In the latest episode of the Raising Private Money podcast, host Jay Conner joined forces with renowned real estate investor James Lascara to delve deep into the nuances of raising private money in real estate. The discussion shed light on a wealth of practical advice and strategies essential for both novice and seasoned investors. With James sharing his extensive knowledge from the trenches and Jay contributing his signature ethical approach, the episode is a goldmine of information. This blog post will distill the key takeaways and expand on their insights to help you fortify your real estate endeavors.
The Importance of Knowing Local Business Practices
James Lascara begins by emphasizing the critical importance of understanding business practices in different states. Whether you’re in Florida, North Carolina, or another locale, closing deals often necessitates the involvement of title companies or attorneys. These professionals help mitigate risks and ensure transactional integrity. James underscores trustworthiness verification through personal conversations and advises seeking a second opinion if something seems off. This due diligence can safeguard investors from potentially fraudulent schemes.
The Power of Networking: The Elite Investor Mindset Group
Networking plays a pivotal role in the real estate sector, a fact underscored by James’s founding of the Elite Investor Mindset Group in Tampa, Florida. This mastermind group is a hub for successful professionals seeking collaborative growth and shared insights. Networking not only fosters relationships but also provides a forum for discussing opportunities and challenges in the real estate market. James leverages Instagram (@jplinvest) as his primary communication platform to connect with investors and disseminate information about ongoing investment opportunities.
Risk Mitigation and Trust Building in Private Money Raising
Jay Conner and James Lascara both emphasize the importance of integrity and trust when raising private money. Jay warns against sending money to lenders before closing, sharing a sobering cautionary tale of an investor who lost $40,000 to a fraudulent lender. Conducting thorough due diligence, verifying the legitimacy and history of the lender, and ensuring investments are protected by equity are steps that can save potential investors from catastrophic losses.
James relates his experience with a significant personal investment mistake, where a loan wasn’t backed by collateral. This has driven home the necessity for practitioners to always ensure their investments are protected. Both Jay and James advocate for an abundance mindset, believing that opportunities arise naturally when one leads with value and maintains a positive outlook.
Tools and Strategies for Efficient Fund Management
In terms of practical tools, James mentions using Google Sheets and Excel for tracking investments. While he is exploring suitable CRM systems to streamline various business facets, he remains diligent about updating and managing private money matters. These tools aid in maintaining transparency and efficiency, pivotal for fostering trust among investors.
Effective Investor Engagement and Communication
Investor engagement is another cornerstone of successful fund-raising. James leverages a simple one-page graphic to introduce potential investors to their initiatives and schedules follow-up calls, providing a clear and concise initial overview. Offering three ways for passive investors to engage, he tailors communication frequencies based on investor involvement. This individualized approach ensures that investors feel informed and valued.
Networking is indispensable for sourcing initial investor contacts. James advises beginners to tap into their networks and seek introductions to potential investors. Jay concurs, advocating for an educational approach where investors are informed about the private lending program in detail, covering aspects like interest rates, protection, and note lengths.
Building Credibility and Establishing Trust
Building trust and credibility with investors is a long-term endeavor. Sharing detailed track records of past projects helps potential investors feel more comfortable. James recommends asking investors what information they need to feel secure, emphasizing transparency. Jay enhances this by leading with education rather than pressing for deals, creating a pressure-free environment conducive to partnership-building.
Final Reflections: Integrating Lessons and Strategies
The episode encapsulates a treasure trove of strategies and lessons crucial for anyone involved in real estate investment. James and Jay highlight the significance of networking, rigorous due diligence, and establishing trust. Approaching potential lenders with a value-first mindset, maintaining an ethical stance, and using practical tools for efficient fund management form the bedrock of successful real estate ventures.
By absorbing these insights from James Lascara and Jay Conner, you’ll be better prepared to navigate the intricate landscape of raising private money, fostering trust, and achieving sustainable growth in your real estate career.
10 Discussion Questions from this Episode:
- For James Lascara: You mentioned the importance of using title companies or attorneys for closing deals in states like Florida and North Carolina. Can you elaborate on the risks of not following this practice?
- For Both Guests: How do you verify the trustworthiness of potential business partners or lenders in real estate transactions?
- For Jay Conner: You shared a cautionary tale about an investor losing $40,000 to a fraudulent lender. What steps can investors take to avoid such pitfalls?
- For James Lascara: Your Elite Investor Mindset Group in Tampa sounds intriguing. Can you discuss how forming and participating in a mastermind group has contributed to your success in real estate?
- For Jay Conner: You emphasized educating potential investors about private lending programs. Can you share some key points that should be included in such educational conversations?
- For James Lascara: You prefer communication via Instagram for connecting with real estate investors. How has social media influenced your ability to network and raise private money?
- For Both Guests: You both stressed the significance of an abundance mindset in attracting investment opportunities. How do you cultivate and maintain this mindset, especially in challenging times?
- For James Lascara: Can you give us some details about the current investment opportunity in Bradenton, Florida, and the potential tax benefits for qualifying investors?
- For Jay Conner: When raising private money, you avoid discussing specific deals in initial conversations. What are some strategies you use to build trust and present opportunities to potential investors without coming off as desperate?
- For James Lascara: You discussed learning from a personal investment mistake in 2021 where a loan wasn’t backed by collateral. What steps do you now take to ensure your investments are always protected by equity?
Fun facts that were revealed in the episode:
- James Lascara runs a local mastermind group called the Elite Investor Mindset Group in Tampa for successful real estate professionals.
- James prefers to communicate and connect with real estate investors via Instagram (@jplinvest).
- One of James’s investment opportunities is in a qualified opportunity zone in Bradenton, Florida, which offers potential tax benefits to qualifying investors.
Timestamps
00:01 Raising Private Money Without Asking For It.
04:05 Immense focus on projects ensures high returns.
08:16 Engage others by sharing your story succinctly.
12:28 Building trust with private lenders is crucial.
14:55 Build trust first, avoid desperation in fundraising.
16:23 Investing process: No-pressure communication and trust-building.
21:46 Seek asymmetric bets; understand risk and mitigation.
23:41 Avoid wiring funds without verified funding sources.
28:37 Great tax-advantaged investment opportunity in Bradenton.
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Building Credibility in Real Estate Investments: A Discussion with James Lascara and Jay Conner
Jay Conner [00:00:00]:
Welcome to another amazing episode, Raising Private Money. I’m Jay Conner, your host, and I’m so excited to have a good friend and fellow Mastermind member join us here on the show today. This is the show, this is the podcast where we talk about raising private money for your real estate deals without ever having to ask for money. Well, my friend and guest, ‘s already raised over $3,000,000 just in this year alone for his real estate deals. He’s a very, very prominent figure, very well known in the Tampa Real Estate Investing Community. And, he’s also the founder of several successful ventures. Well, on today’s show, in this episode, we’re gonna dive deep and talk about all things about raising private money. For example, how do you approach, private lenders to raise your first million? Secondly, what kind of strategies do you use to build the trust and credibility that you need? Thirdly, how do you convince new private lenders to commit, excuse me, and do business with you? And, you know, really is networking important? How does networking play in raising private money? And what mistakes should you avoid and watch out for when you’re starting? In just a moment, you’re gonna meet my good friend, fellow mastermind member, and guest today, mister James Lascara, right after this.
Narrator [00:01:34]:
If you’re a real estate investor and are wondering extract the best tips and strategies to help you get the money because the money comes first. Now here’s your host, Jay Conner.
Jay Conner [00:02:02]:
Well, hello, James. Welcome to the show, my friend.
James Lascara [00:02:05]:
Jay, thanks so much for having me on. I’m excited to dig into this with you.
Jay Conner [00:02:09]:
Man, I’m excited to dig into it with you as well. I mean, your raising private money for your real estate deals is like on steroids. And in the little bit of time that we’ve been around each other in person, I know I know a big reason why that is, but I’ll let my audience figure that out as we get into the interview here. So before we dive into your approach to raising private money and the strategies you use and how you work with your private lenders, how you instill trust, integrity, credibility, all that kind of good stuff, take a moment and share your backstory as to how you got from where you were to who you where you are now.
James Lascara [00:02:47]:
Yeah. Absolutely. Studied ocean engineering in college and, graduated from the Naval Academy in 2010, went right into the Navy as an officer, and, spent 15 years in the Navy, got out, and, found real estate through the process of acquiring properties with my VA loan, solely building up a portfolio of rentals, and then just that just merged into more and more projects that we realized that the right leverage, bringing financial freedom to people who didn’t wanna run the project and make a decision on the project, could be passively plugged into the project. And so, identifying a niche need in the marketplace and growing our business around that need has been how we’ve grown, pretty substantially in the last 5 years, especially here in Tampa.
Jay Conner [00:03:33]:
It’s been my observation, James, over the years that real estate investors that are capital raisers for their real estate deals, it seems as though in their story that I hear, and I’ve heard a lot of stories, that something is a pivotal moment or there’s a pivotal experience that triggers the real estate entrepreneur to start raising private money. What was it in your story and journey that triggered you to start raising private money instead of just using institutional money?
James Lascara [00:04:05]:
Yeah. It’s great that’s a great question, Jay, and thanks for asking. I would say it came down to 2 things. 1 was realizing that, like, I was putting an immense amount of discipline, almost obsessive focus into finding projects that would deliver, you know, a 20% plus average annualized return. And in that regard, like, I’m the general partner on those deals, burning the candle at both ends to make sure the deals go right, you know, that the acquisition is bought at the right price, the value add is done prudently. And so that was the first thing. So if I’m putting immense focus and energy into that, leverage can be had at a lesser rate. Right? 8%, 10%, then, that can lever my average percent, 10%, then, that can lever my average annualized return to be even higher.
James Lascara [00:04:50]:
So that was point number 1. And the second point was, had all these people, the more people that realize I was getting and immersing myself into the real estate investing space, they were asking, like, hey. How can I be plugged in? So it’s a way to kinda marry those 2, possible opportunities up with each other and bring opportunities actually to people, that would genuinely benefit them as well as offer us a pretty good, option for leverage in our projects. And I’m a big believer quick, like, in leading with value, and that’s, I think, the approach that I’ve always taken when it comes to raising private money.
Jay Conner [00:05:27]:
Okay. Well, you are the founder of several successful ventures. One of the ventures that you’re the founder of is the Elite Investor Mindset Group. And I know a lot of our listeners, cannot see you as I can see you as we are interviewing right now. But behind you, there’s a picture of this head and the brain, like a digital, version of a person’s brain in their head. Why do you have that up there, and to what degree do you think mindset plays into the success of your real estate, ventures?
James Lascara [00:06:06]:
Yeah. Absolutely. Mindset is everything. I think but this is just my own opinion. I realize there may be dissenting opinions out there. But to me, the success and growth as a leader, the success and growth as a business owner, and your business strategies cannot exist outside of having the right mindset. If you don’t have the right mindset, it just won’t happen. And so that I think is you know, the the portrait is a representation of that.
James Lascara [00:06:30]:
That’s something we came up with several years back, and that’s the logo for our elite investor brand.
Jay Conner [00:06:37]:
So let’s dive into that for a moment. What kind of mindset is required? What attributes are required to be successful?
James Lascara [00:06:49]:
Yeah. So I think persistence and more specifically, the capacity to kinda take some punches on the nose because in entrepreneurship, you are gonna have setbacks. Setbacks. Like, that is the one thing that you know is gonna be guaranteed. So being able to take some on the nose and come back, reenter the cycle with those iterated lessons learned so you can just you can come back into the business process stronger and implement on those lessons learned. I think that’s probably the number one thing I see separate people apart who grow and people who stagnate.
Jay Conner [00:07:22]:
In other words, resilience.
James Lascara [00:07:25]:
Absolutely.
Jay Conner [00:07:26]:
Quitting is not an option. Right? Well, it is an option. You just don’t choose it as an option. Right?
James Lascara [00:07:32]:
Correct.
Jay Conner [00:07:33]:
Well, let’s dive into the private money, James. Let’s dive into private money, my favorite subject. So you answered this. You talked about value. You talked about serving, but I want you to dive into that a little deeper. You know, what advice would you give from your own experience? How do you approach potential private lenders in raising that first $1,000,000?
James Lascara [00:07:57]:
Yeah. I already said it. I think it’s leading with value. I think another part of that is the realization that not every single person is gonna be a great fit for what you may have offered. That’s okay. That doesn’t make them bad people. Doesn’t make you a bad person. But, when you’re able to lead with value, tell people about these great things you’re doing in the real estate investing world.
James Lascara [00:08:16]:
People want to hear your story. People want to lean in and see how they could potentially get involved, especially in a way that helps them. So just as an example of that, something really easy that we did a few years back is we have a one-page graphic. If somebody asks about how they can potentially get plugged into what we’re doing, we send them that 1-page graphic, and then we schedule a call so we can discuss further. And on that graphic, we have 3 different ways they can get in get involved as a passive investor with us. So that’s just a quick way that we lead with value. That’s you know, it’s not nuclear. It’s not super complicated, but it works.
Jay Conner [00:08:50]:
Right. Do you also lead with value? Do you also provide value to your private lenders, your investors, and your deals in any kind of group setting Zoom meetings or in person, or is it all 1 on 1? Or how do you go about communicating with your community of private lenders?
James Lascara [00:09:11]:
Yeah. So it varies based on the deal. Some of our private debt towards some of our development projects consists of a less frequent update. So just kind of a check-in, like, hey, here’s what we have going on this quarter. Here’s what you can expect next quarter kind of thing. Those who are equity investors in our development projects, get a monthly update until the project is completed. Once we’re building it to sell, then we’ll do a a weekly update based on market trends we’re seeing for the disposition. And then for some of our multifamily syndication projects, that’s typically either monthly or quarterly depending on the project.
Jay Conner [00:09:48]:
So, 2 part question. The overall enveloping question is, where do you find these people? Where do you find new private lenders, and new investors in your deals? And, a subset question to that is, to what degree does networking play in raising private capital?
James Lascara [00:10:11]:
Jay, you read you led me right into it. Networking is everything. If you’re starting, the I’m I’m speaking this next point specifically to people who might be new to this space. If you’re starting and you’re looking to raise your first, whatever, your first 100k, 500k, 1,000,000, you already know the people who are gonna be the investors. You already know them. You just have to find who they are. And what I mean by that is they might be in your family. They might be friends.
James Lascara [00:10:36]:
They might be friends of friends, but you already likely know this person’s name and you’ve been introduced to them. You just have to have the capacity to have that conversation. And then networking has been so huge for what we’re doing. I mean, as our brand has grown, we don’t have to do so much outreach anymore. It kinda people people see what we’re doing, and they kind of come to us. And once you get to a certain level, there’s a, you know, there’s an efficiency to be found there.
Jay Conner [00:11:00]:
Yeah. Sometimes I’ll have I and I know what my thought I know what my response is. I wanna hear your response. But sometimes I’ll be teaching a group of new real estate investors that are or at least new to this idea of raising private money. And invariably, sometimes there’s somebody there in the audience that says, well, what do you do if you don’t know anybody that’s got money? How would you respond to that?
James Lascara [00:11:29]:
So they know people, though, who know money. So sorry. They know people who have money. And so everybody’s worthy of, like, respect and courtesy. It’s not a it’s not a function of, you know, I’m only gonna talk to people who only have money. But to be efficient, you do wanna try to target that avatar for sure. Something that I have found much more success with in recent years, by the way, I think raising money got a little bit more challenging, like in 2022 and till now. I think pre-2022 is a little bit easier, I noticed.
James Lascara [00:12:05]:
But, something that I do is I was I will always ask who is it that you may know who’s worth having a conversation with if they might be interested in something like this. And that has generated a ton of different, like, kind of spider web networking effect to where we get introduced to connections and connections to do business, and that leads to another connection because I’ll ask that to every single person.
Jay Conner [00:12:28]:
Yeah. Well, and you’re right. It’s it’s it’s not it’s not who you know only. It’s who you know that they also know that you could be introduced to. Now I know one thing that you’re big on is building trust and credibility. How do you go about that when you’re talking with, you know, potential private lenders? How do you instill, that feeling, that trust that they believe that you will do and that you will perform as to what you say you’re gonna do? Because what I’ve observed over the years is that people aren’t investing in the deals. They’re investing in you to make it happen. So how do you instill that feeling to where they’re comfortable to move forward?
James Lascara [00:13:14]:
Yeah, Jay. That’s such a great question.
James Lascara [00:13:15]:
I would say there are 2 things. 1, I ask them. I ask them. Right? Like, what is it that you think what do we need to discuss to help you have a great feeling about working together? And, for some people, their barrier of being able to trust you may be so high that, like, there’s nothing that you can do to make them feel comfortable. And you kinda as you go through the conversation, you kinda sense that out. So that’s one thing. Right? Ask the right questions. That should be part of your approach to speaking with any investor if you are raising money.
James Lascara [00:13:48]:
And then the second thing is, we have a track record document. Right? Anybody any investor who wants to see our track record document for our development projects, we’ll send it to you. Right? It’s it lists every project we’ve done, how, you know, how it did when it was bought when it was sold, what the return was on it, and I’m I’m not sure about sharing that at all. I want people to feel great about what it is they’re doing. I never want anyone to feel any kind of pressure or, you know, out outside force to get plugged in with us. This has to be a win-win. If it’s not, I’m not interested.
Jay Conner [00:14:19]:
Yeah. Now most or all of the capital that you’re raising is for commercial, multifamily, and new developments. Is that right? You’re not raising money for a single family. Right?
James Lascara [00:14:30]:
Well, some of our develop all our developments are residential. So a few of those were single-unit builds. And, actually, today, ironically, we sold the last unit of a recent townhome, development project. So that project is fully con concluded and stamped the books on it.
Jay Conner [00:14:50]:
Well, congratulations.
James Lascara [00:14:51]:
Yeah. Thanks. Thanks. So it’s it’s kinda both.
Jay Conner [00:14:55]:
Okay. Well, the reason I was asking is one way that we instill trust and take the pressure off when I’m raising money, particularly talking with a new potential private lender, is I don’t ever have any initial conversations, and you may not as well. I don’t ever have any initial conversations with a potential private lender and talk about a deal at the same time. Because if I do that, number 1, desperation has a smell to it. It’s been my experience that the worst time to be trying to raise money is when you need it for a deal. And secondly, if I am leading with value the way I lead with value, James, is I put on my teacher hat. My teacher hat says, private money teacher. That’s how I lead with value.
Jay Conner [00:15:47]:
Yeah. We’ve got 47 private lenders that are funding our deals. You know what’s interesting is not one of them had ever heard of private money, the self-directed IRAs, how they could use retirement funds, to invest. This was all brand new. And so I changed first my private lending program, my opportunity. What’s the interest rate that I pay? How are they protected? How can they get their money back in case of an emergency? What’s the length of the notes? And I bring a a particular deal in that conversation. But once they tell me that, hey. This sounds interesting.
Jay Conner [00:16:23]:
I would like to get involved. Then, exactly what I told them is I said, well, I’m gonna put your money to work for you just as soon as possible. And then a week will go by or 2 weeks or whatever, and I’ll call them up with what I call the good news phone call. And I give them the good news, and a little overview about the deal as to, how I can put their money to work. And then I tell them to borrow their funds, and it’s as simple as that. So that’s one way that, you know, we lead with value, that we instill, the integrity and the trust and etcetera, by not trying to pressure anybody. You know, I tell people all the time, I’m not trying to sell anybody, persuade, no selling, begging, chasing. It’s been my experience.
Jay Conner [00:17:05]:
Whenever I try to chase money, it eludes me. But when I, you know, present opportunity and I got my teaching hat on, you know, it seems to come chasing after me. Would you agree with me that that’s your experience?
James Lascara [00:17:18]:
I think there’s a I think there’s a dynamic with it. I’m laughing because it’s because of the truth of this. I chased before. Right? I agree that sometimes a lesson that can be learned in pain is when you are raising money and you need it the most is when it becomes the hardest. I’ve been in that spot before. I’ve always put myself in a position where, you know, my business can cover it if our due diligence funds are on the line or whatever. But it’s also at the same time not comfortable. But I would agree if you approach it with abundance, it tends to find you.
James Lascara [00:17:51]:
That’s not an exception to putting the work in, of course. But, yeah, when you approach it with abundance and the right positive mindset, it tends to lead to you or me getting out of my way, and the opportunities just they just naturally happen.
Jay Conner [00:18:05]:
There you go. Now I’m curious. I haven’t heard many other capital raisers talk about this, but you may have some insight. Do you use any specific software tools or platforms to help you raise private money and manage it and keep up with it and all that?
James Lascara [00:18:24]:
So I, we use Google Sheets a lot, and that I know that’s not, like, the best thing. We used to use a different platform we got off it. I’m kinda shopping for the right CRM because we have a lot of different, aspects of of different businesses that we do, and I want one that integrates into all. So we’re probably on the cusp in the next month or so of swapping everything over. As far as tracking people’s current investments, we just update it with Google Sheets, and they’re all pretty long-term. So, like, the shortest private note that we’ll do is 12 months. And so, you know, we’re not we’re not burning the oil to to keep up with it. And I have a team that does a really good job of keeping up with all of it.
James Lascara [00:19:04]:
So
Jay Conner [00:19:04]:
Thank you very much. Jay, we are even more sophisticated than you as to how we keep up with our private lenders’ money and how much they’ve got invested and secured by each property. It’s an Excel spreadsheet that we update every month. Yep. Here’s the prop here’s the property. Here’s the private lender, the private lenders, or whatever. So now, James, I need you to trust me. I need you to hang in here with me.
Jay Conner [00:19:29]:
I’m gonna put you on the spot. And I know you’re gonna tell the truth because the truth that you answer is going to give a lot of value to our listeners.
James Lascara [00:19:39]:
No
Jay Conner [00:19:40]:
Pressure. And here’s the question. What mistakes, what big piles of doo-doo did you step in when you first started raising private money? And what lessons did you learn from the mistakes that you made that would be of value to our listeners?
James Lascara [00:20:00]:
I will share okay? I will share it. I was the investor on this one, and I was not the one raising. And I think you can learn a lot about life and business and leadership through the lens of the mistakes of others, and a smart man does. So there was a private loan that I did back in 2021 that was not collateralized by any real estate, not collateralized by any property. It was for a business. And the thing that I learned in pain was, how good is a personal guarantee if all the cards in the deck kinda fall? And then also, like, how will this be paid out in terms of collateral if it comes to that? Like, how am I protected? And the answer was I wasn’t. So that was a that was a pretty tough lesson learned.
James Lascara [00:20:49]:
Not life-changing, but, you know, definitely skinned my knee on it. And so I’ve definitely, implemented that in how I raise money because I always want someone who invests with us to know that they’re protected by the equity that’s, by either an instrument and tied exactly the property or the equity established in that property if it’s, you know, if it’s more on the LP equity side.
Jay Conner [00:21:10]:
Yeah. Well, I’m glad you brought that up because, I’d like for you now to give some advice to individuals who are perhaps considering being a private lender, private investor, you know, and doing business with other people, what advice would you give to them to make sure they’re making the best decision that, yes, I should feel okay about making this loan on this deal, or what should I watch out for and, okay, I should not get involved in this deal. What are the red flags?
James Lascara [00:21:46]:
Yeah. A couple of questions in there. I would say green flags, because that sounded like the first part of your question, Jay. The green flag that I would probably look for is somebody who understands the concept of asymmetric bets. So anyone can put a pro form together that looks super, super profitable based on the best possible scenario and best upside, but that’s not how real life works. So, like, what is the downside, and how are you sure that you’re gonna get paid that as the investor in that deal, subject to somebody else running the deal and making those decisions? So I would say invest with somebody who does understand the concept of asymmetric bets and ask them what assumptions they’re making about, you know, the market right now or interest rates in the market because that affects buyer sentiment if you’re trying to sell a project, things like that. So that’s one thing, and then I would ask them as well about the risk mitigation. I have a big principle in business.
James Lascara [00:22:37]:
I call it don’t stack risks. So don’t layer on a bunch of things all on top of each other, all of which you may have never done before because that gets stacked a bunch of risk up like a Jenga tower. And as we all know, it comes crashing down. So look for people who have a bit of a track record and explain to you their assumptions and risk mitigation plan. I think that would go a long way. Also, like, don’t be shy about asking about someone’s track record. I think, someone who gets offended about that, it makes me it makes me question if they’re hiding something.
Jay Conner [00:23:09]:
Suspect. Yes. Yes. Now let’s turn the coin upside down, and let’s speak to our real estate investors who are looking to raise private money. Maybe they haven’t before. So I wanna share a short little story, James. This story is as recent as last week. And then after listening to the story, I want you to give the audience advice, speaking to real estate investors, on how to avoid this happening to them.
Jay Conner [00:23:41]:
I was visiting with a lady over the phone last week. She is a new member of my mastermind community. But before coming into my membership of real estate investors who are looking to raise private money, she had an experience that she shared with me that was very painful for me to listen to because I’ve heard this story before, just not to the degree that she experienced it. Long story short, she wired $40,000 to a supposed private lender that was going to fund some large real estate deal that she got. Can you imagine wiring somebody $40,000, anticipating to get funding for your deal? Of course, there never was any funding. No funding ever showed up. She’s out $40,000. What advice would you give to real estate investors to never go down that road?
James Lascara [00:24:41]:
Yeah. So we do a lot of business in Florida, and I’ll give you a great example in Florida if you’re doing a deal here. Like, you should be wiring into a title company here that’s gonna facilitate closing that transaction. Probably 98% of the time that is true. If it’s not true, there should be compelling reasons why. And so, like, understand based on which state you’re in, you know, North Carolina is an attorney-only closing state. Florida, it’s a title company or an attorney. So be familiar with kind of the way of doing business in your respective area.
James Lascara [00:25:14]:
And if you don’t know what that is or if it’s uncomfortable, it’s a place you’ve never experienced before, like, ask around. Another thing that I like to do, if I haven’t been introduced to somebody, for example, like, if a colleague says, hey. Meet Jeff. He’s a great guy. We’ve done a lot of business together, and I trust that colleague. There’s a degree of trust that Jeff gets extended from me. But if that isn’t the case, like, I wanna get on the phone, and I wanna have an actual conversation with somebody to kinda feel this out. That’s not foolproof, but that’s another step that I take.
James Lascara [00:25:43]:
So be aware of the industry’s norms and standards, and then get on the phone. If anything ever seems questionable, get us to get a colleague’s second opinion and just mention your concern to whoever the other party is. If they’re a problem-solving solver in the real estate investing space, which a professional is, they’ll wanna lean in and help you solve the problem together.
Jay Conner [00:26:04]:
Yeah. Yes. I couldn’t agree more. And in addition to that, here’s the big red flag. Well, first of all, this person I was visiting with last week on the phone who experienced this pain responded to a Facebook ad. I don’t know very many reputable lenders that are advertising on Facebook, to tell you the truth. Right? But anyway, here’s the big red flag. The big red flag is she wired money first to get money funded.
Jay Conner [00:26:36]:
You never, never, never, never did I say? You never send money to anybody to get money. The lender, even if it’s a hard money lender or institutional lender, gets paid from the closing after closing, not before closing. So anyway
James Lascara [00:26:58]:
That’s just crazy. I think the only thing I can think of is maybe, like, an appraisal, but, you know, appraisal, you’re talking maybe a grand, 2 grand tops, but, you know, sometimes that can also be rolled in your closing costs. So, yeah, that’s just wild.
Jay Conner [00:27:11]:
Exactly. Now, James, I know that you are looking to get, connected with even more real estate or investors in the Tampa area. Talk about that, as to who you’d like to get in front of.
James Lascara [00:27:23]:
Yeah. Yeah. So we run a local mastermind group here, Jay. It’s called the Elite Investor Mindset Group. It’s it’s primarily for people with an existing business strategy, with some success in real estate, the ideal person is already doing $100,000 plus per year, and they have a strategy that they wanna see more results in and more collaboration with. It’s the center of excellence for collaboration in Tampa real estate. We’re about 100 members. It’s smaller.
James Lascara [00:27:48]:
It’s intimate. Geographically focused. And so it is a really powerful group. I do a ton of deals myself in my own business in the group, so I enjoy it a lot.
Jay Conner [00:27:59]:
Awesome. And, what’s your preferred way for for people, real estate investors in the Tampa area to, reach out to you or follow up with you?
James Lascara [00:28:08]:
Yeah. It’s for sure on Instagram. It’s at jplinvest on Instagram. We post a lot of educational and fun content there. We have a good time with it. We’ve got a link tree. You can see all our info, how to get plugged in with us, how to invest with us, and how to learn more about our events. You can see that all on Instagram right there.
Jay Conner [00:28:25]:
Awesome. And then in addition to that, do you by chance have any investing opportunities for private investors or private lenders that might wanna get involved with you? Do you have anything going on right now?
James Lascara [00:28:37]:
We always do. Yep. We have, we have an opportunity for a qualified opportunity zone right now that’s in Central Florida down in the town of Bradenton. And so, that one’s a good deal made even incredibly better by, the tax preferential treatment if you have qualifying capital gains within the last 6 months. So that opportunity zone deal is a good one. I personally have multiple six figures into it as well. So that’s that’s a great deal.
Jay Conner [00:29:04]:
Awesome. And what’s the best way for people who would like to learn more about that to, get, information?
James Lascara [00:29:10]:
Yeah. Again, Instagram is great. We’ll use that as a messaging center and get you all the info you need.
Jay Conner [00:29:16]:
Alright. Jp as in j, p as in Paul, jplinvest@jplinvest. Well, my lens, James, thank you so much for joining me here on the show.
James Lascara [00:29:30]:
Thanks, Jay. High energy. I love it. It was great.
Jay Conner [00:29:33]:
Alright. God bless you. Thank you so much. There you have it. Another amazing episode of Raising Private Money with Jay Conner. And I appreciate you that are tuning in. If you’re listening on one of your favorite podcast platforms, be sure to like and follow me so you don’t miss out on upcoming episodes. And if you happen to be watching on YouTube, be sure to like, share, subscribe, and be sure to click that bell so you don’t miss out on upcoming amazing episodes.
Jay Conner [00:30:03]:
I’m Jay Conner, the Private Money Authority, wishing you all the best. I look forward to seeing you right here on the next raising private money.
Narrator [00:30:13]:
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.