Partnering with Real Estate Agents for Assisted Living Success
Oct 03, 2024
Taking the leap and owning an assisted living facility is a turning point in your growth. Navigating the complexity of the commercial real estate market can be difficult, especially for individuals who are unfamiliar with the nuances. One of the most important aspects in this process is to work with an experienced real estate agent or commercial broker who understands the specific needs of assisted living facilities. Whether you're an experienced investor or new to purchasing a commercial property, having an experienced specialist on your side can make all the difference in securing a successful transaction.
In this blog, we'll review the essential stages for selecting the best real estate agent for your needs, including establishing precise criteria to drive your search and creating a solid working relationship that ensures smooth transactions. Understanding these factors not only increases your buying confidence but also sets you up for long-term success in the competitive world of investing in assisted living.
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Finding the Right Agent
The first step in working with a real estate agent is to discover one that specializes in the type of property you're looking for. When looking for an agent, consider reducing your options to those with experience in commercial real estate, specifically senior housing or assisted living facilities. A simple online search for terms like "commercial broker" or "senior housing broker," paired with your location or state, can help you find possible brokers.
Websites like Best Buy Sell and LoopNet are excellent resources for discovering listing agents who are familiar with the senior home market. Even if you do not proceed with a specific listing, these agents can serve as buyer's agents for you, supporting you in identifying properties that fit your requirements.
Referrals from other investors or industry professionals can also help you discover a reliable and knowledgeable agency. Investors frequently have insights into which brokers are trustworthy and productive, making this an excellent option to pursue. Keep in mind that, while agents may be hesitant to suggest you to other agents, recommendations from other investors can lead you to a fantastic broker.
Setting Clear Criteria
Once you've identified a potential agent, the next crucial step is to meticulously outline your requirements; get help with this through our Business Planning Guide course. The more specific you are about your needs, the more effectively the agent can leverage their expertise to assist you in finding the perfect property. This includes details such as the type of property (e.g., residential assisted living), the number of beds, your budget, the preferred location, and your anticipated cap rate.
For example, you might say, "I'm looking for a residential assisted living facility with 10 to 16 beds, priced between $500,000 and $700,000, located in [City, State], and with a cap rate of 10%." Being specific about these details allows the broker or agent to focus on properties that meet your criteria, saving time for both of you.
While well-stated criteria are necessary, staying flexible as you investigate choices is also important. The market can deliver opportunities that stray slightly from your initial expectations while still containing tremendous potential. However, having a well-defined beginning point ensures that your search is focused and efficient.
Building a Strong Relationship
Perhaps the most important component of dealing with a real estate agent is building a strong and respectful connection. This requires clear communication, attentiveness, and consideration of the agent's time and efforts. Show your appreciation for their work from the start, respond to their questions quickly, and be kind in all your encounters.
Building a mutually respectful relationship not only promotes a great work atmosphere but also raises the possibility that the agent will offer you prime prospects, including off-market deals. Remember that your decisions during the purchase process can have a big impact on your future contacts with the agent.
If the deal isn't going to work, be honest with your agent. Honest communication is essential. Instead of leading them astray, let them know if you need to take a different path. This degree of professionalism will leave a lasting impression, potentially leading to future referrals or partnerships.
Final Thoughts
When buying an assisted living facility, you should work with a skilled real estate agent or commercial broker. Finding the proper agent requires extensive study and screening to ensure they have experience and knowledge in this particular industry. Establishing specific criteria for the types of properties you are looking for, such as location, size, amenities, and budget, will assist your real estate agent in locating suitable opportunities.
Building a good relationship with your real estate agent is essential for navigating the competitive market of assisted living facilities. Open and honest communication is vital for ensuring that your agent or broker understands your individual requirements and preferences. Treat your agent or broker as a useful collaborator and provide them with as much information as possible about your objectives and needs.
Throughout the process, it's important to stay focused on your goals while remaining adaptable and open to new opportunities. Maintain open communication with your agent, soliciting and providing input on potential properties to help refine the search process. Working cooperatively with your real estate agent or commercial broker increases your chances of obtaining the best assisted living facility to reach your investment goals.
For those looking to delve deeper into the business of assisted living, our Business Plan Checklist is an invaluable resource. It provides a comprehensive guide to creating a successful business plan, helping you lay a solid foundation for your facility. Download it here to get started on your journey.
Need help figuring out where to start? Join the next Roadmap Challenge and build your launch plan with me.
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Transcript
00:00:01
[Music] hey guys welcome back to assisted living investing happy to have you on the channel today i'm brandon gustafson and i own and operate two assisted living facilities and i've created this channel to kind of help you learn the process of what it's like to purchase a facility and how to operate a facility and just kind of the ins and outs of what that process is going to look like i i love sharing this content with you and and hope you're finding it valuable as as you kind of look and watch through my
00:00:42
different videos specifically you know around my journey and and what you can find you can find that in the card up here and would love to kind of get interacted with with other people on the channel uh make sure you comment down below i'll leave comments on on your process and learning as you go through the process so other people can kind of learn from your experience as well and we can kind of create this community so everybody can learn together and we can all be successful on my website
00:01:07
assistedlivinginvesting.net would love to see you over there i've got some free resources newsletter content i would love to see you over there make sure you like this video give me a big thumbs up and comment down below leave those comments so everybody can kind of learn and grow together subscribe to the channel so other people can find it and ring that notification bell so you get notified when i put out new content putting out content twice a week and would love to kind of have you learn and
00:01:32
grow and and gain experiences we go through this process together also make sure you follow me on all my other social media platforms we'd love to see you over there as we carry on the conversation in in all those different locations so now in our last video we were talking about how real estate agents and brokers get paid we kind of gave an overview of what that looks like and you can go and see that over here and i kind of get an overview of what that information looks like so that you i can you know understand what that
00:01:58
process looks like today we're going to be getting into what the process of working with a real estate agent is like what is it like to work with an agent if you've never worked with one if you've never bought a house before this might be a brand new experience for you and if you have then working on the commercial side is is somewhat similar but there's going to be a few differences so we're going to touch on what those are like and what it's like to work with that that agent that broker as you're going
00:02:21
through the process to purchase your own facility so first off is finding an agent what is it like to to find an agent how do you go about finding an agent um one of the first things you could do is you know do an internet search and say i'm looking for an agent or a broker in my area in in my city in my state you could even narrow it down and say i'm looking for a commercial broker i'm looking for a broker that has experience with senior housing or something like that and that's going to help you kind of find
00:02:52
the right person for what you're looking for and help you find that another one is to look on a website like biz by cell and and loopnet and we've we've had videos on on those that i'll put up here in the cards uh you know biz by cell loopnet um we'll have some of that information up here so that you can get that and and follow those videos along but those are great spots for you to find a listing agent and then you can start developing a relationship even if you're not going to move forward with
00:03:23
that listing agent on that specific property they could turn into that buyer's agent for you and helping you find properties and helping you look for for new opportunities that's a great way for you to start developing that relationship with an agent that's going to help you find the deal that meets your criteria another way is going to be asking for referrals from other investors from agents like you know if you're going to work in a different state it might make sense to to ask for a
00:03:51
referral for an agent that works in that state or works in that market if you're in a in a big state that has a lot of different markets or things like that it's probably appropriate to to go ahead and ask for somebody that's a little bit more familiar with the market that you want to to work in so asking for referrals is another great way to do that i think agents are not going to be as as open with giving you a referral to another agent like they they would prefer to keep your business but talking to other investors
00:04:18
i think is is a really great way to find really good solid um brokers and agents that's how we found our rockstar broker was through a referral and conversations that we had with with other investors the next thing you're going to want to do is set your criteria now when you're having that conversation with that broker you might not know what to expect or or what you want and some of that is kind of just trial and error and figuring it out but the more clear you are with what your needs are with what your criteria
00:04:49
is and what your expectations and needs are the better relationship you're going to have with the broker right off the bat and and so i would suggest taking some time to to outline what that criteria is what are you expecting what are you hoping for as you're looking for that facility have a clear idea of what you want so something something like this i'm looking for a residential assisted living facility and i want it to be 10 to 16 beds i want a price between 500 and 700 thousand dollars that's that's
00:05:21
what my budget is i want it in this city and state so this is the market that i wanted to be in and i wanted to have a 10 cap rate um we've gone in and over cap rates before in the past um so i'll link up a video up here uh that kind of talks a little bit about what cap rates are and and what that process is like now it's okay to be a little flexible as you kind of get into that process and start looking for deals it's okay to so set on that criteria that you are letting other great opportunities go but
00:05:52
it's going to help you so much if you have some of that criteria already built in so you know what you're looking for and the broker can can use that as a starting point and and then from there they can kind of help you adjust things based off of what they're seeing in the market but having that yeah so having that criteria outlined is just going to help you so much and giving that broker direction they're going to need that to find the right deal for you rather than just bringing you several deals you can do
00:06:19
that on your own you can get on loopnet and find several deals on your own um and you know you don't you don't want to make your broker do that give that person some criteria to work off of so that there's more direction they're giving you upfront better deals so that you are using your time more wisely they're using their time more wisely and everything is just kind of falling into place and you're just kind of you know being respectful of everybody's time so that's something
00:06:47
that that's really important and the third item and this one is is probably going to be the the most important is building a relationship a really good solid relationship with the broker that you're working with so respect the time and the hours that your agent and broker give you just be responsive when they ask you questions be kind and courteous and thankful for their work don't be texting them at one in the morning unless they tell you that it's okay to do that but you don't want to be the
00:07:15
person that's doing that make sure you're being very respectful of their time on the hours that they give you of when they're going to be working do everything that you can to close that deal once you start the process so you don't waste their time we went over that in a previous video as well if you're getting to the point where it's just not going to work out or it's going to put you in a bad financial situation it's okay to walk away but once you're under contract
00:07:38
it you should probably work on closing the deal as much as you can it's going to be in your best interest in the best interest of of your broker and agent for you to close the deal and that's going to go such a long way in helping develop that relationship uh with the broker closing a deal with that agent and that broker is is one of the best ways to develop a relationship with them just like to be completely honest with you the the more consistent you are the more ability that you show that you can close
00:08:08
a deal the more likely that broker is to work with you again in the future and help bring you off market deals and help you kind of create more of a portfolio that's how you develop good relationships with brokers and with lenders for that matter is closing deals now if things just aren't working out uh whether it's with you or on the deal be clear with them that it's not working out and that you need to go in a different direction if it's working with them don't don't flake out on them and just
00:08:37
stop talking to them they would much rather you be up front and say you know things aren't going to work out like sorry like this opportunity is not good or i i don't know that you need to be as blunt as as saying i don't like you um but it's okay to be like you know i think we're going to go in a different direction they would so much rather have that conversation and have that be a a clear line than just stringing them along and you know texting them every two or three weeks and like oh
00:09:06
yeah i think i might be interested in that don't do that don't waste their time don't waste your time either just be respectful of everybody's time and and make sure that you're doing what you need to do to carry that relationship forward and you know it might not work out with them but if you're clear with them and things like that they can still you know brokers and agents talk to each other um if you don't string them along and you're very upfront and honest with them they're
00:09:32
more likely to say you know what these guys it just didn't work out with me but they were really good to work with they were very honest and upfront with me i would recommend that you work with them i think you guys have a better personality mesh and things could work out there whereas if you string them along um they're going to talk to other agents and brokers and you finding a good relationship finding a good broker um might be difficult so just make sure that you're being respectful of
00:09:55
everybody's time and and and talents and everything quick recap today's video has been the process of working with a real estate agent and a broker so number one was finding an agent then setting your criteria getting that criteria over to the broker and the agent and then building that relationship and why it's important that you do that next time we're going to get into working with a facility administrator that's one of the questions that i'm getting the most frequently as i go through this is so
00:10:20
we're going to do a little bit of a series of videos around kind of working with administrators and and salaries that you want to pay them and what that process looks like so you can gain a greater understanding of that so it's not scary so make sure you like the video give me a big thumbs up comment down below let me know your experience uh working with with brokers i'd love to hear from it uh kind of what are some ways that you found are effective to to work with a broker and respect their
00:10:46
time and and kind of develop those relationships with brokers i think everybody could really um gain a greater understanding of what it's like to to be able to do that subscribe to the channel ring that notification bell so you get notified every time i put out new content and then follow me on my other social media platforms i'd love to see you there and then make sure you visit assistedlivinginvesting.net would love to see on the website for free resources newsletter blog all the other free
00:11:15
resources and content that i'm going to be putting out there for you would love to see over there and then in closing just remember it's okay you don't have to do everything in one day it doesn't have to be a lot just a little keep making that progress and everything's gonna work out thanks for watching [Music]
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