FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

Verified — real FDD extraction

SBA-eligible · directory code S8144 since 2025

Trua Senior Living Locators

Senior Care · independent · est. —

Senior Living Locators (branded here as Trua) is a free-to-families senior-living placement and referral service that helps older adults and their families find assisted living, memory care, and other senior housing. Franchisees advise families and earn referral fees from the communities they place clients into. The work is consultative, relationship-driven, and largely conducted in the field.

Trua Senior Living Locators net unit count grew +100.0% from 20222024 per its FDD Item 20.

New to franchising? Start here

A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.

Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:

  • Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
  • Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
  • Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).

The verdict

Too new to judge

Distress

0
STABLE

1 franchised unit over 3 disclosed years is not a track record — systems this early have realized only a fraction of their eventual failures. Judge the disclosures, not a verdict.

Exit rate · latest year

Not disclosed

Cost to open

$74K–$117K

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan defaults

Too few resolved

1 loans exist; too few resolved to rate

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth35%

3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1

Strong
Exit quality25%

terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3

Strong
Transfer / churn15%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Fair
Promise-keeping10%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Weak
Transparency15%

Item 19 disclosure + completeness

Strong

Systemwide units

2022–2024

+100.0%
120221202322024

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2024, 0 of 0 franchised outlets left the system. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.

Show the outlet tables
Status (FTC)202220232024
Outlets at start111
Opened001
Transfers000
Terminations000
Non-renewals000
Reacquired by franchisor000
Ceased — other reasons000
Outlets at end112
Net change00+1

The lender's view

SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present

Banks have made 1 SBA-backed loans to Trua Senior Living Locators franchisees since 2026. Most are still open, so there is not yet a resolved cohort large enough to rate.

Charge-off rate

0 resolved · too thin to rate

Loss given default

avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $

Expected loss

default rate × loss severity

Avg. loan · FY2020+

$123,500

what recent franchisees borrowed

Median time to default

approval → charge-off, defaulted loans

Lenders · FY21+ vs FY16–20

distinct banks lending

Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)

SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO TRUA SENIOR LIVING LOCATORS BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL

What it costs — and what it drags

FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty

Buying in means a $50K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $74K–$117K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.

To open (Item 7)

$74K–$117K

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$50K

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

8%

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$1M/yr

Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.

Royalty you'd pay / yr

$80K

8% of sales, before profit

Over a 10-yr term

$800K

royalties alone, excl. ad fund

This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.

Build a real pro-forma for Trua Senior Living Locators with an independent CPA

Distress signals

news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits

No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for Trua Senior Living Locators. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.

Before you sign anythingfree · 30 min · no commission

A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Trua Senior Living Locators's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.

Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →

Trua Senior Living Locators franchise questions, answered from the filings

How much does a Trua Senior Living Locators franchise cost?

Per Trua Senior Living Locators's 2025 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $50K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $74K–$117K (Item 7).

What royalty does Trua Senior Living Locators charge?

Trua Senior Living Locators charges an ongoing royalty of 8.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2025 FDD.

Does Trua Senior Living Locators disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — Trua Senior Living Locators makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2025 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.

Is Trua Senior Living Locators a good franchise to buy? Health score, exit rate & costs (2026) · Franchise Watch Desk