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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Michelle Kesil interviews seasoned real estate investor Jay Elggren. Jay shares his extensive journey in real estate, starting from wholesaling to managing large-scale projects and building his own fund. He discusses the challenges faced in the industry, innovative solutions for common landlord headaches, and his preference for providing exceptional guest experiences in short-term rentals. Jay also emphasizes the importance of networking and finding the right partnerships for new investors looking to enter the real estate market.
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Jay Elggren (00:00)
Yeah, so that’s actually one of my advice I give to if I’m ever consulting for another investor. ⁓ I hate being a landlord, and I hate taking care of all that. So those title holding land trusts will keep you from having all those landlord headaches. So anybody that is experiencing landlord headaches or frustrated with being a landlord, I can help with those title holding land trusts. That will legally protect you on all sides.Michelle Kesil (01:59)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Jay Elggren, who is a seasoned real estate investor, spanning 13 years of experience, ranging from wholesaling, flipping, short terms, and hospitality. So, excited to have you here today.Jay Elggren (02:21)
Thank you. It’s good to be here.Michelle Kesil (02:23)
Yeah, I think our listeners are really going to take something away from how you got started and the resilience and persistence you’ve had to gain the momentum that you have gotten to. So let’s dive in.Jay Elggren (02:38)
Okay, well, it’s been a crazy long journey that I’ve actually enjoyed every minute of it, but we started out, my wife and I started in just wholesaling, just like we were taught, wholesaling some properties and then we got into flipping a few and then we were into got into some Airbnbs and some resort properties as well as multifamily and even some commercials. Sothat was our investor experience. And then we, as we got larger and larger projects, we found it more difficult to raise capital for each of the projects. You know, it’s, it’s not a big deal when you’re doing a hundred thousand dollar property and you know, it takes you four or five months to just go and put carpet and paint. ⁓ I can usually, I can raise that capital fairly easy. there’s capital everywhere for that.
But when you start getting into, you know, 438 doors on an apartment building or something like that, now you’re talking millions and millions of dollars and you’ve got to go out and raise that money in a timely period so you can get the project done. The problem with that is that you lose out on a lot of projects because I would get something under contract and then I need to go out and raise, you know,
4.7 million or whatever it may be for that project and I don’t always hit the deadlines and so then I lose out on the project so We started we started then Building our own fund where we had the capital on hand and so when we found a project and if it let’s say it was you know, I needed 250,000 for the purchase and 50,000 for repairs. I have that 300,000
I’m ready to go at closing so I can do a quick close. I’m all cash and I don’t have to get approval for the funds and and that’s how I started building into being my own bank and obviously I got to a point where I start I was collecting more investors and we had more funds available and they wanted me to they don’t want their money sitting there they want that money allocated into different projects so I started funding deals for other investors.
And that was a big transition for us. one where we’re at the point where ⁓ obviously our biggest challenge is finding good projects that won’t fall apart or at the end we have to come in and take over the project and finish it ourselves. So that’s our grand journey from
Michelle Kesil (06:04)
Yeah, amazing. And are you operating in like specific markets?Jay Elggren (06:11)
⁓ We are currently in the United States. We have been international before, but we have, because of circumstances, we needed to return and we’re just rebuilding here in the United States on projects that we can actually be boots on the ground and we can get to and help oversee the projects.Michelle Kesil (06:29)
Awesome. And when you mentioned like you’re looking for more projects, is that like a partnership with other people or what does that process look like for you?Jay Elggren (06:38)
You know, it can be any of those things. like to, every project’s different. We don’t take into account so much the person doing it. Obviously their experience with projects is going to be a big factor in how we participate. Some may be newer at projects and haven’t done as many flips or whatever the project may be. And that’s where we have people that can come in and partner with them.And they can, obviously we can fill in some of the experience that they’re lacking. So if you’re a new wholesaler or a new investor that’s flipping homes, we can help with the construction portion of that and managing that. We’ve come in kind of as a consultant basis. But on the other side of that, if they know what they’re doing and they can just kind of take the money and run, we just come in as the finance and
let them do their thing. We don’t want to get in their way. I mean, if that’s their specialty and they’re good at that, we’re good at the money, we can let them run with the project.
Michelle Kesil (07:38)
Awesome, that’s an exciting opportunity to be in.Jay Elggren (07:40)
Yeah, I like it. And the financing is becoming more complex as we move into 2026 and other areas of, real estate, but, ⁓ it’s good to have good projects, but it’s also good to have good finance partners where you, don’t have to go out and find new funding sources. Every single project. we like to build relationships.I don’t like to do one off deals just because I have to revet every investor. and you know like I said, each project’s different. And if they don’t have the experience to run those projects, Then it just makes it more difficult. It increases our risk. I prefer to work with investors that we have a relationship with and we can count on them.
Michelle Kesil (08:27)
Right. What are some of the biggest challenges or obstacles that you’ve experienced as an investor that maybe you can share for those that are newer?Jay Elggren (08:42)
We have had a lot We have lost properties where the investor They just couldn’t finish the project they got in over their head. They didn’t manage the funds well enough Cost of construction whatever that was just got away from them and soThey end up they end up either walking away from the project or we would have to come in and Take the project back and finish it off ourselves It’s very unfortunate. We’ve had I don’t know we’ve had more successful projects that actually We estimated it would take about four months on a project in in Texas that we figured that would take four months to do
And it ended up taking us eight months because we got in and the contractor gave us an estimate on the property that was, it was completely underbid. that, that, what that did to us was one, it costs, we were planning on spending about 80 grand on the project for repairs. We ended up spending 130,000. And then again, that four months, which is our exit strategy, four months.
was wasted because we’ve all of our numbers and everything we put in there for our profit and the timeline, it was all blown out of the water because it took us eight months to finish that off. This happened a couple of years before COVID. And so the benefit there was that real estate was just going through the roof at the time. And so ⁓ we actually ended up winning on that one because the
The real estate was increasing so fast in that area that we ended up, oh, what was that? We were estimating to sell it off at, oh, I think at 240, 250. And we ended up selling that one for a $140,000 profit because the increase in properties. We had people bidding for our real estate.
They were coming in with multiple offers ⁓ It was just I guess a happy mistake it could have been tragic we could have lost everything we have had we had another one where We were renting it out to somebody and they completely trashed the property they had dogs in the property that were destroying it We had to we had to spend months and months evicting the person And then
Once we finally evicted them we had to go in and we had to put thousands and tens of thousands of dollars into repair it and get it ready so it could be rented out again. It cost us a lot of money and some big mistakes we did learn from that though We did we use title holding land trusts And so anybody that we have in our properties now
because it’s not real property, it’s now inside of a trust and they are a beneficiary. If they don’t make their payments, I don’t have to evict, I can just take the property back. So that’s something we’ve learned over the years and something that I can share with investors on how to save them headaches and hassles.
Michelle Kesil (12:31)
Yeah, amazing. I know those things are part of being in this industry for the long term game. You’re going to have mishaps and need to pivot.Jay Elggren (12:41)
Yeah, so that’s actually one of my advice I give to if I’m ever consulting for another investor. I hate being a landlord, and I hate taking care of all that. So those title holding land trusts will keep you from having all those landlord headaches. So anybody that is experiencing landlord headaches or frustrated with being a landlord, I can help with those title holding land trusts. That will legally protect you on all sides.Michelle Kesil (13:48)
Amazing, thank you for sharing that. I know that you have many different asset classes from the short-term rentals to the commercial and resorts. What kind of has been the journey of progression into getting into each one and is there like a preference that you have when it comes to your investment strategies?Jay Elggren (14:07)
you know what? I like the, I like the Airbnb. I like the, I like the short-term rentals and the hospitality properties just because we’re really good at service, concierge service, and just taking care of the client experience. And, you know, I mean, you can get into rentals just like, we’ve got a couple of rentals that are by universities. And so we put a bunch of college students in there and, you know,short of some maintenance every couple of years because they’re, you know, they’re getting out of control with their parties, but, it’s very low maintenance, very low, effort on my part, I guess. But, again, on the other side, I just love providing a very good experience for the guests. We’re a super host and, just being able to provide an experience versus just a place to rent.
Michelle Kesil (14:57)
Absolutely. What makes something an experience for you?Jay Elggren (15:00)
Well, okay. So an experience would be, you know, if I’m going, if I am traveling someplace, you know, when I show up, it’s just more than having a place to sleep. It’s, maybe it’s having a car service from the, from the airport. So I don’t have to worry about that. Or, a food service where, you know, it’s more than just door dash. I can have groceries, we provide a grocery service or aFood service so you know if they feel like cooking themselves they can they can have you know, but you know doordash is fine And that’s great for anybody that’s just on their own, but if you’re gonna have an experience we actually will provide tickets to local events or Concerts or things that are going on in the area You know again if they’re coming into the area. They don’t know it very well. They they would appreciate
things that will get them involved in the community and the activities and events that are happening around them because they’re coming from out of town. They don’t know what’s happening. they don’t, you know, unless they’re coming in town for you you know, a Lakers game or something, then they just, they’re not going to, they’re going to kind of, I guess, look through their phone and see what is fun to do around there. If we can give them suggestions and even provide,
Free free gifts or or access we can book the tickets for them. We can give them transportation to and from There’s just a lot of things that when I come in there. I want to I want to Be involved in in what’s going on, you know, so if I come into an area that I don’t know First thing I do is I ask somebody. Hey, look what’s fun to do around here? What would you do if you were you know? Well, that’s the kind of service that we provide without them having to ask
So it’s kind of fun on our part.
Michelle Kesil (16:47)
Yeah, I love that. think that’s super awesome for your guests to have that experience.Jay Elggren (16:53)
We love it.Michelle Kesil (16:54)
Yeah, sounds fun. So what are you most focused on solving or scaling to next in your business?Jay Elggren (17:03)
Yeah, we are again, we we finance other investors deals right now and we are focused on building a substantial real estate fund for the capital that as we bring those investors together, the challenge is is that when when you start doing multiple deals and you start building a fund that’s on ready reserve right there.Now you have to start worrying about legal and compliance with the SEC and other regulations that you don’t have to worry about if you’re just doing a one-off deal. So now we are trying to legalize that and build a fund that would be available for larger projects instead of just that, you know, that one-off, you $500,000 deal. Now we’re looking at
several million for apartment buildings and other things like that. So if there’s large projects, we have that money ready to go instead of having to go out and raise capital. That’s our big focus right now.
Michelle Kesil (18:09)
Awesome, that’s exciting. And are you hoping to scale your personal investments as well?Jay Elggren (18:16)
Yeah, so we we’re still scaling our personal investments, our portfolio. I’m never where I want to be. and it’s a it’s a good time right now to be buying real estate, obviously. So our property management piece of things is very good at managing other people’s properties. But I would like toIncrease what we’re doing for our personal stuff because we’re we’re very good at what we do and We do it for other people which is collecting the the payments and making sure that everything’s Legally compliant. They’re protected as landlords. I Would like to have some more properties in our own portfolio. That would be that’s where I’d like to go. Yes
Michelle Kesil (18:57)
Awesome. What sort of advice or tips would you give to newer investors?Jay Elggren (19:04)
Newer investors, I would say start, find yourself a, a ⁓ RIA, Real Estate Investing Association. They’re all over the country. Some are more active than others, but find yourself one that’s, that’s pretty active and they’re, they’re a good source to, to find deals. They’re a good source to learn from other investors that have been doing it longer than you have.This is where I, when we first got involved in this all those years ago, we went to one of those, you know, those RIA’s and they sat there and they taught us how to calculate things. And we had been in mortgages and finance.
20, 30 years now and we realized that we did not understand investing and the way investing works. So we found attorneys that focus on real estate deals. We found attorneys, we found escrow agents, we found people that will property manage. We found wholesalers. We started out wholesaling, finding deals ourselves and then wholesaling them off.
We found contractors in those meetings. I would go to a real estate investing agency or association. I would go there first because any part of this trying to put a deal together, you’re going to find somebody that can help you or at least direct you to that where to find it. I found money. ⁓ Money’s not hard to find really when you’re a real estate investor. There are so many people out there looking to place their money in real estate.
that if you have a good deal, you can get it funded. So go to those meetings, make your connections, network. And when you sit down and say, hey, listen, you know what? I don’t know how to get this under contract. I’m trying to wholesale this. You might find somebody that’s willing to partner with you and help you put you, you know, actually pull a deal together that you had no idea how to do it, but they’ve done it before. Just, you know.
vet your people, make sure that you know who you’re working with. And that’s where I’d start, is with one of those investor groups.
Michelle Kesil (21:08)
Yeah, amazing. That’s so important. Thank you for sharing that. So before we wrap up here, if somebody wants to reach out, connect, learn more, where can people find you connect?Jay Elggren (21:18)
I would go to fortunefirepro.com and you can actually reach us at ⁓ [email protected]. That would be my email and we can respond to that fairly quickly.Michelle Kesil (21:35)
Perfect. Appreciate your time, your story. Thank you for being here.Jay Elggren (21:38)
Of thank you.Michelle Kesil (21:40)
Yes. And for those tuning into the show, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Jay who are building real businesses and we will see you on our next episode.
