JOHN DRACHMAN & SEAN RAWSON
CO-FOUNDERS
WATERFORD PROPERTY COMPANY
WHY: Co-founders of six-year-old Newport Beach firm that provides housing to a demographic of workers that can ill-afford paying market-rate rents in the cities that they work in. Tenants at Waterford properties in Orange and Anaheim save anywhere from $375 to $455 a month.
IN THE NEWS: Portfolio includes over 6,500 units—a mix of market-rate, affordable and workforce housing properties, including 125 units of affordable housing under construction in Lake Forest and Irvine. Aims for 15K units in seven years. Waterford has over 2,500 units in various stages of development in California including 565 affordable housing units planned for Oceanside, Oxnard and Milpitas. The multifamily developer and investor recently invested in over 700 units in Dallas, of which about half are slated for workforce housing.
NOTABLE: Both received an Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award from the Business Journal in 2024. Their firm has collectively acquired or managed over $3B in projects throughout California and Texas.
IN THEIR WORDS: “We think this problem as it relates to the cost of housing is being felt by people all throughout the country now, and so we want to be on the leading edge of really continuing to figure out public, private partnerships and various structures to create more affordable housing.” — John Drachman
“The only tenants that leave our program are usually leaving to purchase their own home. That’s exciting for us.” — Sean Rawson
