Performing Market Research to Launch Your Assisted Living Business: A Step-by-Step Guide
May 28, 2025
Starting an assisted living business is an exciting journey, but before you dive in, you need to ensure that you’re choosing the right market. The success of your business will depend heavily on the area you select. This guide will walk you through the key market research steps to help you identify the best location for your assisted living facility.
Let’s get started! π
Check out this video, too;
Why Market Research is Crucial for Your Assisted Living Business
Choosing the right location for your assisted living business is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Not only will it determine your target audience, but it will also affect your competition, pricing, and regulatory hurdles.
To make sure you’re starting on solid ground, you need to do your homework! π Understanding local demand, income levels, crime rates, political landscape, and more is key to making informed decisions.
Step 1: Define Your Base Criteria (Start with the Basics)
Before diving in, let's start by considering some basic factors that will help you narrow down your search:
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Population & Demographics π: Look at the number of seniors and those who need long-term care in different areas. You need to make sure there’s enough demand for your services.
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Income Levels πΈ: Residents will need to be able to afford assisted living, so understanding local income ranges is crucial. Choose areas where people can afford your services.
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Healthcare Accessibility π₯: Access to hospitals and doctors is important for your residents. Make sure your location is close to essential healthcare services.
These basic criteria will help you zero in on a few locations worth exploring!
Step 2: Consider the Deep Criteria (Dig a Little Deeper)
Once you’ve got your base criteria in place, it’s time to dig deeper into the factors that could make a big difference in your decision:
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Crime Rates π¨: Low crime rates are important for both residents’ and staff’s safety. A safe area should always be a top priority.
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Political Landscape ποΈ: Understanding the local politics helps you anticipate any potential regulations or restrictions that could affect your business.
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State Taxes πΌ: Look into state income and corporate taxes. Higher taxes can eat into your profits, so factor that into your decision-making.
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Nearby Markets ποΈ: Check if other population centers are nearby. A larger pool of potential clients is always a good thing!
These deeper criteria can reveal subtle but important differences that will help you make an informed decision on the best location.
Step 3: Know Your Competition
Understanding the competitive landscape is crucial for evaluating your market’s potential.
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Saturation π’: If the area is oversaturated with assisted living facilities, it might be tough to stand out. However, a lack of facilities could signal unmet demand.
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Waiting Lists π : Long waiting lists at existing facilities are a good indicator of high demand for assisted living in that area.
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Talking to Other Owners π¬: Reach out to other facility owners for insights. They may not want to share too much, but even short conversations can give you valuable market data!
Step 4: Do Your Own Research (Or Hire Someone Who Can)
While you can find a lot of data on market trends and demographics, sometimes it’s best to hire a consultant for a more detailed feasibility study.
However, if you’re looking to save money, much of this research can be done on your own! π Use local government websites, census data, and online tools to gather information.
π‘ Pro Tip: The more research you do on your own, the better you’ll understand your market and be prepared to make the right decision. Check out the Launchpad Bundle for our Market Research Guide to help you make a decision.
Step 5: Don’t Forget to Consider Regulations
Every state and local municipality has its own rules for assisted living businesses. Be sure to:
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Check Zoning Laws ποΈ: Does the area you’re interested in allow assisted living facilities? Make sure the location fits with local zoning regulations.
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Understand Licensing π: Each state has different requirements for licensing and operating. Make sure your location is compliant with state laws!
This step is crucial for avoiding costly delays in your business launch.
Next Steps: Take Action Today!
π Want to launch your assisted living business in the next 12 months?
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Step 1: Download the Business Plan Checklist to start planning.
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Step 2: Need help figuring out where to start? Join the next Roadmap Challenge and build your launch plan with me.
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Step 3: Follow this guide, take action, and bring your vision to life!
Got questions? Drop them in the comments below! β¬οΈ
Show full transcript π
Transcript
00:00:03
hey friend it is Brandon Gustafson with Assisted Living investing excited to have you here with me on the channel uh at Assisted Living investing. net I help beginners IQ launch their Assisted Living business in the next 12 months uh excited to help you through that process so in today's video we're going to be getting into the topic of how to find uh the the right property now that's the wrong one um what we're today that was last week um we're talking about marketing today uh let me Let me refresh
00:00:32
my thing so I can pull this up um today's video we're going to be talking about um how to uh my goodness I'm all flustered how to do market research this is what we want to talk about how to do market research for assisted living uh so this came from a comment that that we had in the group I apologize for the mix up there um I just got done recording a bunch of other videos and a bunch of work was uh doing a site visit at my facility uh yesterday and so I'm just kind of all over the place trying to get
00:01:05
caught up so um thank you for your patience I appreciate that um but uh let's get into the topic for today how to how to do market research for your Assisted Living uh business and and how to get things started there um what I will tell you here and man I had this ready to go one second I'm running into issues with getting this thing onto the Facebook group um uh while while we're waiting while while I'm trying to do this want to remind you to get over to um the website Assisted Living
00:01:35
investing. net you can get access to our free underwriting calculator there um and uh also get over to get the business plan checklist um it is a resource that I've created there specifically for you uh to help you uh build a business plan that's going to help you get things started um and and help you um be successful along the way so uh you know built that resource for you hope you find helpful um and if you are sitting here laughing with me just kind of put a little haha or an LOL down in the um in
00:02:08
the chat just so I know that you're here with me laughing with me and not at me as I try to get this thing up and and going um sometimes technology is great and sometimes it is not um and and causes issues so uh let's get that posted and now we should be good to go um okay okay let me sorry one last thing I need to to just make sure this thing is live at audience okay we're public all righty and we're going to make this a little bit smaller so I can get to the right screen again all righty we're almost
00:02:52
there okay how to do market research for assisted living uh awesome thanks you kinu I appreciate you being here and uh participating with me okay how to do market research go check out uh free business plan checklist there Assisted Living investing. netb checklist uh if you have questions as we go through this I will have time for some Q&A here at the end I I do have a a meeting in about 20 minutes so I can't stay too long but um love answering your questions so please uh type those in for those of you
00:03:21
who don't know who I am my name is Brandon Guston um I own two uh assisted living facilities I operate them out of state I live in Salt Lake one of my facilities is in Colorado Springs and the other one is in NAA Idaho we actually just did a site visit to our Idaho facility we had to hire a new administrator um there at that facility and it just kind of went through that process and you know I talked about it a little bit um previously but I have a new guy who's great we're sad to see our
00:03:48
old one leave but that just you know it's it's the thing that happens I've owned these facilities now since 2020 um have secured over one and a half million in SBA funding operate out of state and have a masters in healthcare administration have been in the healthcare industry for about a decade now so I have a lot of good relevant experience that can help you out along your journey um and that actually reminds me um so we have our application process for The Mastermind if you'd like
00:04:11
to go and do that go to Alim mastermind.com application U and and check that out um it's takes you less than five minutes um if I can help you out then I'll send you links and information about what the Mastermind program looks like um so you can get things started um and if not that's cool too um you know I have other free resources and other programs that that might be a good fit for you so go check that out um and um you know we'll see what we can do to help you out and uh sneak peek next week actually um we
00:04:39
will be doing a webinar that kind of goes through the process really in depth with some good action steps so mark that on your calendars it's going to be next next Wednesday which is August 14th um 2024 if you're watching this you know a couple years from now and um what we're going to be talking about there is the Assisted Living launch formula uh that I have that is inside of the The Mastermind program so we'll be diving deep into that you can go register for that today at Alim mastermind.com
00:05:07
weinar and uh then you'll get some information on that um so just go ahead and and check that out if you'd like and uh we'll have some promotional activities and stuff going out for that here in the next week but just want to make sure that you are aware of that um excited to to host that webinar it'll be about probably 90 minutes we're going to go really deep into that and and give you some good guidance there so um now let's get into market research specifically for you that's why you're
00:05:33
what you're here for today um it all starts here with building your base uh it is the the the most in my mind it is the most important thing that you can do to launch your Assisted Living builds business is to have a really solid base of what you want to do and what you want to create U for your Assisted Living business um and the way that you do that is building a solid business plan doing your underwriting setting your criteria um when you do these types of things it's going to allow you to um know which
00:06:08
population you want to serve how big of a home you're going to need um in order to do that um and what your price is uh but it all starts with doing the business plan and getting the thoughts that you have in your head and putting them down on paper to allow you to to really start making some progress in in in identifying you know what what you want to do um you have to build this base you have to get it out of your head you have to put it on something otherwise you're just going to be like a
00:06:37
squirrel chasing nuts and and you're not going to make all that much progress you might you might hit you know even a blind squirrel find finds a nut every now and then a broken clock is right twice a day um all those little cliche things you might find some success without doing a business plan you are going to have a much easier time and be much more successful if you spend time doing that it's why we have the business planning guide um we'll talk about that here in a little bit um as well but you
00:07:04
know You' got to spend time building out your foundation it is like it is the thing that is going to allow you to be successful as you start doing your market research now as you start doing market research and you want to start looking for places where you should be doing this you know I was talking with somebody about this um and I think this is the Catalyst for this video um on on a YouTube comment it was about where where should we do this you know I live in California and California is hard
00:07:35
housing is expensive here there's a lot of rules and regulations um so I'd like to do it out of state but I don't know I don't even know where to go which state is best um it's it's really hard to know and so what you have to do is you start off with the wear which states are you interested in if it's your own State you know you live in Ohio and you want to do stuff in Ohio then cool go for it now we just need to figure out which Market market and which city you want to
00:08:01
be in um but if you live in California and you want to be out out of state and investing then do some research and figure out which states so we have to figure out the state we have to figure out the city and market now I'm going to make a plug here to the business planning guide and the reason why is I do everything that I'm telling you here the state which ones are good which markets all the research on it I actually do all of that for you so I do all of that in the market research tool
00:08:29
that is inside the business planning guide so if you go to Assisted Living investing. netb PG for business planning guide um you can get access to that goes really deep in the calculator talks about business plan all this foundational stuff but also gives you the market research tool and it's super affordable um so go check that out you can do upgraded versions that lets me give you some feedback on your underwriting and things if you'd like but if you just want the basic thing uh it's it's not that much and it gives you
00:08:57
this tool and the other piece of that is as of the recording today which is August 6th 2024 um it's the 2023 version so it's old but we're working on the 2024 version and I update this for you annually and as a person that owns the business planning guide you will get access to every subsequent update on there and you will have access to all the historical ones as well so I I do this research for you um and you might as well take advantage of it because it's going to save you a ton of time um
00:09:29
as you get into it so go check that out Assisted Living investing. net BPG I look at the where the trends are um for where people are retiring where they're moving um what so by that um which states are going to be best like have a good perception of being really good for it then we get into the different markets and also like which markets inside of those states are ones that are are popular and people are moving to and people want to be at and you want to be in those markets because that's where
00:09:57
population booms are going to happen and where assisted living will be needed in the future and there's going to be some on there that I think you'll be surprised with um so go check that out was talking to somebody's like a little sneak peek about one of the states that um you probably would not expect to be on this list is Delaware so go check out the list uh go go get the business planning guide and uh look at that top 10 list and get the 2024 version which um we're getting pretty close to having
00:10:25
that ready um to to go out hopefully by the end of this month uh to to give you some of that guidance and things like that so um that's that's the first thing you got to do is the wear now let's look at the initial criteria um as I mentioned here I I look at trends for retirement I look at like best places to retire and best cities to live in and those types of things best states to live in um I look at that but I don't look at like three or four of them I look at like 15 20 50 of them like I
00:10:58
look at a lot of information here at a state and a city level we're looking at a lot of this information we're compiling it for you and then we're doing our own internal ranking system that's going to allow you to to figure out which ones are going to be best and then we kind of do the research for you there and helping you figure out um how that's going to to benefit you um but that's the initial piece of that is figuring out where which of these locations are going to be most popular
00:11:25
um because that's where you want to be and then from there we get into more base criteria for uh the type of population we want to be working with so we want to be looking at the age of the population if you're in a college town and the mo the majority of the people are 20s and 30s it's not a great spot for assisted living um but if you have a spot where people are moving to retire to and they're in their 60s which means their parents are in their 80s then that means they just move somewhere when
00:11:56
their parents need assisted living they're probably going to be like to bring them with them um to that spot and and be be there with you so you want to look at these population ages and the size of the population um you want to look at the the growth rate of that market is it has it what's it done over the past three years is it really increasing or is it decreasing like people want say they want to go move there but the data doesn't show that uh we're looking at that we want to look at
00:12:22
income ranges um because people have to pay for assisted living um so you want to look at at all those things these are the base criteria that really helps us understand what's going into uh which Market is going to be best and they can be really good differentiators when you've narrowed it down to like three or four um it lets you take it down to one or two because you are looking at this base criteria and then the next piece is deep criteria this is stuff that these are a little more of the um uh Fringe uh types
00:12:55
of of criteria but they can make a really good a big difference when you start looking at this um we look at crime rates we look at political leanings actually um more conservative states are and and areas are easier to operate a business in it's just the reality of working in it now there might be more public programs and public money in uh in a more left leaning um location and and so regardless of what you think politically you need to look at those those things and figure out what's going
00:13:24
to work for you um and just understand what you're getting into um because in in states that are a little more left leaning the the regulations that get put out there they can be very prohibitive in running a business it's it's frankly it's just the reality of it um regardless of of where you're at with your political leanings um now when you get into state tax and this comes just me working in Idaho and Colorado and seeing the different ways that those governments work um I can tell you it's
00:13:55
a lot easier to operate in Idaho than it is in Colorado like it just it is so I'm I'm talking about this from experience uh and talking with people that have uh worked in in in those types of different states and just getting feedback from them so this is like not me spouting something based off of my political leanings it is it's facts based off of my experience of running these businesses uh so I just want you to be aware of but I do the research for you so you can you can pick and choose what
00:14:22
you want to do uh as you get into that then you're also looking at state income rates state tax income rates because uh you know higher tax income rates means you lose more of your money so you want to be aware of what that looks like um and see what they are uh you also want to look at your surrounding markets and see like are there other big population centers that you can pull from um that are close enough that are relatively commutable U that maybe somebody's going to retire there um but they're okay with
00:14:51
their parents being an hour way like we actually look at all this data for you as well and help you understand what this deep criteria looks like um and it's going to really help you determine which one's going to be best these are all pieces of of the market research that that I want you to be aware of um and now if you have questions please go in and type those and I'll I'll get over to the screen here in just a second but I did want to point something else out with this um that is not included in my market
00:15:18
research but something that you definitely want to do is look at who your competition is you got to look at who is in the the the surrounding areas around you because um if you just want to make sure it's not oversaturated but you also want to make sure that the population is there to support you um so if you've got uh if it's a a small population and there's five big facilities and 20 small facilities and that's like it's maxed out um then it's probably not the best
00:15:50
spot for you but if you have conversations with other owners as much as you can they're they're they can be a little bit funny when you try to have these conversations and they won't tell you what their census is or things like that people in this industry aren't as uh good at sharing as they probably should be but um if you find that they have waiting lists of 20 and everybody has a waiting list of 20 then it's not oversaturated you've got um you've got a lot of space to to work with people so
00:16:19
that is a component that is a little more granular that you're going to have to do on your own but I give you enough to help you get started and figure out um which markets are probably going to be best for you so um with that if you found this video make sure you like the video subscribe and ring the bell as well so you get notified um when I put out this content again if you have any questions now is a good time to type that in and want I want to remind people to get over and check out the Mastermind
00:16:43
program you can apply for that at ali mastermind.com um and that is a you know takes you less than five minutes and then I can see if I can help you out um as we get into that process so let me hop over here um to to get into this and thanks for all the the LOLs and the the smiley faces for the the issues there at the beginning of the video I I very much appreciate that because yeah it just it's been a day so thank you um uh yes let's see I don't do I have any questions but also want to remind
00:17:15
everybody to get over to Assisted Living investing. netb checklist I get access to that free business plan checklist it really is a a good Catalyst to help you give the give you the resources to build a solid business plan which is what you need as you are building that base and helping you make some progress towards launching your Assisted Living business which is really what you need to do um as you start moving things along so um I do hope that this video was helpful for you as you're trying to figure out you
00:17:43
know market research and and what that's going to look like for you um and help you out Skyler so you got a question here coming in a little late um thoughts on feasibility study and how do you do one um there are companies that will do feasibility studies for you um uh go a few years ago we actually looked at doing one and I think I I was working with somebody that that actually paid for one and it wasn't a ton I think it was a few hundred dollars um but honestly a lot of I would say 70% of what they put in a
00:18:18
feasibility study um I give you in the business planning guide um like it's it's just a part of that it's the the Deep research there I I probably do I'm a little more broad than what they do they're going to get something that's a little more specific um they will give you prettier charts and things like that um if you can find a good deal I and you have the funds to do it I don't think it's a horrible idea um I have been burned myself by doing feasibility studies in the past with other types of
00:18:50
businesses so I would I would be hesitant to spend more than like a couple thousand do on a feasibility study um that's me personally um I I think it can be beneficial but I think you can do some of this research on your own and and figure things out from that standpoint now if they're going to go in and they're going to try to do like the Outreach for you or they already have information on other properties that are out there and they know what like they they can talk to the owners and things
00:19:23
like that and get you the information that an owner might not want to give you um I think that is worth it up to a certain point because you're going to find as you get into this that talking to other owners or other businesses they just don't want to give that information so if a feasibility study has that um I I think that's that's worth it so hopefully that that helps you out um it kind of depends so yeah um but like I have people in The Mastermind program that have done what I would
00:19:54
equate to their own feasibility study uh and I've been I'm just like Blown Away by the amount of research that they put into it U and what they found and I they did not pay for a feasibility study and they have some really really solid information about the area yeah no problem scar Skyler um thanks for thanks for hopping on um I do have a meeting that I have to jump to in two minutes so I'm going to have to hop off uh but does residential Assisted Living sound interesting to you but you don't know how to get started at
00:20:24
Assisted Living investing. net I'm here to help beginners like you launch their Assisted Living business in the next 12 months would love to um see if I can do that go check out the the application for The Mastermind program Alim mastermind.com um application and if you want to hop on the webinar that we're going to do which is next week you can go register for that at Alim mastermind.com weinar that will be next Tuesday August for not next Wednesday August 14th at I want to say 1: p.m. Eastern is is where we're going
00:20:54
to start that so it'll be about a 90 minute thing and we'll go through the entire Assisted Living launch formula that is a part of the Assisted Living Mastermind and help you out so go check that out and I want to remind you that it doesn't take a lot it just takes a little bit but you got to be consistent and persistent and when you do that you're going to be successful so thanks for everybody for watching and we will talk to you next week thanks everybody see you
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