Drew Breneman

Protect & Grow Capital With Our Multifamily Investment Opportunities For Family Offices, Fund Managers, & High-Net-Worth Individuals

When I was 19, I bought my first property.

I didn’t realize it then, but that little duplex changed my life.

Now, almost 20 years later, I’ve sourced, capitalized, and closed on over $250 million of properties for my firm, Breneman Capital.

For the last 15 years, I’ve worked closely with investors — family offices, PE, Fund of Funds, RIAs, and individuals — to help them generate income and wealth through multifamily real estate.

The old real estate adage says, “You make your money when you buy in real estate.”

I agree with that — but I think it’s only 50% true.

The other 50% comes in the execution. And I’ve built Breneman Capital through that lens. 

Over the last 20 years, our realized investments have produced an average gross return of:

• 24% IRR
• 2.2x equity multiple
• 5.6-year hold period

In my opinion, our longest-standing investor relationships come down to 2 factors:

1) Our deals have performed well.
2) We focus on giving investors the best possible experience.

Real estate can be complex. But we like to keep our goals for our investors simple.

Strong returns.
Great experiences.
World-class communication.

If you’d like to set up an exploratory call, feel free to click the link in my Featured Section.

Founder & CEO

I started Breneman Capital in 2005 at age 19 to purchase my first rental properties and grow my own wealth. 

Today, we work with individual investors, Family Offices, PE, Fund of Funds, RIAs, etc., and allow them to invest alongside us in the best opportunities that we find (and have been for nearly 20 years).

Invest with us: https://www.breneman.com/invest

I have a buddy who owns over $1 billion in multifamily with investors. He has one piece of advice: 

Don't quit your day job. Your day job lets you take risks. Just work twice as hard.

He remembers the exact date he quit his job when he was 35: October 1st, 2012.

He told me he'd never been more motivated than that day. Woke up and didn't have to go to his job... All of a sudden, it was all on him. 

He emptied his bank accounts buying those first assets. Literally emptied them.

And then a couple years later...

He went back to a W-2. 

He was too exposed financially, so he had to take a job at a mortgage company.

After he went back to the W-2, he kept buying deals on the side. Eventually, he rolled 1,000 units he owned into his own company. He bought all those units while working as a full-time salaried employee. 

That's what he did for basically 20 years. Nights and weekends. Two jobs, sometimes three. But the whole time, he was building a track record and building relationships.

Then, all of a sudden, his portfolio hockey-sticked. 

When I asked him if there was a recipe to success, that's all he ever says:

Don't quit your day job. Just work twice as hard.

Founder at Breneman Capital. Multifamily Investments That Protect & Grow Capital.

In 2024, we canceled a deal we had under contract.

Here’s why:

During the physical inspection, we discovered a few structural issues:

1. Balconies were detaching from the building
2. Lack of structural support above doors and windows
3. Structural integrity issues with modifications made to the concrete

In one instance, I noticed the rebar appeared to have been cut through during a prior rehab. I brought it up to our architect and structural engineer, and they both saw it as a big red flag. (Pro tip: Make sure you have trusted advisors to run things by.)

I ended up sending a Loom video to the broker to walk him through the issues. As I talked, I pulled up the photos we had and pointed out the specific problems we had noticed.

If you’ve followed me for any time, you know I’m a huge proponent of being meticulous on physical inspections.

Don’t be in a rush. Walk every unit. Take pictures.

I never want to cancel a deal this far in — and I certainly don’t want to build a reputation as someone who does — but I’d much rather back out on a deal that would put our investors at risk than power through because I want to avoid an uncomfortable conversation. 

Have you ever backed out of a deal? If so, why?

Before Mark Cuban was worth $5,700,000,000…

He rented a $600/mo apartment with 5 roommates.

In 2017, Cuban talked about the mindset that led to his first $1 million:

“I wanted enough money to be able to travel, have fun, and party like a rock star but still live like a student.”

Cuban talks about a book he read:

Cashing in on the American Dream: How to Retire at 35 by Paul Terhorst.

The premise: 

If you can save $1 million and live like a college kid, you can retire early. 

It’s one of my favorite pieces of wealth-building advice:

“Life like a college student as long as you can.”

Flexibility and optionality are cheat codes as an entrepreneur.

But once you're locked into an expensive lifestyle, your flexibility disappears.

The window of opportunity closes.

So take Cuban's advice:

• Live like a college student as long as you can.
• Keep renting with roommates.
• Drive an old car.
• Save.
• Invest.
• Repeat. 

Your future self will thank you.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵?

I told my 8-year-old his first job should be as a cleaner.

"Why?" he asked me.

"Because it's hard." 

Before I started my first internet business selling video game items, I cleaned a bank and a school. It was boring and entirely unenjoyable, but it was manual labor that forced you to do something you didn't want to do — and do it right. 

So I think being a cleaner is a pretty good first job to get your kid into.

What would you say to your kid asking the same question?

You know how some things sound too good to be true?

That’s what we thought about this deal:

This was a two-building, 16-unit multifamily property we bought back in 2019.

The property is in the trendy Wicker Park/Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago.

When we bought it, it was half a block away from one of the hottest restaurants in Chicago. It’s right next to a Blue Line stop on the L. Right in the heart of everything. 

The location is so good, we called it “once-in-a-generation” on our website.

Deals in perfect locations like this don’t pop up often…

So when this one did, we moved on it immediately.

Since we bought the property, we’ve replaced all the:

- Furnaces.
- Appliances.
- Washer dryers.
- Air conditioners.

As we continue to update the 20+-year-old interiors, we’re able to continue raising rents.

It’s a legitimate trophy location, but that doesn’t mean it’s a walk in the (Wicker) park.

People still move out.
Things still break there. 
People still say the rent is too high.

Even if you find the best deal in the best location, a few things will still hold true:

1) Some things will still go wrong.
2) The work still needs to be done.
3) The execution is still the most important part of the deal.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆? 


Disclaimer: This is not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy securities. Past performance is no guarantee of future results, and investors may experience different results than those shown, including the loss of principal. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events.

If you own property in a cold-weather state, you need to prepare for the worst.

Here are my 4 best tips for dealing with winter weather: 

1. Prepare your properties with space heaters. 

Nothing fancy — the small ones you get at Lowe’s or Home Depot work.

Put them in a building maintenance closet before the cold weather hits.

If your property is experiencing a heat outage, odds are others are, too.

That means HVAC companies are busy.

Your residents can get the space heaters from the common area closet and spread them throughout their apartment to keep the temperature up while they wait for a fix. 

2. Get ahead of the game. 

Tune your furnaces up.

Change filters and check/replace thermostats and thermostat batteries.

Fix problems before they need to be fixed.

3. Communicate with your residents.

Don't assume your tenants know what to do. 

Communicate: 

- What to do when they leave town.
- Why they need to leave faucets dripping.
- What temperature to set thermostats at.

The younger the renter, the more information they will need.

4. Set clear expectations.

Don’t rely on text messages for emergencies —set an emergency call line and make sure your residents know to contact it.

For more tips like this, subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://lnkd.in/dSuFcNDY

Citi

Vice President Financial Reporting

Direct day-to-day operations entailing financial statement preparation following Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), periodic regulatory filings including form N-CSR and form NQ, portfolio performance return calculations, expense budget preparation, periodic expense accrual analysis, new fund pro-forma expense budgets, asset based expense calculations, fund contract interpretation and system set-up, expense limitation and expense cap analysis, as well as all Accounts Payable (A/P) and fee payment processes. Ensure production and provision of expense and fee related information related periodic client board of directors reporting, annual regulatory filings including N-1A, N-2 and 10k and year-end tax reporting and vendor 1099 distributions, and address and resolve ad-hoc and other high-level requests from departmental management, clients, and external parties. 
•	Function in human resource capacity, holding weekly team meetings to encourage associate feedback on issues, department and team; provide strategic direction to associates and corresponding objectives, lead individual performance feedback meetings, and conduct formal annual associate reviews.
•	
•	As member of the Citi Internship Program Leadership Team, responsible for representing my department with overall layout and delivery of the program, developing curriculum, delivering training classes scheduling Interns assignments and main contact and liaison for Mentors and Interns.
•	Department Chair responsible for Quarterly Stack Ranking process for departments 20+ analyst staff.
•	Only Assistant Vice President as member of department interviewing and hiring committee.  Assisted in development and update of department job descriptions and member of committee that performs all interviews and hiring.

Assistant Vice President, Financial Reporting and Expense Administration

•	Selected to travel to Gurgaon India to train a team of 6 newly hired analysts to assume production and initial review for various departmental duties; including expense budget preparation and accounts payable and fee payment processes as our department transitions to a more oversight based model.
•	Administrative duties and accomplishments encompass serving as member of Financial Administration Best Practice Committee (BP) representing ESS Expense Reporting Team, and developing multiple policies covering departmental procedures as member of Financial Administration Best Practice Committee, protocols outlining desktop procedures for on-boarding registered hedge clientele, and methods required for closing out mutual funds budgets, fee payments, custody accounts, and final expense payouts. 
•	Chosen by Managing Director as participant in new Columbus training program entitled “Commanding Client Confidence,” based primarily upon ability to provide constructive feedback and participate in Columbus site rollout during 2010. Additional leadership abilities demonstrated through involvement in partnership with another executive, sharing accountability and general expense reporting operational oversight for all 20+ Citi’s clients. 
•	As “LEAN Principles” training participant within ESS Expense Reporting Team, vastly improved team productivity utilizing LEAN principles to streamline communication and collaboration, re-purpose full time associates from A/P role to more pertinent positions, and transition specialized analysts into more expansive roles in conjunction with interchangeable employees; achievements bolstered by initial team training, refining processes and procedures, and enhancing communications.

Assistant Vice President, Manager - Expense Reporting & Budgeting

Managed team of up to 6 accountants servicing 4 clients – 2 of which represented about $20 million in Citi revenues – and included HSBC Bank (top 5 global bank), RidgeWorth Funds ($40 billion mutual fund family) and Citizens Funds; composed sophisticated project plans ranging from 1 to 60 days, directed coordination and execution of annual client audits, and frequently in-teracted with external audit firms. Deliverables included oversight for financial statement preparation, annual fund audits, annual N-1a prospectus updates, and regulatory filings.  
•	Selected by Senior Vice President to represent Financial Administration Department on “Building a Better Citi” committee initiative involving inter-departmental effort to improve employee morale and expand involvement; contribution to group entailed leadership analysis of surveys querying employees’ perceived needs for leadership, communication and training.  
•	Increased productivity within largest client team after charged with managing Citi’s 2nd largest client; created, evaluated and refined processes and procedures and cross-trained team to equalize workload and address urgent requests; efforts resulted in enhanced rapport with client, more flexible client reporting, and increased quality scores while upping production efficiencies, enabling staff reduction from 5 to 3 employees.
•	Developed process, procedures and worksheets to standardize derivative accounting and reporting to comply with Generally Acceptable Accounting Principles (GAAP) for periodic financial statements, later adapted and utilized by broader financial reporting team for all clientele; familiarized self with derivative investments, researched audit guides, and discovered company non-compliance needing resolution.
•	Participated in rollout of new department fee-payment software for clients which automated warehousing of sensitive vendor and client account data and asset-based fee and expense budget capabilities.

Section Manager, Financial Reporting

Oversaw 2 Fund Accounting and Financial Administration Teams composed of 15 staff and 3 supervisors in SAS 70 environment in alignment with company operational standards; coordinated calculation and review of periodic valuations for 75+ mutual funds – including HSBC Bank, Citizens Funds, and 1st Source Bank – representing over 50,000 annual calculations with more than 2,000 annual income distributions and 2,200 annual yield calculations.
•	Executed variety of administrative tasks as manager; involved serving as valuable member of Fund Accounting Best Practice Committee, facilitating departmental training for security corporate actions, mentoring 3 associates to level of supervisors and manager, providing direction to associates through performance of regular one-on-one performance feedback meetings and annual performance reviews, and creating, evaluating and revising operational procedures.  
•	Selected by corporate Vice President to merge Fund Accounting and Financial Administration Teams into single team; successfully completed duties, receiving acclaim for being 1 of only small number of teams to have smoothly integrated multiple functions into a single reporting unit encompassing procedure development, staff cross training, and duty alignment.

Fund Accounting Manager

BISYS Fund Services - acquired by Citigroup

Supervisor, Financial Administration and Accounting Oversight
Hired and trained oversight team to monitor quality control for 3rd party accounting vendors, developing program and protocol used later as benchmark for expanding newly-introduced oversight operations; collaborated with department Vice President to compose strategy for managing client, key players, products, and vendors as well as hire and develop team of 4 analysts and corresponding processes, procedures and metrics required to generate over 40 daily, monthly and periodic deliverables.
•	Successfully managed standardization of Fund Accounting procedures for four separate accounting vendors – involving 130+ mutual fund and other investment portfolios representing $200 billion in assets – which utilized different versions of core accounting systems including Invest One and Mfact; following streamlining of process that encompassed generation of 48+ daily, monthly and periodic deliverables, cut accounting vendors from 4 to 2.
•	Played instrumental role in development (from scratch) of 1st-ever standard periodic review measurement tool for JPMorgan Funds team, with intent of standardizing process and timing of employee development sessions and establishing criteria for promotion of functional groups within 30-member team; yielded more consistent and organized process pro-ducing more focused and accurate reviews and timely promotions, which improved employee-manager rapport and mo-rale.

Supervisor, Financial Oversight and Financial Reporting

Value City Department Stores

Composed and executed monthly mix-strategy meetings for home goods involving various departments, buyers, warehouse and allocation staff; managed and directed planning and allocation function through strategic partnerships with merchants and allocation staff, developed and implemented departmental sales plans, and leveraged matrix reporting authority over allocation staff to provide direction to drive sales and profitability.

Planner

The Midland Life Insurance Company(Midland was Purchased and relocated)

Recruited and hired by company Treasurer to become Assistant Treasurer after rigorous 1 on 1 company mentoring program to last 2-3 years; served treasurer by managing relationships with external asset managers of $1.2 billion investment portfolio comprised of different asset classes including equities, fixed income, real estate, mortgages and private equity.

Investment Analyst

BISYS Fund Services

Managed daily accounting activities of 60 funds within mutual fund family portfolio clients representing $9 billion+ in net assets; recruited, hired, supervised, and reviewed team of 15 accountants servicing clients.
•	Produced in excess of 45 additional portfolios representing over $7 billion in market value and adding over $2.1 million in additional annual revenue by directing multiple department mutual fund conversions.
•	Generated 1 of highest “portfolio per associate” averages in 20+ team environment for company by creating team-oriented environment supported by culture of ownership and open communications and accountability; successes led to being named as only supervisor charged with leading 2 separate teams with twice staff of average supervisor-led team.
•	Selected as acquisition/transition team member responsible for successfully transferring several key client accounts to Columbus from New York and Detroit offices.
Lead Accountant, Mutual Fund Accounting promoted to Supervisor (1997)
  Senior Accountant, Mutual Fund Accounting promoted to Lead (1995)
  Mutual Fund Accountant, Mutual Fund Accounting promoted to Senior (1994)

Supervisor, Accounting

    Highly analytical financial executive adept at problem solving, crisis resolution, and establishing trust-based relationships and rapport with clients, yielding long-term customer loyalty. 20+ years of expertise in field of accounting with proven track record of results, including reducing customer expenses by $100,000 per incident, managing expense payment process for a total of $80 billion in investment companies for such clients as HSBC Bank and JPMorgan Funds – producing $250 million in expense accruals, and building/directing teams of 15+ individuals generating 50,000 annual NAV calculations, including 2,000 income distributions and 2,200 annual yield computations.
     Lead team of 3 Financial Analysts and Accountants and oversee team of 5 external financial analysts with oversight of Financial Statement preparation, budgeting and fee payment process producing $250 million in expense accruals in 90 portfolios representing $80 billion in total assets; monitor and deliver financial reporting and expense management services to largest Citi clients encompassing mutual fund, common trust fund and registered hedge customers, with sole accountability for all Registered and Alternative Products (RAP) within Fund Administration Group

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Drew Breneman's LinkedIn Performance

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