***Guest Appearance
Credits to:
https://www.youtube.com/@whynotre
“Why Not? Real Estate Podcast – Jay Conner”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cjoUrmu89c
If you’re a real estate investor or aspiring to become one, you know the age-old challenge: finding the funds to finance your deals. The traditional route—knocking on the doors of banks and hard money lenders—is fraught with red tape, credit checks, rigid terms, and, occasionally, heartbreak. But what if there was another way to secure capital that gives you more control, flexibility, and freedom to scale your business? Enter private money—a method that Jay Conner, known as the “Private Money Authority,” has mastered over 20 years and more than 475 deals.
Recently, Jay Conner sat down with Brian Lucier on the “Why Not Real Estate” podcast to share his journey from the mobile home industry to building a seven-figure real estate business and becoming a private money evangelist. Here are some of the most impactful takeaways from their lively conversation.
From Mobile Homes to Real Estate Mogul
Jay’s entry into real estate wasn’t by accident. Raised by a developer father, he was surrounded by conversations about business, finance, and property development from a young age. By 12, Jay was already helping vet credit histories for home buyers—a skill set that would serve him well later. But when the mobile home industry’s financing dried up in the early 2000s, Jay pivoted decisively into real estate flipping.
Inspired by friends who successfully made $30,000 in their first flip, Jay realized the potential gains in single-family housing were far greater than the margins he was chasing in manufactured housing.
The Game-Changing Crisis of 2009
For the first six years of his real estate career, Jay did what most investors do: he went to the bank, pleaded for loans, and built his operations around institutional funding. All that came to a halt in January 2009, when his bank cut off his lines of credit—a scenario painfully familiar to many seasoned investors.
But instead of packing it in, Jay saw this crisis as his catalyst. “Who do I know that can help me fix this problem?” he asked himself. That led him to discover the world of private money—ordinary individuals looking for secure and solid returns outside of Wall Street. In 90 days, Jay raised over $2 million in private capital and never looked back.
What is Private Money?
Unlike hard money or bank loans, private money comes from individuals—often within your existing network—who want to invest their capital for stable, attractive returns. Instead of you chasing the lender’s criteria, you set the rules: interest rates, terms, and how deals are structured. And because it’s relationship-driven, private money fosters trust and repeat business.
Jay emphasizes that raising private money isn’t about asking for a handout or “pitching” a deal in desperation. It’s about education—teaching friends, colleagues, and acquaintances about safe, asset-backed opportunities where everyone wins.
Key Lessons for Investors
- Have Multiple Exit Strategies: Jay’s first piece of hard-earned advice is never to rely on a single exit plan. Whether you’re flipping or holding for rental, know your numbers and have options. If you get stuck with a property, you need a plan B (or C).
- Build Relationships, Not Just Transactions: Success in private money is built on trust. Teach potential lenders the value of your opportunity and let them choose to participate.
- Automate and Systematize: Jay has automated his business to run in less than 10 hours a week. The secret? Focus on what you do best, delegate, and trust your team and systems.
- Always Be Learning: Whether you’re a newcomer or a veteran, seek mentors who’ve made mistakes and kept going. Read widely and invest in your personal growth.
Conclusion
Jay Conner’s story is living proof that the biggest obstacles in real estate investing can become turning points to greater success—if you know how to access funding creatively. By embracing private money, you put yourself in the driver’s seat, unlock more opportunities, and, best of all, build lasting relationships that benefit everyone involved.
Ready to start your journey? As Jay says, the most dangerous number in business is “one”—one lender, one deal, one exit strategy. Diversify, educate, and take action. A world of opportunities awaits!
10 Discussion Questions from this Episode:
- Jay Conner emphasized the importance of having multiple exit strategies when investing in real estate. Why do you think relying on a single exit strategy is risky, and how can having a plan B or C protect an investor?
- The shift from relying on banks to raising private money was a turning point in Jay’s career. What are the main advantages of using private money versus traditional bank loans or hard money lenders?
- Jay describes how he introduces private lending opportunities to his network without ever “pitching” a deal or asking for money. What aspects of his approach do you find most effective or surprising?
- Both guests discussed the importance of cash flow analysis—even on properties intended for a quick flip. How can running the rental numbers in advance benefit an investor, and have you had personal experiences with this?
- Mentorship played a significant role in Jay’s success. What qualities did he highlight as essential when choosing a mentor, and how has mentorship (or the lack thereof) impacted your own investing journey?
- Jay shared the story of his biggest recent deal—an oceanfront condo deal netting $160,000 in about two months. What key systems or relationships does he attribute to making deals like this possible?
- The concept of “dictate, delegate, disappear, and automate” is central to Jay’s business model. How do you feel about delegating tasks, and what are the biggest challenges in giving up control as an entrepreneur?
- Both Jay and Brian talk about the value of “leading with a servant’s heart” and giving back to others. In what ways do you think service-mindedness contributes to long-term success in real estate?
- Jay mentioned the psychological concept of “loss aversion” and how fear of loss can be a stronger motivator than the desire for gain. How can real estate investors use this understanding to make better decisions or motivate themselves?
- After listening to Jay’s advice for new investors—including getting a coach and focusing on first-time homebuyer price points—what steps do you think are most crucial for someone just starting in real estate today?
Fun facts that were revealed in the episode:
- Jay Conner started learning about financing at age 12
Jay got his first taste of the finance world as a kid, working summers in his dad’s mobile home business, making credit approval calls before his voice had even changed! - Jay raised over $2 million in private money in just 90 days.
When traditional bank loans dried up in 2009, Jay pivoted quickly and raised $2.15 million from private individuals in less than three months—without ever asking anyone directly for money. - Jay’s most impressive recent deal netted $160,000 in about two months.
He purchased an oceanfront condo in Atlantic Beach, NC, for $425,000, fixed it up for just $11,000, and sold it for $615,000—making a six-figure profit thanks to private money lending and some creative marketing!
Timestamps:
00:01 Real Estate Insights with Brian Luce and Jay Conner
08:21 Quick Flip Profit: $30K in 90 Days
13:58 Real Estate Influences Beyond Dad?
17:09 Questioning Entrepreneurial Drive
22:53 Funding Deals without Pitches
30:23 Note Length Based on Funding Source
36:53 Reflecting on 22 Years in Real Estate
38:06 Multiple Real Estate Exit Strategies
48:24 Focus on First-Time Buyer Market
50:45 Inherited Property Sold Online
55:58 Real Estate Success Essentials
01:00:33 AI-Powered Home Distress Finding
01:06:15 Expanding Impact Through Podcasting
01:11:47 Private Money Conference Overview
https://www.ThePrivateMoneyConference.com
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
The Power of Servant Leadership and Private Money in Real Estate Investing
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 to raise 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.
Brian Lucier [00:00:30]:
Welcome to the Why Not Real Estate podcast, where you will learn top strategies from world-class real estate investors, both large and small. Why not tune in and get started today?
Jay Conner [00:00:44]:
Before you invest in any single-family residences or condos or whatever, even if you intend to flip it, even if you intend to flip the property, fix it up, sell it, make a profit, run the numbers on what you can rent that property out for in case you get stuck with it. And what’s the cash flow? What’s the cash flow between what you can rent it out for versus the underlying debt? And is that a negative? Is that a positive? And the advice is you need more than one exit strategy. You need a plan B, you need a plan C, you need a plan D, because the most dangerous number in any business is the number one. Whether that’s one lender, one general contractor, or one exit strategy.
Brian Lucier [00:01:56]:
Hey, what’s up, all of my real estate peeps? This is Brian Luce, here with another episode of the Why Not Real Estate podcast, where we interviewed seasoned professionals, sometimes beginners, sometimes billionaires, and everywhere in between, where we believe from this platform, investing in multifamily real estate is one of the best asset classes in real estate. However, I have been lessening up and learned a little bit on a few of my shows, and everybody always has something different to offer, and I learn things on every show. So today I’ve got something really interesting for you. This gentleman, I’ve gone through his website and read his bio, and I can’t wait to get into his story because he had a hurdle he had to get over, and I think at the end of this, you’re really going to enjoy his story. So our guest today has been buying and selling houses since 23, 2003, in a town with only 40,000 people, now with profits averaging $78,000 a deal. So that’s a pretty niche market. He has rehabbed over 475 houses and been involved in over $118 million worth of transactions. He’s completely automated his seven-figure income business to the point where he works in his business, buying and selling houses, for less than 10 hours a week.
Brian Lucier [00:03:26]:
Pretty impressive. His passion is motivating and teaching other real estate investors how to raise private money without ever having to ask for money. As a result, our Guest has consulted with one of over 2,000 real estate investors. When he lost his line of credit with the banks in 2009, he had to get creative and raised $2.15 million in less than 90 days from private money when funding was cut off from the financial institutional lenders. Our guest today has also grown into a commercial developer of shopping centers and condominium communities. He’s known as a national speaker on the topics of private money, foreclosures, automation of the operations of your business, and prefers personal development. In addition, our guest is a two-time national best-selling author and a past president of BNI. That’s the Business Networking International today.
Brian Lucier [00:04:37]:
He and his wife, Carol Joy, reside in Morehead City, North Carolina. Ladies and gentlemen, all of my real estate peeps and rock stars, it is my pleasure to welcome to the show today, rising private money mogul and real estate entrepreneur, Mr. Jay Conner. Jay, welcome to the show.
Jay Conner [00:04:58]:
Brian, thank you so much for an amazing introduction, and I’m so excited to be here with you today because we’re going to be talking about what I’m so excited about, and that is private money. The reason I’m so passionate about private money is that since I started raising private money without ever asking for Money back in 2009, I’ve never missed out on a deal for not having the money, and that’s why I’m so passionate about it. There’s nothing else in our real estate investing business that has rocked our world in business more than using and doing business with private lenders.
Brian Lucier [00:05:39]:
100% spot on. In my past, in my history, there were three years in a row where we had purchased $1 million worth of property without using our money. We did it all through private money. So I know a little bit about this, but you’re the mogul. So we’re going to get started in here, and if it’s okay, I’d like to fire off the first.
Jay Conner [00:06:04]:
Absolutely. As my granddaddy would say if he were living. Let her fly, let her fly.
Brian Lucier [00:06:09]:
Well, here it comes. I’m going to throw it over the plate. So we know where you are now. But what was your life like, and what did you do before getting into real estate?
Jay Conner [00:06:20]:
Well, I was raised in a family. My dad, Wallace Conner, is 91 and a half years old now, and he wants to make sure you know about that half. 91 and a half. But what a driven dad. I’ve got him right now, slap dab in the middle of a brand new subdivision, 350 new homes that he is the developer of building out. But I was raised around my dad growing up in what’s called the mobile home business, manufactured housing. Way back decades ago, they called them wobbly boxes and trailers. But anyway, mobile homes, manufactured housing.
Jay Conner [00:06:59]:
At one time, my dad’s company was the largest retailer of mobile homes and manufactured homes in the nation. So I grew up in an environment of helping people own a home, classified as affordable housing. Affordable housing. And so, unfortunately, in the early 2000s, most of the consumer financing for that product went away. The whole industry fell out of favor with Wall Street. No money for the consumer to finance mobile homes or manufactured housing. So I knew, Brian, if I ever got out of mobile homes and manufactured housing, I wanted to get into flipping houses. And this was before HGTV even being thought about, because I started in 2003.
Jay Conner [00:07:51]:
Right. We’re talking about over 22 years ago when I started. And here’s the reason, Brian, why I wanted to get into real Estate in 1993, 10 years before I started. My wife Carol, Joy, and I have really, really good friends in New Bern. Craig and Kim are their names, and we’re still best of friends today. In 1993, they wanted to build their house. Well, they didn’t have the money to build it. They didn’t have money for a down payment or whatever.
Jay Conner [00:08:21]:
Well, Kim’s daddy was living down in Florida at the time, and he was a real estate investor. He says, I tell you what, Craig and Kim, I’ll come up to New Bern, North Carolina, we’ll find a fixer-upper. He said, I’ll buy it. You all do the sweat equity on the nights and the weekends, and we’ll make it absolutely beautiful, we’ll sell it, and you keep the profit for your new house. You want to do it in less than 90 days, Brian. They pocketed $30,000 in less than 90 days. And I said, wait a minute, you know, I was still doing mobile homes at that time. I was trying to make $3,000 on a single-wide mobile home. And they made 30,000 in less than 90 days on this one little flipper.
Jay Conner [00:09:05]:
I said, if I ever get out of mobile homes, I know what I want to do. Well, the opportunity came along in 2003. We closed down the mobile home, the manufactured housing company. Here was my opportunity to begin my flipping business of single-family houses. And so that’s when I started in 2003. And you know what’s funny, Brian? Those first six years, from 2003 until 2009, January 2009, to be exact, Brian. The only thing I knew to do to get my deals funded was go to the local bank or mortgage company, get on my hands and knees, put my hands underneath my chin, and say, Please fund my deal. Please fund my deal.
Jay Conner [00:09:49]:
And, you know, the banker would make me pull up my skirt and show all my personal assets and my financial statements and pull my credit score. That worked out okay, Brian. Okay, the first six years from 2003 to January 2009. But then in January 2009, everything changed when I called up my banker to get two of my deals funded. That’s when this whole world of private money started.
Brian Lucier [00:10:22]:
Wow. So you mentioned your dad. I did not know his history. And he’s 91 and a half, God bless him. My mother just turned 92, and her boyfriend’s 93.
Jay Conner [00:10:33]:
So I love it.
Brian Lucier [00:10:36]:
I love it. And they’re Irish twins. They’re less than a week apart. They dated when they were high school kids before my mother met my father. So now life has a funny twist for them. But let’s get back to your dad here. So he was a developer. So I’m imagining when you grew up, the conversations you were having at the dinner table were not the same.
Brian Lucier [00:11:02]:
What I call normal people would be happy at the dinner table. And I want to qualify that because normal people, you know, money sometimes is a taboo subject. You don’t talk about money because, you know, it’s embarrassing. If you have money, you don’t want to talk about it because, you know, people think you’re bragging; if you don’t have money, it’s embarrassing. So it’s just not a conversation a lot of people have at the dinner table. My dad was a builder. Our dinner conversations were different. So tell me a little bit about that.
Brian Lucier [00:11:34]:
I mean, you were probably exposed to this at a very young age.
Jay Conner [00:11:38]:
Oh, very young age. I had no more summers off from school when I was 12 years old. And I’m not complaining because I got experience that still serves me today. My dad had an acceptance corporation, which means his company was vertically integrated. He manufactured them, he sold them, he insured them, and he financed them. So how did he finance them? Well, he would finance them on his own in-house paper. And that acceptance corporation would then pull that paper together and sell that paper to Wall Street. That’s.
Jay Conner [00:12:18]:
So that was. That was his acceptance corporation. So when I was 12 years old. I sat between Harry Moore and Al Jones, mentors of mine who were working for Dad, and so I was in the credit department, and I was calling up people wanting to finance a mobile home. I was verifying employment, I was verifying the, calling the landlord, how did they pay the rent? You see, this is before having credit scores and Equifax and Transunion and Experian and all that. It was all over the phone. And we had this little handwritten sheet.
Jay Conner [00:12:56]:
That CIT, which was a bank out of New York, that CIT put together was a 25-point score. You got so many points based on how long you were at your current address. You get so many points if your landlord says you paid your rent on time. You got so many points based on how long you had been at your current employer. And when you added all that up, if you got 25 points or more, you were approved.
Brian Lucier [00:13:24]:
You were doing this at 12 years old.
Jay Conner [00:13:26]:
I was doing this at 12 years old. That’s right. Now the downside of that is that I’m calling and I’m verifying employment, or I’m talking to the local furniture store to see if they’re making their furniture payments on time. The only problem was that they said, Sure, I’ll be right back. Yes, ma’am, I’ll be right back. My voice hadn’t changed. They thought I was talking to them. They thought they were talking to some lady.
Jay Conner [00:13:51]:
I’m a 12-year-old kid, you know, with. My voice hadn’t changed yet. But it was a fantastic experience.
Brian Lucier [00:13:58]:
Hey, if they’ll give you the information and the bank’s going to lift your skirt anyway, let them think you’re a woman, right? Whatever, right? As long as you’re getting the job done and you were hitting your numbers, however you had to do it. So dinner table discussions. Dad, developer, he’s got this vertical man. All I can think of is like Elon Musk putting all the parts of his own business together. That’s pretty exciting. And I’m sure we could go down that rabbit hole, but I want to, I want to take another path here. Were there other influences other than your dad while you were growing up that maybe steered you towards real estate?
Jay Conner [00:14:39]:
No, Dad was it for real estate. Now, my granddaddy, my father, my grandfather on my mother’s side, he was my spiritual mentor, which really grounded me. I’m not saying my dad was not a spiritual guy, but I mean, his focus was business, business, business, business. And I mean, he was in New York all the time, Washington D.C. all the time, you know, building his business. So I spent a lot of time on the weekends with my granddaddy because he only lived out in the country, you know, three miles out in the country from our little town. And so I just got a. I just got a wonderful balance.
Jay Conner [00:15:19]:
I got. I got a spiritual foundation. I was by example, I noticed, well, why is my granddaddy doing everything he’s doing? It was all about service, all about leading with a servant’s heart. I never heard him raise his voice, never heard him use a curse word in his life. And then I got my dad, you know, showing me the ropes on business. And, I mean, I just can’t put a value on the communication skills that I have. I mean, because dad. I mean, he had his own, you know, personal plane.
Jay Conner [00:15:53]:
He put me on the plane, and I flew with him up to New York and sat in the conference rooms and kept my mouth shut, but just observing how people negotiated and interacted with each other. And my dad really taught me how to be the best listener in the world because he listens 10 times as much as he speaks. And so my environment. I’m so blessed to have the environment that I grew up in.
Brian Lucier [00:16:26]:
Now I want to be quiet and listen.
Jay Conner [00:16:30]:
Well, you gotta ask the question, though.
Brian Lucier [00:16:32]:
Yes, I do. I do get asked the question. So you mentioned grandpa never used a curse word. And my father was a developer or builder. And the Frenchmen use a few curse words. I’ve heard a few. Especially if they hit their thumb right with the nail.
Jay Conner [00:16:50]:
Right.
Brian Lucier [00:16:52]:
Okay, so that’s pretty interesting. And I’m glad that you brought out the two aspects of that. You were getting fed your business knowledge, practically a master’s class in business, as a teenager. And then, you know, your moral grounding to do business.
Jay Conner [00:17:09]:
Well, yes, because, you know, it’s because of that exposure when I was growing up. I can answer the question. Why am I doing all this stuff I’m doing, you know, as an entrepreneur? If you’ve been a solopreneur or an entrepreneur, heavily driven, you have asked yourself the question more than once. Why am I busting my butt? As hard as I’m busting my butt, why am I doing this? You know, Brian, it reminds me, I was riding down the road recently with a dear friend of mine, and we go to church together. He says. He says, Jay, I want to ask you a question. I said, Okay, what’s that? He said, Why are you doing all you’re doing? He said, You know, and I know you don’t have to be, you know, traveling the nation, you know, teaching other real estate investors how to get all this private money for their deals. You don’t have to be working all that much.
Jay Conner [00:18:10]:
He says. He says, How do you reconcile what the Apostle Paul said to be content with whatever station you are in life? How do you reconcile that? And I said, I’m not sure I understand your question. Can you ask me that in a different way? He said, Yeah, when is enough enough? I said, Oh, now I understand the question. I said, Here’s the answer. Enough is never enough when it’s not about you.
Brian Lucier [00:18:43]:
To hit Apostle Paul. Okay, so when would he stop evangelizing?
Jay Conner [00:18:50]:
Exactly. That was his purpose.
Brian Lucier [00:18:53]:
Right. So you are a hard money evangelist.
Jay Conner [00:19:01]:
Yeah, I go about teaching people what this world of private money is all about. And I’m glad you used the word hard money, Brian, because I want to make a distinction here. Yes, because in today’s marketplace, a lot of real estate investors think hard money is synonymous with private money, and it isn’t. And the reason they think it’s synonymous is because a lot of hard money lenders out there these days call themselves private money lenders. Now, by the way, I’m not poo pooing hard money lenders. Some of my best friends are hard money lenders. In fact, they actually use my techniques to raise more private money investments for their hard money lending pool. So, a hard money lender is typically a broker that has gone out and raised money for their fund that they then, in turn, loan out to real estate investors.
Jay Conner [00:19:53]:
In contrast to that, in this world of private money, private money is an individual, a human being, just like you and me, who loans money out and invests in your deals. And so it’s a one-on-one transaction between you, the real estate investor or borrower, and that individual, the private money lender. So in my world of private money, we’re not borrowing. You know, hard money is still institutional. That’s still institutional money. In this world of private lenders and individuals. And there are 20 distinctions. There are 20 reasons why I love private money over any kind of institutional money.
Jay Conner [00:20:29]:
But the biggest one, the biggest difference, you know, I said for years I’d go to the local bank, get on my hands and knees. That’s because when I was borrowing money from the bank, the institution made the rules. That’s what everybody thinks. The way it works is whoever’s got the money lending it, they set the interest rate, they set the term, they set the frequency of payments, all that. But now over here in this world of private money, the opposite is true. You see, instead of asking for a mortgage or applying for a mortgage, I’m offering the opportunity. You see, I’ve got 47 private lenders that are now funding our real estate deals. Most of what we do today is single-family houses.
Jay Conner [00:21:15]:
But if you’re into multifamily, which Brian talks a whole lot about, it’s all the same money. We just. You just structure the deal differently. But I got 47 private lenders. You know what’s interesting? Not one of my private lenders ever heard of private money or self-directed IRAs and how they can use retirement funds to invest in our deals. Until I did something. What did I do? I put on my teacher hat, my private money teacher hat. And I just went about teaching people initially in my own network, people I go to church with, and what private money is, and how they can earn high rates of return safely and securely without having a deal attached to it.
Jay Conner [00:22:02]:
Here is a writer downer. Desperation has got a smell to it. In other words, if you’re teaching and exposing someone to this world of private money, and in the same initial conversation, you talk about a deal that you need funded, you’re already sounding desperate without even trying to sound desperate. I mean, the worst time to raise private money for real estate is when you need it for a deal. That’s why here’s the secret sauce. We separate conversations. This is critical, you see, this is how you never ask for money. You separate conversations between teaching people what this world is all about, and how they can earn high rates of return safely and securely, and how they’re protected.
Jay Conner [00:22:53]:
And then once they say, Heyy, I like that. I like that program. And they learn about self-directed IRAs, and they say, Hey, I like that. Then what do I do? I say, I will put your money to work for you just as soon as possible. So, Brian, if you would allow me to take about 60 seconds and do just a little role play with you, I’m going to share with you and your audience how I get my deals funded without ever asking for money and without ever pitching a deal. I’ve never pitched a deal in my life since I started using private money. So I want to share with you and your audience the script. Here’s the exact script on how I get every deal funded without ever asking for money. So here we go.
Jay Conner [00:23:40]:
So, Brian, let’s hypothetically assume, for the sake of sharing this, that you and I have been friends for a while. We know each other. You trust me. You like me. I like you. I trust you. You know, we go to church together, we play golf every week, whatever. We’ve known each other for a while.
Jay Conner [00:24:01]:
And then let’s also assume that I shared with you this opportunity of private lending. I call it the private lending program opportunity. And you like it. I’ve been paying 8% since 2009, no points. You love it because you’re losing money in the stock market, and you only get 3% on a CD at the local bank. So you like my program. And let’s also assume in this example, let’s just assume hypothetically that you have or you had a 401 (k) with a previous employer, and now you’re not with that employer anymore, but that 401 (k) is still over there in the stock market, and you’re losing money. And so I told you about the program.
Jay Conner [00:24:43]:
So let’s also assume I introduced you to the Self-Directed IRA company that I recommend as your third-party custodian of that money. And you’ve moved that 100. And let’s say you had 150,000, you’ve moved that 150,000 over to the Self-Directed IRA company. They’re going to be your custodian, but you’re truly going to self-direct it. And now the money’s moved over. It took a couple of weeks to get moved over, and now you are waiting for the good news phone call because I told you I’m going to put your money to work for you just as soon as possible. So a week or two goes by, I call you up, you pick up the phone, we have a little chit chat, and here’s the script. Brian, I have got great news.
Jay Conner [00:25:31]:
I can now put your money to work. I’ve got a house under contract in Newport, North Carolina, adjacent to Morehead City. And the after-repaired value is $200,000. Now the funding required for the deal is 150,000. That matches up to what you’ve got. Closing is going to be next Friday, so I’m going to need you to wire your funds from your self-directed IRA company to my real estate attorney’s trust account. I’m going to have my real estate attorney email you the wiring instructions. That’s the end of the conversation.
Jay Conner [00:26:07]:
Now let’s unpack. Brian is ecstatic to receive this phone call and can’t wait to wire these funds. By the way, if I ask Brian, Do you want to do the deal? That’s the most stupid question in the world. I got to ask him. Of course, he wants to do the deal. He’s been waiting for this good news phone call. So there are three reasons why Brian can’t wait to wire this $150,000 to my real estate attorney’s trust account. Number one, he trusted me to move the money.
Jay Conner [00:26:43]:
He’s moved. He’s already moved his money to the self-directed IRA company. So that relationship. So obviously, he wouldn’t have moved the money unless he loves the program, right? So he’s moved the money. He’s not making any money until I put his money to work. He’s counting on me to put his money to work. That’s why he moved the money over there. Right.
Jay Conner [00:27:12]:
And in addition to that, Brian knows I’m not going to bring any deal for him to fund unless it matches the criteria of the program that I already taught him. He already knows the interest rate is 8%. He already knows how often he’s going to get payments because that depends on the private lender. Some need it monthly, some need it quarterly. He already knows I’m not going to borrow more than 75% of the after-repaired value. In the example, it’s 200,000 after the repaired value, and he’s going to fund 150,000. That’s 75% of the after-repaired value. He knows I’m not bringing any deal for him to fund unless it matches the criteria of the program.
Jay Conner [00:27:52]:
And so he’s been waiting for the phone call for the last week or two. And now it’s a breath of fresh air. I can finally start making money on my money because Jay is putting my money to work. So the main thing there is that there’s no pitching. And you taught them about it, you exposed them to this, and now they are looking to you as the expert to follow through and put their money to work.
Brian Lucier [00:28:27]:
So far, so good. Is that number one?
Jay Conner [00:28:31]:
Number one of 20?
Brian Lucier [00:28:33]:
Well, you said there are three reasons.
Jay Conner [00:28:36]:
Oh, the three reasons. Okay, here are the three reasons why you, in this example, want to do it. You want to do it. Number one, because you trust me, you’ve already moved the money over. That’s number one. You trust me, and you like the program. Number two, you’re not making any money yet. You’re not making any money.
Jay Conner [00:28:59]:
So you’re highly motivated to start making some money. Right? And number three, you know I’m not going to bring a deal for you to fund unless it matches the criteria of the underwriting program that I already taught you. So those are the three reasons. And I mean, you know, one thing I had to get my mind wrapped around, Brian, when I started attracting private money without ever asking for it is that look, there’s no application. You, as the borrower, are already approved. There’s no application. I mean, when the private lender wires the funds, you’re approved.
Brian Lucier [00:29:43]:
Right.
Jay Conner [00:29:43]:
So, and underwriting you, I mean, talk about owning the real estate first between your ears. You are your own underwriter. You underwrite every deal you do by following the program that you already taught to your private lender. So it’s a 180-degree shift. Instead of asking for a mortgage, you’re offering it.
Brian Lucier [00:30:10]:
So these might be a few operational details, but I’ve got an inquisitive mind. So this note, who knows, like is it a 3, 6912 month note?
Jay Conner [00:30:23]:
Good question. So the length of a note depends on where the money’s coming from. So if the money’s just coming from investment capital, liquid capital from your private money lender, then we’ll make the length of the note two years. Typically, not going to use it that long, but we do. If it’s coming from retirement funds, we’ll just go and set it up for five years. If I sell it on terms and help the buyer get into credit repair and all that. And the only reason we do it for five years is that that money’s not coming back to them personally. Their interest and their returns are going straight into their self-directed IRA account, their retirement.
Jay Conner [00:31:05]:
So they don’t want the money back anyway. And truth be told, the people who have the investment capital don’t want the money back either. I mean, it’s so fun,y Brian. I’ll go to pay off a new private lender because I finished the debt, and invariably they say Can’t you just keep the money? And the answer is no, I can’t keep the money unless I’ve got real estate to secure your note because I’m not borrowing unsecured money. All these notes are being collateralized and backed by the real estate that we are investing in.
Brian Lucier [00:31:41]:
Perfect. So now I have more questions on the two-year note. 8% of 150. Ballpark 24,000. The five-year note. Ballpark 60K. Who wouldn’t do that? Why not? Right?
Jay Conner [00:31:59]:
Right. Exactly. Now bear in mind I’m only going to be paying interest while I’m using the money. So, for example, let’s say I did a two-year note and you were my private Lender. And I did a flip, and let’s say I was in and out of it in nine months.
Brian Lucier [00:32:18]:
Sure.
Jay Conner [00:32:19]:
Right.
Brian Lucier [00:32:19]:
Stops.
Jay Conner [00:32:20]:
Yeah. So that’s. So when I pay you off, that’s when the interest comes. So that’s an APR. So when I’m paying 8%, that’s 8% per year. So, for easy figuring, if I borrowed $100,000, just for easy figuring, if I had that money the entire year, the private lender is going to earn 8 8%. $8,000.
Jay Conner [00:32:44]:
Yeah, $8,000 of the 100. But if I only had it for nine months, they would have earned $6,000 on that project because I only used the money for nine months. Of course, they want that money reinvested as soon as possible.
Brian Lucier [00:32:59]:
Yeah, I’ve worn those shoes. And when you slide that envelope across the table and they open up and say, What’s this? Good news, the deal is done, and you’re paid off. After they frown a little bit, they slide it back and say, Well, what do you got? That’s next.
Jay Conner [00:33:16]:
Exactly.
Brian Lucier [00:33:17]:
So there it is. So I also want to bring up something really important, too. In my world, if I pool together money to buy a property that has a different set of rules and regulations, under the SEC and all that, you are just doing a promissory note, call it secured by an asset.
Jay Conner [00:33:41]:
Correct?
Brian Lucier [00:33:42]:
No sec.
Jay Conner [00:33:43]:
No sec. That’s right. So I’m glad you brought that up because, you know, when you’re doing multifamily, most of the time you’re going to have a fund, particularly if it’s a pretty good-sized multifamily. And so you’ll have investors invest in the fund. So that’s all, sec. That’s all, sec. In this world, in a single-family home, everything we do is slang. We call it one-offs, meaning you got a single-family house.
Jay Conner [00:34:14]:
Now, it could be a duplex, triple,x, or quadplex, one building.
Brian Lucier [00:34:18]:
Yeah.
Jay Conner [00:34:18]:
But you got a property, you know, a single-family house, and then you have a private lender or maybe two, maybe two or three. You know, you can have more than one private lender secured by the same property. But there are two important points. Number one is called the total loan-to-value. So you still want to add up those notes from the private lenders and make sure the totality of those notes does not exceed 75%. The totality of the notes exceeds 75% of the after-repaired value. Right. And of course, if a private lender is in a junior position, it must be disclosed on the promissory note that they’re either in second position or third position.
Jay Conner [00:35:05]:
I will tell you from experience, you ain’t getting nobody to go in a junior lien position unless you’ve got the relationship and the trust factor, even though they’re being protected by the real estate. Junior positions are higher risk because, you know, we’re giving them the deed of trust. But if a junior lien position has got the foreclose on you, for goodness sakes, don’t ever let them foreclose on you. Just give them the property if you have a problem. But anyway, never had to do that. But from a legal standpoint, if a junior lien has to foreclose, then that junior lien position has got to inherit any senior lien positions to be made whole. But since they’re at a little bit higher risk, I pay my junior lien positions 10% and always have since 2009. I pay them 10% and I pay my first lien positions 8%.
Brian Lucier [00:36:04]:
I was going to ask that question. So you. You nailed it. You. Because the risk is a little higher in the second position, you give them a little more juice.
Jay Conner [00:36:12]:
That’s right.
Brian Lucier [00:36:13]:
That’s fine. That’s a really cool story, and I like the way that you unpacked it so that even an art major could understand it. So thank you.
Jay Conner [00:36:22]:
Are you an art major?
Brian Lucier [00:36:23]:
I is.
Jay Conner [00:36:24]:
I hear. Now I understand why you have yellow glasses. Red glasses, blue. And you’re all color coordinated with the outfit. There you go.
Brian Lucier [00:36:32]:
Gotta be. Color is important to me. And I don’t know if you can see it, but over my shoulder, there, one of the paintings I’ve been working on. It’s still not done yet, but we’ll save that for another show.
Jay Conner [00:36:43]:
Well, you’re an artist, and I. And I’m a composer. I write music. So there you go.
Brian Lucier [00:36:48]:
All right.
Jay Conner [00:36:49]:
So yin and yang, ying and yang.
Brian Lucier [00:36:53]:
Red and yellow, green and blue. I’m gonna jump ahead here, and I love this part of the show, and I really appreciate everything that you laid down there. I’ve got two pages of notes so far, just on the first two questions, so I’m happy about that. So this part of the show is a little bit of a time machine. You’ve been doing it for 22 years since you started doing the fix and flips and all that. When 20, 23. So this question has two parts to it, and I really like this. One part is if you could go back in time and tap yourself on the shoulder 22 years ago and say, Hey, Jay, invest in Google or whatever it would have been, right? What information would you have given yourself if you could go back in time? And then Today, with the 23 years of experience you already have? What advice would you give to that newbie sitting on the fence? Who’s getting started today? We’ll start with you.
Brian Lucier [00:38:01]:
What advice would you have given yourself starting over?
Jay Conner [00:38:06]:
Well, a lot, because I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars when I started, not knowing what I was doing, and going to seminars that I did not plan on going to. So one thing I would have told myself is before you invest in any single family residences or condos or whatever, even if you intend to flip it, even if you intend to flip the property, fix it up, sell it, make a profit, run the numbers on what you can rent that property out for in case you get stuck with it. And what’s the cash flow? What’s the cash flow between what you can rent it out for versus the underlying debt? And is that a negative? Is that a positive? And the advice is you need more than one exit strategy. You need a plan B, you need a plan C, you need a plan D, because the most dangerous number in any business is the number one. Whether that’s one lender, one general contractor, or one exit strategy. Gotta have multiple exit strategies.
Brian Lucier [00:39:24]:
That was gold. And I like how you frame that. If you’re planning on flipping, okay, this is your first exit strategy. But I’m looking at it as cash flow. Equity is always that redhead child at the table that maybe shows up, maybe doesn’t show up. Cash flow’s got to do it for me, or I’m not pulling the trigger. My returns while I was buying a lot of Property were around 35%. For three years, I was getting my money back out of a multi, and that had.
Brian Lucier [00:39:53]:
That was my criteria. I needed to hit that. So run the numbers. If you have to rent it and it changes the total deal, it’s not a flip anymore. Now it’s a buy-and-hold property. Different strategy. Do the numbers work? Does your cash flow carry the debt? And are there other strategies?
Jay Conner [00:40:14]:
Exactly, exactly. I mean, you know, the reason I would have. The reason I would tell myself that if I were starting all over again is that it was a very, very, very expensive lesson on just one property. And, you know, it seems as though in my experience over these years, Brian, the more intense the pain, the more likely I am to remember it. And I remember that lesson. I remember that lesson.
Brian Lucier [00:40:51]:
There’s an expression out there I’ve heard. Change occurs when the pain of change is less than the pain you’re in.
Jay Conner [00:41:02]:
Boy, now say that again.
Brian Lucier [00:41:04]:
Change will happen when the pain of changing is less than the pain of where you are.
Jay Conner [00:41:13]:
Powerful and true. Powerful and true. Never thought of it like that, but it’s so true.
Brian Lucier [00:41:19]:
It’s like that hound dog sitting on the porch, whimpering every day because he’s sitting on a nail. The neighbor asks, How come the dog’s always crying? He’s sitting on a nail. Well, why doesn’t he get up? Because, well, it doesn’t hurt enough yet.
Jay Conner [00:41:37]:
That’s a great story. That’s a great story.
Brian Lucier [00:41:39]:
The dog will move when it hurts enough. And I mean, that listener who’s out there thinking, Wow, do I really want to do real estate? They’ll get to a point where their current situation is going to create enough pain. Yes, let’s say, okay, I don’t know how this is going to work. I don’t know the unknown. But I have to move forward because.
Jay Conner [00:42:02]:
I can’t see where I am. Well, and what you’re saying there, Brian, emphasizes the point. Fear of loss is always a much stronger motivator than hope of gain.
Brian Lucier [00:42:18]:
Amen.
Jay Conner [00:42:19]:
I mean, what motivates change? Pain.
Brian Lucier [00:42:26]:
Yeah, so true. We call that loss aversion. Yeah.
Jay Conner [00:42:31]:
Is that sort of like fear of loss, that?
Brian Lucier [00:42:34]:
That’s the psychological term for it?
Jay Conner [00:42:37]:
Oh, my lands. I’m not smart enough for that.
Brian Lucier [00:42:39]:
Well, I. I think that would be the third booe. To the left behind you on the shelf up above there. Yeah, loss aversion. People will fight harder not to lose something.
Jay Conner [00:42:49]:
Yes.
Brian Lucier [00:42:50]:
To protect the gain.
Jay Conner [00:42:52]:
Well, you see, I knew that was the case. I just didn’t know what to call it.
Brian Lucier [00:42:57]:
You avert the loss. Loss aversion. So here we are, we’re talking about that newbie. What advice would you give to that guy or gal seeing this for the first time, thinking, Whoa, this is interesting. I wonder if real estate could actually work. And spoiler alert, it does. What advice would you give to that newbie who’s starting today?
Jay Conner [00:43:23]:
Well, that’s an easy question. Don’t start the way I did. And here’s how I started. I started just relying on my experience in the mobile home business, in the manufactured housing business. I mean, you know, I was running a pretty large operation, had 65 locations, retail sales centers, and had all these employees. And I said, well, if I can do that, I can do this over here. Well, unfortunately, that’s a very arrogant attitude. I didn’t realize that flipping houses and single-family houses are not at all related to selling a mobile home at a retail sales center.
Jay Conner [00:44:06]:
Two different industries. So don’t make the mistake I did. And that is, regardless of your experience, don’t start in this business on your own. For goodness ‘sake, get a mentor, get a coach, work with somebody that. And here are the two criteria that have proven to be successful, that have made a lot of mistakes and lost a lot of money, and they’re still doing it today. There are three kinds of criteria as to who you want to work with. And I mean, I made that mistake. I didn’t get my first mentor or coach in real estate investing until I’d been doing this for six years.
Jay Conner [00:44:47]:
That’s how I learned about private money. When I was cut off from the banks and the pain was so dire, I had to go find somebody to help me. And when I was cut off from the local bank, that’s the first question I asked myself. Brian, I asked myself this question. And by the way, this question will help fix any problem anybody’s got. I don’t care if it’s financial, health, relationships, or career; it doesn’t matter. By the way, Brian, these people running around saying every problem is an opportunity. I want to throw up.
Jay Conner [00:45:20]:
I didn’t have an opportunity. I had a problem. I’d been cut off from the bank. And here’s the question I asked myself. I asked myself, Who do I know? Can they help me with my problem now? My problem became an opportunity, or you and I wouldn’t be having this visit here today. It’s because of being cut off from the local bank and the global financial crisis that I learned about private money. So I asked myself, who do I know that can help fix my problem? And I immediately thought of my mother, Jeff Blankenship. He was living in Greensboro.
Jay Conner [00:45:56]:
I called him up. He told me about private money. I then went and learned about private money, put my program together, and raised over $2 million in 90 days. I’m not patting myself on the back, I’m making a point. The pain was so bad, I either had to go home with my tail between my legs or I had to find a better and quicker way to fund my deals. Hence, private money changed everything in our business.
Brian Lucier [00:46:26]:
So it’s interesting, the Chinese character for obstacle also means opportunity.
Jay Conner [00:46:35]:
Really?
Brian Lucier [00:46:36]:
Yes.
Jay Conner [00:46:38]:
Now that is interesting. Well, some wise Chinese guy must have figured that out when he was writing the characters for the Chinese language.
Brian Lucier [00:46:51]:
I relate that to William Shakespeare. What’s the difference between comedy and tragedy? Tell me when it happens to you.
Jay Conner [00:46:59]:
Oh, yeah, that’s a writer downer.
Brian Lucier [00:47:05]:
Someone’s obstacle is somebody else’s opportunity. And somebody’s opportunity could be somebody else’s obstacle. We could face that dog’s tail all day long.
Jay Conner [00:47:14]:
That’s like trash and treasure.
Brian Lucier [00:47:19]:
So many stories. We could go there. But let’s keep it about you. This is your show. One of my interviews. His son found a surfboard in the trash, ended up selling it for 150 bucks or trading it to get a working board, because whatever. But yeah, you never know. You know.
Jay Conner [00:47:43]:
That’s right.
Brian Lucier [00:47:44]:
I’m guilty. Of dumpster diving. Been there, done.
Jay Conner [00:47:49]:
Well. I’ve never done that, to tell you the truth.
Brian Lucier [00:47:52]:
Well, you know, it’s a nice place to find lumber. You know, you don’t want to go buy a whole sheet. You can find some lumber. Dumpster diving. Not that I would advise that. There are nails and broken glass and horrible things in there with crawling around on four legs. So let’s stay away from that one. So that was pretty good.
Brian Lucier [00:48:15]:
Any other advice that you would give to that newbie starting today?
Jay Conner [00:48:24]:
Get a mentor or coach who’s done it. Yes. If they’re starting particularly in single-family. Focus your business on investing in what I call first-time home buyer price points. First-time homebuyer price points. Because when you go to sell it, either creatively on lease purchase, or you go to cash it out in the multiple listing service. Where do you think the largest pool of buyers of homes is? First-time home buyer price points. So even if you’re starting or you’re seasoned, I mean, that’s where I try to keep my focus on all of my single-family investments, first-time homebuyer price points.
Jay Conner [00:49:09]:
They sell the quickest because that’s where the largest pool of buyers is.
Brian Lucier [00:49:15]:
First-time home buyers get a lot more perks if they go to an institutional lender as well.
Jay Conner [00:49:20]:
Trait.
Brian Lucier [00:49:21]:
So there’s, there’s some, there’s some meat on that bone as well. So let’s talk about a deal. This part of the show I like to call the deep dive. I don’t have any submarine music or anything, but we’ll go for it here. So there are a couple of questions here. What’s the best deal you ever did? What type of property was it? How did you find it and how did you finance it? And I think we know how you financed it, but. Right, let’s give it to you. Best deal you ever did.
Brian Lucier [00:49:51]:
What type of property? How did you find it and how did you finance it?
Jay Conner [00:49:55]:
Wow. Well, I’ve rehabbed over 500 houses so far. So let me think of one that bubbles up, and here’s a fantastic one that was just a few months ago. This property, Brian, actually was an oceanfront condominium here in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, right here in our hometown, in our own market. And the owner of the property has multiple layers of motivation to sell. So his name was Brian. Coincidentally enough, his name was Brian, and he inherited this condominium. It was the top-floor condominium, oceanfront.
Jay Conner [00:50:45]:
He inherited this property from his parents. Both parents had passed away. He’s living out of state. He has no interest in the property. So how did he find me and my team? He went to Google and typed in search words. I don’t know what exactly they were, but we have 75 different phrases in our Google marketing for people looking to sell houses quickly. So he went on Google, and he saw my a,e, and he clicked on and responded to it. And so he filled out his information online about this property that he wanted to sell immediately, which was notified to us, and came into our software.
Jay Conner [00:51:32]:
And so here’s his layers of motivation. Number one, it’s inherited. Number two, and he didn’t have any interest in it. Number two, he’s out of state. So not only is he an absentee owner, he’s an out-of-state owner. And here’s the third layer of motivation. In less than two weeks, it’s going to the courthouse steps for sale as a foreclosure. So, I got lots of motivation going on here.
Jay Conner [00:52:03]:
So we get him on the phone, we talk to Brian, and here’s a big lesson. How did I fund it? I funded it with private money, all private money. And here’s the deal. If I didn’t have that private money lined up, ready to go and close quickly, I would have missed out on the deal because it was going to sell at the courthouse steps in less than two weeks. We’ve got to move now. Right. So he, you know, was living out of state in South Carolina. I’m here in North Carolina.
Jay Conner [00:52:37]:
So he got us access to the condominium. We went over and looked at it. Oh, my lens, Brian. It was a showplace, totally furnished. It needed only $11,000 in touch-up. It needed an interior paint job, a little bit of, you know, a couple of places in the Sheetrock walls. $11,000. Here are the dollars.
Jay Conner [00:53:01]:
Here’s the deal. So I bought this property, ready to go. You got your calculator ready?
Brian Lucier [00:53:08]:
Yes.
Jay Conner [00:53:09]:
I bought this property for $425,000, and I closed within, excuse me, five days. I closed in five days because I knew I had to beat the band before the foreclosure sale happened. So we got Brian to get us a 30-day payoff instruction letter from the substitute trustee that the lender had hired to oversee the foreclosure process. So we got that payoff instruction letter just to make sure everything was covered. So $425,000 purchase price. Here we go. I bought it, I closed on it. We did the $11,000 renovation in less than a week.
Jay Conner [00:54:00]:
It’s totally furnished. Put it on. So that stopped the foreclosure because we paid it off, put it on the market for $595,000. And here’s one little secret as to how we sell our houses very, very quickly. We put them in the multiple listing service with our realtor on Monday, in a status called Coming Soon. Coming Soon. That means they can see the price. We get an amazing music video on every property that we do.
Jay Conner [00:54:35]:
Music video, the music video link goes in the multiple listing service, and it will be coming soon on Monday; they can’t see the property until Friday when it goes active. So what am I doing? I’m creating scarcity. I’m creating a lot of demand. I want people lined up back to back to back with appointments on Friday and Saturday to see the property because they’ve been waiting. I just put a property on the market a couple of weeks ago here in Morehead City. I did the same strategy. Coming soon on Monday, will be active on Friday. I had 20 showings in 48 hours and multiple offers.
Jay Conner [00:55:17]:
Back to our case study, though. It went live on Monday. I had my first, I mean, went live on Friday. I had my first offer, all cash, sight unseen, for $605,000, 10,000 over ask and list. Long story short, I went on a contract, all cash, to sell it for $615,000. Bought it for $4255, $11,000 rehab. Now here’s the takeaways. Number one, seller leads.
Jay Conner [00:55:58]:
If you don’t have consistent seller leads coming into your pipeline from for-sale-by-owner listings, you’ve got a hobby and not a business. So consistent seller leads. Number two, take private money. If I didn’t have that private money lined up, ready to go in close, I would have missed out. Number three, have a relationship with your real estate attorney or title company. I couldn’t have closed that deal in five days unless I had the relationship with my real estate attorney. That could do the title search within 24 hours and close within 5 days. So it all comes down to your systems and your relationships.
Jay Conner [00:56:45]:
So if we just run that math real quick.
Brian Lucier [00:56:48]:
I’ve got it.
Jay Conner [00:56:50]:
Did you already run it?
Brian Lucier [00:56:51]:
I already ran the math. Your 8% on the 425 was 34,000. Your all-in was 436 plus the 34. I believe you netted 179,000 in two weeks.
Jay Conner [00:57:09]:
Actually, it was 160. So you’re really close. One hundred and sixty. Yeah. I didn’t pay the private lender that much money because I was in and out, you know, pretty quickly. But even after realtor fees, I pay my realtor 5%, which in that case was $30,000. But when you net it all down. Net, net, net Net net, not HGTV, show biz stuff, but net net net 160 from how you found it to being able to close quickly and using private money in about two weeks.
Jay Conner [00:57:44]:
No, it won two weeks because it took a, it took a week to close. So we got that closed, but then it took a couple of weeks, really, in and out on the rehab. Then I always get the professional photographer and video done. So that took another couple of weeks to get that done. Then we got on the multiple listing service. It was all a case but their due diligence and all that. It was 30 days to close. So when, you know, we were totally in and out probably within two months.
Jay Conner [00:58:20]:
Watch out, folks. Brian is running his dusty, dusty, rusty calculator.
Brian Lucier [00:58:26]:
That’s correct. You were netting around 20,000 a week when the deal was done. Two months.
Jay Conner [00:58:34]:
What’s that mean, netting 20,000 a week?
Brian Lucier [00:58:36]:
Well, 162 months. I did eight weeks. I mean.
Jay Conner [00:58:40]:
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re talking about my net net income. Gotcha, right, yeah.
Brian Lucier [00:58:45]:
So not too many professions of jobs out there, I know that are paying 20,000 a week.
Jay Conner [00:58:51]:
True, true.
Brian Lucier [00:58:54]:
160,000 in two months is more than what a majority of hardworking blue-collar people make in a year. Sure, sometimes with a double income, they don’t clear that. So why not? Why would you not do this?
Jay Conner [00:59:12]:
I can’t think of a reason not to. Particularly when you get your business automated and you have your systems in place. You know I didn’t start this way, Brian. When I started, I was running around with my hair on fire, disorganized, working 5 to 60 hours a week. But once the systems come in place and your team. That’s why we’re able to do it in less than 10 hours per week.
Brian Lucier [00:59:39]:
Nice, nice. Yeah, that was a really nice story there. Everybody won.
Jay Conner [00:59:45]:
So everybody.
Brian Lucier [00:59:47]:
What’s the biggest hurdle you’ve had to overcome as a real estate investor, and how did you solve it?
Jay Conner [00:59:53]:
The biggest hurdle is being a real estate investor. Oh, I know what that was. Sort of what I just said. Trying to do everything myself. I had the mindset that nobody can do X, Y, and Z better than I can. Well, when I started dictating, delegating, and disappearing, I actually found out they do that stuff better than I could. So what do I do today? I make decisions. What houses do I want to make an offer on? And of course, all that is tracked in our software system between me and my acquisitionist.
Jay Conner [01:00:33]:
I’ve had the Same acquisitionist for 20 years, talking to all these sellers. But I make decisions, and I love testing new marketing methods all the time for finding motivated sellers. I’m testing one right now because of being connected to so many different mastermind groups. I was introduced a month ago to the very first AI Driving for Dollars service. And so I’m now testing. So what this, what the AI does, is using Google Earth Maps. It identifies 16 different points of distress in a house. And so you give the service your target area, and they come back with, here’s all the houses that fit the criteria that are in distress.
Jay Conner [01:01:24]:
So I’m now, in fact, it just dropped. Yesterday, I got a direct mail drop that was just dropped to all these distressed properties here in my area. I can’t wait to see what kind of results we get. So I’m always looking for new marketing methods to locate motivated sellers of properties. Because what worked two or three years ago might not be working so well today. And what’s working really well today might not be working so well two or three years from now. So I’m always testing new marketing methods.
Brian Lucier [01:01:57]:
Smart, very smart. Was there a book you say you liked to read when you first started? Was there a book that had the biggest impact on you when starting as a real estate investor?
Jay Conner [01:02:12]:
Well, there are actually two books that come to mind. One book that changed the trajectory of my life was when I was 24 years old, Brian. I was in a very dark place. Heavy drinker, had no friends, family, didn’t have much want to do with me. And I don’t blame them. Had no money, broke, working in real estate. I mean, then the restaurant business. 80 hours a week for a chain.
Jay Conner [01:02:38]:
And I woke up one day, and I was 24 years old. And I said, you know, what? There’s got to be a better way than this. So I went to the bookstore, and I went to the personal development section, and I came across a book titled University of Success. University of Success by OG Mandino. It changed my life tremendously. But now, a different book, as far as really opening my eyes to this world of real estate, was written by Ron Legrand. He’s the godfather of real estate. And the name of the book is The Less I Do, the More I Make.
Jay Conner [01:03:20]:
And that book really opened my eyes to this world of buying and selling single-family houses and creative financing. And listen, and listen to the title. The Less I Do, the More I Make. Doesn’t make any sense on the surface, does it? But actually, when you dictate, delegate, disappear, and automate your business and get out of the way, that’s where your business scales. You can’t do it all yourself.
Brian Lucier [01:03:49]:
Yeah. It’s not the least that gets done, it’s correct.
Jay Conner [01:03:53]:
It’s the less I do.
Brian Lucier [01:03:55]:
Which means I’ve got a bunch of who’s and how’s out there doing what needs to get done. Like you said, they were probably better at it than you were.
Jay Conner [01:04:04]:
Absolutely. For goodnesakekes.
Brian Lucier [01:04:06]:
So you solve their problem because they love doing that. You solve your problem because you don’t love doing that.
Jay Conner [01:04:11]:
Exactly. I say do what you love and outsource the rest.
Brian Lucier [01:04:17]:
Too many things I could say there. I’ll just let it go. You’ve given me two really good books. I’m going to stretch. Is there a third book you’d add to that shelf?
Jay Conner [01:04:27]:
Yes, the Go Giver.
Brian Lucier [01:04:30]:
It’s on my. It’s on my.
Jay Conner [01:04:32]:
The Go Giver. And I actually was so blessed to interview the co-author of that book about three years ago. But yes, the Go Giver. Have you, have you read it, Brian?
Brian Lucier [01:04:47]:
Have not. It’s been referred to me several times. So every time I go back to the United States, I’ll. On my last day of the trip, I’ll go to Barnes and Noble and grab what I can get.
Jay Conner [01:04:58]:
Yeah, but the Go Giver is a wonderful parable. It’s a short read, but I’ll just summarize the takeaway. It’s all about sowing. It’s not about reaping. It’s all about sowing. And actually, the author now has a series of books in the Go Giver series. You have the original Go Giver in red, red cover, which is in your hand. That’s the original Go Giver right there.
Jay Conner [01:05:25]:
That’s it. But now there’s the Purple Go Giver. And there are others. There are other Go givers for, like, niches, but what you’re holding in your hand is the original book. And. And I tell you, the. Having the author on my. My podcast was just amazing.
Brian Lucier [01:05:42]:
So I’ll say something so the camera comes over here so people can actually see the book. There it is. There’s the Go Giver. Nice read on the beach. You can do that in the day. Great. You gave me three super cool suggestions. Never heard of the University of Success.
Brian Lucier [01:05:59]:
So I’ll be looking for that one next time I go by Ron Legrand. I like that one, too. You’ve nailed all that. Okay, so what’s next for you? And why not get started today?
Jay Conner [01:06:15]:
What’s next for me is already in process, and that is. I’ve reached a station in my life, Brian, where it really all comes down to impact and making a difference and giving back. So I’m in my eighth year of my podcast, which is called Raising Private Money with Jay Conner. So what’s next is growing the podcast. My passion is to enlighten, inspire, motivate, teach, and educate as many real estate investors as I can to learn what I know how to do. That’s why I’m here as a guest on your show, and I appreciate it so much because it allows me to give back to all of your audience how this world has just. This world of private money has just changed my life. And, you know, the secret, you know, out here on being a servant and leading with a servant’s heart is nothing attached.
Jay Conner [01:07:11]:
Nothing attached, no expectations in return. And, you know, I learned so much from my mentor, one of my many mentors that’s now passed away, Zig Ziglar, who said, you know, and I’ll paraphrase you, help enough other people get what they want, you ain’t got to worry about yourself.
Brian Lucier [01:07:29]:
Yeah. Yeah. He did really well today, and I thank you for the compliment. And I thank you for the inspiration. Eight years in, I’m in season two here, about to hit episode 100, and I love doing this, and I love being able to share all these stories with other people, because when you and I were starting, we didn’t have a podcast that we could go to. Hit, pause, rewind. What did he say about that again? You know, I like being in this position where I’ve reached a point where I can mentor other people and give back. And kudos to you, eight years for being out there beating that drum and trying to make a difference in people’s lives.
Brian Lucier [01:08:14]:
Good on you, Mr. Jay Conner.
Jay Conner [01:08:16]:
Absolutely. Thank you so much, Brian.
Brian Lucier [01:08:19]:
Well, here’s the curveball. Here’s the question that was not on your list. And I always love asking this one. I know you’ve got to call back your other friend there. What’s the question I should have asked you today that I didn’t?
Jay Conner [01:08:33]:
What is the question that you should have asked me that you didn’t? You should have asked me what the most important piece of advice I have received from anybody.
Brian Lucier [01:08:50]:
Jay, what’s the most important piece of advice you’ve ever received from anybody?
Jay Conner [01:08:56]:
Well, I actually received it from Ron Legrand himself. We talked about the godfather of real estate. We were having dinner one night, as we’ve had many, many times and still do, and I was sharing with him a story about how I just really couldn’t figure out why this other gentleman didn’t like me. And I just couldn’t figure it out. Ron looked at me and he said, Jay, what other people think about you is none of your business. The takeaway is to stop trying to be a people pleaser. Be authentic to yourself. Lead with a servant’s heart, and you will attract people in your life who are like you.
Jay Conner [01:09:41]:
And you will also do the opposite, which is what you want to do as well. And that’s repel people that are not, that are not like you. They don’t have the same core values. Because after all, I want to hang around people who are like me. What other people think about you is none of your business. Be you and be authentic.
Brian Lucier [01:10:00]:
Excellent answer to the question I didn’t ask you. So there it is. We’re wrapping this one up. If any of our viewers or our guests want to get in touch with you, how should they reach out to you today?
Jay Conner [01:10:13]:
Brian, thank you for asking, because what I want to do is give your audience and you a gift as a thank you for spending your time, you know, with us while we talked about private money. And that is, I’d love to give your audience my book, which is called Where to Get the Money Now. And the subtitle is how and where to get all the money you’d ever want for your real estate deals without relying on institutional money or hard money lenders. And this is a national best-selling book. You can get it on Amazon for 20 bucks, but don’t spend 20 bucks with Amazon. Let me give you the book. I will express mail it to you. I’ll autograph it.
Jay Conner [01:10:56]:
I just ask you to cover shipping a couple of bucks. I’m also going to include two tickets to my upcoming private money conference with this book. And these tickets are valued at 3,000 bucks, but as a gift, I want to include them as well. And you can pick up the book at www.jconnerj-a y c o n n e r.com book jconor.com book. And look, I’m an ER, not an OR. So that’s ER, which stands for extra revenue. So J Conner j-a y C-O-N-N-E-R.com book and we’ll rush it right out to you with those private Money conference tickets as well.
Brian Lucier [01:11:44]:
And where and when is the conference?
Jay Conner [01:11:47]:
So the next conference is going to be June 25, 26, and 27 in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, right here in our backyard. Beautiful resort right on the oceanfront. We have fantastic networking, but I’ll have private lenders at the event for you to network with. We’ll actually go on a Reno bus tour out to our houses in the field and get to see the houses that we’ve got under renovation. I’ll teach how I found them. I also teach at the event how I find deals before other real estate investors even know that these deals exist. So I teach all four pillars of the private money conference, how I find them, how I fund them, how I renovate them, and how I can sell any house in three days or less, and on the last day. How do you automate this business and get the wealth and the freedom that you want, that will allow you to make a difference?
Brian Lucier [01:12:46]:
Beautiful. There’s the mic drop. That was great. You’ve done this before, haven’t you?
Jay Conner [01:12:55]:
I don’t know. A little over 800 times, I suppose.
Brian Lucier [01:12:58]:
Give or take a thousand. Right? Well, this is great. I learned a lot today. You gave a lot today. You shared a lot today. Really great stories. And I want to thank you for exposing some of the pain, too. Because a lot of people get out there and say, ” Oh, oh, everything’s rainbows and unicorns, but they don’t tell you about the nail on the porch.
Jay Conner [01:13:22]:
So I’m going to remember that.
Brian Lucier [01:13:25]:
I appreciate, you know, your honesty about it and being able you and you answer every question I had for you. So I want to thank you so much. And again, that website is www.j a y c o n n e r extra realestate.com book. I’ll make sure I have that on the notes. Mr. J. Conner is my guest today. I want to thank you so much for being with us.
Brian Lucier [01:13:52]:
Any last words for our audience?
Jay Conner [01:13:56]:
Yes. Ask yourself, how long has it been since you did something new that you’ve never done before?
Brian Lucier [01:14:06]:
That’s a good question, and I’ll ponder that one myself. So, ladies and gentlemen, all of my real estate peeps and rock stars, this is Brian Lussier and my guest, Jay Conner from the Why Not Real Estate podcast, signing off. And we’ll see you on the next one.
Narrator [01:14:33]:
Are you feeling inspired by the knowledge you gained in this episode? Then head over to www.JayConnner.com/MoneyGuide, that’s www.JayConnner.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 jconnner.com moneyguide to get your free guide. We’ll see you next time on Raising Private Money with Jay Conner.