As we reflect on 2017, I also cannot help but look back on the last 20 years. Not only has the sector changed immensely in terms of product types, reimbursement, providers, etc., but so has Senior Living Investment Brokerage. Sure, there were just a handful of us as recently as 15 years ago, but now a majority of our team has been in place for at least a decade. I have to believe that experience carries with it an understanding of the industry and its nuances, a familiarity with a multitude of owners and operators, buyers and sellers, lenders and capital providers, and so on. But what is really at the forefront of this reflection is our role in the space as we move into 2018. Along with everything else that has changed, we have seen an expansion of competition in the investment sales arena. Honestly, there are some really good people doing really good things that we have to go to battle against. It should, and will, challenge us to do better, be better, in 2018 and beyond. But what is our differentiator? Experience is good and I believe we have one of, if not the most, experienced teams. Depth? We also have one of the largest teams providing both a national scope, but regional expertise as well. Confidentiality has always been at the core of what we do – and I feel like we are successful in managing a transaction to allow as little disruption as possible at the community level. But we are also hands on. We also care deeply about the process and all involved. It tends to be the “little” things that linger when we close a transaction. The emotion of selling something that has been more than a business, and seeing the embrace, and tears, of owner and now former employees and residents. Today’s competitive environment means moving to a level that truly differentiates you from others. Promote your strengths, embrace your challenges, and always try to do the right thing. Recently, Pat Byrne did just that. After successfully helping to facilitate a portfolio sale he was not content on simply moving on. “There’s no industry where the key players are more interconnected than senior living, so relationships matter. We’ve seen SLIB and its team take that ethos seriously in past transactions, even when we’ve not come out the high bidder,” said Josh Stevens, President and Co-Owner of Cedarhurst Living, a Clayton, Missouri based owner/operator of 20 senior living communities in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. Stevens continued, “A great example is a recent deal where SLIB sold a six-building owner-operated portfolio to a buyer based out of the Northwest. The seller was looking to get out of senior living and focus on their core business outside of seniors housing. Because of that transaction, the executive leading the seller’s operating platform, who is committed to the senior living industry as his career path, needed to find a new organization to grow with. Pat Byrne made the introduction to us, and the executive now acts as our Senior VP of Finance and Accounting and improved his position all the way around. Pat was able to put together a win-win for all involved.”
Jeff Binder
Managing Director
