Done-With-You Acquisition
Buy your first recovery housing property with the team that has done it more than a hundred times.
Most buyers are learning underwriting, financing, and closing at the same time, on the largest purchase of their life, with an agent who has never heard of a NARR standard. The Acquisition Desk replaces that with a course, a plan, a trained agent, deal-by-deal analysis, a financing roadmap, and a team on the closing calls.
Why Buyers Use The Desk
A real estate agent gets paid when you close. A lender gets paid when you borrow. Nobody in a standard transaction is paid to tell you the house will not fill. We are operators first, and we have opened enough homes to know which ones work.
We are not analyzing your deal from a spreadsheet template. We have run the homes, filled the beds, paid the debt service, and learned which floor plans and which neighborhoods hold up.
Learn MoreLenders who have funded this asset class before. Agents, attorneys, inspectors, and contractors who have worked on recovery housing. You inherit relationships instead of cold-calling them.
Learn MoreA recovery residence underwritten properly performs differently from a standard rental, because the program fee model and the referral pipeline are different. The number above is the average across the deals we have closed.
Learn MoreStart with a conversation about the property you are trying to buy.
Tell us your market, your capital, and your timeline. We’ll tell you honestly whether this is the right time to buy. No cost, no obligation.
Inside the Engagement
Six parts, in the order you will need them. Parts one and two start the week you engage. Parts three through six run until the deed is recorded.
In Their Own Words
Three investors who bought recovery housing with our team beside them.
★★★★★
I have been developing recovery housing since 2020, and I couldn’t have done it without the amazing team at VSL. They have walked me through every step of the process and helped me unlock this exciting and profitable real estate niche.
Michelle Ngila
Full-Time Investor, Worcester Services, LLC
★★★★★
Heading into retirement, I was able to acquire three recovery residences in New England, and they are helping to support my retirement financial goals. I would recommend recovery housing to anyone with a heart for service and a mind for ROI.
Dawna Thomas
Part-Time Investor, Semi-Retired
★★★★★
The VSL team helped me out a lot, and I was able to buy my first two sober houses with a partner and run them myself. I am grateful for the support. They helped me get financing for the purchase and walked me through the whole process.
Chris Dillon
Owner/Operator, Live Free Sober Homes
Case Studies
Both of these are VSL transactions rather than client files. They are here because they show the standard a deal has to clear before we tell you to buy it, and because every number in them is published.
Springfield, Massachusetts
A 10,000 square foot colonial bought out of a Phoenix House receivership sale, renovated for roughly $50,000 plus $20,000 in furnishings, and leased to Men of Dignity Sober Living on a ten-year term. Acquisition ran on a $400,000 hard money loan at 14%, refinanced at stabilization into $900,000 at 7.5%. The financing sequence in this deal is the one taught in part five.
Read the Mulberry case study
Taunton, Massachusetts
Bought in September 2022 on twelve-month bridge financing under 10%, improved and carried for about $50,000, then sold to a charity at $720,000 against a $1,000,000 appraisal. The seller took $220,000 in cash, a $280,000 charitable deduction, and no taxable gain. The buyer was a man who had started as a resident in the house and worked up to House Mentor, then operator, then leaseholder.
Read the Union Street case studyInvestment
$2,500 to start, the same for every buyer. The rest is due at closing, based on the price you actually pay. You do not need to know your purchase price to begin.
Engagement Fee
1% of the purchase price $5,000 minimumIf you never find a property worth buying, the balance is never due and $2,500 is all you spend. We carry that risk with you on purpose, because it keeps us honest about which houses are worth pursuing.
Everyone starts with $2,500. At $500,000 and under, the total is $5,000. Above $500,000, the total is one percent of the price. Either way, the $2,500 you paid comes off what is due at closing.
| Purchase Price | Due at Closing | Total Fee |
|---|---|---|
| $300,000 | $2,500 | $5,000 min |
| $500,000 | $2,500 | $5,000 |
| $750,000 | $5,000 | $7,500 |
| $1,200,000 | $9,500 | $12,000 |
The fee covers our work, not the third-party costs of the purchase itself: your down payment, closing costs, and lender fees, the inspection, appraisal, and survey, your own attorney, renovation and furnishing before the house fills, and the entity, insurance, and certification work that lives in Mastery.
The Better Math
If you are buying a house in order to open a recovery residence, you are going to need everything in the right-hand column anyway. Mastery members get the entire Acquisition Desk at no additional cost.
On Its Own
$2,500 to start, then 1% at closing ($5,000 minimum)
You end up with the right property.
Recommended
The Acquisition Desk included at no additional cost
You end up with an operating business.
The Acquisition Desk on its own gets you the property. Mastery gets you the property and the business that runs inside it.
Next Step
The first conversation costs nothing and is worth having even if you decide to do this on your own.
Schedule a call and tell us where you are looking and what you have to work with.
We give you an honest read on whether now is the right time to buy.
If it is, we scope the engagement and start on the plan that week.
Or ask about Mastery, where all six parts are included.
About our role. Vanderburgh Sober Living and its affiliates buy, hold, and sell real estate for their own account, and may offer you a property we own or control. In those transactions we are a principal on the other side of the table, not your agent and not your fiduciary, and we will disclose that in writing before you make an offer. You should retain your own licensed real estate agent, attorney, and accountant.
About this service. The Acquisition Desk provides education, analysis, and transaction coordination. It is not legal, tax, accounting, or investment advice, and it is not a commitment to lend or a guarantee of financing approval. Loan placement is made through third-party lenders who make their own credit decisions. Deal analysis is based on assumptions we will show you, and actual occupancy, revenue, renovation cost, and financing terms will differ. Fees are as described above and are set out in the engagement agreement, which governs.
