staff and residents.
- Evaluate the overall atmosphere and operations.
This is your chance to experience the facility firsthand, ensuring it aligns with your investment goals and spotting potential red flags you may miss in photos or virtual tours.
Why Do an In-Person Tour?
Here are the key reasons to visit a facility in person:
- Meet the Team: Observe staff morale and professionalism. Are they friendly, welcoming, and engaged? Or do they seem overwhelmed and distant?
- Assess Resident Culture: Are residents active and engaged in the community, or do they appear withdrawn and unhappy?
- Check Facility Condition: Look for maintenance issues like leaks, HVAC problems, or fire safety concerns.
- Evaluate Location: Are there nearby grocery stores, parks, and hospitals? These amenities are essential for operations and marketing.
- Experience the Layout: See if shared spaces, resident rooms, and accessibility features meet the facility’s needs.
How to Set Up an In-Person Tour
- Work with Brokers or Agents
Coordinating tours for assisted living facilities may take longer than residential visits. Schedule your tour through the listing agent or broker, who can arrange a time convenient for the seller and staff. -
Maintain Confidentiality
Facility sales are often kept quiet to avoid alarming residents or staff. To protect confidentiality, some sellers may ask you to pose as a family member looking for care. Be prepared to adapt to this request. -
Set Aside Time for Questions
After the tour, request a private meeting or lunch with the seller. Use this time to ask about:
- Repair history.
- Current operating costs.
- Upcoming maintenance needs.
Key Areas to Focus On During the Tour
1. Facility Condition
Look for maintenance issues like:
- Leaks or water damage.
- Drafty windows.
- HVAC or plumbing problems.
- Check major appliances, including washers, dryers, and kitchen equipment, and ensure fire suppression systems meet local codes.
2. Staff and Resident Dynamics
Observe interactions between staff and residents. Does the environment feel warm and welcoming? Are residents treated with respect and kindness?
3. Layout and Accessibility
Examine the size and layout of rooms and shared spaces. Ensure the facility meets state accessibility regulations and that the flow of the property is practical for residents and staff.
4. Neighborhood and Surroundings
Take a drive around the neighborhood. Look for:
- Parks and recreational spaces.
- Nearby grocery stores.
- Access to medical facilities.
The facility’s location can be a key selling point for families, so make sure it’s in a convenient and appealing area.
5. Legal and Operational Details
- HOA Rules: Ask if there’s a homeowners’ association and how its rules affect the facility’s operations.
- Included Items: Confirm what furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) come with the sale.
Questions to Ask During or After the Tour
- What recent repairs or updates have been made?
- Are there any pending maintenance issues?
- What’s the condition of key systems like HVAC or fire safety equipment?
- Are there any HOA restrictions?
- What’s included in the sale (furniture, equipment, etc.)?
Tips for a Successful Tour
- Be Respectful: Remember, this is someone’s home. Interact with care to avoid unsettling residents.
- Take Notes: Write down observations about the property, staff, and location to review later.
- Ask Questions: Don’t hesitate to clarify anything unclear during the tour.
Should You Do Both a Virtual and In-Person Tour?
Yes! Start with a virtual tour for a quick overview. Once you’re serious about the property, schedule an in-person visit for a detailed evaluation. This two-step approach saves time while showing you’re thorough and committed.
Final Thoughts
An in-person tour is a crucial step in the assisted living investment process. It provides an up-close look at the property, helps you evaluate its condition and location, and allows you to observe the atmosphere firsthand. By preparing ahead, asking the right questions, and focusing on key areas during your visit, you’ll gather the insights needed to make a confident, informed decision.
Your journey to a successful assisted living investment starts with understanding the details—and nothing beats seeing them for yourself!
Download our Business Plan Checklist to ensure you have a comprehensive business plan in place for when you've found the perfect property.
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Show full transcript 👇
Transcript
00:00:01
[Music] hey guys it's brandon gustafson welcome back to assisted living investing uh happy to have you on the channel today today we're going to talk a little bit about setting up an in-person tour last time we talked about a virtual tour what it is how you can set it up how you can make it an effective thing how you can make it an effective experience today we're going to talk about doing an in-person tour rather than virtual and just kind of how it differs things that you might want to look at
00:00:37
when you're doing an in-person tour a lot of the same thing you're going to want to be looking at a lot of the same things when you're doing an in-person versus a virtual but there are a few things that you can see a little bit better when you're in in person so i just want to kind of make a note of those so that you're aware and you can kind of have a good experience as you're setting up and doing that in person tour so what is a an in-person tour an in-person tour is when you go there
00:01:03
physically to the facility and you're walking around it's kind of self-explanatory as opposed to virtual where you're doing this through facetime or or an app like that virtual or in-person tours you're able to be there in person you're looking around and it gives you again a lot more experience and a lot more depth of what you're looking at that photos just can't give you and things that you're looking at online or even a virtual tour you're just not able to get
00:01:31
that whereas with that in person tour you're able to really get in there see the facility walk through it get to meet people have conversations with them see the residents see how happy they are those types of things so an in-person tour is just really important it's gonna allow you to to see some of those things that are gonna help you find a good opportunity and help you feel comfortable that what you're looking at is is the right opportunity for you and what you are trying to build so why
00:01:59
would you do an in-person tour like i mentioned you're going to be able to meet the staff you're going to meet the residents you're going to see them you're going to get a feel for what the culture actually looks like you're going to be able to see like you're going to be able to feel like is there a draft in the window do you need something around the doors you know to help out with any drafts looking at sinks looking at toilets seeing if there's any plumbing issues
00:02:22
walking through and physically being able to look at the hvac and and some of those larger appliances making sure that everything is good so that's reasons that you would do an in-person tour of a facility another reason why you would do a an in-person tour of a facility is you're able to get there physically uh you're able geographically actually to get to the facility and see kind of what types of amenities are around there what types of grocery stores is there a hospital nearby those types of things if it's
00:02:52
something like for me investing out of state these were places that i had never been before so being able to see those types of things is really important but it's also important to see those things because the chances of you buying the house next door to you turning it into a facility or that it is a facility and you're purchasing it are pretty slim so even if it's in the city that you are are familiar with getting there and kind of driving around and seeing what is what's going on and near the facility is
00:03:18
going to be beneficial so that you're able to kind of put out there and say yeah there's a grocery store here there's a hospital within five minutes you can go and see this big department store that's there there's a nice park there's a dog park like those types of things are are things are going to be valuable to you as you're marketing the property but it's also good for you to see and and get a get a good feel for what is near the facility so that you can make sure
00:03:45
it's something that you're comfortable with so reasons to not do an in-person uh tour and a lot of this i covered these are the reasons why you would do a virtual tour so the reasons you would not do an in-person tour is it's just too far away and it's really hard to get there we might be going through a pandemic like covet another reason that you might not be able to do an in-person tour but a virtual tour might work is what i've found is sellers especially of assisted living they don't
00:04:15
want their residents to know that they are selling and so they they kind of hide that they try to do it i've had to go in and pretend that i am placing a grandparent when i'm doing an in-person tour of a facility just so that it doesn't feel like i'm selling this i'm having people come in and walk through it and so you want to keep that in mind as well when you're doing that in person tour that the residents might not know and you don't want to shake people's routines up you
00:04:39
don't want to worry them i mean you might not you might go into the tour of the facility and you just might have a bad feeling about it and you don't want to create an atmosphere and disrupt the culture and the facility and things like that so just make sure that you are being aware of those things and being professional with it and treating things with with care these are people's lives that you're that you're dealing with you want to make sure that everybody is happy residents seller staff just make sure
00:05:09
everybody is kind of on the same page and make sure that you are respectful of them and their current situation so how do you set up an in-person tour of the facility um so you're going to work through your broker or the listing agent or broker and get that set up you're going to kind of coordinate there i know with houses if you're looking at purchasing like just a single family home for example there are apps and things that you can do this with but because you are buying something that's
00:05:35
more of a commercial property the relationships that you're building with your broker the listing agent um those are going to be key and that's kind of how you're going to have to communicate and set up this in-person tour it's just going to it's going to take a little bit longer there's going to be a lot of back and forth on email according schedules and things like that so be patient with it but that's going to be the best way to set that up and again just like we just like we talked about with the the
00:05:58
virtual tour you want to make sure that there's plenty of time for q a session oftentimes the seller is not going to want to do that inside the facility even if they have an office they might be open to it a lot of times like i was talking about the residents the staff they don't know that they're selling and so they they're not as comfortable having those conversations at the facility but if you said hey could i take you to lunch after we do the walk through and we can talk about things and
00:06:23
get a little more specific into into the facility and its needs and things like that things that i saw in my experience they're very open to having those conversations going out to lunch with you having a conversation it's it's very reasonable to ask for that and you want to make sure that you're comfortable with the seller you're going to be working with this person for several months and having a good relationship with them is going to be key in closing the deal but also having a good
00:06:48
transition i i really i've harped on this a lot the culture at a facility you want to maintain that you don't want to rock the the world of of the residents that are living there these people like this is their life they live at this facility and you want to make sure that it's a smooth transition so that everything is good so that they're happy and that their families are happy and that you maintain that good reputation that exists at a facility and uh helps you be successful so having that conversation that
00:07:20
continuity and making sure there's going to be a good transition is is going to be key so that would be the other thing i would make sure that you have plenty of time built in that there's time for that q a session whether that's at the facility or taking them out to lunch or to dinner after you do your walk through so that you can you know answer those questions that you have as as you've gone and walked through the facility so a few good questions that you can ask because you're doing that in-person
00:07:46
tours you're kind of it could be while you're walking through the facility or could be that meeting that you do afterwards or things like what are some major repairs that you've done recently and can you show them to me are there any major repairs that need to be done and can you show those to me making sure that you're being able to see those i would definitely ask about an hoa if there's an hoa a homeowner's association um at the facility making sure that your understanding of what that is and what
00:08:12
it entails fees that are associated with it um any bylaws that you need to aware of and then if there is an hoa having a conversation with that hoa to make sure that you're able to continue operating your assisted living facility that there won't be any issues there that is is going to be key and it's something that that you as a buyer want to make sure that you are aware of because it is something that could just throw a big wrench into your plans we had an experience like that with our idaho
00:08:38
facility where we were a little worried our bank was very worried um that we weren't that the hoa was going to because they had in the bylaws we couldn't have this type of a business what we found is that we were grandfathered in under previous bylaws and so we were okay but we had to get that clarified and make sure that we were going to be okay doing that whereas you know if they had said nope sorry um you're not able to operate the facility then we just have a house and that's not what we wanted so make
00:09:06
sure you're having those conversations with the buyer understanding what the situation is with an hoa could make or break your deal it really could you want to ask about the furniture fixtures and equipment that's included in the in the cell so the ffne you want to ask them kind of what's the condition and this part you'll kind of get as you do a home inspection you want to see what the condition is of the roof of the windows of the hvac system of the flooring cosmetic things like the paint
00:09:36
making sure that things are properly sealed and maintained like windows and doors and things like that so those are things that you're going to want to ask them about and also make sure that you're looking at and then certainly have a home inspection on the facility to make sure that you're comfortable with some of those things are going to be a larger cost to you if you need to replace them or they need to be repaired relatively quickly the other one to to make sure you're looking at is a fire suppression system
00:10:01
so we talked about this in the virtual tour but if they have a fire if they have a fire suppression system uh you want to look at that ask them to kind of walk you through the process of of how they have it set up do they have everything is it who's it monitored by is there a separate phone line that you're gonna have to have in place for that is it monitored by a cell phone is it monitored by radio kind of what's the the process there that they have for their fire suppression system
00:10:26
is it maintained has it been maintained properly has it been tested the backflow and everything that's something that also is key because if that is broken it's going to be quite costly to replace um or repair if there is not one it's something that you're going to have to get so that's going to be a huge expense so that's something you want to be aware of going into it if you're looking at renovating a home and putting in you know creating your own facility that fire suppression system is going to be
00:10:54
something that you want to be aware of and make sure that you are following all the rules that the state has for that and then getting quotes on how much it's going to cost to put that in it's going to be key to making sure that that is there because in my experience that's that's a requirement then you want to make sure that you are looking at and getting taken care of so make sure you're looking at that fire suppression system the other thing are going to be major appliances so washer dryer fridge stove
00:11:21
range microwave those types of things that are just bigger they might be a little more costly to repair or replace making sure that they're in a good spot is there a is there a standalone uh freezer is it a chest is it a um you know a stand stand up freezer is it functioning is everything like how are those things how how recently were they replaced are they having any issues with it is it commercial washer and dryer have they had to have those replaced uh recently kind of what's the situation
00:11:50
there those are types of things that you want to make sure that you are aware of as you're going through it the other one would be the ac unit so one of our facilities actually doesn't have any ac units it's in colorado it's up in the mountains it's quite cool actually it's really nice so it doesn't need an ac unit but it has heat our one in idaho needs ac and the rooms have um individual units and so um what's the status of those are they well maintained are they in working order uh kind of
00:12:20
what's the situation with them and so that you're aware of those types of things as you're doing a walk around making sure that those things are that they look good that they look properly maintained that there's not weeds and bushes and things growing up into the ac units and and that type of stuff so those are some other things that you want to look at as you're doing that in person tour of the facility and your walk around a few things that you want to make sure that you are taking notice of as you're
00:12:46
doing that that in person tours you're doing your walk around i've mentioned a few of these already but the condition of the flooring of the paint of the trim on doors on windows things like that you want to make sure that those are good that there's no water or mold damage or things like that you want to it's okay if they have them you just want to be aware that those things are there i i would say it's not a deal breaker to find something like that but you just want to make sure that
00:13:14
you're aware of it so that when you're doing your underwriting you can build in i've gotta do 500 in cosmetic repairs to make sure that the facility looks nice that it has a fresh coat of that where we've taken out all the mold or whatever it is that might be there it's not a deal breaker but you want to be aware of those things so that you can build it in to your contingency to build it into your funding plan those types of things are going to help you be successful and have a have a good house
00:13:42
just kind of get a gauge on the happiness of the residents and the staff as you're walking through are they are they just kind of head down people and they don't want to talk to anybody or are they um they're engaging and they're they're is it a place where you want your grandparents to go um same with staff you want to make sure that there's a good culture there you can always change culture but it's going to be difficult these people have already been there for years months trying to come in
00:14:06
and change everything like that is just going to be difficult and so making sure that there's already a good culture there a good base is going to be key in my opinion that's going to help you be successful and help you move forward with things you'll also want to just kind of get a feel for the layout the flow of the house are there big living spaces and are there places where everybody can get are the hallways big is it carpeted is it a hardwood floor kind of what does that look like and and how does that
00:14:38
flow does it make sense are you gonna have to make any renovations or you have to make any improvements um to the house and make it so that it's it's something that you're more comfortable with just be aware of those types of things as well you also want to be aware of the size of the residence rooms there are going to be size restrictions that you'll want to check on with the state for how many residents can stay in a room that is you know ten by ten or or eight by eight you just kind of wanna you don't need
00:15:06
you don't per se need to take a tape measure and measure them but you wanna get a feel for them if there are two beds in a room does it look like yeah that looks right that this facility has been doing things correctly this is a shared bedroom there's two rooms in it two two beds in it that's okay or is it like a closet and they're fitting two beds in there and when state comes and does an inspection they're gonna be like no so make sure that you're kind of aware of then in in addition to that just kind of
00:15:34
shared rooms versus private rooms and kind of what the breakdown is of that and and how that works the the last thing that i wanted to to say on this one is uh should you do an in-person or a virtual tour or both um neither kind of what's the thought there in my experience um especially uh investing out of state doing a virtual tour to start off with and get a feel for things and having a conversation with the seller has been a great tool without me committing to going and driving six to 12 hours to get
00:16:06
to a facility so we start off with that virtual tour my experience has been it's either the facility administrator or the owner that's doing that and so you're able to have some good conversations with those people so start off with that and then do it and i i really like doing an in-person tour it gives me a lot of really good exposure to the house and what it looks like and what the needs really are and having some face time with the different people at the facility like that is extremely valuable so but
00:16:32
if you're able to do both of them that's what i would suggest i think doing both is is reasonable i think it shows that you're really interested you're really committed to the to the facility to the purchase to working with the seller i think is going to be key in helping you be successful in purchasing the facility and so yeah i would do both if you're able to i think that's a really good idea it's never going to hurt you to do a lot of due diligence and having multiple tours multiple types of tours
00:16:58
um having conversations getting a home inspection like all of those things are are a really good idea are there any instances where i would say not do those tours i would say probably not unless there are certain circumstances where um you know we're in a pandemic and the person doesn't have internet for some reason and so you can't get there in person you can't get there virtually i'd be really hesitant to to buy something like that um so i would probably say no where where you might not do one is if
00:17:30
you are at a higher scale than than what we are talking about here residential assisted living if you're buying a big portfolio of commercial facilities there's 10 facilities and they're huge and they're kind of spread out geographically and getting there in person to every single one of those facilities is just going to be difficult um maybe trying to set up some virtual tours of facilities at that point uh would be good or some of them you might just have to accept because they're part of a portfolio and
00:17:58
as long as you've got one uh one or two diamonds in the rough there two two joules um in that portfolio you're probably going to be fine because they're going to carry everything and then you can make the cosmetic updates to the other facility so really just going to kind of depend and your threshold of of risk and what you want to do i would suggest getting in and and doing those those tours of the facility so that's the video for today i i hope that was helpful to you how to set up an
00:18:25
in-person tour how to do an in-person tour the importance of doing it versus a virtual tour and how that works next time we're going to be talking about why touring a facility is important so we're going to kind of be recapping what we talked about these last two videos and going through that a little bit and i i've been getting some comments on on things like my calculator um make sure you comment down below but i'm going to do like a how to use that calculator and i'll share that resource with you here
00:18:51
in a couple of videos um and and get that out there so you can see it but make sure you like comment subscribe to the channel i'm happy that you're here i hope you're learning a lot make sure you comment let me know what i can do to help you out on your journey what resources i can give you what what questions i can help you answer the other thing i want to make sure that i point out i've got videos on tick tock which are are these just kind of condensed down so if you don't have the full 15 minutes to watch
00:19:19
a video you only have a minute and a half go over there and watch those it's going to give you a lot of the same content make sure you follow me on twitter on instagram and then if you join my facebook group we'll have conversations over there i want to make that a really good community where we can ask questions and you can get input from other people in the community so make sure you join those other resources those other social media platforms uh it's been great talking to you today and i hope to see you next
00:19:44
time thanks for watching have a good one see ya [Music] you
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