SBA 7(a) Assisted Living Feasibility Study in Washington

Washington assisted living under 7(a): nearly everything closes

In assisted living without nursing care, Washington is 2 among states under 7(a), with 238 approvals from FY2017 to FY2026 worth $215.6 million, and the class is 8 of 39 inside the state. The metric our test flags is cancellation: cancellations took a floor of 3.5% of approvals made through FY2024, and the ceiling is identical. For the 104 loans funded across FY2017 to FY2021, the printed charge-off figures are 0.00% so far and 0.00% at the five-year mark. These are floors, but they describe an unusually clean record so far.

Loan size and one dominant lender

The median loan is $805,500, 1.07x the nationwide benchmark, and half the loans fall between $418,850 and $1.2 million. No loans are franchised at 0.00%. Columbia Bank holds 105 loans worth $97.0 million, far ahead of Gesa CU with 16 and $16.8 million, Sound Credit Union with 15 and $7.2 million, Commonwealth Business Bank with 9 and $8.6 million, and U.S. Bank, National Association with 9 and $3.0 million. The holder entries come from SBA and say nothing of lender standards. King County has 90 loans, Snohomish 59, Clark 29, Pierce 22, Spokane 11, Thurston 7, Whatcom 4, and Benton, Franklin and Grays Harbor 2 each.

Reading a record with no losses

A zero is a printed value for a cohort of real size, not a withheld rate, but it carries limits. Newer loans have had less time to fail, and assisted living operators can take years to reach stable occupancy. A lender should read the zeros as a favorable start, not a guarantee.

What a Washington study has to test

Demand for beds comes first: how many older residents live in the draw area, what they can afford, and how full the licensed residences already open there run. Staffing needs and licensing under state rules shape cost, and the lease-up from opening to stable census should be modelled month by month against a ticket near $805,500. Show coverage again at a census below plan. A valuation will capitalise what the licensed beds earn, which means the revenue forecast has to withstand an appraiser's scrutiny.

The industry code isolates residences with no nursing on site. Memory care lacks a code, and residences offering nursing are filed under two other classes, which a mixed-acuity sponsor should also consult.