Cashflow Diary™

A real estate investor for 30 years with four books and two radio shows under his belt, Cash Flow Diary podcast guest Gene Guarino narrowed his investing focus to a niche that earns top income. So what is it? Residential assisted living facilities! However, Gene wasn’t always a real estate investor. He was a struggling musician without any cash or credit. That didn’t stop him from making an offer on an office building he needed at the time with no money down so he could open a music school. That led him down a whole new path and a pretty fair profit come time to sell the building. Later he discovered assisted living and what a great investment opportunity it is. Gene says assisted living is the investing space he loves because it serves a whole lot of people. What he offers is something between what we see on Golden Girls and the hospital setting. Gene takes single family houses and turns them into nice residential assisted living homes. There’s one caregiver to every five residents. Gene’s typical assisted living home houses 10 residents. Though the monthly cashflow is good, it’s also a more affordable option to these residents than living in a big, impersonal residential complex. With 77 million Baby Boomers, all of whom are growing older by the day, the assisted living arena is a burgeoning mega-trend. According to Gene, this business is awesome now… but it’s going to be even better 15 years from now! One of the benefits of owning assisted living homes include great tenants with low turnover. Typically three to seven years. So how many of these homes does Gene own? Three and counting. He doesn’t know how many he will own, but he sees the massive opportunity. He says to be successful in this business you need to invest in larger homes, put a few staff members in place, put a manager in place, and make sure the amenities are good for seniors. Gene adds that he looks for more affluent neighborhoods. That doesn’t mean luxury homes; it means middle to upper middle class homes. Keep the home clean, safe and up to code, and you can have a waiting list a mile long! There’s so much good stuff in this interview that you’re going to want to rush out and open a few assisted living homes. Learn more.