The Ultimate Guide to Starting an Assisted Living Facility
Dec 04, 2024
Starting an assisted living facility can feel overwhelming, but with the right approach, it becomes a rewarding opportunity to make a positive impact. Whether you're completely new to this industry or have some experience, knowing the steps required will help you get started confidently. In this guide, we’ll cover the essentials for launching a successful assisted living business and provide valuable insights to support you along the way.
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1. Conduct Thorough Market Research
Before anything else, dive into thorough market research. The location you choose can make a world of difference to your success. Start by asking these questions:
- Who is your target population? Is the area attracting retirees, or is there an existing elderly population that could benefit from assisted living?
- What’s the economic and political environment like? Consider taxes, local politics, and regulations, as these factors will impact your long-term profitability and operations.
In hindsight, I would have invested more time in understanding each area before expanding. By researching your market well, you can avoid common mistakes and give your business a solid foundation.
2. Get Licensed with Your State’s Health Department
Once you’ve picked a location, reach out to your state’s health department to understand licensing requirements. Every state has its own set of regulations, so familiarize yourself with what’s needed where you plan to operate. Generally, this involves gathering documentation on safety, staffing, and facility standards.
If you’re considering purchasing an existing facility, be sure to pay close attention to the change of ownership requirements in your state. Often, the paperwork differs for this, so being prepared from the beginning can help you avoid costly delays.
3. Obtain Zoning Approval from Your Municipality
Zoning can be a crucial yet overlooked step in starting an assisted living business. After finding a property, check with the local zoning and planning department to ensure the area is zoned for assisted living. Some residential properties may not meet local requirements and could need rezoning, which can be time-consuming and costly.
For those purchasing an existing facility, confirm that the property zoning matches your goals. By addressing zoning early, you can avoid roadblocks and ensure a smooth path forward.
4. Build Your Team of Professionals
Establishing a successful assisted living facility is a team effort. Having the right professionals on board will save you time, money, and stress. Here are some experts you’ll likely need:
- Real Estate Broker: to help you find the right property.
- Lender: to secure financing for your project.
- Attorney: to structure your business correctly, especially if you’ll be managing both real estate and operations.
Starting these conversations early will ensure you’re prepared as each step unfolds.
Final Thoughts: Getting Started Is Simpler Than You Think
By breaking down the process into manageable steps—market research, licensing, zoning, and building a strong team—you can confidently move forward with your assisted living business. While it may seem complex, tackling each part systematically will help you achieve your goals efficiently.
If you’re ready to take the next step, download our Business Plan Checklist to ensure you have everything you need to write a solid business plan.
Need help figuring out where to start? Join the next Roadmap Challenge and build your launch plan with me.
Show full transcript 👇
Transcript
00:00:00
in today's video we're going to get into the ultimate guide for starting an assisted living facility for beginners so if you're wondering how to get started make sure you stick around and we'll get into that in today's video [Music] hey everybody it's Brandon Gustafson and welcome back to the channel excited to have you today today we're going to get into the ultimate guide uh the ultimate starters guide for investing in an assisted living facility what you need to know so that you can get started on
00:00:33
your own Journey just the kind of small and quick and easy steps that you need to go through as you're getting started so tip number one is going to be doing some market research figuring out uh what Market you want to be in I talked about this in a previous video we'll link that up below um where we talked about the importance of finding a market and doing research and why uh you know identifying the market is so important to you I talked about this because I I'm in multiple States and if I had could go back and do
00:01:07
this again I would have not done that I would have spent more time doing market research and identifying where I wanted to be from the get-go I think it would have saved me a lot of time a lot of Heartache I still would have been investing out of state I would have done that but I would have done the market research first so step number one you want to make sure you're doing that market research make sure you understand the complexities of operating in that market if it's close to you great you're
00:01:33
going to have a pretty good feel on that if it's not that's fine as well but make sure you understand the political implications the status of those States and what they how they deal with taxes what the population is looking like is it a young population or is it an aging population are people moving there to retire these are all really good things that you want to look at as you're getting into your market research tip number two is going to be getting in contact with the state the State Health
00:02:04
Department and figuring out what it takes to obtain your license to operate in the state where you're going to be operating so you want to reach out to them figure out you know what is is happening there the Department of Health is is a great resource they're going to have resources online they'll have a website you might want to give them a call because their websites depending on the state can be difficult to navigate but they're going to have a website that has all of these resources on it what it
00:02:30
takes to to get your license what it takes for you to get started going down the process if you're looking at purchasing an existing facility from somebody else what does that change of ownership process like what extra documents are you going to need for that versus starting your own facility tip number three is actually Associated to number two if you are uh going to be looking at renovating a house or even if you're purchasing another facility from somebody else you're probably going to
00:02:59
want to reach out to the local municipality and talk to their zoning and planning department there's going to be certain types of zoning that you may need to ensure that you're going to to maintain if you purchase an existing facility or you're going to have to switch your home into so that it's zoned properly for assistive living this is a big one that you want to get on as quickly as you possibly can because having those conversations is going to lead you down to the path that that
00:03:28
tells you if this is the right opportunity for you or not sometimes rezoning can be a really lengthy process and it's not worth the hassle and tip number four is going to be getting in contact with other professionals that are going to help you out in your investment Journey that could be um broker to help you find a property it could be a lender that's going to help you find and and get the financing that you need to get things moving forward it could also be an attorney that's going
00:03:59
to help you make sure that your entities are structured correctly and that you have everything that you need if you're purchasing real estate and doing an operational business what structure you need and how you want to do that talking with those professionals and starting that conversation is going to really give you what you need to get started on that path these four tips should really get you started as you are trying to get into purchasing your assisted living facility if you do those four things
00:04:26
you're going to be gaining the knowledge that you need so that you can go down the path and then really start getting started you're going to be having conversations with the right people that are going to allow you to start that assisted living facility and do it pretty quickly if you're interested in learning more visit us at assisted livinginvesting.net I actually have a 12-week course that can kind of takes you through this process with the intent of having you go through this from start
00:04:52
to finish in 12 weeks that in 12 weeks you're going to own your facility and you're going to be ready to go with it and everything is going to be great so if you're interested in joining one of our group coaching sessions make sure you visit us at assisted livinginvesting.net and sign up for the course we'll also be doing a virtual option for that soon and you'll have that available available to you as residential Assisted Living sound interesting but you don't know how to
00:05:17
get started at Assisted Living investing we coach you through the process start to finish thanks for watching and have a great thank you
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