The Perfect Group Home Property Score™
A house with the right
number of bedrooms is not a deal.
Nine criteria decide whether a property can become a working shared-housing house. Most operators evaluate the first one and assume the rest. Score a candidate property before you make an offer — and before you fall in love with it.
A planning tool. It does not verify zoning, occupancy, licensability or insurability for any specific property. Every determination must be confirmed with the relevant authority.
Nine criteria
Score each one. Be hard on it.
'Unclear' is a real answer here, and an important one. Most bad deals are not scored badly — they are scored on assumptions.
Location & referral proximity
14 ptsIs the property actually near the referral ecosystem and services the population needs?
Pass: Close to transit, services, employment and the organisations that place this population.
Fail: Remote location with no transit and no service infrastructure nearby.
Bedroom configuration
15 ptsDoes the layout actually support the intended occupancy?
Pass: Bedroom count and layout work for the population without awkward conversions or shared rooms nobody will accept.
Fail: Bedrooms too few, too large to be useful, or requiring conversions that eat common space.
Zoning posture
16 ptsIs group living a permitted use here — verified, not assumed?
Pass: Confirmed with planning staff as a permitted or conditionally permitted use for this occupancy.
Fail: Not verified, or verified as not permitted without a variance you may never receive.
Lawful occupancy
14 ptsHow many unrelated adults may lawfully occupy this house?
Pass: The lawful occupancy count supports the bed count your economics require.
Fail: Lawful occupancy is below the bed count you modelled.
Condition & capex
11 ptsWhat does it actually cost to bring this house to standard?
Pass: Known repair scope with a written estimate you have budgeted for.
Fail: Unknown scope, deferred maintenance, or a renovation cost that changes the deal.
House economics
15 ptsDoes it underwrite at realistic occupancy?
Pass: Positive cash flow at conservative occupancy with all operating expenses included.
Fail: Only works at full occupancy, or the payment exceeds what the market supports.
Insurability
12 ptsWill an insurer actually cover this use at this property?
Pass: A broker has confirmed coverage is available for this specific occupancy.
Fail: Assumed a standard dwelling policy applies. It frequently does not.
Access & amenities
9 ptsDoes the property work for daily life without a car?
Pass: Walkable to transit, groceries, and services residents actually need.
Fail: Car-dependent location where residents have no reliable transportation.
Exit & reversibility
10 ptsIf this does not work, what is the property worth for other uses?
Pass: Works as ordinary rental housing or a resale if the housing business fails.
Fail: Value depends entirely on the group-living use continuing.
0
out of 100
0 of 9 scored
Score all nine criteria to see the property grade.
The three that kill deals
Zoning, occupancy and insurance.
Everything else is negotiable. These three are not — and they are the three most commonly assumed rather than verified.
Zoning
Group living is treated differently from single-family occupancy in many local ordinances, and treatment varies jurisdiction to jurisdiction within the same region.
Get: One phone call to planning staff, one written answer, before anything else.
Lawful occupancy
How many unrelated adults may lawfully live here is set by code and ordinance — not by bedrooms, not by square footage, and not by what the seller tells you.
Get: A written determination from the authority with jurisdiction.
Insurance
A dwelling policy written for a family may not cover an unrelated group. Coverage, liability treatment and even insurability can differ materially.
Get: A broker who will put the answer in writing before you commit.
Order of operations
Score the property before you fall in love with it.
Emotional commitment happens on the first walkthrough. That is exactly when people stop asking hard questions.
Deal Analyzer™
Full underwriting with break-even occupancy.
Profit Calculator™
Revenue, expenses and net operating income.
Deal Control Calculator™
Score the deal across six graded criteria.
Regulatory Navigator™
The approvals to confirm before you acquire.
Structures
Control the Home Before You Own the Home™
Every creative control structure, explained plainly.
LearnTool
Group Home Property Analyzer™
Work through a candidate property systematically.
OpenDownload
100 Questions to Ask Before Leasing
The complete due-diligence question set.
Get it freeA high score is not a guarantee. It means you have done the analysis most people skip. Zoning, licensing and insurance determinations still have to come from the authorities that make them — and a property that passes every criterion here can still fail one of those.
Important disclaimer
Acquire Group Homes™ provides education, consulting, business systems and real-estate strategy. It does not provide legal advice, medical advice, clinical treatment, licensing determinations, tax advice or Medicaid eligibility determinations. Requirements vary by property, population, services, city, county and state — nothing on this page states or implies that any model is automatically legal in any jurisdiction.
Operators must verify zoning, licensing, occupancy, building/fire code, fair-housing obligations, insurance, resident-rights requirements and other applicable laws with qualified professionals before acquiring or operating a property. We do not promise "no license required," guaranteed Medicaid payment, guaranteed government contracts, guaranteed occupancy, "eviction-proof" agreements, or that any structure avoids zoning or lender requirements.
Full disclaimers