How Josh Jarvis Scaled a Multimillion-Dollar House Flipping Business in Real Estate

Josh Jarvis (00:00)
a lot of people in this market, it is a tricky market. I’m here in Utah and it’s still a pretty strong market, all things considered. But, you know, with rates and inflation, there’s a lot of just fear in the market. A lot of people holding on to capital and saying, oh, I just need to wait for rates to go down until I invest. And I’m just here shouting from the rooftops like

Don’t wait. There’s never a perfect moment to invest. Find opportunity and make it happen now.

Scott Bursey (01:59)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast powered by Investor Fuel. Today we’re talking to a genuine powerhouse in the flipping and investing world. Someone who started with nothing and built a multimillion dollar operation. Josh Jarvis of JDJ investments. Josh doesn’t just invest. He executes on a massive scale, transforming communities and generating serious wealth. He brings the kind of fuel to this show that ignites action.

Josh Jarvis (02:12)
you

Scott Bursey (02:26)
And I can’t wait to dive into the systems and mindset behind his success. Buckle up. Josh Jarvis is in the house. Josh, welcome to the show.

Josh Jarvis (02:37)
Hey Scott, thanks for having me.

Scott Bursey (02:39)
Before we get into the nitty gritty of flipping seven figure properties, let’s start at the beginning. For those of our listeners who may not be familiar with your journey, please tell us, how’d you begin your career and what is your main focus now?

Josh Jarvis (02:55)
Yeah, that’s a great question. Well, it starts a long time ago and for any of you that are listening and feel like you don’t have the money to invest or you didn’t come from wealthy family, I relate to that. I grew up with a single mom of five. I was the youngest and from a young age I was financially providing for her and just kind of had to figure it out. My first experience with real estate was renting my room out.

sleeping in the garage to make ends meet. So I feel like you kind of just got to find a way. I think it’s really easy to find excuses, but I just figured it out. Started there, worked with contractors all growing up. And then actually how I got started really, my first deal was when I was 19. I did a wholesale deal. Profit from that, I rolled into an Airbnb and the rest is just history with rentals and flips and everything else.

Scott Bursey (03:50)
What an inspiring journey. Josh, let’s dive in to the question that all of our listeners want to know. What is the single most essential system that allowed you to leap from one-off flips to a multimillion dollar operation?

Josh Jarvis (04:06)
Yeah, that’s a great question. I would say the biggest thing is just being comfortable with risk. You know, there’s a lot of things that can be scary and intimidating when you’re doing that much volume and doing it at a bigger scale. But when you know the numbers, it takes the emotion out of the deal. So being really comfortable with the numbers, deal analysis, as well as just having the right team.

you know, knowing your comps, connecting with realtors that are confident that it will sell on the back end. That’s something that really gives you confidence moving forward when you’re growing and scaling, doing millions of dollars at a time.

Scott Bursey (04:41)
Absolutely, that makes perfect sense. And what are some of the core strengths right now with your operation?

Josh Jarvis (04:47)
I would say raising capital is a core strength. I think people like doing business with people they trust. And once you’ve done business with someone and had a successful exit, it’s much easier to ask that person to use money again. So I feel like having the right partners is a big strength in the operation right now and being able to fund millions of dollars at a time.

That can be a big model bottleneck for a lot of people, but it seems like that’s going really well in the operation as well as just finding opportunities. you know,

a lot of people in this market, it is a tricky market. I’m here in Utah and it’s still a pretty strong market, all things considered. But, you know, with rates and inflation, there’s a lot of just fear in the market. A lot of people holding on to capital and saying, oh, I just need to wait for rates to go down until I invest. And I’m just here shouting from the rooftops like

Don’t wait. There’s never a perfect moment to invest. Find opportunity and make it happen now.

You don’t need to wait for the perfect moment for the stars to align before you jump in and invest in real estate.

Scott Bursey (06:39)
That is just a sensational message. And Josh, no business is perfect. What’s one thing that you’re still figuring out or trying to work around here recently?

Josh Jarvis (06:49)
Recently, a lot of it has been managing subcontractors. It seems like it’s a constant cycle of finding good subs and then having to go to a different market and find new subs. So really just finding systems to be able to copy and paste and do things more simplistically, I feel like has been one of the bottlenecks that I’m working with right now. Yeah, that’s something I’m still trying to figure out.

sometimes having contractors that overbid and being like, well, that kind of changes the budget now and having to just shift things around and unforeseen expenses that come up. I’m working on a 1950s house right now. And whenever you’re dealing with something that’s 70 plus years old, there’s things that come up. staying on budget, working with the right contractors, I feel like those are constant battles when you’re in this industry.

Scott Bursey (07:41)
Are you primarily focusing on Utah right now?

Josh Jarvis (07:44)
Utah and North Carolina are the markets that I’m focusing on. I’ve done some work in Texas, but most of my work are those two markets, Utah and North Carolina.

Scott Bursey (07:53)
And what do feel is one of your biggest opportunities right now? This could be, you know, a market shift, a new offering or just a part of your business, Josh, that you want to double down on.

Josh Jarvis (08:04)
Yeah, so right now I’m really doubling down on doing more volume, executing on the opportunities that are in front of me. I have a partner right now that presented a 15 unit portfolio. He was the first lien holder on them and he had to foreclose, his partner didn’t perform. So we’re picking all these properties up at 60 to 65 % loan to value right now.

And he’s basically saying, hey, do what you want with them. You can flip some, burr some, keep some as section eights, wholesale them. So right now that opportunity is weighing heavy on my mind. Just how do I go from doing a few flips at once to doing 15 at once? You know, just scaling to that point and doing more volume. ⁓ So yeah, that’s kind of where I’m at with my business right now.

Scott Bursey (08:57)
Let’s talk short-term strategy, 18 to 24 months and then a little bit further down the road, three to five years. What’s your vision for the company?

Josh Jarvis (09:07)
Yeah, that’s a great question. think it’s really good to begin with the end in mind and work backwards from there. So I would say the 18 to 24 month goal is to have eight to 10 cash flowing rental units. I like to kind of disperse those, of them short term rental, midterm, section eight, kind of have a variety there. Helps mitigate risk, especially with rentals just having

variety. And I also see just scaling to staying consistent with doing 10 to 15 flips a month and just staying really consistent with that. I think the biggest thing is really focusing some of the attention on the end goal of owning cash flowing properties, ⁓ having the debt pay down, appreciation, tax write offs. It’s really easy to get caught up in, wow, I can make

60, 70, $80,000 on a flip and that’s great. But you really need to think of, hey, what is this gonna look like in 10 years? And at the rate of inflation, your money is losing 3 % sitting in a high yield savings account. So the quicker you’re able to transition to more long term investments, having rentals, other more secure things to offset taxable income and other things like that, the better off you’re gonna be.

Scott Bursey (11:05)
Playing the long game. That is so smart. So smart. Any challenges you’re watching closely like market risk, competition, access to deals or something of that nature?

Josh Jarvis (11:16)
Yeah, that’s a good question. think competition is always a big one and whenever there’s good money to be made in industry, there’s going to be competition. ⁓ I think you just have to be okay. Feeling like you’re overpaying, that’s kind of a struggle that I work through is like, I really would like to be at this number, but I need to be okay pushing it a little bit if there’s still profit on the back end.

For example, with this slip that I’m working on here in northern Utah, bidding started at 299 and I ended up winning the house at 338. So essentially 40,000 over ask. And that’s kind of what it can take sometimes. And a lot of people think, oh, it’s buyer’s market, homes are sitting. And yeah, there is more inventory, statistically speaking, than in previous years. But the right deals

The right houses, the right locations are very competitive. really knowing your numbers, being able to take action quickly, those are some of the things that allow you to stay ahead in a competitive market.

Scott Bursey (12:23)
Absolutely, I couldn’t agree anymore. And Josh, you’ve given us so much advice already, but please walk us through when underwriting a flip that requires millions in capital. What is the one metric or due diligence step that gives JDJ the edge?

Josh Jarvis (12:40)
Yeah, that’s a good question. I would say what gives JDJ the edge is having real world experience in the construction industry. That really helps with knowing your numbers, because I have a lot of people that they see a fixed upper house and they’re like, oh, that’s going to be $200,000 to renovate. I’m like, no, that’s going to be $50,000. And that’s one of those things that you can’t really know until you’ve done it.

So I’d say that’s one of the things that gives me lot of confidence with investing a lot of capital into a deal is again knowing the numbers being really confident on the ARV to calculate your MAO your maximum level offer and knowing the rehab costs Being really confident with the comps. What’s on the market? What’s sitting? Whenever I’m doing let’s say a sub $500,000 house. I look at all of the other inventory that’s in that price range

Same number bed, bath, year build, lot size, within a half a mile to a mile radius, depending on how many comps. And really trying to find, hey, this house is similar to mine and it’s sold, ⁓ or this house is similar to mine and it’s on the market, so I need to be competitive and price it under the competition. And sometimes you try to play the opposite side of that token and say, hey, I’m actually going to price it a little higher, but I’m going to do higher end finishes.

It’s really important to know what your competition is doing and just being familiar with other competitive or guess comparable houses on the market to help you determine what to do with your investments.

Scott Bursey (14:18)
Great words and Josh, we can’t let you leave without speaking about AI. How have you integrated it into your operation and what’s your view on AI?

Josh Jarvis (15:09)
Yeah, that’s a good question. I think AI is really transforming most industries. For me, I utilize artificial intelligence on the daily. Negotiations, contract analysis, document prep, deal analysis even. I think AI is a tool that definitely should be utilized. And if you’re not utilizing it, you’re behind the curve.

Scott Bursey (15:33)
Here go. Awesome words. Josh, this conversation has been nothing short of inspiring. Your journey from humble beginnings to a multimillion dollar operation is a roadmap for any pro aiming for the top tier. Before we let you go, Josh, if our listeners want to follow your journey or collaborate with you, what is the best way that they can reach you?

Josh Jarvis (15:55)
Yeah, best way to reach me is probably Instagram and my username is at JarvisFlips.

Scott Bursey (16:03)
Awesome. Josh, thank you for joining us today.

Josh Jarvis (16:06)
Awesome, thanks Scott, take care.

Scott Bursey (16:08)
And to all of our listeners, we appreciate each and every one of you. If you got value from today’s episode, please make sure you’re subscribed. We have a lineup of exceptional guests, just like Josh, who are making huge moves in the market. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.