Prepared for lenders, CDCs, and federal agencies to SBA SOP 50 10 8, USDA 7 CFR Part 5001, and conventional underwriting standards. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the agency, never the borrower. 4,000+ engagements since 1998 covering $41.2 billion in evaluated project value. So far in 2026: 41 engagements and $1.54 billion evaluated — 17 SBA, 11 USDA.
Memory care is the senior-housing segment where demand depth and operating intensity meet: dementia prevalence in the age-qualified base creates need, but the private-pay rate filters who can access it, and the staffing model — higher ratios, specialized training, secured environments — defines the cost base. The study applies the double-qualified demand methodology with a prevalence overlay, validates the rate positioning against the market's actual memory-care comparables, and tests the operating model at the acuity-driven staffing the census will actually require as residents age in place.
Demand modeling from age-and-income-qualified households with dementia-prevalence rates applied, competitive census of dedicated and wing-based memory-care supply, rate benchmarking by unit type, staffing at acuity-adjusted ratios, and fill-curve modeling against the segment's documented stabilization timelines.
Every Wert-Berater financial model is fully linked with no hardcoded values, so any reviewer can stress any input. Deliverables comprise a complete narrative report and the linked Excel model, with ten-year pro forma, sensitivity analysis at ±5, 10, and 15 percent, interest-rate stress from +0.5 to +3.0 percent, and ratio analysis benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data.
SBA engagements are prepared to SOP 50 10 8, including its debt-service-coverage minimums of 1.15x operating and 1.00x global. USDA engagements follow RD Staff Instruction 5001 across the Business & Industry, Community Facilities, REAP, and Value-Added Producer Grant programs. Conventional engagements are built to the lender's stated coverage standard, typically 1.20x. Owner-operator communities fit SBA structures; larger developments route conventional and HUD frameworks; the operator's dementia-care credentials weigh as the management dimension.
The category is native ground for the firm's senior-care practice, applying the same penetration discipline documented across its assisted living feasibility record. Independence is non-negotiable: determinations follow the evidence and are not revised under pressure, and studies are built to pass lender, agency, and third-party review without exception items.
A memory care facility feasibility study is not a repackaged assisted-living analysis. The scope is built around the operating and physical characteristics that distinguish dedicated memory care from other senior-housing categories: secured perimeters, higher direct-care ratios, dementia-specific programming, and a resident population whose acuity increases on a predictable trajectory. Each of those characteristics has a financial consequence, and the study traces each one through to the pro forma.
Demand for memory care does not equal demand for senior housing generally. The analysis begins with the age-qualified residential population in the defined market area, then applies an income screen at the private-pay rate the project intends to charge, and then applies dementia-prevalence rates drawn from peer-reviewed epidemiological literature and public-health surveillance data. The result is a household count that represents the realistic addressable market — not the broader universe of seniors who might someday need some form of care.
Competitive supply is inventoried from state health-department licensing registries, certificate-of-need filings where the state requires them, and direct operator outreach. The census distinguishes freestanding memory care buildings from secured wings or neighborhoods within continuing-care or assisted-living campuses, because those two supply types do not compete identically. Planned and under-construction supply is tracked through state licensing pipelines and, where applicable, local land-use and building-permit records.
Rate data is collected from the comparables directly and cross-referenced against state long-term-care ombudsman reports and trade-association survey data where available. The penetration rate the project requires to reach stabilized occupancy is then tested against the qualified demand base and the existing supply gap, producing a market-supportability conclusion grounded in counted households and inventoried beds rather than regional growth narratives.
A small number of inputs drive most of the variance in a memory care pro forma. Identifying them, stress-testing each independently, and showing the coverage ratio at the boundary of each plausible range is the analytical work that gives a lender or agency reviewer something to rely on. Because every Wert-Berater model is a fully linked Excel workbook with no hardcoded values, any reviewer can change any input and observe the result in real time.
SBA lenders underwriting a memory care project under SOP 50 10 8 require an independent feasibility study that demonstrates debt-service coverage of at least 1.15x on an operating basis and 1.00x on a global basis. The study must address the double-qualified demand methodology explicitly, because the SBA's own guidance for senior-care projects calls for income qualification at the proposed rate, not just age qualification. The operator's dementia-specific licensure and staffing credentials are reviewed as part of the management-risk assessment, and the study addresses them directly rather than treating management as a generic input.
USDA Business & Industry and Community Facilities lenders follow RD Staff Instruction 5001. Memory care projects in rural markets often present thinner qualified-demand pools, which makes the prevalence overlay and the competitive-supply gap analysis more consequential, not less. The study is prepared to the agency's documentation standards so that the lender's credit file is complete on submission.
Conventional lenders typically require 1.20x coverage and place additional weight on the operator's track record in memory care specifically, the project's rate positioning relative to the market, and the reasonableness of the fill-curve assumption. The study's ratio analysis is benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data for the senior-care segment, giving the credit officer a reference point outside the project itself. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the reviewing agency; no fee is contingent on the finding, and determinations are not revised under pressure.
The fee is fixed and quoted within one business day of a project description. There are no contingent fees, no success fees, and no arrangements that could compromise the independence of the determination. The quote covers the full scope: narrative report, linked Excel model, sensitivity and interest-rate stress tables, ratio analysis, and the explicit statement of conditions.
Standard delivery is 10 to 15 business days from a complete data room. A complete data room for a memory care engagement includes the site location and defined market area, the proposed unit mix and rate schedule, the operator's licensing history and dementia-care credentials, the proposed capital structure and loan terms, and any existing market studies or appraisals the sponsor has in hand. Rush delivery is available and is discussed at engagement. Incomplete data rooms extend the timeline; the engagement letter identifies exactly what is needed so there is no ambiguity.
Every engagement is published to a secure client portal where the financial model stays live and recalculates when inputs change. If the lender wants to run a rate scenario or a staffing-cost scenario during credit review, the model supports that without a new engagement. Wert-Berater, Inc. has completed 4,000+ engagements representing $41.2 billion in evaluated project value since 1998. Memory care is a category the firm's senior-care practice has worked in continuously, and the methodology is calibrated to the specific operating and demand characteristics of the asset class, not adapted from a generic senior-housing template.
The fee is fixed and quoted within one business day of receiving a project description. It covers the full deliverable set: narrative report, linked Excel model, sensitivity analysis, interest-rate stress tables, and ratio analysis benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data. No fee is contingent on the finding, and the quote does not change after engagement begins unless the project scope changes materially.
Standard delivery is 10 to 15 business days from a complete data room. Rush delivery is available. The most common cause of delay is an incomplete data room — missing rate schedules, operator credentials, or loan-term detail. The engagement letter identifies exactly what is needed so the clock starts on a defined basis.
Three factors compound each other: the addressable market is smaller because it requires age, income, and dementia-prevalence qualification simultaneously; the private-pay rate filter slows absorption relative to assisted living; and the acuity-driven staffing model produces a cost base that leaves less margin for fill-curve variance. A study that does not apply all three filters produces an occupancy and coverage projection that will not survive agency or lender review.
The analytical methodology is the same. The differences are in coverage thresholds — SBA requires 1.15x operating and 1.00x global; conventional lenders typically require 1.20x — and in documentation standards. SBA engagements address the agency's specific senior-care demand methodology requirements explicitly. The deliverable set is built to whichever standard applies, and the engagement letter identifies that standard at the outset.
The study reviews the operator's dementia-specific licensure history, any state survey findings related to memory-care operations, staffing ratios maintained in existing communities, and the management team's documented experience in secured dementia care. Lenders and agencies treat operator credentials as a credit variable for this asset class, and the study addresses them as a substantive analytical input rather than a checkbox.
A single study can be scoped to satisfy both SBA SOP 50 10 8 and USDA RD Staff Instruction 5001 requirements if both financing sources are in play. The engagement letter defines which standards apply. USDA Business & Industry and Community Facilities programs each have their own documentation requirements, and the study is built to the applicable instruction from the outset rather than adapted after delivery.
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Wert-Berater, Inc. is an independent provider of feasibility studies and other related services. The firm does not provide financing or equity investment advice, and does not arrange, broker, or place debt or equity capital of any kind.
All appraisal assignments are performed by Bruce E. Jones, MAI, ASA-GC, BCA, CMEA, a member of the Appraisal Institute since 2006, a staff member of Wert-Berater, Inc. and owner of Special Purpose Realty Valuation.