Summer 2015

THE DEALMAKERS
LAND MAGAZINE // LEGENDARY LIVING
He says this with the assurance of a man who spent 20
years wearing suits and attending meetings as part
of California’s fast-paced telecommunications industry.
While the pay and the benefits were significant,
corporate board rooms were not Renfrew’s preferred habitat. As
a lifelong hunter, angler and outdoorsman, Renfrew yearned to
get off the concrete and into the country.
“I wanted to be able to forge my own destiny,” Renfrew said.
He and Marty made a major change. The couple bought 675
acres off the grid. They built their own home, installed a solar
power system drilled wells, put in a septic system, and developed
roads throughout the property. The experience gave them
firsthand knowledge about what it takes to carve a ranch from
undeveloped country.
In addition to running his own operation, Renfrew worked
for a neighbor who ran a 10,000-acre spread. They loved ranch
life, but soon realized production agriculture is a tough way to
support a family of seven.
Then, in 2006, Cabela’s entered the California rural real
estate market and Renfrew earned the opportunity to represent
the corporation in northern California.
“My initial introduction to rural real estate was a ‘eureka’
moment,” Renfrew said. “I could be in the country I loved working
with people who I enjoyed and make a good living for my
family. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Cabela’s is no longer in the real estate business, but the
Renfrews used the opportunity as the launch pad for their own
brokerage. Since 2008, California Outdoor Properties has grown
from Todd and Marty to 24 agents at seven branches throughout
California.
“Each year has just been a little better than the last,” Renfrew
said. “We’ve been blessed.”
Eventually, Renfrew sold his ranch to concentrate on the
real estate business. Today, the family operates a much smaller
place along with some leased land, so “we can run enough
Black Angus cows to make a little money and give me an excuse
to have a horse.”
Renfrew eschews the golf course for long rides in the pasture
checking stock.
“Livestock is my relaxation,” Renfrew said. “I like my horses
about 12-years-old and well-broke. I just want to get on and go.
I don’t have time to be worrying about an unpredictable, green
broke colt.”
A Family Affair
Renfrew and Marty met 30 years ago at Myrtle Beach during
Spring Break. He was a football player at Princeton. She was a
radiology student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel
Hill.
Soon after, he flew her up to Princeton for an ill-timed visit.
“I’ll never forget it,” he said laughing at the memory. “The
ticket cost $29 on Piedmont Airlines. She was from a farm in
McLeansville, North Carolina. I brought her up during finals and
I didn’t study a single bit. Princeton was already challenging
enough for a public school kid from the Bay Area.”
After the visit, they lost touch for five years. Then, Marty
and a friend took a trip to California. While she was there, she
called the number Renfrew had given her five years earlier. It
was his parents’ home and his mother passed along his thencurrent
phone number.
“The rest, as they say, is history,” he said. The couple has
four daughters and a son. Three are in college. The twins will be
high school juniors in the fall. Everyone is home in Vacaville for
the summer, either working in the real estate company or on
the land.
“It’s a busy, loud place right now,” Renfrew said. “But I
wouldn’t have it any other way.”
He continued, “I love what I do so much that I probably work
too much, but I’m fortunate to have a wife who I work with and
live with—with equal amounts of happiness. It’s a rare thing, so
I really appreciate the gift of a true family business.”
A Team Sport
As an athlete, Renfrew learned the importance of teamwork
early on. Teamwork is central to the philosophy and success of
California Outdoor Properties.
“A long time ago someone told me that running a business
was like putting together a football team,” said Renfrew. “You
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