55+ Bed Assisted Living Community, Phoenix AZ (Real Estate Included)

$2.6M

Revenue

$1.1M

SDE

10.5x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a fee-simple assisted living community in the Phoenix metropolitan area with 55+ licensed beds, sold with the real estate and operations conveyed together, entirely unencumbered by management contracts, leases, or loans. The physical plant is a single-story bungalow campus totaling roughly 17,000 square feet on 1.25 acres, renovated in 2011, with shared-occupancy bungalows arranged around a central commons building housing a commercial kitchen, laundry, and dining room. The community produces approximately $2.65 million in annual revenue and $1,144,431 of FY2025 Adjusted EBITDAR.

The business serves seniors transitioning into care in Maricopa County, which holds the largest 65+ population base in Arizona and is among the fastest-growing senior markets in the country. The surrounding demographics support a private-pay thesis: metro householders aged 65+ report median income of $64,557 and median home values of $452,800, roughly 36% above the U.S. median, which underpins the ability of residents and their families to fund private-pay assisted living rates.

At a $12,000,000 asking price the deal pencils to $203,390 per licensed bed and a stated 9.54% cap rate, with owner compensation already in the expense base and no separate third-party management fee deducted. Importantly, this is a blended real estate plus operating business acquisition, so the headline EBITDA multiple of roughly 10.5x should be read as a cap rate on a stabilized, income-producing hard asset, not as a pure operating-business multiple.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is anchored by four consecutive years of seller-provided operating statements and a clean capital structure with no management contracts, leases, or loans to assume. The $1.14 million of Adjusted EBITDAR already has owner compensation in the expense base and no third-party management fee stripped out, which means the number is closer to a true owner-operator margin than many senior care listings.
Assisted living is about as recession-resistant as private-pay services get, because families do not defer care for a parent who needs help with daily living during a downturn. Revenue recurs by default through monthly resident billing and long average lengths of stay, so census does not have to be re-won each month the way project or retail revenue does.
The demand backdrop is genuinely strong: Maricopa County has the largest 65+ base in Arizona and is among the fastest-growing senior markets nationally, with median 65+ income of $64,557 and home values 36% above the U.S. median. That combination supports durable private-pay rate power at the point families transition a loved one into care.
You are buying the real estate fee simple along with the operations, which gives a hard-asset floor at roughly $203,390 per licensed bed and optionality on financing, refinance, or eventual sale-leaseback. The 1.25-acre infill campus renovated in 2011 provides both operating flexibility and a tangible collateral base that a pure-operations deal would not.

How to improve it

Pull the census, rate, and unit-mix detail available under NDA and build a rate-optimization plan within the first 90 days. If the community is running below prevailing metro private-pay rates or carrying vacant beds, small increases in occupancy and monthly rate flow almost entirely to EBITDA given the fixed cost base.
Audit the care-level pricing model to ensure residents whose acuity has increased are being billed at the correct higher tier. Acuity creep is common in owner-operated communities where the founder is reluctant to reprice long-tenured residents, and recapturing that leakage is immediate margin.
Professionalize the payer mix by expanding qualified private-pay lead flow through discharge planners, hospital case managers, and local placement agencies. Given the affluent 65+ demographics, tightening referral relationships can lift census toward full occupancy without heavy marketing spend.
Replace the owner-operator function with a credentialed administrator and formalize staffing schedules, so the asset survives the founder's exit without census disruption. Documenting policies, med-management protocols, and state compliance also de-risks the license transfer and future resale.
Review labor scheduling and food, laundry, and utility procurement against benchmarks, since these are the largest controllable line items in assisted living. Right-sizing caregiver-to-resident ratios and renegotiating vendor contracts can add measurable points of margin without touching care quality.
Model a refinance or sale-leaseback of the owned real estate once operations are stabilized under new management. Separating the property from the operating entity can free trapped equity and improve blended return on invested capital versus holding both in one bucket.

Diligence notes

Confirm the exact bed license count, license type, and regulatory standing with the Arizona Department of Health Services, and verify the license is transferable without a re-survey that could interrupt operations. Any open deficiencies, complaints, or conditional status directly affect both value and closeability.
The listing discloses EBITDAR (before rent), not EBITDA, and quotes a cap rate rather than an operating multiple. Reconcile the $1,144,431 figure to actual owner-operator cash flow, confirm owner compensation is genuinely and adequately expensed, and separate the return on the real estate from the return on the operating business.
Obtain a trailing 24-month census and rate roll to verify true occupancy, average length of stay, and payer mix, since a stabilized 9.54% cap assumes the community is running near capacity. Test how sensitive EBITDA is to a few empty beds, given the high fixed cost of a fixed-plant facility.
Order a property condition assessment and confirm the 2011 renovation covered major systems, roof, and ADA/life-safety requirements. A single-story bungalow campus from an older build can carry deferred capital that would erode the cap rate once real capex is reserved.
Scrutinize staffing: caregiver turnover, current wage rates, agency usage, and whether the reported margin depends on unsustainably lean staffing. Rising Arizona labor costs and any reliance on temp agency coverage could compress the go-forward margin materially.
Verify why the owner-operator is selling and how dependent census is on the owner's personal relationships with referral sources and families. Absent a stated transition plan, negotiate a defined handover period to protect occupancy and referral flow through the ownership change.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →