David Berneman

CEO of GOLDENBEE | Los Angeles + Las Vegas | Real Estate Developer + Asset Manager + Investor

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

@moseskagan @rev_cap Yup. Seeing numbers I haven’t seen since 2014. Very tough situation given values have been declining the last few years, now rents are finally following suit.

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

@BarryRoland19 Preach, my friend.

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

@LA_Multi_Fam We’ve been working on a bunch of these for years now. Nothing yet but I’m hopeful similar results are coming.

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

It's always good to take a moment and reflect.

A recent trend going viral on Tik Tok and other social media outlets revisits #2016 —a year that, in hindsight, marked a meaningful inflection point in the modern real estate cycle.

At the time, capital was abundant, technology was reshaping access to deals, and real estate investing felt increasingly democratized. Online platforms, as described in an hashtag#LATimes article written about me and Golden Bee, enabled individual investors to back house flippers and value-add operators across the country, a trend widely covered at the time. Optimism was high, and projected returns were often emphasized over execution risk, leverage, or downside protection.

In 2016, speed, scale, and access defined the moment. What received less attention—until later—was how these investments would perform once conditions changed.

Today’s market is very different from 2016, but the parallels are instructive. Assumptions are again being tested, easy exits are less certain, and capital has become more selective. In environments like this, long-term thinking and operational control matter more than momentum.

We are pushing to recreate the optimism of 2016 in 2026.

https://t.co/auAdZahoyp

[Nightingale Associates @FCNightingale]

Multifamily Vacancy Rates 10% Or Higher

Atlanta 11.8%
Austin 14.3%
Baton Rouge 14.4%
Birmingham 14.9%
Charleston 10.2%
Charlotte 12%
Cleveland 10%
Colorado Springs 13.4%
Columbia, South Carolina 10.7%
Columbus, Ohio 10.3%
Dallas/Fort Worth 12%
Denver 12.5%
Durham 11.1%
Greenville 10.3%
Houston 12.3%
Huntsville 18.3%
Indianapolis 11.1%
Jacksonville 12.3%
Las Vegas 10.4%
Little Rock 11.7%
Memphis 15.7%
Nashville 11.4%
New Orleans 10.7 %
Oklahoma City 11.8%
Orlando 11.2%
Phoenix 13.1%
Raleigh 11%
Saint Louis 10.6%
Salt Lake City 12.3%
San Antonio 15%
Sarasota 18.9%
Tampa 11%
Tucson 11.3%
Tulsa 11.8%

-Cushman and Wakefield
#CommercialRealEstate

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

@moseskagan Tell me about it.

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

This holiday season, the Golden Bee team came together to give back by volunteering at Our Big Kitchen, a local organization dedicated to preparing meals for those in need. Alongside donating our time, we were proud to support their mission with a contribution to help extend their impact. Moments like these remind us that community is at the heart of everything we do. Wishing everyone a joyful holiday season and a healthy, prosperous new year. 🎄✨

#GoldenBee #GivingBack #CommunityFirst #HolidaySeason #VolunteerTogether #OurBigKitchen #TeamCulture #MakingAnImpact

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

As we close out the year, we’re grateful for the people who make Golden Bee what it is: our team, partners, residents, and communities.

This year reminded us that real estate is ultimately a people business. The work we do only matters if it strengthens the communities we serve. Our staff spent some time serving the community at @OurBigKitchen and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of helping our community who are food insecure.

Cheers to a new year filled with purpose, thoughtful growth, and continued impact. 🥂

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

I’ve always said my real estate career actually started before real estate — in urban planning studios, staring at zoning codes and street grids.

Funny enough, that background still shapes how I think about every project we take on at Golden Bee:
👉 how people live
👉 how neighborhoods evolve
👉 how design and investment intersect

Appreciated the chance to share that journey on the podcast.

It’s a reminder that your early experiences have a way of showing up again later in life.

🎧 Episode link: https://t.co/KmrTH6lPnT

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

🧡🍁 Happy Thanksgiving from Golden Bee! 🍁🧡

As we reflect on this year, we’re especially grateful for the people who make our work possible.

To our investors, thank you for your trust, partnership, and belief in our vision.

To our employees, thank you for your dedication, resilience, and commitment to excellence every single day.

Together, you help us continue building thriving communities and long-term value.

Wishing you and your families a warm and joyful Thanksgiving! 🦃✨

#Thanksgiving #Gratitude #TeamAppreciation #InvestorRelations #GoldenBee

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

I grew up in the Porter Ranch neighborhood of LA. It was the quintessential suburban tract built by S&S and Toll Bros. Amazing thinking back how many young families kept coming to the newly built stock. These types of developments are what allowed LA to grow tremendously from the 50s-90s. Too bad it didn’t continue.

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

@jayparsons Very tough pill to swallow as an LA landlord of mostly RSO units. It is further eroding our equity in these assets. That said at least the results of this change are not bad as bad as could have been. The local landlord community had a good showing today at City Hall.

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

I sent this to the council this morning. It is likely to fall on deaf ears but I tried.

Councilmembers,

I strongly urge you vote AGAINST the upcoming change to the RSO rent increase rules.

This will be the deathknell for our operations as small local operators of affordable housing in Los Angeles.

We own and operate roughly 600 units throughout the City and have seen values decrease by nearly 30% since the pandemic started. There have been a variety of reasons for this but one of the main ones is the unappealing regulatory and political environment we have in LA today. The regulations are ever evolving (this vote being case in point) and are further eroding our ability to cash flow these buildings. We are on the verge of handing back some of these building to the bank as we can no longer operate them in these conditions.

Our expenses have skyrocketed during the past five years including costs controlled by you. SCEP fees, RSO fees and DWP rates rose dramatically during the pandemic while we were forced to take the brunt of the cost. We had no ability to evict non paying tenants or increase rents for a period of four years. How can we continue to absorb this? Do you think we have an infinite bucket of capital to prop up housing in LA?

Unfortunately you are being advised by tenants rights lobbyist who effectively want landlords to house people for free. There is no economist on the planet that would advise in favor this. We are a business, we are not social service providers. Ironically, our portfolio consists of tax credit properties and properties that house Section 8 voucher holders, we are well versed in supplying affordable housing to the community. But it has to be fair.

This proposal allows us to increase rents by a mere 1.8% next year. Does that seem reasonable to you considering the level of inflation you’ve seen in every other sector of the economy? Have you seen the cost of groceries regulated like this? Or how about water or electricity supplied by your own DWP? These are essentials just like housing. How can these costs increase by 30 or 40 percent per year and we are stuck footing the bill only with an allowable 1.8% increase?

Please vote NO to the change in RSO rent increase rules.

Sincerely,
David Berneman

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

I’ve been trying to develop 136 units of affordable housing in South LA for four years now. I’m about to throw in the towel. I’ve had conversations with nearly 40 different institutional investors. They don’t want to touch LA with a ten foot pole. Very sad state of affairs as LA is my home and I always wanted to build in my hometown.

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

I suggest you rethink your stance on this effort to “overhaul” RSO’s increase policies. The City has had the opportunity to increase its fees with impunity time and time again even during the pandemic and here you are trying to reduce our ability to modestly increase rents. Landlords can’t survive with the current state of every input we use increasing cost by 20, 30, 40 percent per year. I recommend you look at a post I made not too long ago identifying how @LADWP increased its water rates by 31% in just one year. Why don’t you work on overhauling their ability to increase rates on us instead of vilifying the landlords?

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

I was taken aback by what I discovered recently.

In the City of Los Angeles, we manage a 16-unit rent-controlled apartment building. A sudden spike in our LADWP bill made me suspect a water leak on the property. However, upon investigation, it became evident that the rates had surged by a staggering 31% within just one year.

The current rates stand at:
- Tier 1: $10.21 per HCF
- Tier 2: $13.44 per HCF

Comparatively, the rates from the previous year were:
- Tier 1: $7.8 per HCF
- Tier 2: $11.3 per HCF

It's frustrating to face such a sharp increase when our ability to raise rents is capped at a mere 4% annually. This restriction was even worse for four consecutive years during the pandemic, when we were unable to increase rents at all, further exacerbating this situation. Meanwhile, the City's utility service can implement such exorbitant hikes without restraint.

This scenario sheds light on why many investors are opting to depart from Los Angeles.

@LADWP @MayorOfLA @LACity @latimes @LACityCouncil

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

The real Halloween horror: realizing how much candy you now have to “help” the kids finish.

Even the skeleton couldn’t handle the post-Halloween sugar rush. ☠️🍬

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

@shawngorham Gave up rode biking years ago. Mountains are my jam.

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

@1antondaniels Wow…that’s all I have to say.

[David Berneman @GoldenBeeProp]

@robbiehendricks Rates have impacted us hard too.

I can only imagine those GPs without any on the ground acumen having an even tougher time.