Brian Biernat spent 28 years as a telecommunications executive before real estate ever crossed his mind. Then 2016 happened. A prostate cancer diagnosis a few months into a new job, and four months later his wife was hit while riding her bike on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Those two events changed the question he was asking. He and his wife did not just want a 401k and a life insurance policy. They wanted to build something together, and something that would stand if anything happened to him.

They started wholesaling in October 2017 and it took eleven months to close their first deal. What actually clicked came in 2019, when Brian heard a podcast about master leasing furnished properties and his wife said, "I think we found our thing." Today they have 27 doors in Jackson, Mississippi, have raised close to $3 million in private capital without ever asking for a dollar, and Brian has been job free for five years. In this conversation with Jason Seward, he walks through the entire furnished rental model, the numbers he underwrites to, why he spends $0 on marketing, and why the whole business comes down to blocking and tackling.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• How master leasing lets you control and profit from a property you do not own, and where the real risk sits
• Why every furnished rental has to pencil as a long term rental first, and what lenders will actually count
• What numbers Brian underwrites to, from his cash flow bogeys to how he backs into an offer
• How to raise private capital by documenting your work publicly instead of pitching people
• Why speed of response is the single biggest differentiator in the furnished rental business
• What it actually takes to run this remotely, from contractors and cleaners to a channel manager

Timeline Highlights

[0:33] – Meet Brian Biernat, 28 years in telecom before finding real estate in 2017

[2:12] – The two events in 2016 that changed everything: a cancer diagnosis and his wife's accident

[3:16] – Starting to wholesale in October 2017 and taking eleven months to close the first deal

[4:07] – The Orlando event that lit the fire, watching twentysomethings out-earn a 20 year career

[5:16] – The run, the podcast, and the moment his wife said "I think we found our thing"

[7:19] – What a master lease actually is and the elevator pitch Brian uses on landlords

[8:42] – The arbitrage risk story: 75% of a complex lost when the owner sold

[9:56] – Why he targets smaller landlords and single family homes with no shared walls

[11:45] – The Marblehead deal: bought at $115k cash, all in at $198k, appraised at $310k

[13:04] – Raising close to $3 million in private capital and closing in 5 to 7 days

[15:43] – Why he spends $0 on marketing and deals still come to him unsolicited

[17:39] – The metrics: $300 a month on a long term rental, $2,000 minimum on a four bedroom furnished

[18:22] – Why a brand new house has to qualify as a long term rental for the DSCR loan

[22:31] – How 12 months of furnished booking data changes what a lender will use

[25:03] – Why he never asked for a single penny and investors still lined up

[27:21] – Overcommunicate, because it is when people go silent that problems start

[28:36] – What it costs to furnish a house and why TVs in every bedroom are a myth

[32:06] – The team: cleaners, runners, a full time assistant, and contractors who pick up first

[35:20] – The channel manager that removed the handcuffs and let them scale to 33 doors

[36:38] – Why responding in five minutes beats everyone else in the market

[38:05] – Real estate comes down to blocking and tackling, not reinventing the wheel

[41:25] – The four pillars of the coaching program and why the Airbnb gold rush is over

Resources Mentioned

• Biernat Investments — Brian's Jackson, Mississippi home buying and turnkey business — https://biernatinvestments.com
• Brian Biernat on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-biernat-130a045/
• OwnerRez — the channel manager Brian credits for letting them scale without handcuffs — https://www.ownerrez.com
• Brickfolio — the free portfolio management tool for investors, whose founder is the first guest on Brian's new podcast — https://www.brickfolio.org
• Brian's new podcast — launching the week of recording. The name was not stated on air. Get the link from Brian.
• Dealmaker Academy — the national community referenced in the closing CTA — https://elitedealmakers.com
• 608B Capital — episode sponsor, a hard money lender for fix and flip, BRRRR, and value add deals, plus a debt fund for accredited investors — https://608bcapital.com
• Dealmaker Jackson — Brian's local Dealmaker meeting, running 18 months. Contact Brian directly for details.

Connect and Subscribe

If this one hit you, the takeaway is not the furnished rental model, it is that Brian and his wife built all of this at night, after dinner, while he still had a W-2. Ten months before the first deal ever closed. Go do the boring thing well, answer the phone faster than everyone else, and let it compound. Share this episode with someone who is grinding toward their first deal and wondering if it is working. Subscribe, leave a review, and pass it along to someone serious about leveling up.

Dealmaker Catalyst is rooted in the culture built by Jim Ingersoll and the nationwide Dealmaker community.