About Us

Mr. Heldenbrand began his career as CPA with Arthur Andersen, working the Albuquerque, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Chicago offices. After working as CPA, Mr, Heldenbrand attended University of Florida obtaining his MBA. Mr, Heldenbrand then spent 12 years working as the Chief Investment Officer at Sleiman Enterprises. As the CIO he oversaw all real estate and financial functions, from capitalization, deal structuring, development, acquisition, dispositions, tax, accounting and asset management. As the CIO he orchestrated exponential portfolio growth while lowering overall portfolio risk. Mr. Heldenbrand has had the opportunity to work on over $3 billion of real estate transactions in a wide array of fashions.

As the partner at NAI Hallmark and founder of Proper Advisory, Mr. Heldenbrand's current focus is assisting clients through the entire life cycle of Commercial Real Estate investments, from due diligence to disposition. Assisting in capital sourcing, recapitalizations, asset repositioning, and tenant negotiations.
His best achievements are his wonderful daughters Kadie and Lulu. He is avid football fan and mediocre golfer

Education & Affiliations
University of Florida, Warrington College of Business Gainesville, FL
Master of Business Administration
New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
Bachelor of Accountancy

Recipient of Jacksonville business "40 under 40" award │Certified Public Accountant│ Member of ICSC │ Member of ULI │ Member of NAIOP │ Past Co-Chairman of the St. Johns County Northwest Sector Overlay Committee│ Big Brother Big Sisters Program Board Member │Ultimate CFO award from JBJ│ San Jose Catholic School Finance Board Member │FL Real Estate Broker│Advisory Board member of the UF Real Estate Warrington College of Business

Immediately prior to joining Proper, Mr. Blanton served as Chief Operating Officer of Travelcamp RV, a $160M revenue RV retailer. Mr. Blanton was responsible for Finance, Accounting and Treasury, as well as directly managing all of the company's top executives. The company sold to Camping World Holdings in January of 2024.

Prior to Travelcamp, John served as Chief Accounting Officer for Dream Finders Homes (NYSE: DFH) since May of 2013. Mr. Blanton oversaw all accounting and financial reporting for Dream Finders Homes, along with insurance and accounts payable and several other functions and was a member of the company's asset management committee. Mr. Blanton was involved in capital raises of over $300 million of Debt and Equity capital and sat on the asset management committee as well oversaw accounting for over $500M of acquisitions completed by the company. During Mr. Blanton's tenure the company grew from approximately $30M in revenue to $3.5B.

Prior to Dream Finders, Mr. Blanton served as Corporate Controller for Global Axcess Corp. (OTC: GAXC) ("GAXC"), a publicly traded ATM operator, managing the accounting, finance, financial reporting, treasury and cash flow functions as well as acquisition integration for GAXC until its successful sale to a Japanese bank in 2013. Prior to GAXC, Mr. Blanton worked in management positions for The Ryland Group, Inc. (presently Lennar Corporation NYSE: LEN) in both the Jacksonville and Orlando markets. During his time with The Ryland Group, Inc., Mr. Blanton was responsible for accounting, financial reporting, pro forma analysis and certain land rezoning.

Mr. Blanton started his career in Jacksonville, Florida, specializing in the assurance practice focusing on fortune 1000 clients at PwC.

Education & Affiliations
Mr. Blanton is a Certified Public Accountant
Bachelor of Science in Accounting; University of Florida (2004)
Master in Business Administration; University of Florida (2008)
Ultimate CFO award, Jacksonville Business Journal (2016)
Member of Deerwood Finance Committee (2021-2022)
Florida Board School of Ballet board member (2008)

Prior to joining Proper, John served as the Investment Analyst at NAI Hallmark covering industrial, office, and retail properties. During his time there, he was a part of the investment sales team which closed over $50 million worth of transactions. John’s responsibilities included, but weren't limited to, underwriting investment properties on the sell and buy side, helping to create offering memorandums and BOV’s, putting together quarterly market reports, and tracking market data. John also worked closely with ProperReal Estate Partner, Jonathan Heldenbrand on investment and advisory services.

John began his commercial real estate career as an intern for Henry S. Miller Commercial Real Estate in Dallas, Texas, where he compiled data on self-storage markets across the state of Texas to help guide investment decisions. After graduating college, he worked for Cushman & Wakefield’s Investment Sales/Capital Markets team in New Jersey where he gained valuable knowledge and experience across all property types and helped in the sales process of investment properties across New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

John attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas where he was a part of the NCAA Division I swim team and received his BS in Economics with Finance Applications. During his time at SMU, he was also a member of the school’s real estate club.