***Guest Appearance
Credits to:
https://www.youtube.com/@famousinterviewswithjoedimino
“Famous Interview with Joe Dimino Featuring Nationally Renowned Real Estate Investor Jay Conner”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSz4f4Zdjfc
The real estate industry is known for its cyclical nature, but few periods have been as tumultuous and instructive as the COVID-19 pandemic. Jay Conner, an experienced real estate investor and private money specialist, recently shed light on how he navigated these challenges and adapted his business to thrive in a changing economic landscape. In this engaging episode of “Raising Private Money,” where Jay joined Joe Dimino on his Famous Interview With Joe Dimino podcast, Jay opens up about his journey, revealing key strategies and personal philosophies that have shaped his success.
The COVID-19 Impact: More Cash Chasing Fewer Deals
The COVID-19 pandemic revolutionized many sectors, and real estate was no exception. During this period, Jay Conner observed a staggering shift in available cash for investments, jumping from $18 trillion to $31 trillion. Investors sought safer harbors for their funds amid the pandemic’s economic uncertainties, with real estate offering reliable returns. Interestingly, Jay faced the unique challenge of having more money available than deals to fund, a problem many would envy but which required strategic maneuvering to harness effectively.
Explaining Real Estate to a Child: The Simple and The Complex
When explaining his job to a group of third graders, Jay likened himself to an HGTV flipper. By simplifying it to helping private lenders make high returns safely, assisting sellers in distress, and coordinating with contractors for rehabs, he made the complex nature of his work understandable. His description as a “real” flipper, unlike the scripted versions on TV, beautifully encapsulates his multi-faceted role in real estate.
The Foundation: Early Influences and Career Beginnings
Jay’s journey into real estate is deeply rooted in familial influence. Growing up in North Carolina, he learned the ropes from his father, Wallace Conner, who was a significant figure in the manufactured homes industry. Jay’s early exposure to business, communication, and leadership came through summer jobs at his father’s company, which indelibly shaped his career ethos. His father’s management style, famously known as the “3 D’s: dictate, delegate, and disappear,” also fostered an early understanding of efficient business operation.
Inspirations and Heroes: The Mentors Who Shaped Jay
Behind every successful individual are influences that light the path. For Jay Conner, figures like Zig Ziglar, Dale Carnegie, and Og Mandino played instrumental roles. Training tapes from Zig Ziglar instilled a servant-based approach to business, emphasizing the importance of helping others to achieve one’s own success. Books like Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and Og Mandino’s “University of Success” further enriched his mindset and approach to real estate and business.
Triumph Over Adversity: The 2009 Financial Crisis
One of Jay’s most defining experiences came during the 2009 financial crisis, which abruptly severed his lines of credit at local banks. Faced with this challenge, he pivoted to private money, a form of financing he had not previously explored. With guidance from a friend, he learned about private money and self-directed IRAs. Embracing a teaching approach, he began to educate others about private money while effectively solving his own financing issues. This pivot allowed him to attract $2,150,000 in private money in less than 90 days, transforming a potential setback into a significant advantage.
Wisdom and Impact: The Importance of Mindset
Jay’s story is a testament to resilience and the power of a positive mindset. He lives by the principle encapsulated in the formula E+R=O (Event + Response = Outcome), which underscores the importance of our responses to life’s events in shaping outcomes. This approach encourages stepping back, assessing situations from a broader perspective, and actively choosing responses that lead to constructive outcomes. Jay’s ability to maintain optimism and find opportunities in challenges is central to his success in real estate investing and beyond.
Legacy and Future
Jay takes immense pride not just in his professional accomplishments, but in his personal life. Celebrating 38 years of marriage to his wife, Carol Joy, underscores the stability and support that have underpinned his career. At the heart of Jay Conner’s journey is a commitment to making a significant impact. Through his work in real estate and education, he continues to transform lives, one deal at a time.
For more insights and to join Jay’s community, visit https://www.PrivateMoneyChallenge.com and embark on your path to mastering private money in real estate.
10 Discussion Questions from this Episode:
- Impact of COVID-19: How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact Jay Conner’s real estate business, and what surprising trends did he notice in the availability of private money post-COVID?
- Career Explanation: When Jay Conner explained his job to a group of third graders, he emphasized helping people through real estate. How does this perspective shape his approach to business?
- Childhood Aspirations: Jay Conner mentioned wanting to be a magician as a child. How do his childhood aspirations and skills in magic translate into his current career in real estate?
- Creative Process: Jay Conner talks about the creativity involved in flipping houses. How important is creativity in real estate investing, and what role does it play in his daily business operations?
- Influence of Family: In what ways did Jay Conner’s father influence his career path and work ethic? How significant is this kind of familial mentorship in shaping one’s career?
- Personal Heroes: Jay Conner cites multiple heroes, such as Zig Ziglar and Dale Carnegie. How did the teachings of these individuals influence his business philosophy and approach to real estate?
- Handling Financial Crisis: How did Jay Conner handle the financial crisis of 2009 when his line of credit was unexpectedly closed? What lessons can be learned from his approach to overcoming this challenge?
- E+R=O Formula: Jay Conner discusses the formula E+R=O (Event + Response = Outcome). How has this mindset helped him in his career, and how can it be applied to other areas of life and business?
- Significance and Impact: Jay Conner mentioned reaching a point of significance in his life where he seeks to make an impact on others. How does this desire for significance drive his current business ventures and public speaking?
- Relationship Advice: Jay Conner attributes a lot of his success to choosing the right life partner. How important is it to have a supportive partnership in achieving career success, and what qualities does he value in this relationship?
Fun facts that were revealed in the episode:
- Jay Conner revealed that he wanted to be a magician when he was in 3rd grade and that he is, in fact, very good at performing magic.
- His father, at the impressive age of 91, is still actively engaged in the real estate business, currently building 350 houses.
- Jay shared a charming story about meeting his wife, Carol Joy, on his first Sunday in Texas, and they are now getting ready to celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary.
Timestamps:
00:01 More money than deals for real estate.
05:43 Learned business skills from father in real estate.
07:21 Influenced by Ziglar, Carnegie, and Mandino.
10:28 Bank revoked real estate credit unexpectedly, 2009.
14:28 Always multiple answers; take responsibility in life.
17:56 I am positive, and find good in challenges.
20:13 Download free guide on real estate investing.
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Jay Conner is a proven real estate investment leader. Without using his own money or credit, Jay maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties with profits averaging $67,000 per deal.
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Navigating Real Estate: Jay Conner’s Expertise in Raising Private Money and Market Trends
Narrator [00:00:01]:
If you’re a real estate investor wondering how to raise and leverage private money to make more profit on every deal, then you’re in the right place. On raising private money, we’ll speak with new and seasoned investors to dissect their deals and extract the best tips and strategies to help you get the money because the money comes first. Now here’s your host, Jay Conner.
Joe Dimino [00:00:29]:
Thank you, Jay, for taking a minute to talk. I’m looking forward to getting into your real estate world.
Jay Conner [00:00:35]:
Absolutely. I’m excited to be here.
Joe Dimino [00:00:37]:
I am too. Let’s begin with something I know we’re all getting fatigued with, but it was very central in our lives for a while. How did you survive that COVID period, and how did it change the way that you do business now?
Jay Conner [00:00:50]:
Yeah. Good question. So interestingly enough, well, first, let me say this. So my expertise in real estate investing is raising private money, sharing with other real estate investors, and how to go about raising private money for your real estate deals without ever having to ask for money. So we don’t borrow from banks, we don’t borrow from hard money lenders, and, we do a lot of flips, a lot of rehabs. We’ve done over 500 of those here in Eastern North Carolina. So to your question, what happened in COVID? It’s interesting. Before COVID, there was $18,000,000,000,000 in cash sitting on the sidelines, this side of COVID, 31,000,000,000,000.
Jay Conner [00:01:36]:
So all this cash has come into the market available where people just didn’t know what to do with their investment capital or their retirement funds to get a good rate of return. So after COVID came along, I had I started having more money chasing me, and so I ended up with a problem and still have the problem today, and that is there’s more money available than there are deals, quite frankly. So, and of course, we all know what happened with the crazy rise in prices of single-family houses and real estate within a year to 2 years after COVID came along. So the bottom line answer to your question, for whatever reason, more money is available today than ever before, to use for real estate investing. And so from that angle, it’s been a positive.
Joe Dimino [00:02:33]:
So let’s get to the heart and soul of what you do right now in 2024. I’m gonna put you in front of a bunch of 3rd graders at career day, and one of the curious kids says, hey, what do you do for a living? How do you answer them?
Jay Conner [00:02:44]:
What I do for a living is help a lot of people in different ways. So I help my private lenders make high rates of returns, safely and securely, and then I help, sellers of houses that are in some kind of pain and trouble, they need to sell, either their property’s in distress, their personal lives are in distress, so we come along with a solution to purchase their houses, and help them get out of debt, and and being stressed out. And then, of course, we work with a lot of contractors on rehabbing houses. So that’s the long answer. The short answer is, what do I do? I’m a flipper, just like on HGTV, except what I do is real and not made up.
Joe Dimino [00:03:32]:
So what did you wanna be in the 3rd grade? What was your dream to grow up and become?
Jay Conner [00:03:35]:
Oh, I wanted to be a magician.
Joe Dimino [00:03:38]:
So you’re good at magic?
Jay Conner [00:03:40]:
So I’m very good at magic. Yes.
Joe Dimino [00:03:43]:
Excellent. How does that work together with I mean, that’s kind of a right brain? I mean, it’s right and left brain. How does that work with you in the real estate prowess? How does that come together?
Jay Conner [00:03:53]:
Yeah. It’s all it’s all a creative process. So, you know, when you’re fixing and flipping houses, I love to watch the creative process of, you know, turning a lemon into lemonade. I’ve got a fantastic team. I’ve had the same interior designer for the past 20 years that we’ve been doing this. Working with the same contractors for that same length of time, but, there are never 2 days alike in this business. What I enjoy doing, is the marketing. I love testing new marketing strategies.
Jay Conner [00:04:27]:
How do we get, the lead flow coming in every day? I tell real estate investors all the time unless you’ve got consistent leads from motivated sellers coming into your pipeline every day, you don’t have a business, you’ve got a hobby.
Joe Dimino [00:04:45]:
So take me back to the beginnings in North Carolina to your childhood. What were these foundational seeds that were planted in you that made you evolve into this place of understanding real estate, running your own business, and even magic? How did all this happen?
Jay Conner [00:05:04]:
Well, I owe a lot to my dad, Wallace Connor. And, in a couple of months, he’s gonna be 91 years old, and he’s in the middle of a development building out 350 houses right now at, 91 years old. Anyway, I owe a lot to my dad because, at one time, his company was the largest retailer of manufactured homes in the nation. And so, he put me to work, in the summers starting when I was 12 years old, and, we still have landlines here in North Carolina with cords attached to them. But he put me.
Joe Dimino [00:05:42]:
So antiquated.
Jay Conner [00:05:43]:
Yes. He put me on the telephone, checking out people’s credit calling their landlords, and, calling the furniture companies to see if they made their payments on time because he had his acceptance corporation. So he manufactured, most people call them mobile homes or trailers, manufactured homes. So I grew up around my dad and his company, which offered affordable housing for people. So I was on the telephone and I was checking out people’s credits, so my communication skills were developed at a very, very, you know, young age, talking, talking professionally over the phone, and, and I saw how he ran his company. He was known and still is known as the 3D guy, which stands for dictate, delegate, and disappear. So I learned from my dad how to get out of your way so you can run your business instead of having your business run you. So being around Dad and his company, of course, played into this world of real estate for me.
Joe Dimino [00:06:43]:
So talk to me a little bit about heroes. Who’s been that inspiration, that hero that’s fueled your rise and who you are today?
Jay Conner [00:06:52]:
Well, I’ve had a lot of heroes. One hero is Zig Ziglar. Of course, he has passed away, but Zig Ziglar was one of my heroes. When I was in sales at my dad’s company, we were required to listen, and I’m on a date myself now. We were required to listen to all of Zig Ziglar’s cassette tape training and take and take a test. So I love Zig’s philosophy. You help enough other people get what they want and need. You don’t have to worry about yourself.
Jay Conner [00:07:21]:
So I grew up with this having this servant’s heart and a servant’s attitude, leading with serving first. So Zig Ziglar was one of my heroes. When I was 23 years old, a cousin of my mother, sent me the book, told me the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. So shortly after I moved to Texas at 23 years old, I took the Dale Carnegie Human Relations Principle Course, where we met, one time a week for 12 weeks. So Dale Carnegie was a hero of mine. And then a third one was Og Mandino. The first book that had the biggest transformation, and influence on my life was a book that he wrote by the title of University of Success. University of Success, that book is still in print.
Jay Conner [00:08:15]:
It changed my life, and, I was also, also very, very fortunate to get to know and be around quite a bit, Jack Canfield, who is the co-author of the Soup, Chicken Soup for the Soul series. He was designated as one of his, certified trainers on the success principles. There’s another great book, The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. Great book.
Joe Dimino [00:08:43]:
So if you could meet a business mind, a business leader alive today who’s doing wonderful work that you admire, and spend a little time with him, who would it be?
Jay Conner [00:08:51]:
John Maxwell.
Joe Dimino [00:08:53]:
Yeah.
Jay Conner [00:08:55]:
John Maxwell. I did get to shake his hand last week and get a picture with him and heard him do a 2 hour, talk. The best speaker I’ve ever heard in my life. He was amazing. I’m in a mastermind group, and our mastermind group had him come to speak, but I’d love to have some one-on-one time with John Maxwell.
Joe Dimino [00:09:15]:
Yeah. So what is the motivation for you every day to wake up and to do the good work that you do, and to evolve as a human being, and to continue to stay, curious and and willing to learn? What is that for you every day?
Jay Conner [00:09:30]:
I’ve gotten to a point in my life that if I wanted to be a couch potato, I could, financially. But, I have a fear of being bored to death. And so I stay very, very busy. So what gets me up and going is I have reached this point in my life of what we call significance or making an impact. And, that’s why I do multiple live events a year and speak with people and motivate them and teach them what I know about real estate. Nothing thrills me more than to be a part of somebody else’s transformation, financially and mentally.
Joe Dimino [00:10:08]:
So the one thing about a career arc is there tends to be kind of an up and down. Some things can dip here and there. Was there a particular time in your career that was maybe taxing or exacting, but it grew a lot? It ended up being advantageous or good for you in the end. Was there a time like that?
Jay Conner [00:10:28]:
Absolutely. I mean, the most monumental experience immediately comes to mind when you ask that question. My wife, Carol Joy, and I started investing in single-family houses here in Eastern North Carolina, all the way back in 2003. From 2003 until January 2009, all I knew to do, Joe, was go to the local bank where I had my lines of credit, and all I needed to do was get on my hands and knees, and put my hands underneath my chin, and say, please fund my deal, and lift my skirt so my banker could look at all my assets, and give me a colonoscopy, and, you know, do everything I could to get the loans for my real estate deals. That worked okay, for the first 6 years, until January 2009. I called him a banker, his name was Steve. He had funded a ton of deals for me in those first 6 years, and I called him up to tell him about 2 houses that I had under contract that represented over $100,000 in potential profit. And I learned Joe, like that over the phone that my line of credit had been closed with no notice to me.
Jay Conner [00:11:41]:
And I said to Steve, I said, Steve, what in the world are you telling me my line of credit is closed? And, you know, I’ve always made my payments on time. I got a great credit score. He said, Jay, don’t you know there’s a global financial crisis going on right now? I said, no. But you just gave me a financial crisis. I don’t have a way to fund these two deals. And, so I hung up the phone, Joe, and I sat here at this very desk, and I asked myself a question. By the way, these people running around saying, oh, every problem’s an opportunity. I wanna throw up.
Jay Conner [00:12:12]:
I didn’t have an opportunity. I had a problem. Right? So, I sat here and asked myself a very powerful question, and this question that I’m gonna share with you and your audience can help you fix any problem you have going on in your life. By the way, the power’s in the questions, right? The right questions. So here’s a question I ask myself. I said, Jay, who do you know that can help you with your problem? And I immediately thought of Jeff Blankenship, a good friend of mine and Carol Joy’s. We know him through the church. He lived in Greensboro, North Carolina at the time, and he was investing in real estate and single-family houses.
Jay Conner [00:12:50]:
So I called him up, and I told him what had just happened with me losing my line of credit. He said, well, welcome to the club, Jay. I said, what club is that? He said, the club of having your bank shut you down. My bank just shut me down last week. Now bear in mind, this was all taking place in January 2009. My next thought was, well, I’m calling the wrong friend. He’s in the same boat I am. So I asked Jeff.
Jay Conner [00:13:11]:
I said, Jeff, how are you going to fund your real estate deals? He said, well, have you heard of private money and private lending? I said, no. He said, well, have you heard of self-directed IRAs and how individuals can move their current retirement, funds over to a self-directed IRA company, and they can loan that money out either tax-free or tax-deferred to us real estate investors, and they can earn high rates of return safely and securely. I said, no. I never heard of that. So, anyway, Jeff told me about it. I studied it. So I put my program together, and I started teaching people. That’s how I raise private money without asking for it.
Jay Conner [00:13:51]:
I put on my teacher hat. Lead with a servant’s heart. Private money teacher. We’ve got 47 private lenders right now funding our deals. They never even heard of private money till I told them about it. So when I went about teaching what private money was, I was able to raise and attract $2,150,000 in less than 90 days. I don’t say that to brag at all. The reason I’m sharing this story is that it was, in retrospect, the biggest blessing in disguise, that I’ve had ever since my real estate investing career back in 2003.
Jay Conner [00:14:28]:
One thing that I learned from John Maxwell is that there is always, and here’s a rider downer, no matter what the problem is, there’s always an answer. And in fact, there’s always more than one answer. And, you know, an important formula that I learned from Jack Canfield in his, Success Principles book, chapter number 1, is to take responsibility for everything that happens in your life. Don’t be a victim, be a victor. And here’s his formula, which absolutely, that I practiced in that story that I just told you about. I just didn’t know I was practicing it. The formula is E+R equals O. The e stands for the event, any event that happened in your, that’s happened in your life.
Jay Conner [00:15:20]:
Maybe you brought it on, maybe you didn’t. So, that’s the event. The r stands for your response to the event. We have a choice. We have the power to respond to any event and put any kind of filter on that that we want to, and that determines the outcome that you’re experiencing. Unfortunately, Joe, most people walking around live by a different formula. The formula most people walk around living by is E equals O. Whatever the event is that happened in my life, oh, that determines my outcome.
Jay Conner [00:15:53]:
That’s not true. Your response, which you get to choose, gets to determine your outcome, which means you can be in control of your destiny. So that’s what I did with that story I just shared.
Joe Dimino [00:16:06]:
Yeah.
Jay Conner [00:16:06]:
If this happened, I would lose my line of credit. Yeah. I didn’t bring that on. That was a global financial crisis. I could’ve gone home and put my tail between my legs and just sat at home, or I could’ve looked for a better and quicker way to fund my deals, which I did, by asking who could help me. Therefore, because of that, the outcome is, that Joe, you, and I are visiting today because of that event and because I moved on to this world of private but private money and being able to, you know, share with others about how I go about doing it.
Joe Dimino [00:16:42]:
Best case scenario of cause and effect for sure. So let me ask you this. Of everything that you’ve done and overcome and evolved into at this point in your life, what are you the proudest of?
Jay Conner [00:16:54]:
What am I the proudest of? Yeah. Choosing the right mate.
Joe Dimino [00:17:01]:
There you go. Good job.
Jay Conner [00:17:03]:
We’re we’re get we’re getting ready to celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary. I’ve, her name is Carol Joy that I’ve mentioned. I always talk about Carol Joy, and I met her on my first Sunday in town in Wichita Falls, Texas, when I moved to Texas back when I was 23 years old. So, of course, I gotta give Dad my credit. I give credit. Dad said I said, Dad, if you could give me any advice, as I move out to Texas from here in North Carolina, what would it be? He said, Meet a girl at church. That’s who you want to marry. Meet a girl at church.
Joe Dimino [00:17:41]:
That’s it. It takes a team to win. That’s for sure. So at the end of the day, everyone out there has a perception of you. There are all these people in different spheres, family, friends, clients, and colleagues, but you run the show. What’s your perception of you? Who do you think you are?
Jay Conner [00:17:56]:
I think I’m one of the most positive people who ever walked on the planet. I just really do. I think that, no matter what happens, we can make some good out of it, back to the E plus R equals O. And I learned this from some book I read. I don’t even remember what book it was years ago, but when something happens and you perceive it to be bad, or a challenge at the time that it’s happening, then step back and put on your observer hat. Don’t let yourself stay in it with your emotions, but step back and look at it. I learned that from my dad when I was working in his company, years ago, he would have meetings with us and the leadership team, and we’d have a problem, And my dad would sit back in his chair, and he’d say, boys, this problem is just too big for this afternoon. Let’s come back and take a look at this tomorrow.
Jay Conner [00:19:02]:
And, you know, inevitably, we’d come back and look at that situation, And you look at it tomorrow, it can have a whole new perspective
Joe Dimino [00:19:10]:
Yeah.
Jay Conner [00:19:11]:
Where you can.
Joe Dimino [00:19:12]:
Yeah. For sure. Well said. So if anyone is interested, they wanna reach out, learn more about what you’re doing, any of the good business, where can they go?
Jay Conner [00:19:20]:
Absolutely. Well, if you’re listening to this show and you’ve got any interest in real estate investing and you don’t wanna ever have to worry about having funding for your real estate deals, I just launched my brand new private money challenge, and I’d love to invite you that are listening to the show to my challenge. You can go to www.privatemoneychallenge.com. Privatemoneychallenge.com. It’s a series of 7 videos. They’re short only 15 to 20 minutes, but it’ll get you on the fast track to getting private money and funding for your real estate deals. And I promise you, we’ll have fun doing it together as well. Private money challenge.com.
Joe Dimino [00:20:02]:
Excellent. Jay, love the optimism. Love the story. Thank you, sir, for your work. Keep doing the great work and putting the light out in the world.
Jay Conner [00:20:08]:
God bless you, Judd. Thanks for having me.
Joe Dimino [00:20:10]:
Same to you. Thank you. Take care.
Jay Conner [00:20:13]:
Are you feeling inspired by the knowledge you gained in this episode? Then head over to www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide. That’s www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide and download your free guide that shares seven reasons why private money will skyrocket your real estate investing business right now. Again, that’s www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide to get your free guide. We’ll see you next time on raising private money with Jay Conner.
