When It’s Time To Exit…

For our family business, it was time to exit in 1999 after a dozen years of building a company from scratch and growing to serve hundreds of assisted living residents across Wisconsin.

When we sold, I wasn’t sure what I would do next. But it quickly became apparent that I had an opportunity to help others go through the sale of their assisted living facilities.

For years before that sale, I was closely connected with many others in assisted living through my involvement in the Wisconsin Assisted Living Association and Argentum (called ALFA back in the day). So when we announced the sale of our company, many of those friends and contacts got in touch with me to ask how we did it – how we managed to sell our assisted living facilities, to find a buyer, to decide on the sale price, to keep it quiet so that it wasn’t announced until it was complete, to decide what to do next, and more.

I started offering help and sharing my experience with a few friends who were also interested in making a change. But as the amount of help grew and the number of requests increased, it was obvious that I had a new business opportunity.

Many years earlier, actually, the summer after I graduated high school, I had picked up my real estate broker’s license to join the family business at that time. I kept that license active but it didn’t get much use while I went to college and became a CPA. Those credentials, along with more than a decade of experience developing and operating assisted living facilities, provided helpful tools to match with the new opportunity.

That’s how Senior Care Realty began about two decades ago.

And, now is my day to exit Senior Care Realty.

Today, Senior Care Realty is a team of real estate brokers and support staff. (And it’s a wonderful team that I think of as family.) Over recent years, my role at Senior Care Realty has changed to spend more time as a coach, mentor, strategist, and manager for our team. I’ve been an advisor to our clients and a resource for our sales team as they take the lead with our clients. And now, with other opportunities that I want to pursue, it’s time for me to turn over the role of manager and owner of Senior Care Realty.

Daren Dudgeon became an agent with Senior Care Realty in 2004 and he’s been my partner in the business through the past decade. As of January 1, 2021, Daren will be the sole owner of Senior Care Realty as I make my exit official at the end of today. While I will remain an advisor to the company for some time, my ownership in the company and my day to day connection to the team and our clients will end.

With the rest of the team at Senior Care Realty, Daren will continue to serve clients as we have together over the years, helping assisted living owners successfully navigate the sale of their business. I am confident that the team will be successful in all they do and that they will continue to be a guide to all those risk-taking, hard-working, and dedicated owners of assisted living facilities ready to make their own exit from a small business. I’m thankful for many past clients who trusted Senior Care Realty to guide them through their sales, many of who became good friends along the way.

I may be leaving Senior Care Realty but I’m not done with senior care. Something I enjoy and will continue is this blog – SeniorCareMike.com – where I help answer questions from those who are starting up, scaling up, or selling their assisted living facilities. My role as an advisor to assisted living owners and investors, and those who want to be, will continue in a limited way for a shortlist of clients. Finally, as an owner and investor in senior care, along with my brother and partner, Matt Collins, I plan to continue seeking opportunities to purchase, redevelop, and expand assisted living options for the seniors we have served together, in one way or another, since 1988. Some things never change.

So today is my day to exit Senior Care Realty and the real estate brokerage business. I’m leaving it to a capable team who will always have my support. But I’m not retiring and I hope that everyone who reads this message will stay in touch. You can reach me by email at mike@collinsrealtygroup.com. Happy New Year!