LinkedIn Groups Emerge as Senior Housing Transaction Hubs

Social media’s pervasive grip can be seen everywhere, and with business professionals joining LinkedIn at a rate of two members per second, it’s providing opportunity for those involved in seniors housing to use networking sites as a platform for announcing and discussing business transactions.

A number of senior housing industry trade groups have emerged on LinkedIn that host forums for notices of available properties and funding, and facilitate discussion of recent, upcoming, or sought-after transactions.

Seniors Housing Transactions, started by senior associate Ben Firestone of the National Senior Housing Group at Marcus & Millichap, is one such group.

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It serves as a networking platform for owners, operators, managers, investors, mortgage lenders, prospective owners, appraisers, and financial intermediaries in the seniors housing industry, says Firestone, with recent discussions including an operator seeking mortgage debt outside of agency financing; a portfolio of Assisted Living and Memory are facilities in Wisconsin for sale; and a confidentiality agreement contemplating new inventory offerings from an investment advisory firm.

And recently, this group passed the 500-member milestone, making it one of the largest among similar groups like Senior Assisted Living Sales, Marketing & Operations Professionals; Senior Care Acquisitions and Financing; Seniors Housing and Healthcare Real Estate; and The Senior Housing Investors Forum.

As business interaction becomes more and more instantaneous, market participants seek both to gather and to provide more salient information which can be instantly accessed online, says Firestone.

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“Clearly, at 500+ members, the already-established market for seniors housing finance and transactions continues to evolve in the direction of social media,” he commented. “Top executives from REITs, banks, national and regional operators form the core members of Seniors Housing Transaction, and evidence of these members finding the group to be beneficial lies in the active discussion board.”

Written by Alyssa Gerace