***Guest Appearance

Credits to:

https://www.youtube.com/@JakeandGino               

“Private Money Plays with Jay Conner”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46diWzgCIIo&t=1s    

If you’re a real estate investor who’s ever worried about being dependent on banks or burning out by wearing every hat in your business, Jay Conner’s story, shared in his discussion with Jake Stenziano and Gino Barbaro on the Raising Private Money podcast, is a must-hear. 

Jay, known as the Private Money Authority, has not only mastered the art of raising millions in private capital but has also built a real estate business that operates on autopilot most of the time, freeing him to focus on what matters most.

From Bank Reliance to Private Money Powerhouse

Jay’s big “aha” moment came when his banker, Steve, told him the bank was shutting off his line of credit. As many investors hit hard by the 2008–2009 crash, Jay faced a choice: give up or find another way. He chose the latter, and within 90 days, raised over $2 million in private money, forever changing how he operated. Since then, he’s never missed out on a deal because of a lack of funding. As he puts it, “the money comes first”—and it does, especially when you know how to attract private lenders.

But what sets Jay apart isn’t just capital raising; it’s the holistic, automated model he’s developed. Operating mostly in a small North Carolina market, Jay averages $64,000 profit per single-family house with just two to three deals a month. The secret? Systems, automation, and a relentless focus on scheduling and prioritizing for success.

Automate, Delegate, and Disappear: Jay’s Triple D Philosophy

Early in his career, Jay and his wife Carol Joy found themselves “at Lowe’s at 8:45 at night picking knick-knacks” for staging homes, realizing the business was running them, not the other way around. That epiphany led Jay to embark on a mission of automation.

Inspired by his father’s mantra—“Dictate, delegate, and disappear”—Jay took inventory of his daily activities, asking: “What am I doing now?” He recognized that any task he could pay someone $15 an hour to complete meant he was essentially earning $15 an hour doing it himself. That realization led Jay to schedule his successes: every night, he does a “brain dump” on a yellow pad, then, in the morning, prioritizes tasks, ensuring only high-value activities land on his plate.

This scheduled approach, combined with leveraging virtual and local assistants, allowed Jay to scale back his direct involvement to about five hours a week. He now serves as the “visionary,” guiding the ship and showing up when least expected, rather than reacting to fires.

The Four Pillars and Winning for All

Jay’s business stands on four pillars: finding, funding, flipping, and automating. The “finding” pillar relies on proprietary foreclosure tracking and direct mail campaigns with high response rates. When it comes to funding, Jay works with 47 private lenders, many using self-directed IRAs for solid returns. His “flipping” strategy focuses on entry-level single-family homes—maximizing profits while serving first-time buyers via rent-to-own arrangements, with a strong credit repair component to ensure tenants eventually buy and achieve homeownership.

Crucially, Jay frames each deal as a win-win for everyone involved. Sellers in distress get relief, private lenders receive above-market returns, buyers become owners, and Jay orchestrates the process. He emphasizes that “successes are scheduled,” and that private money can be raised not by hard selling, but by making his program available, arousing curiosity (“I teach private lenders how to get higher rates of return than th