A Chance Opportunity Becomes a Lifetime of Success
Don Wenner has enjoyed many successes, but it all started with an unexpected opportunity that he accepted.
Sometimes the most life changing events are those that occur when least expected. That’s exactly what happened to entrepreneur Don Wenner when he was introduced to the world of real estate as a young college student. Once that introduction was made, Wenner became obsessed with real estate, determined to build his knowledge of it and create an elite and successful business.
Today, Wenner is the founder and CEO of DLP Real Estate Capital, a multifaceted company that leads and inspires the building of wealth and prosperity through innovative real estate solutions.
His companies, under the DLP Real Estate Capital name, include DLP Realty, Direct Lending Partners, DLP Capital Partners, DLP Real Estate Management, DLP Brite Homes and Alliance Property Transfer.
Here is a current snapshot of DLP Real Estate Capital:
- Approximately 350 employees
- 1,500 properties sold in 2019
- More than 800 current investors
- More than 12,000 units owned in portfolio
- More than 400 loans under management
- More than $800 million in assets under management
- $100 million in total annual revenue
Early Days
Don began his career as an agent and broker. He then expanded into home flipping and renovations, managing real estate investment funds, strategically building a large real estate rental portfolio, private lending and, most recently, developing into home building.
Don and DLP’s fastest scaling vertical is providing capital to real estate operators and entrepreneurs. The company offers loans, lines of credit and equity to operators in the single-family space to homebuilders and multifamily operators throughout the U.S. He’s one of the fastest-growing private lender and capital providers for value-add and new construction housing investments in the country.
Early Entrepreneurial Instinct
While all this may sound impressive, Wenner’s thirst to gain a deeper knowledge and his commitment to continued growth is constant. An entrepreneurial mindset has played a huge part in this 34-year old’s life.
Even as a young child, Wenner was an entrepreneur. His father, Don Sr., told a story at his son’s wedding that exemplifies Wenner’s entrepreneurial passion. Every day, Wenner’s parents would pack a 6-pack of Hostess Donettes in their son’s lunch box. And every day, the young boy would separate the pack and sell the individual Donettes to his classmates for 50 cents each. Until the principal found out—and made a phone call home.
When Wenner was a teenager, his entrepreneurial mindset helped him launch a successful lawn mowing business that included 40 lawn customers in one summer. Soon, he found himself working two and three jobs simultaneously. While still in high school, he surprisingly moved out of his parents’ home and paid his own way through college at Drexel University in Philadelphia. During school, he worked more than 60 hours a week waiting tables and at accounting firms
Wenner was convinced he wanted a career as a financial advisor, but that would all change when one of his restaurant patrons asked if he wanted to work for him selling home security systems. Wenner was 19 years old and making about $1,000 a week, but he said: “Why not? I was a hard worker and not afraid to knock on doors, which I did, relentlessly. My first paycheck with that company was $5,280 for two weeks of work, and I quickly became the No. 1 sales rep in the country.”
That same customer who invited Wenner to sell home security systems also sold real estate. He told Wenner he’d be great at real estate. Again, Wenner thought,“Why not?”
Still a college student, Wenner took real estate classes at night, got his license and became an agent. His first home sale was in April 2007. Between then until the end of the year, he sold 67 homes and hired the first two members of his support staff. The numbers kept getting better. He sold 120 homes in 2008, 250 homes in 2009 and 1,250 homes in 2018.
How did Wenner sell all those homes and continue to expand that growth? “I am extremely solution-focused when it comes to sales,” he said. “Often, this means thinking outside the box. During those early years, home sales were not posted on Craigslist. Knowing this, I was prepared to take full advantage of this prosperous tool and sold almost half of my homes that first year this way. After 2006, when home sales started to slow significantly, I thought about other ways to offer solutions and incorporated the Guaranteed Sale and the Immediate Buyout Offer programs to help provide solutions when it came to real estate. I absolutely love thinking of an idea, putting the plan in place and achieving my goals—taking a raw idea and turning that into a profit.”
Dream Live Prosper
In 2009, Wenner launched DLP Realty (Dream Live Prosper). Over the next several years, he continued to build companies under the DLP moniker, including lending, investing, real estate management and construction.
As an experienced home flipper who flipped hundreds of homes as well as someone who had built a substantial rental portfolio, Wenner saw the need to hold on to properties and transition from a single-family realtor/scattered investment model to multifamily.
“My focus turned from single homes to purchasing multifamily Class B and C housing (also called workforce housing) and zeroing in on secondary markets where the cost of living was more affordable and many companies were moving their workforce to,” he said.
By raising private capital to handle the increased volume, Wenner launched DLP Capital Partners. With the high volume of properties the company bought each year, Wenner even launched a title company.
Wenner next focused on scaling the company’s operations side. He decided to focus on two things: buying larger properties and making loans to other real estate investors.
In 2013, Direct Lending Partners was launched. Today, the company funds short-term real estate loans in 34 states. As a home flipper, Wenner found that the lenders he went through were not only not slow, they were also very generic in their offering with no opportunity to build a long-term relationship.
“We conduct our business with an operator/investor mindset and since we’re not a middleman, we can efficiently fund all deals directly—funding deals that banks cannot,” Wenner said. “Additionally, we offer lines of credit to active real estate investors, something that has not been done on a consistent basis and actually offers both a relationship and a solution.”
Since Direct Lending Partners performs its own underwriting and funding, they can also close loans quickly. Last year, they funded 400 loans across 34 states. Wenner’s next goal? To become the largest private bridge real estate investor in the U.S. by 2025.
Teamwork
Of course, none of this success would have been possible without a strong internal team. To build the team, Werner uses what he calls the “Right People Right Seat” philosophy. Along with robust core values, a long-lasting company culture and a strategic operating system based on accountability and achieving both short- and long-term goals, his vision for the future is optimistic.
Over the last 10 years, Wenner and his team have received abundant accolades and awards from Real Trends, The Wall Street Journal, Top Workplaces, Fastest Growing Companies, 40 Under 40, Ultimate CEOs and more.
“I’m proud of DLP for being ranked in the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies in the U.S. for a remarkable seven consecutive years,” Wenner said, “something only a handful of companies have accomplished.”
Wenner has learned to take full advantage of opportunities that come his way. Every day. Wenner looks forward to becoming a better version of himself, not only to being a thoughtful leader, but creating new leaders within his organization, giving back countlessly to his community and living fully.
