Senior Housing, Assisted Living & Healthcare

Guardian is a national broker and lender funding assisted living facilities through both Fannie Mae and HUD products. We have funded many of the largest assisted living providers in the country, alongside a wide variety of smaller community-based operators.

Property that qualifies

• Retirement homes and independent living
• Assisted living centres
• Memory care facilities
• Skilled nursing facilities
• Surgical centres and other healthcare facilities

Why this asset class is worth the specialisation

The baby boom generation is moving steadily into the ages at which assisted living demand is set, and the current supply of facilities already falls short of demand. To an investor, that imbalance represents a significant cash flow opportunity — and the industry landscape is likely to keep shifting for some time yet.

But demographics alone do not make a project succeed. Senior housing is fundamentally unlike other commercial real estate: it is an operating business inside a building, with licensing requirements, regulatory oversight, staffing ratios and physical plant standards that all bear directly on whether the asset performs. Ordinary commercial lenders are not equipped to underwrite it, which is why so many decline it outright.

What we bring to it

Investment planning and strategy. The sector expanding is not by itself enough to make your facility return above average. We provide practical advice and strategically customised lending products built around the specific project.

Competitive rates and structures. There is no reason to pay above-market interest for below-market service. We structure loans and price them by analysing each investment case by case, rather than applying a sector-wide assumption.

Agency and HUD execution

Fannie Mae and HUD programs exist specifically for this property type and carry terms no conventional lender matches — longer amortization, higher leverage and, under HUD, non-recourse fixed-rate debt for terms far beyond what the commercial market offers.

They also carry process. HUD in particular is documentation-heavy and slower than a conventional closing, and the requirements around the operator, the licence and the physical plant are specific. Running that process properly is the difference between a funded project and a year of wasted effort, and it is precisely where a broker who has done it repeatedly earns their fee.

The operator matters as much as the building

Agency and HUD lenders underwrite the operator's experience, census history, payor mix and quality ratings as closely as they underwrite the real estate. A strong building with an inexperienced operator is a harder file than the reverse. If you are acquiring a facility and bringing in a management company, have that relationship settled before you apply.