***Guest Appearance
Credits to:
https://www.youtube.com/@thekatebarryteam3281
“The Private Money Powerhouse: Funding Fortunes to High Returns with Jay Conner – EP 14”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iTULXZJROE
In the world of real estate investing, setbacks are almost a rite of passage. But for those determined enough, each obstacle is simply a stepping stone toward bigger success. This is the resounding message from the latest episode of the Raising Private Money podcast!
From Traditional Lending to Private Money
Jay Conner’s real estate journey is a testament to adaptability and resilience. Like many investors, Jay started his career relying on traditional bank financing. For six years, this approach worked—until 2009’s global financial crisis abruptly shut down his line of credit, leaving two profitable deals suddenly unfunded. “The only opportunity I had at that moment was to solve a problem,” Jay recalls. And solve it he did.
Rather than wallow, Jay reached out to contacts, sought advice, and quickly discovered the concept of raising private money. This method involves borrowing capital from everyday individuals—friends, neighbors, even fellow church members—who are looking for higher, safer returns on their investments than the stock market or a typical savings account.
Educating, Not Pitching
One of the secrets to Jay’s success lies in his approach to fundraising. Instead of hard-selling investment opportunities or begging for money, Jay led with education. “I never asked for money. I simply explained the opportunity, how private lending works, and the kinds of returns people could achieve,” he says. By positioning himself as a teacher and problem-solver, Jay attracted investors who already knew, liked, and trusted him—and who appreciated the clarity and transparency.
As Jay explains to Kate Barry, none of his first 47 private lenders had ever heard of private money or self-directed IRAs before he taught them about it. Separating the act of building investor relationships from pitching individual deals allowed him to grow trust and raise over $8 million, solely through “good news” phone calls inviting investors to put their money to work, not funding requests.
Protecting Investors and Building Trust
A cornerstone of Jay’s longevity is his diligent protection of private investors’ interests. He never borrows more than 75% of a property’s after-repair value, ensuring a 25% equity cushion and added security for his lenders. All investments are strictly tied to real property, secured with promissory notes and deeds of trust, and lenders are named on insurance policies.
Jay’s systematic, risk-conscious approach allows him to promise—and deliver—competitive, consistent returns to investors, regardless of market conditions. Even when renovation budgets go over (as they so often do), these safeguards insulate investors from losses and keep their confidence high.
Systems, Teams, and Consistency
Jay’s growth wasn’t built on volume but on quality. He and his wife, Carol Joy, run a high-margin operation, taking on two to three deals a month in a relatively small market. A key to their efficiency is a well-coordinated team of acquisition specialists, general contractors, and support staff. This lets them run up to six renovations simultaneously, execute projects smoothly, and bring homes to market quickly, often marketing through coming-soon listings and professional music videos to generate demand before a property is even available for showings.
Lessons for Aspiring Investors
If Jay could go back to his earliest days, his advice would be this: Don’t go it alone. Get a mentor, connect with your local real estate investing association, and continually surround yourself with people actively engaged in the business. The world of private money, he insists, is open to everyone willing to start conversations, educate others, and build trust.
Turning Failures into Fortunes
Jay Conner’s story is a powerful reminder that real estate’s biggest breakthroughs often follow its harshest setbacks. By choosing education, relationships, and ethical funding over desperation or short-term wins, Jay transformed financial disaster into an enduring real estate legacy—one built as much on community as on cash flow.
Want to dive deeper into Jay Conner’s approach to private money and real estate investing? You can check out his book, “Where to Get the Money Now,” and his podcast “Raising Private Money” for actionable tips and inspiring stories. Remember, in real estate, every failure can be the seed of your greatest success.
10 Discussion Questions from this Episode:
- Jay talked about the distinction between private money and hard money. How did he explain the differences, and why does he believe private money has had the biggest impact on his business?
- What circumstances in January 2009 forced Jay to pivot from traditional bank funding to raising private money? How did this challenge ultimately benefit his business?
- Jay mentions the importance of “leading with education” when raising private money. What are the specific strategies he uses to educate potential lenders, and why does he avoid directly asking for money?
- Reflect on Jay’s story at Bible study with Wayne. How does his approach to building relationships and networking help him attract private money investors?
- Jay emphasizes “never pitching a deal” but instead using the “good news phone call” approach. What does this process look like, and why is it effective?
- Discuss the key systems Jay has in place for acquiring, renovating, and selling properties in a small market. How does having a reliable team contribute to his success?
- Jay states that he never borrows more than 75% of the after-repaired value (ARV) of a property. Why does he set this limit, and how does it protect both him and his investors, especially in volatile markets?
- Kate and Jay both agree on the advice to “raise the money first, then find the deal.” Why do they caution against the popular advice to lock up deals first, and what are the risks of doing so?
- Jay stresses the importance of mentorship, masterminds, and networking for new investors. How did his early mistakes shape this advice, and what pitfalls does he warn against when seeking learning or mentorship opportunities?
- Looking at the broader market, Jay shared that tighter markets “clear the deck” of less prepared investors. How do resiliency and adaptability play a role in long-term investing success, according to Jay’s experience?
Fun facts that were revealed in the episode:
- Jay Conner Never Asks for Money Directly
Jay has raised over $8.5 million in private money without ever directly asking anyone for money. Instead, he focuses on educating people about private lending and sharing opportunities, which leads them to want to invest with him. - Jay’s Real Estate Investing Career Started in a Small Town
Jay operates out of Morehead City, North Carolina—a town with a population of just 40,000. Despite the small market size, he and his wife have completed over 500 real estate deals and built a thriving investing business with impressive average profits per deal. - Jay’s First Million-Dollar Revelation Happened at Bible Study
One of Jay’s first major private money investors was a fellow church member. By simply asking for help spreading the word, not for money directly, Jay was able to raise $250,000 in a single conversation after Bible study. That initial investment later grew to $500,000 from the same individual!
Timestamps:
00:01 Real Estate Failures to Fortunes
06:07 Credit Line Closure Crisis
08:46 Teaching Private Money Investment
11:38 Raise Money Before Deals: Insight
14:53 High Return Investment Referral Request
18:19 75% Rule for Safe Borrowing
20:41 Efficient Investment Systems Inquiry
25:17 Real Estate Success Mindset
26:18 The Kitty Sisters’ Investment Strategy
29:30 Time Kills Real Estate Deals
34:28 Cash Leverage for Quick Flips
37:01 Sharing Real Estate Investing Insights
40:01 Build Foundations Before Success
Connect With Jay Conner:
Private Money Academy Conference:
Free Report:
https://www.jayconner.com/MoneyReport
Join the Private Money Academy:
https://www.JayConner.com/trial/
Have you read Jay’s new book, Where to Get the Money Now?
It is available FREE (all you pay is the shipping and handling) at https://www.JayConner.com/Book
What is Private Money? Real Estate Investing with Jay Conner
http://www.JayConner.com/MoneyPodcast
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.
#RealEstate #RealEstateInvesting #RealEstateInvestingForBeginners #Foreclosures #FlippingHouses #PrivateMoney #RaisingPrivateMoney #JayConner
YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/c/RealEstateInvestingWithJayConner
Apple Podcast:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/jay.conner.marketing
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JayConner01
Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/JConner_PrivateMoneyAuthority
Building a Real Estate Empire in Small Markets with Private Capital: Jay Conner’s Story
Narrator [00:00:01]:
If you’re a real estate investor and are 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.
Kate Barry [00:00:29]:
Welcome to the real estate investing failures to fortunes podcast. The show where we fearlessly dive into the untold stories of real estate investors, their greatest setbacks, and how they turn those failures into resounding successes. I’m your host, Kate Barry, and we’re talking with real estate investors across the country to learn exactly how and why they fail and how they took that failure and turned it into a powerful lesson for their business. So come along with me, Kate Barry, on this transformative journey from failure to fortune. I invite you to join our supportive community where together we can inspire, educate, and motivate each other to achieve all of our real estate investing goals. Investing goals.
Kate Barry [00:01:15]:
Welcome to the real estate investing failures to fortunes podcast. I’m your host, Kate Barry. On this show, we fearlessly dive deep into the journeys of real estate investors and agents all over the country who have a story to share where they’ve turned a failure into a fortune. We’re here today with Jay Conner. He is a real estate investor out of Morehead City, North Carolina, who’s got a ton of experience and has a great story to share about his real estate journey. He has become a really successful investor and money raiser, and capital investor. And so we’re so happy to have you here today, Jay.
Jay Conner [00:01:49]:
Kate, thank you so much for inviting me along to be on your show and talk about my favorite topic that I’m the most passionate about, and that’s private money, because private money has had more of an impact on our business than anything else that we started doing.
Kate Barry [00:02:06]:
Amazing. And so there’s a difference, right, between private money and hard money.
Jay Conner [00:02:11]:
There’s a big difference between private money and hard money. And, you know, so many real estate investors, new and seasoned, sort of combine those terms. But in reality, a hard money lender typically is a brokerage that has raised money for has raised private money from individuals to invest in their fund they in the broker then turns around and loans it out to real estate investors. But in this world, when we talk private money, we’re talking about borrowing money from individuals just like you and me, ordinary people who loan their investment capital and or their retirement funds to us as a real estate investor.
Kate Barry [00:02:55]:
Very cool. This is exciting. We haven’t had a topic like this on the podcast yet, so I’m excited to dive into it. I’d love to get started with Let’s learn who you are. How did you get started in real estate?
Jay Conner [00:03:07]:
Sure. Well, I was raised in the mobile home or manufactured housing business. My father was the his company was the largest retailer of manufactured homes for many, many years. Well, the financing for that product went away in the early two thousand. So, in February, I knew if I ever got out of mobile homes, I wanted to get into single-family houses. And so in 02/2003, my wife, Carol Joy, and I started up the company. In our first year, we only did three houses. But back then, Kate, I didn’t know anything about private money.
Jay Conner [00:03:41]:
I’d never heard of it. I didn’t know anything about hard money. I mean, we’re here in Eastern North Carolina, population 40,000 people. It’s like you’re over here at the end of the world. And so all I knew to do, Kate, was go to the local bank, get on my hands and knees, and put my hands underneath my chin and beg, please fund. But anyway, back then, you could get an unsecured line of credit, an unsecured line of credit. So I started with a $250,000 line of credit, burning a hole in my back pocket to go invest in houses. Well, that worked great for the first six years.
Jay Conner [00:04:20]:
Mhmm. From 02/2003 until January 2009, that’s how I funded my deals. I went to the local bank and borrowed money. But then things changed a lot in January 2009, anyway, that’s how I got started. We’ve rehabbed, renovated a little over 500 single-family houses now in our small area of only 40,000 people. We do two to three deals a month, but our average profit now is actually $82,000 per single-family house. And I don’t say that to brag at all. The reason I share that is that it’s just a point to be made that you can make significant income while not having to do a ton of wholesale deals.
Jay Conner [00:05:03]:
I’ve never wholesaled a deal in my life. I’ve stayed in every deal. But you don’t have to do a ton of deals to make, you know, significant income.
Kate Barry [00:05:12]:
Yep, absolutely. That’s a lot of deals. 500 is not a small number. And it’s quite impressive. And I’m from a rural area too. Our population of our whole county, I think, might be just 150,000. So I understand that kind of being in a market like this, where you’re not surrounded by wholesalers or private money lenders, people always trying to call you to sell you on how they can fund your deals. You were doing it a little bit differently.
Kate Barry [00:05:37]:
So this is a great segue. Let’s talk about January 2009.
Jay Conner [00:05:42]:
Wow. Wow. Well, so I remember it like yesterday, Kate. And by the way, I don’t know up in in Vermont if you still have telephones that have handsets and cords attached to them or not. But, anyway, we do here in North Carolina. Anyway, so January 2009, as I said, I had been doing the business for six years. I had a great relationship with my banker. His name was Steve.
Jay Conner [00:06:07]:
He and his bank that he worked for had funded a lot of houses, a lot of deals in that first six years. So I was sitting here, I picked up the telephone, and I called up Steve, and I had two houses under contract to buy. And both of these houses that I already had under contract represented over a hundred thousand dollars in profit between these two deals. So as I had done on many deals before, I told Steve about the deals, the funding required, and I learned like that, Kate, that my line of credit had been closed, shut down with no notice to me. I mean, my first thought would have been, why didn’t Steve call me up and tell me that I don’t have any line of credit, and I’m out here making offers? You know? And by the way, Kate, these people that go around and say, Oh, every problem’s an opportunity. I wanna throw up. I didn’t have an opportunity.
Jay Conner [00:07:02]:
I had a problem. And I said, Steve, why is the bank closing my line of credit? We’ve done a ton of deals together. Got a great relationship. He said, Jay, don’t you know there’s a global financial crisis going on right now? I said no. But now you have given me a global financial crisis because I got these deals under contract, and I don’t have any way to fund them. So I hung up the phone, and I sat here for a moment, Kate. And here’s a rider downer. I thought to myself and I asked myself a question, you know, the powers and questions.
Jay Conner [00:07:35]:
I asked myself the question. I said, Jay, who do you know that can help you with your problem? And I immediately thought of a good friend of ours, Jeff Blankenship. He lived in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the time. And I called him up, and I told him what had just happened. He said, Jay, welcome to the club. I said, What club? He said, the club of having your line of credit shut down. They just shut me down last week. And I said, How are you funding your real estate deals, Jeff? He said, Well, have you ever heard of private money? I said, no.
Jay Conner [00:08:05]:
He said, Have you ever heard of self-directed IRAs? I said, no. So I hung up on Jeff. He told me a little bit about it. I studied private money, and I studied how people can take current retirement funds that they already have and transfer them over with no tax effect or penalty to an IRS-approved third-party custodian, set up an IRA, loan that money out, and get all the returns either tax deferred or tax free. So I studied that, and Kate, I put my program together. What I mean by my program is I put together what I was gonna offer individuals that I already knew, and go to church with them. They’re in my cell phone. We’re at the Rotary Club.
Jay Conner [00:08:46]:
And I was gonna tell them how they could earn high rates of return safely and securely without pitching any kind of a deal at the same time. So what did I do? You know what, Kate? I’ve never asked anybody for money since 02/2009. And people say, Jay, have you got 8 and a half million dollars available to you in private money without ever asking for money? Here’s the secret. I put on my teacher hat, and my teacher hat is my private money teacher hat. So it’s all about leading with education. Yeah. Did you know that my wife, Carol Joy, and I we’ve got 47 private lenders right now funding our deals, lending us money. And you know what? Not one of them had ever heard of private money until I told them about it.
Jay Conner [00:09:33]:
And none of them had ever heard of self-directed IRAs until I told them about it. And so instead of having one banker, we got a lot more, like, there we’ve spread the risk as we speak. So, not one lender, we got 47. And it’s but, you know, in truth, it did turn out to be the biggest blessing in disguise of anything that’s happened in the business. I had to find a better and quicker way to fund my deals instead of relying on traditional money. And what I love about this world is that we get to make the rules. You know, the traditional way of borrowing money is you get on your hands, you’re leading big. They make the rules.
Jay Conner [00:10:13]:
The lender makes the rules. Not in this world of private money. Oh, no. We met the rules. I set the interest rate. I set the terms, the frequency of payments, and then I teach that program to individuals. And another thing that I’ve never done is I’ve never asked for money is I’ve I’ve never pitched a deal. I’ve never pitched a deal.
Jay Conner [00:10:35]:
And they say, How do you get your private lenders to fund it? I called them up with the good news phone call. I separate the conversation between teaching the program and how they can earn high rates of returns safely and securely, and having a deal for them to fund. So when I got a deal for them to fund, I gave them what we call the good news phone call. I call them up and I say, I got great news. I can now put your money to work. And by the way, I’m ethically bound to do that because if they moved retirement funds over to a self-directed IRA company, they’re not making any money until I put their money to work. So they’re sitting by the phone waiting for the phone call. So I give them the good news phone call.
Jay Conner [00:11:14]:
I now put your money to work. I got a house in Newport after the repaired value of $200,000. The funding required is one hundred and 50,000. I know they got it. They already told me. And funding is next Friday. You need to have your funds wired by next Thursday to my real estate attorney. I have my attorney email you with wiring instructions.
Jay Conner [00:11:31]:
The most stupid thing I could ask them is, Do you want to fund the deal? Of course, they want to fund the deal. They’ve been waiting for the phone call.
Kate Barry [00:11:38]:
Right. I love what you’re saying because, actually, one of our most recent guests, the Kitty sisters, were on there. They raised private money, and it was really interesting what they said, you know, their big mistake was that they tried to get the deal first and then started raising money. And what they’re they said is you have to raise the money first. And that comes from building a network of high net worth individuals or just folks that have money that really should be doing more work for them. And if you provide something that with a higher rate of return than what they have their money in currently, but it’s so true. I love what you said, that, you know, you do have to teach people because this information is not taught across the board, or it’s not general knowledge. It’s not common knowledge.
Kate Barry [00:12:23]:
And I think it’s also something that a lot of folks maybe feel hesitant or worried to get into. Did you experience any hesitation with the post, you know, the world financial crisis of folks trying to get them to invest in real estate?
Jay Conner [00:12:39]:
Well, that’s just it. I didn’t try to get anybody to invest in real estate because, well, I’ll I’ll answer your question with a short story. So I put my program together, and it was a Wednesday night at bible study here in Morehead City. Carol Joy and I are involved here in the local church. So there was a gentleman I wanted to approach, and his name was Wayne. And so I walked into bible study, Kate, at 07:30 on a Wednesday night, and Wayne was standing there in the foyer. And I walked up to him, and I said, Wayne, I got something that I want to visit with you confidentially about after bible study. Can we get together for a few minutes? He said, Sure.
Jay Conner [00:13:22]:
And so bible study goes by, and so we get together after bible study, and we walk down to the nursery in the building and shut the door. And here’s exactly so I’m answering the question that I hear any resistance when I started in 02/2009. So here’s exactly what I here’s another example of not asking for money. How do you do it without asking for money?
Kate Barry [00:13:45]:
Yeah. So you shook
Jay Conner [00:13:50]:
The door. So I looked at what this is called, the indirect method. I have the direct method. I’m gonna share right now the indirect method, not asking for money. So I looked at Wayne, and here’s exactly what I said to him. I said, Wayne, you know everybody in this town and county, and he did. He was the original Zenith television dealer in Morehead City. And if somebody is listening to this show and you don’t know what the zenith television dealer is, that just means you’re too young to remember life before Walmart came into town selling TVs.
Jay Conner [00:14:22]:
You went to the local Zenith television dealer, and they financed your TV for it, and they actually would repair your TV instead of you throwing it out. Anyway, I said, Wayne, you know everybody in this town. You’re plugged in everywhere. You’re very involved in the Rotary Club. And I said, Wayne, I need your help. Now there’s a writer downer right there. I need your help. I said, Wayne, I have now opened up my real estate investing business by referral only.
Jay Conner [00:14:53]:
To where I’m now paying insane high rates of return to people that are looking for high rates of return, and they’re not happy with, you know, what they’re getting in the local CD or whatever. What I need your help with, Wayne, is when you run across somebody who’s complaining about losing money in the stock market, or the volatility of the stock market, or not making good money with a certificate of deposit. Would you please refer them to me so I can tell them about my program? What do you think Wayne said? Wayne said, Well, now, brother Jay, what you got in mind? What kind of interest rate are you paying? And I said, Wayne, are you saying you might be interested? He said, Yeah. I might be interested. He says, we’re only making 3% in the local bank, and that’s what it was in 02/2009. Only making 3%. Do I now? What
Kate Barry [00:15:44]:
Do you think? That sounds great now.
Jay Conner [00:15:46]:
I know. So he said we’re only making 3% in the local bank, and the stock market’s all over the place. It’s volatile. He said, What kind of rate are you paying? I said, Well, Wayne, what sounds high to you? He says, well, we’re getting 3% of the bank. He said, I don’t know. Maybe 5% or 6%. And I said, Wayne, I can’t pay you 5% or 6%, but I can pay you 8%. He said, Put me down for $250,000.
Jay Conner [00:16:13]:
So the next day, I went to his and his wife’s home, and I explained the whole program, like, how they can get their money back early if they have an emergency, and the frequency of payments and all that, you know. And so that 250 quickly became 500,000. They always have more than they tell you. So, anyway, you notice in that short little story, I didn’t ask him if he wanted to invest with me. I asked for his help to spread the word. And by the way, Wayne and his wife for years referred a lot of people, other people, you know, to us to learn how they could take advantage of it as well. I mean, I didn’t ask him. I asked him for help.
Jay Conner [00:16:55]:
I asked him to help spread the word, but I didn’t ask him for money directly.
Kate Barry [00:16:59]:
And I love that you went to someone that you already know. I think a lot of us, especially if you’re new to real estate, you may feel a little awkward or embarrassed to talk to people who you know about real estate investing, but you already have a lot of years of deals under your belt. You know, you’re going into raising money with a lot of confidence in your market, in your systems, in your program. But I’m curious to know how it felt for you to be in an unknown market now. How are you able to promise? I’m sorry about that. Let me try this again. How are you able to promise or feel confident in the returns in a very volatile market? Can you dive a little bit deep into how you were doing that?
Jay Conner [00:17:44]:
Absolutely. So I felt confident then, and I feel confident today. Well, first of all, out of all these private lender loans that we’ve done, every private lender note, 100% of them have gotten paid 100% of the interest that was due to them. Now let’s be transparent. Do renovations when you’re flipping properties? Do renovations ever go over budget? Every time. They go over budget every time. It always costs more than you estimate repairs to be and etcetera. So here’s how everybody’s protected.
Jay Conner [00:18:19]:
You don’t wanna borrow, or at least I don’t, borrow more than 75% of the after-repaired value. Now I didn’t say 75% of the purchase price. Big difference. 75% of the after-repaired value. So that when that home is renovated, there’s a what I call a 25% equity cushion to give room for the market to be volatile in case prices start coming down to where if I have to reduce the price before it’s sold, well, I’m not gonna have to reduce it 25% if I just if I just bought it six months ago, you know, if I’m getting in and getting out. So that’s how we’re protecting our private lenders. And another quick example, then I’ll turn it back to you. If I’m borrowing money on anafter-repairedd value of 200,000, and I’m using small numbers because it makes for easy calculation.
Jay Conner [00:19:11]:
And if I’m not gonna borrow more than 75% of that 200,000, the after-repaired value, so I’ll borrow up to 50. But a home that’s needing a rehab or renovation, I buy them all the time, purchase price, at 50% or 40% of the after-repaired value. So if I bought that house for a hundred thousand dollars and I borrowed a hundred and 50, well, we get all the rehab money upfront. They wired the whole hundred and 50. Yep. To the closing agent. I’m bringing home a $50,000 check when I do that deal, but I’m using the majority of that money to renovate the house. Right. So, how is everybody protected? Well, the offer has that 25% cushion.
Jay Conner [00:19:57]:
In addition to that, we don’t borrow any unsecured funds. All of our private lenders get their promissory note. They get their deed of trust in North Carolina. Most people call it a mortgage. Mhmm. And that collateralizes the note. And so the bottom line is, if you are the borrower, here’s another rider downer. If you don’t pay them, the property does.
Jay Conner [00:20:18]:
Right? So they would get the property in case you fail to pay. We also name them on the insurance policy, the private lender, as a mortgagee, so that there’s a claim against that property, then the insurance company is gonna make that check payable to the private lender and your company. So we have multiple layers of protection protecting the private lender.
Kate Barry [00:20:41]:
Nice. That’s excellent. And what I’m hearing from you is that you have great systems in place. And, you know, when you have a deal, of course, it’s about the formula and the calculations we’re putting into the before and after. But something that a lot of investors don’t consider is the time, the turnaround time. You’ve gotta do it quickly. And to be able to do it quickly and efficiently, effectively, you’ve gotta have good systems in place. So, do you have a setup, your construction guys? Like, how are you making it happen in the real world?
Jay Conner [00:21:15]:
You’re exactly right, Kate. It does come down to your team. And we’ve just been so blessed to have a just a fantastic team. So, for example, in fact, our acquisitionist that talks to sellers, of course, course, we don’t buy any houses in the multiple listing service and haven’t for a long time. There’s no way.
Kate Barry [00:21:32]:
I’m doing it. Your deals from the start.
Jay Conner [00:21:34]:
Yeah. So we’re getting everything, you know, off-market for sale by owners. Yep. So I’ve got the same acquisitionist who talks to sellers. She’s been with us for eighteen years, talking to sellers. But in answer to your question, how do we get them done? So we have our crew. That’s a crew of six. And depending on the most of the time, it’s taken all six to work on a property.
Jay Conner [00:21:57]:
But if it’s a small property, which is cosmetic, we can divide that crew up. And then, in addition to that, I also work with two general contractors. Here in North Carolina, there’s a law. If you are, if you’re buying a house and you’re rehabbing it and renovating it for the purpose of selling it within the next twelve months, you have to be a general contractor or use a general contractor for that. And so I’ve worked with two other general contractors. So we can have about six houses going on simultaneously with the contractors and the crew that we have in place.
Kate Barry [00:22:33]:
Nice. That’s great.
Jay Conner [00:22:35]:
Oh, yeah. It’s fantastic. It wasn’t that way all the time.
Kate Barry [00:22:40]:
Sure. I’m sure. You know, 02/2009 to ‘2 ’20 ’20 ‘4, that’s been, you know, about thirteen, fourteen years. And so if you could kind of talk to yourself back then in 02/2009, or, you know, there’s a lot of our listeners who are new to real estate investing, wanna get started, wanna start a career. What advice would you give to yourself and or to those listening?
Jay Conner [00:23:02]:
Don’t start in this real estate investing world the way I did. Don’t Don’t start. Don’t do
Kate Barry [00:23:10]:
Don’t do it. Financial crisis.
Jay Conner [00:23:13]:
So what do I mean by that? You see, those first six years, when I was relying on the local bank. Mhmm. The only thing I mean, I was relying on my experience in the mobile home business, Mhmm. Which is different than this business. The only thing they had in common was that I was helping people own a home. Right? Right. But when you bought a mobile home, it came from the factory. So Right.
Jay Conner [00:23:41]:
So very, very different business. So all I did was read a few books and rely on my common sense and, you know, my experience. Not the way to go. So my advice is when you’re starting out, start out working with someone who has been through the minefield, that’s made very expensive mistakes that can help you as you’re starting, not making the mistakes. So I just wish I had gotten a mentor or a coach when I started. Working with somebody that and by the way, when you go to work with a mentor or coach, make sure they’re still in the business, and they’re not teaching not that they’re teaching you stuff that they used or knew ten years ago
Kate Barry [00:24:24]:
Because it doesn’t apply anymore.
Jay Conner [00:24:26]:
The way I was sourcing deals ten years ago doesn’t even vaguely look like the way I source deals today. So that’s my big piece of advice. And another piece of advice that sort of goes along with that is even after you get started, stay connected in a mastermind, for goodness, your local RIA, real estate investor association, stay connected with like-minded people that are doing what you are doing. I mean, don’t try to be out on an island by yourself, figuring this out. It’s so important to be connected. And by the way, don’t take advice from those real estate investor association members who just talk about deals and they ain’t never done a deal. Right?
Kate Barry [00:25:13]:
Yep. That’s
Jay Conner [00:25:13]:
Be careful who you get, be careful who you go to, and who you get your advice from.
Kate Barry [00:25:17]:
It’s true. You know, that because there’s so much advice out there right now, and real estate especially can be sold in this get-rich-quick way. You know, all you have to do. Right? I think every person I’ve talked to who is successful is that they knows how hard it is and how much work you have to put into it, to get to that level, the level that you’re performing at. And when yyou’retalking with someone like you, it does sound so easy because it’s just it, it. After all, it’s simple, it’s a simple concept, but the execution of it takes experience, takes guts. It takes a certain mindset. And, so I love your advice about joining a team, especially in surrounding yourself with people who are doing it. Because, like you said, you’re a teacher.
Kate Barry [00:26:02]:
You want and the way that you do more deals is by teaching others, because you can’t do deals if the people that you’re trying to raise money from don’t know what they’re getting into.
Jay Conner [00:26:14]:
Exactly. Exactly. By the way
Kate Barry [00:26:16]:
I’ve lost you the way.
Jay Conner [00:26:18]:
I want, did you say it was the Kitty sisters? Is that what it was on your show? What I want to meet, I wanna have them on my podcast. Perfect. Because they are one of the very few other people that I’ve ever heard say, because you repeated it, get the money lined up first. Kate, I know you’ve heard this, and it just drives me crazy. I mean, you’ve heard it, I know, a hundred times or maybe a thousand. You’ve got educators and people out there who are saying on their soapbox, Oh, just get the deal under contract. The money will show up. And I wanna go, where is the money gonna show up? Is it just, like, gonna rain out of clouds or something? You know?
Kate Barry [00:27:02]:
Yeah. The spark just drops it off. You know?
Jay Conner [00:27:05]:
I mean, it just drives me. I had a guest on my podcast, which is called Raising Private Money, by the way. Anyway Perfect. I had a guest on my podcast, I don’t know, a few months ago. And we were having this conversation about which one you should focus on first? Getting deals under contract or the money. And he is of the same mindset as we are. Let’s get the money lined up. There’s always gonna be deals.
Jay Conner [00:27:27]:
Always gonna be deals. And I said, Let me ask you a question. I said, Why in the world are other people out there saying, Oh, just get the deal under contract, and the money will show up. He said something I’d never heard before, and it makes total sense. He said, I can tell you why they say that. They say that because they’re selling a course on how to find deals and get them under contract.
Kate Barry [00:27:50]:
Right?
Jay Conner [00:27:52]:
I said, well, that makes sense.
Kate Barry [00:27:54]:
This should cycle. Right? You just, like, keep going around and around. There are so many folks who will spend. I’ve heard they’ve spent $10,000 on this program or this mindset mastermind learning how to get the deal. And it’s like, there will, of course, always be deals. But I think we touched upon a little bit. It’s about that turnaround time. And when you’re raising private money, you have cash available at your fingertips, so you can now make that deal happen faster. So you find the deal first, and now you put yourself in a forty-five-day financing contingency, or a ninety-day, or a hundred-day contingency to raise that money.
Kate Barry [00:28:33]:
That’s a lot of time passed, especially in real estate today. Things change so quickly, and you’ve gotta be nimble. Right? So that’s what I’m hearing from your strategy is when you have the cash, that’s quick, you can do the turnaround quickly. Now you can get to work, do that renovation, get it back on, and flip it.
Jay Conner [00:28:51]:
Absolutely. As you just said, time kills deals.
Kate Barry [00:28:56]:
All deals.
Jay Conner [00:28:57]:
The quicker, yeah. Time
Kate Barry [00:28:59]:
It does.
Jay Conner [00:28:59]:
The quicker you can close on that deal.
Kate Barry [00:29:04]:
So, Jay, we were just talking about your systems and how you’re such an effective well, you’re an effective capital raiser, but you’re also really effective at closing the deals and getting your investors their money back. And we were talking about how time is so critical in this process. So, can you bring us through a little bit the the timeline for starting to get a deal to finish? How long does it take?
Jay Conner [00:29:30]:
Sure. Well, as we were saying, when I said time kills deals, what I mean by that is, you know, the more time that goes by between talking to a seller, getting it under contract, and closing, the less likely that it will close. Here’s how I play that out. I have bought many houses, many houses where we would negotiate the deal, and the seller would say off-market, not in the multiple listing service. The seller would say, I don’t want to sell yet. I don’t wanna sell for two months, or I don’t wanna sell for three months. Well, how we go ahead and get that deal is, I’ll say, look. What if we go ahead and close now? I’ll give you half of your proceeds now so you can go ahead and have 50% of your cash.
Jay Conner [00:30:13]:
You can get the other 50% when you have moved, and I’ll let you stay in the house rent-free all during this time. And so we’ll get we’re able to close it. And so that’s an example of, I don’t want any more time to go by, you know, if I can make this deal. But in answer to your question, the timeline from start to finish, if I’m gonna be doing a rehab or renovation, by the way, when you’re gonna do a buy and hold or sell on rent to own, that’s called rent ovation, not run ovation. Right?
Kate Barry [00:30:44]:
Got
Jay Conner [00:30:44]:
It. But anyway, if you’re gonna be doing a flip and, you know, buy it, rehab it, renovate it, and then put it on the market to sell it, here in my local market, here’s the way it works. We we close on it, assuming the people have already vacated. Given we do, you know, we got, like, six houses going on simultaneously at any time on renovations, the house could sit there literally for two to three months, Mhmm. Before the rehab starts.
Kate Barry [00:31:15]:
Right.
Jay Conner [00:31:15]:
You know? Because the general contractors are finishing up other jobs, etcetera. So let’s say three months go by. Our average rehab right now, renovation, is gonna take two to three months. Mhmm.
Kate Barry [00:31:31]:
Something like
Jay Conner [00:31:31]:
That, depending on the extent. Because our average rehab is running, you know, right now, 40 to $60,000. Yeah. On the rehab.
Kate Barry [00:31:39]:
Yeah. That’s not too bad.
Jay Conner [00:31:40]:
Sits there for three months. We worked on it for three months. That’s six months, and then we get it staged. By the way, we are making a music video. And in addition to pictures for every one of our homes that we do
Kate Barry [00:31:53]:
Oh, interesting.
Jay Conner [00:31:54]:
That link drives interest. And another here’s another big tip, and I’ll finish the answer. But what we do when we put a house in the multiple listing service, we list it with our realtor under what’s called coming soon on a Monday. Coming soon, which, of course, means they can watch the music video on the multiple listing service. They can look at all the pictures.
Kate Barry [00:32:19]:
Yep. And I know.
Jay Conner [00:32:20]:
But they can’t get into the house.
Kate Barry [00:32:22]:
Right.
Jay Conner [00:32:23]:
Can’t get into the house. So then we go active on Friday of that week. And what what of course, I wanna do is I wanna build up demand and interest and have appointments set. The house we just put on the market a couple of Fridays ago, it went active on Friday, coming soon on Monday, active on Monday. By Sunday afternoon, we had 22 showings.
Kate Barry [00:32:44]:
Amazing. Amazing.
Jay Conner [00:32:46]:
Just doing it like that. Yeah. But anyway, back to answering your question. Buy the house, sit there three months maybe, start the rehab for six months, put it on the market. It could be six to seven months before we’re listing it in the multiple listing service. Closings typically are are gonna take no more than four weeks anymore these days. So we’re probably in and out on average seven months to nine months, maybe eight months.
Kate Barry [00:33:14]:
Yep. Perfect. And that’s why you’re you’re saying you’re doing about five deals a year, about?
Jay Conner [00:33:19]:
30.
Kate Barry [00:33:19]:
- 30. Yeah. Six at one time. That’s what you were saying.
Jay Conner [00:33:22]:
That’s right. Yeah. So we’ll do, like, two to three a month.
Kate Barry [00:33:25]:
Yeah. Oh, perfect. I love that you are you have such great systems around your time. And I think something else to note when we’re talking about renovation, timelines, a lot of investors leverage their improvement the reduce the renovation costs. So they’re if they’re especially if they’re using hard money. Right? So every month that you have loans to pay off for these renovations cost is eating into your profit at the end. But you skip that whole process because you’re buying them in cash, so you don’t have the same carrying costs that necessarily someone who’s using leverage is going to have.
Jay Conner [00:34:02]:
Exactly. Like with private money, there are no origination fees. There’s no point.
Kate Barry [00:34:07]:
Right.
Jay Conner [00:34:08]:
There are no extension fees. I mean, the private lenders don’t want the money back if you’re you know? And so I’m not under the gun. Again, like we talked about earlier in the show, we make the rules. You know? The lenders aren’t making the rules. It puts you in the driver’s seat of your business and gives you just so much more control.
Kate Barry [00:34:28]:
Absolutely. It seems to me, too, that this is the way to do flips because I’ve seen a lot of investors talking about the BRRR method or, you know, buying something using all other people’s money in terms of leverage or hard money. In this scenario, you are using other people’s money, but you’re using it in a cash way to make the e make it an easy transaction and also a quick turnaround, which is protecting your profits. That’s why you can that way, you have that 25% equity, kind of almost guaranteed to make sure your investors stay happy. So now you’ve got happy investors. You have happy sellers and clients because you’re now producing a track record. You’re turning around everything that you’re doing, and it just all creates that great momentum.
Jay Conner [00:35:15]:
That’s it. That’s it. And I did not know all this when I started.
Kate Barry [00:35:20]:
Right.
Jay Conner [00:35:22]:
But that makes a good point. Don’t wait until you know it all, because guess what? You’re never gonna know it all. I keep learning every day, every week.
Kate Barry [00:35:33]:
That’s right. So let’s bring it back full circle. What are you looking towards next? Are you just or have you feel do you feel like you’ve perfected your system and you’re you’re you’re going this path now? Or how do you view the current real estate market? Do you anticipate any trends? Do you have to be a little nimble right now? Or what’s going on with your world today?
Jay Conner [00:35:52]:
Well, you know, as things go, I like it when things tighten up because it gets rid of those who don’t know what they’re doing.
Kate Barry [00:36:00]:
True. Yes. Absolutely. It clears the deck. Clears the playing field. Right?
Jay Conner [00:36:06]:
That’s right. You know, when I went through the 02/2009 thing that I shared earlier, I mean, that that cleared the deck quite a bit, you know. And it would’ve cleared my deck. Right. Yeah. We always have a choice. We always have a choice. And I could’ve gone to the house and said, I’ve lost my line of credit at the bank.
Jay Conner [00:36:27]:
Oh, well. Can’t get deals funded anymore. So that right there is probably one characteristic of successful real estate investors, and that is resiliency. Absolutely. Resiliency. Because, as you very well know, Kate, if it can go wrong, it’s gonna go wrong. Right? So that’s another big reason to surround yourself with people who know what they’re doing, what you’re doing, because that’s what I did. I reached out to my friend, Jeff, and I said, You know, what am I going to do?
Kate Barry [00:36:59]:
What do I do?
Jay Conner [00:37:01]:
And there’s a lot of value in admitting and taking action on when you need help. Absolutely. But what’s next for me? I’m just so passionate these days about being on a mission to share my knowledge and my experience on raising private money with as many real estate investors as I can. My wife, Carol Joy, and I, we we’re we’re traveling quite a bit right now, speaking to real estate investing groups. It’s a week from Monday. I am doing a Zoom presentation to two of the largest real estate investing associations in the nation. And so that’s really what I mean, the business we’ve got, the real estate investing business, I’m in it less than ten hours a week because of the amazing team that we have in place. Nice. Which allows me to really go for my passion now, and that’s making a difference in other people’s lives, giving back, and making an impact.
Kate Barry [00:37:58]:
That’s fantastic. I love that. I think that’s great for our listeners to hear, too. There, I think those who are most successful are the most willing to share how they became successful, and they want to. It’s almost like people want to share so badly. You know, for anyone listening, that’s new and wants to learn how to start doing this, reach out to Jay. We’re gonna have your link in our show notes, and you’ve got a book that I’d love to hear more about.
Jay Conner [00:38:26]:
Absolutely. So I finally, I mean, it was painful. It was painful. But anyway, I finally finished my book. It’s a bestseller on Amazon. It’s $20 on Amazon, but your listeners, Kate, get my book for free. It just covers shipping. And it’s not an ebook.
Jay Conner [00:38:43]:
It’s like a book. Believe it or not, the postal service is still in business. Mhmm. But, anyway, the book is called Where to Get the Money Now. Subtitle: How and where to get money for your real estate deals without relying on hard money lenders or institutional money. And the link to get the book, I’ll autograph it, we’ll priority mail it, three-day priority, is Jay Conner, jayconn er, dot com forward slash book. So I’m a e r, not a o r. So jayc0nner.com/book.
Jay Conner [00:39:19]:
And, also, I invite your audience to come over and check out my podcast, which is titled Raising Private Money. So all you do is just type in your favorite podcast platform, Raising Private Money. You don’t even have to put my name in there, but the actual name is Raising Private Money with Jay Conner. I have amazing guests on there. Talk about how they’ve raised private money. For sure, I wanna have those kitty sisters.
Kate Barry [00:39:45]:
Yes. Absolutely. Yes. Oh my gosh. I can’t wait to connect with you after this episode. They were in the episode right before this. So, anyone that’s listening, listen to the episode right before. We’re going back to let’s have the mindset of raising the money first, and then finding the deal.
Kate Barry [00:40:01]:
Build the relationships first, build your systems first, and get the experience you need so that you’re credible. You know, join the team, start teaching yourself. Like, I love that you said in the beginning, you taught yourself. You went out and found the books on how to do this. There is You have written a book on how to do this. Did you know? It’s a to do step by step guide on how to raise private money, and I can’t wait to get my copy. So thank you so much, Jay, for joining us today, and I hope to have you on again soon.
Jay Conner [00:40:33]:
Awesome. Kate, thank you so much. God bless you.
Kate Barry [00:40:35]:
You’re welcome. Thank you. And thank you, listeners. This is the Real Estate Investing Podcast from failures to fortunes. I’m Kate Barry, your host, and we will see you next time.
Kate Barry [00:40:46]:
Thank you for joining us on another episode of the Real Estate Investing Failures to Fortunes podcast. If you enjoyed today’s stories and insights, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review. Your feedback means the world to us. Remember, your journey in real estate is a marathon, not a sprint. Embrace the failures, learn from them, and turn them into your stepping stones to success. I’m Kate Barry. And until next time, keep hustling, stay inspired, and keep turning those failures into fortunes. Happy investing.
Narrator [00:41:28]:
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.