How Jay London Built 1,000 Homes and Survived Multiple Real Estate Downturns

Jay London (00:00)

you gotta stay positive when things are bad, regardless. if you start

Going down the rabbit hole and start worrying and then running over in the corner and hiding, then you can’t get through things. you gotta get up and face the bad guy and continue the fight. yeah. That’s the main thing is when things are bad, you gotta get up and go to stay in the fight. Stay in the fight and get through it. So a lot of people give up. so I don’t think anybody fails as long as they’re getting back into the game. getting back into the fight. You gotta get back on that horse. No matter how bad you fail at what you’re doing, as long as you get back on it,

You’re not failing. you’re just getting up with a lot of scars and roadmaps. we call that experience in my world.

Quentin Edmonds (01:06)

Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host, Q Edmonds, and I am excited to be here today. I have a really, really special gentleman in front of me, and it’ll unfold even more as we talk. But just listening to him, listening to his backstory, him knowing his why.

And being committed to his wife for over 20 years, Chef Kiss. And I’m sure we’ll get more into that. But this gentleman, he’s a licensed broker, he’s a builder, he’s a commercial developer, he’s developed over 50 million in house home development. He’s built over 1K, 1000 homes. And so I share that because I want you to know we have somebody with experience here in front of us. And so sit back, relax.

We are going to glean from the experience in the conversation with Mr. Jay London. Mr. Jay, how are you doing today, sir?

Jay London (02:01)

Unbelievable.

Quentin Edmonds (02:02)

Yes, and y’all, trust me, he means every last bit of that. Trust me, he believes that and means that. So, Jay, I’ve said this before. You’re probably gonna hear me say it one more time. Thank you. Thank you for your time. I value your time. We can be doing anything else in the world. Time is our most precious commodity, and definitely with the people that you are responsible for, sir. I thank you for your time. I thank you for giving us some of your time. And Mr. Jay, sir.

I am the type I love to dive right in. So I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little origin story, how you got into the spaces that you’re in. And then if you don’t mind, also tell the people where you’re from. People love to know what people are geographically. And so, Mr. Jay, sir, you have the floor, my friend.

Jay London (02:46)

Okay. Well, but just grew up in a little farm town called Apache, Oklahoma. grew up farming, raising cattle my entire life. that’s where I learned the hard work. you there you work 365 247 on the farm. and from there I went to college and realized that college wasn’t for me. I played very hard. It was like you turn in a wild animal out when you go to college for me.

into some boys in Lawton that we became very close and ran together all still to this day we’re still great friends. I started off in law enforcement as a cop in Lawton, Oklahoma. Did that for about eight years and realized that I wasn’t going to be able to obtain the things that I want in life on a law enforcement pay. Yeah.

And I had a vision board before I even knew what a vision board was. I had one at 14 years old. And said that I’m gonna own that, that, that, and that someday, somehow. Well, I went in law enforcement because I was a kind of a wild son of a gun. I like to fight and stuff. And I enjoyed the chase as a police officer and the new war off of that and the politics got involved and I realized that I got into everybody I talked to that had money was in real estate.

I said, I don’t know how to do this, but I’m gonna figure this out. That’s a funny story that I was sitting on a house guarding a house one night that the SWAT team did a drug steam on and they had to go back and get another warrant or whatever. And yeah. I was watching that late night TV show and up pops one of those infomercials and he said, Learn how to get rich in real estate. And I said, I’m going to that. Yes, sir. And I called my wife at three in the morning and I said, Hey, guess where we’re going on our anniversary? Austin, Texas. Whew.

Really we haven’t been awesome. I said, but we’re gonna be in class for three days. What? So that’s how my real estate career started. And then I started buying some rent houses and didn’t know books, I had no mentor. I had nobody that was teaching me. I was just learning about failing forward,

subprime hit and kicked me in the mouth and I went down and went broke and decided to start building houses once I got through that and built houses for many, many, many years. Yeah. and then it got bad where we was at. town, but it was a military town, the economy was different there than it was around the rest of the world. It got bad there and

I ended up moving to the Oklahoma City area, I don’t know, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years ago. And continued building the homes and from there got into a Vonda roofing company. I helped a young man build a roofing company we did for about five years and then I turned that over to him and he’s taken it and ran with it. And he was a son to me. And then I got into commercial development.

I was getting bored in the home building business. you build as many homes as I built, it’s just a job. I can’t remember last time I walked in the house that a house won me like holy smokes, it becomes repetitious to you. Yeah. and then, got in the commercial business, started developing industrial warehouses, self storage, flex bays.

Built some apartment complexes. Right now I’m focusing mainly on building small multifamily duplexes and fourplexes. And now that I’ve got all my kids growed now the cloud out of my checkbook, as I say, it’s time for me to start building my 401k. So that’s what I’m doing now is we’re trying to build up a portfolio, not necessarily trying to make a lot of money on them, just building, assets. Yes, sir. What I’m doing right now is rental assets.

‘Cause the economy’s terrible right now. So the home sales business is really, really bad. new construction’s bad. I’ve got a lot of builder friends sitting on specs. Fortunately, I don’t have any. I kind of pivoted two years ago and went into commercial. So I wasn’t sitting on specs, but two years ago I kind of pulled out the home building business, but three years prior to that we focused on a hundred percent customs.

was basically GC and projects for customers that needed their homes built. And now customs are different, difficult, but I have no debt with customs. The customer carries the debt. Yeah. during that time, we did that, but when we pivoted into commercial, I backed off of my custom home building business then. And

throughout the last three or four years we’ve focused a hundred percent on commercial and now I’m pivoting back to the custom home building business because the economy, just tough out there. Yeah. and I learned a long time ago since I’ve been in this business for twenty two years that regardless of how bad the economy is, somebody always wants to build a home. Yeah, the money. not everybody’s broke when everybody’s broke. Yeah.

we’re going back into the custom home side and gonna start focusing on building that division again pretty hard and still stick to building our multifamilies and our rentals and building our portfolios up. I’ve got commercial buildings that’s setting stagnant it’s tough, but we’ll get moved and we’ll move on down the road and get through this era, you gotta stay positive when things are bad, regardless. if you start

Going down the rabbit hole and start worrying and then running over in the corner and hiding, then you can’t get through things. you gotta get up and face the bad guy and continue the fight. yeah. That’s the main thing is when things are bad, you gotta get up and go to stay in the fight. Stay in the fight and get through it. So a lot of people give up. so I don’t think anybody fails as long as they’re getting back into the game. getting back into the fight. You gotta get back on that horse. No matter how bad you fail at what you’re doing, as long as you get back on it,

You’re not failing. you’re just getting up with a lot of scars and roadmaps. we call that experience in my world. So if you’ve got the experience and you’ve been through it, your odds are pretty good that you’re not going to do it again. I got a lot of scars. A

Quentin Edmonds (07:57)

Yeah, yeah.

Jay London (07:59)

lot of scars. But that’s kind of where I’m at right now is we’re gonna focus hard on building our portfolio. Not necessarily,

try to make a lot of money on as long as they cover their debt and we’re just gonna we’re gonna ride it out for the appreciation. Yeah. I think I got another good ten years in me.

Quentin Edmonds (08:13)

Mm, mm.

Jay London (08:14)

I told you before that I’ll never retire. it’s just this is my purpose. I get out of bed every day to go to work ’cause I enjoy what I do. Yeah. it’s funny. I tell my friends that when I really don’t have nothing to do and I’m sitting around

My anxiety level’s crazy. It’s ridiculous. because I live such a stressful life. guys like me, we’re millions and millions in debt at all times. Yeah. Trying to service all that debt and we don’t have something to go do, something to chase every morning or a problem to solve or something to do. We just got time on our hands. Guys like me go nuts. Yes, sir. Crazy. I’ve gotta go fix something, I gotta go do something.

I’ve never had a hobby in my life. All I do is get up and I work 247, every day of the week. And I don’t hunt, I don’t fish, I don’t watch sports, I don’t play golf, I don’t do any of that stuff. I come from the farm that I said I would never go back to. Yeah. But I decided dad retired and sold off all the cattle and everything, and he always raised us beef every year. Yeah. Said, man, now I’ve got to do that, but I’m gonna make it fun.

So I got into the Texas registered longhorn business about three years ago and I raised Texas registered longhorns. I registered Texas longhorns right now. it’s a fun business. Yeah. They’re a heck of a conversation piece. I get up every morning, drink my coffee, and they’re out there in my backyard. I’ve got about fifteen pair, very high bloodlines, but that is my hobby now. So I go out after I’ve had a bad day or something, I go out and I talk to my cows and they don’t talk back. They don’t analyze me. They don’t suggest anything. They just listen.

So, they may say that, well you can go pay a high dollar to a therapist. Those cows cost a lot of money, but they don’t give me suggestions. They talk and get it out, and then they go on about eating. That’s

Quentin Edmonds (09:47)

Yeah, yeah.

Jay London (09:49)

that’s kind of my hobby and that’s what I do, but yeah, that’s a little bit about me. Yeah.

Quentin Edmonds (09:53)

Jay man, sir. Thank you. Thank you for giving me that robust story, man. I’m writing stuff as you talk. I love how you said, when you fail, you just you fall down and you get up with scars and road mats. I love that, man. I absolutely love that. You talked about pivoting a lot. So obviously you’ve been through a lot of pivots. You mentioned it. Always say, Jay, destiny has no wasted moments, right?

We’re learning from every leg of the journey, from the failures, from the lessons, from the scars, from the roadmaps. And the roadmap leads us to where we are today, right? So I would love to know throughout your journey, throughout your pivots, what have you learned about yourself? Has it made you more humble? Has it made you more disciplined? What has the journey revealed to Jay about Jay?

Jay London (11:16)

Jay was a very arrogant son of a gun when he was young. Arrogant.

Quentin Edmonds (11:19)

Mm. Very

Jay London (11:21)

Jay used to do it not to impress people, it’s because he could.

Quentin Edmonds (11:25)

Mm.

Jay London (11:27)

And like I said, I had a vision board before I’ve owned everything I’ve wanted to own. I’ve owned the cross rockets, the boats, the couvettes, everything that I’ve ever wanted to own, I’ve owned it. Now I just really have no care or wants, I have no wants.

other than time. Yes, sir. Older I get, it gets faster. But Jay, I was very full of myself when I was younger. Yeah. So the falls that I have taken has definitely humbled me. Yeah. we talked to before, I have a ton of experience that I’m at the point that it’s time for me to start giving back.

And that’s why I’m on the podcast and I’m doing the social media posts and stuff. I want to keep some young man or female that is getting into the business from experiencing the that I went through over the last few years and the failures that I’ve gone through. Yeah. So still to this day, decisions are made and they just don’t always turn out to be the right decisions. Yes, sir. Everybody that

deals with the consumer, deals with sales or deals something, economy drives your ability to be successful. Yeah. So what do you do is you position yourself where instead of you’re focused on one little deal, need multiple facets of income. Yes sir. it took two times for me to screw up, two screw ups for me to realize, hey, you need it coming from everywhere.

You need to come in from everywhere. Because when gets bad, this can still be paying the bills. So the biggest advice I can give anybody getting in business, get you a couple of hustles. Yeah, still focus and do it right, but get you a couple of hustles and then build them. if I was to give any advice to any young person is start a business, stop thinking you’re gonna go out there make two hundred thousand dollars a year and focus on building the business.

Buy your time. the younger generation wants it right now. they all want it for right now. And social media is so bad and so good. Yeah. anybody, you can take a bomb that’s on the street and make him look successful on social media tomorrow. Yeah. So just because these guys are taking pictures with Lambos and Jets in the background, anybody can rent that for a photo shoot. Yeah.

Focus more on you and quit worrying about what other people think. It’s honestly they don’t really care. They don’t care. I’ve always said I love my haters.

Quentin Edmonds (13:38)

Who

Jay London (13:38)

Absolutely, they have made me to what I am today. So every time that I’m out there doing something for myself, I’ll post it, because I still got haters. But you know what? Your haters are usually your biggest supporters. Yeah.

they may hate you or hate what you’re doing or be jealous of what you’re accomplishing, but they would love to spend five minutes with you to figure out how you’re doing it.

Quentin Edmonds (13:57)

So

Jay London (13:58)

they’re your biggest fans too. Yes, sir. But in reality, everybody’s so busy, nobody gives a They really don’t. everybody thinks, I gotta do this and I gotta do this. Nobody cares. Yes, sir. the biggest person that cares is your immediate circle.

Those are only people that really care. Your immediate sphere of your family they care, but the rest get out there and do it for yourself. Don’t do it to impress anybody else. Yeah. That’s the biggest advice I could I can give anybody is don’t go out there and be a look at me. Go out there and say, do what I do. Just go do it for yourself if you have a family, you’re doing it for them. You’re not doing it to be some celebrity. Yeah. You’re doing it to for them and yourself.

And that’s all people need to do. Just quit worrying about what everybody else thinks. go do it for you.

Quentin Edmonds (14:40)

Jay man, so well said, sir. So well said. Jay, what’s next for you, man? what’s the next real goal? What are you looking to solve at scale next, sir?

Jay London (15:24)

gosh.

Man, I’ve never really set goals. I’ve never set goals in my life.

Quentin Edmonds (15:27)

Gotcha.

Jay London (15:28)

I should, but I have so much hustle in me. Okay. I’ve always said my biggest competition is me. Biggest competition is I am in competition with myself every day. I try to better myself every day. For me, not for anybody else, not for anything. It’s just I just want to be better. I want to be bigger. I want to do better. Yeah.

for me. I started doing that goal stuff. I tried to do that goal stuff years ago, but it never worked out for me because of what I do, I can’t dictate when a house would sell. I’m gonna build 10 houses this year, I’m gonna sell 10, I’m gonna do that. But I had no control of that. so what I’ve learned is you can only control what you can control.

So what can you control? You get out of bed, you go to work every day, and you just try to be better every day of what you’re doing. No matter what it is you do, just be better at it. Yeah. And so when it comes to setting goals, I’ve just never been a goal oriented guy. Yeah. Just because I am so high strung and high hustle factor that I don’t know how to answer your question.

Quentin Edmonds (16:24)

No, no, I think you just answered it. because it’s interesting enough, I’ve learned some people set goals, some people just have standards. Some people just like this. So I get it. you answered it, I get it. It’s crystal clear. I get it, man. Jay, let me ask you this. Everybody comes on, I love getting their unique perspective about what I’m about to ask. So I’m gonna ask you because I want your unique perspective because you are a unique guy. I love the way you think.

What is your unique perspective on the word relationship? Relationship building within business, maybe even people who you’ve helped be successful, people that’s helped you be successful. What is your unique perspective, Jay, on the word relationship?

Jay London (17:03)

That’s a hard one for me because I am an Aries and I’ve always been a lone wolf.

Quentin Edmonds (17:06)

Gotcha. Yep.

Jay London (17:07)

hard driven entrepreneurs live the lone wolf lifestyle. that’s something that I’m constantly having and battling with myself on and working on myself because I got like two buddies that I’m close with, and we talk maybe once a month. Okay. as for relationships, that’s always been a difficult on my friend side now, on my family side.

My world revolves around my family. Come on.

Quentin Edmonds (17:29)

Yeah, man.

Jay London (17:30)

I told you, I’ve been married 34 years. Come this next month. Yeah. My wife is my best friend, my business partner, my everything. And then I have my children. then comes my children. And my children are the most important thing to me in the world. So, I’m the dad that will drop everything to go take care of my kids.

Quentin Edmonds (17:47)

Yeah.

Jay London (17:47)

Regardless of what they need, it doesn’t matter. Daddy will be there. Yeah. And so when it comes to relationship, I try to have a good relationship and still be a good mentor for my family or my children. But as for friends, it’s a relationships with friends and country. I’ve got buddies.

I got a son-in-law that talks to about eight of his friends every day for 30 minutes on the phone. I’m going, man, you getting any stinking work done. Yeah.

Quentin Edmonds (18:09)

Yeah.

Jay London (18:10)

But he’ll be out there working with his head, talking to his friends. I’m going, nobody can have that much to talk about. What are you talking about? But I envy him for that. And then I got another buddy that I know he talks on the phone 90% of the day. Yeah. how can you have so much to talk about? I’m the kind of guy, if I don’t know you, I have nothing to say to you. We get to know each other. And then it’s usually

a pretty short conversation. Because I never had the gift of gabbing. I always say I’m not a very good salesman ’cause I don’t have the ability. Yeah. So, I can’t go out there just meet a stranger and talk to you. Yes, sir. And come up to me. Yeah. Start the conversation and then we can talk and talk. But when it comes to relationships, it’s just that’s something I fail at it tremendously. Yeah.

Quentin Edmonds (18:50)

So thank you. Thank you for your unique perspective. Because there is someone listening that literally identifies what you just said. Somebody just was like, thank you. Like, because so so many people, they have their perspective on relationships, but somebody just identified with exactly what you just said and said thank you. And so I’m glad you gave your perspective, being someone who’s a ton of experience, has had success, had failures.

your perspective on relationship because there’s so many different angles and perspectives and ways that we can come at what we do. And I’m so glad to get your perspective on that. So man, again, thank you, Jay. Honestly, and I sincerely mean that. Jay man, I have enjoyed this conversation. I can’t believe time has gone by as fast as it is, but I have thoroughly enjoyed talking to you, sir.

Jay, if someone wanted to reach out to you, I know you’re not big on relationships, but I’m still got to put it out there, right? If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, hire you, partner up with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you, sir?

Jay London (19:54)

of course I’m all over social media. but I have a consulting slash helping program that I help a few people out you can find me through develop with J dot com or just shoot me a DM on social media, Instagram, TikTok, or any of those because I’m all over Facebook, and then

shoot me a DM and if you’ve got problems or you got issues that you’re wanting in the construction world that I could help with, by all means, I’m here. because that is my goal the next several years till I’m dead is to give back. Yeah. want to younger generation and even and if somebody’s got issues that’s my age that I could help with, yeah. I’m here. I have a lot of knowledge in this bald head and I’m willing to give it back.

Yes. On social media. Yes, sir.

Quentin Edmonds (20:34)

Well, Jay, I want to say three things to you sincerely, man. From one man to the next. First, I want to again thank you for your time. I said it, I’ll continue to say it. It’s our most precious commodity. So the fact that you would give us some of your time, I thoroughly, thoroughly appreciate that. Secondly, Jay, thank you for what I call the gift of your integrity, the gift of your authenticity.

I believe when we just present authentically who we are, we’re casting seed out there. We’re not necessarily planting it, but we’re casting it. And somebody literally can take that seed that you thrown out there and they can plant that in their experience and their life and their business and really get a harvest from it. So I believe you dropped some real nuggets, some real seeds. So thank you for casting some seed out there. And lastly, sir, thank you for your mindset.

Thank you for your perspective. Thank you for the way you think in bringing that perspective to this platform. I appreciate you coming on, sir.

Jay London (21:30)

Thank you for having me here. Absolutely.

Quentin Edmonds (21:32)

So listen, y’all heard my friend Mr. Jay. His information is in the show notes. You can get in contact with him. Definitely make sure you are subscribed here, because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people, just like the Jay London. So, sir, I say thank you again. And everyone else, y’all have a fantastic day.