Guest Speaker: Larry Pino
Serial Entrepreneur, Author, Attorney and Investor On Building His Tuscan Gardens Senior Living Facility Empire – And How to Succeed As a Real Estate Investor
Larry is the Founder and CEO of the revolutionary, continuously growing senior living facility and brand Tuscan Gardens®. Prior to launching the company in 2010, he was the Founder and CEO of a private equity development and management company focused on starting, developing and growing business enterprises. He has served as Chairman or Board Member for many of those investments. He has created some 80 businesses in his professional career selling over $1.5 billion of goods and services, employing several thousand employees and generating half a billion dollars of investment capital.
Over the past 30 years, Mr. Pino has transacted numerous real estate, stock, and investment ventures for himself and his clients exceeding $10 billion in value. He was CEO of Dinatech, which he grew to $250 million in seven years.
Larry is also a commercial litigation attorney specializing in business and investment law. In the last 30 years, Larry has conducted some 5,500 speaking engagements, speaking to over one million people and appearing on 140 radio and television talk shows. In addition, he is the author of eleven books.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
*How Larry went from knowing nothing about senior living to create the flagship Tuscan Gardens, one of the premier senior living facilities in Florida. He chronicles his journey in his book “Reinventing Senior Living.”
*During the Great Recession, he sold off the assets of his prior company and continued practicing law – until a living situation crisis related to his widowed mother prompted him to start investigating the world of senior living facilities.
*His primary consideration in placing her – socialization
*Larry’s discovery that most of these facilities were dimly lit, smelly and depressing
*How he translated his mother’s dire need for senior housing with the question, “What’s my next generation from an entrepreneurial standpoint?” into founding Tuscan Gardens.
*His grand vision for an upscale facility with a wonderful lifestyle – including plants, herbs, basil, an Italian kitchen, etc. and overcoming his initial doubts to make it happen (including a lot of self-education about the senior living realm!)
*He developed a team and found his first piece of property in Venice, FL
*Asking himself and fulfilling the question, “What could I do to potentially create value out of this situation?” Everything was motivated by his desire to create a place where his mother would thrive.
*The Venice location of Tuscan Gardens has been operational since November 2016. The Palm Coast location is also now open, creating “testing grounds” for a budding franchise on both coasts of Florida. Each has 130-140 units, assisted living and memory care. He has also broken ground on Tuscan Gardens of Delray Beach, and anticipates opening that one in early 2020.
*His next project: the Independent Living side of Palm Coast, opening up assisted living in memory care on the 13 acre plot
*He is also looking for “wounded properties, behind the gun” that could create fresh opportunities. He has already found three properties like this in Florida, and one in Texas, where his team stepped in, recapitalized and brought in fresh equity. The is the second aspect of the strategic acquisition plan
*He gets his funding from friends, family money and private offerings
*Larry’s investment history includes single family homes, duplexes, quads, small apartment buildings an historical properties. He bought his first 12 unit building as a young lawyer in Orlando.
*His simple advice for any investment: Know your business like the back of your hand. If you don’t know it, you need to go find out and learn it! This “deep dive” approach will serve you well in any business – including another realm he has worked in, sporting goods.
*Fundamental differences between investing in small apartments and creating senior living facilities. It’s a “different category of asset.”
*Important “success levers” in senior living – 1) “agent income qualified” 2) site selection 3) the food! 4) activity you generate with it 5) commitment to your associates/employees as well as the residents
*Senior living facilities is 75% business, 25% real estate
*Keys to evolving from a single facility to multiples – the cardinal business consideration is replica ability and scalability. It makes no sense to invest so much intellectual and emotional attention, and resources, for a one off.
*His primary considerations for investing after the Great Recession – a brick and mortar component, and an industry that had the wind at its back. As people are now living much longer, the need for a fresh approach to senior living is growing exponentially
*How Larry, a man who balances a legal practice with multiple entrepreneurial activities, approaches time management.
*His problem with people who spend their time “churning,” i.e. going in circles and not accomplishing anything
*Keys to personal effectiveness – know where you are at the end of every day, and know where you want to be. Create the steps to accomplish what you need to. It’s all about understanding what needs to be done! Identify those elements and executing on them
*His vision and plans to make Tuscan Gardens a mid-market brand that includes converting already existing facilities rather than always building from the ground up
*The wisdom he shares: Don’t listen to me! Go out and have fun, start with one piece of real estate at a time and don’t compare yourself to anyone. Focus on what is in front of you and take this step towards it. That’s how you gain expertise. You’ve got to take your shots on goal. Every time you take a shot you’re going to learn from it
Resources:
Grab a FREE Copy of Lance’s Best Selling Book “How to Make Big Money in Small Apartments” Here.