| As the population ages, the demand for assisted | | | | conventional development. Because of this, |
| living facilities just keeps rising. Older people don't | | | | developers who want to get involved in assisted |
| want to or need to be consigned to nursing homes, | | | | living development should have some experience in |
| but they may need some help at home. This is | | | | health care or retirement fields, or be able to hire a |
| where assisted living communities fill a growing need. | | | | management team that has this experience. |
| Assisted living is for people who want to live | | | | Pay attention to the location, design, and general |
| independently as long as they can, but who need | | | | character of your assisted living development, |
| help with their daily activities. They don't need | | | | whether you're putting in a new facility or renovating |
| constant care, but can't quite manage on their own. | | | | an older building. A good question to ask yourself is |
| Many facilities also offer medical care, but it's not as | | | | where you'd like to live when you get old enough to |
| intensive as nursing home care. An individual service | | | | require assisted living. Make sure that your feasibility |
| plan is usually created for every resident upon entry | | | | study includes the local demographic in the area |
| into the community. | | | | you're hoping to develop. Your assisted living |
| For real estate investors, this is a new niche to be | | | | development will look different depending on the age, |
| capitalized upon. There are fewer assisted living | | | | income, and requirements of the prospective |
| communities than the demand requires. Most of the | | | | residents. Also, analyze any competing facilities in the |
| existing facilities provide either less assistance than | | | | area, since they'll have an impact on your project. |
| residents need, or, like nursing homes, are meant for | | | | Some projects have been overbuilt because of |
| much frailer individuals. Demand is particularly high in | | | | developer optimism, and haven't yet managed to |
| upper and middle class neighborhoods located in | | | | reach a sustained occupancy. |
| major cities. | | | | Assisted living development is a great new field for |
| There are two different ways to create an assisted | | | | real estate investors if you do your homework. You'll |
| living development. One is through converting existing | | | | need to know who's moving in, what they can |
| buildings, such as apartment complexes and | | | | afford, and what their needs will be, as well as the |
| retirement buildings. Converting these buildings | | | | usual development requirements. While there's some |
| requires an assessment of feasibility, since the | | | | special skills required in running an assisted living |
| interiors must usually be wholly renovated to provide | | | | facility, the right staff can go a long way towards |
| easier access for the physically disabled. An on-call | | | | eliminating problems. America's population is growing |
| nursing staff must also be provided. Because of | | | | older, and soon, it will need a place to live. |
| these requirements, owning an assisted living facility is | | | | Opportunities in assisted living development only |
| more like owning a group of hotels than a | | | | stand to increase as time goes on. |