JEFF RAPPAPORT

My real estate journey began back in 1999 when I purchased an infomercial on tv.  It was No Money Down Real Estate by Carleton Sheets.  The education did not get me into real estate.  I must have been put on a list and I started getting a number of real estate letters, postcards and phone calls.  When I decided to purchase Ron Legrand’s course on Flipping, Wholesaling and Creative Financing that was the beginning of my real estate career. 

For my first 8 or so years in real estate I did a little bit of everything.  I bought 40-50 single family homes subject to the mortgage and rented them out to tenant/buyers on lease options.  I negotiated short sales with banks before they knew what a short sale truly was. I co-founded the Salt Lake REIA in 2001.  I was the only speaker for at least 2+ years.  I dabbled in rehabs, development, commercial properties, notes and a number of other strategies you may or may not have heard of.  In 2004, I started an education program.  I taught creative strategies, pre-foreclosures, marketing, selling houses quickly and a number of other topics.  To this day, I truly love teaching others how they can create a life of financial freedom.   

In 2008, I had 8-10 high end flips going on, a 58 unit subdivision I was selling individual lots to a builder, some land development and about $5M in hard money and another $1.5M in private money out with lenders.  The crash came quickly and basically wiped me out.  I hung in there for a few years but liquidated my savings, retirement and cash on hand to try and save all of the projects that were going on.  Eventually, all of them were foreclosed on including my own house.  My wife asked for a divorce, my father passed away and my business that I worked diligently to build up over the last 8 years was now gone.  Truly was the worst time of my life.

I was devastated and depressed.  I looked for jobs for about a year.  Took a couple of jobs so I could maintain a roof over my head.   Nothing really stuck and I was not interested in working low-income jobs to just get by.  Why should I?  I had a college degree in Business, Master’s degree in Social Work and ran a successful business for 8 years.  Why should I settle?  The problem was the universe did not agree with me.  Most employers thought I would leave them as soon as something better came along.  They were probably right.  

After taking a job with Worldmark selling Time Share credits over the phone I met Rebecca Jensen.  She changed my life.  Gave me the confidence to try again.  She believed in me and convinced me to try again.  I decided that real estate was the vehicle that would pull me out of this dark depression that had consumed me for the last 2 years. 

I was starting from scratch a second time with no money and just me to make things work.  I had done it once before why not a second time.  I decided that wholesaling would be the least risky for me and I could build it up over time.  I started working in Idaho and Utah and built a decent wholesale business over the next year.  By this time, Rebecca had decided to join me in real estate.  We have been doing real estate together for about 9 years.    

In 2018, we started wholesaling virtually all over the country.  We also started wholesaling commercial properties like Self Storage, Multi-family, Mobile Home and RV Parks.  Combining my knowledge of creative financing with commercial properties has really opened some doors.  Commercial properties are definitely a focus of our current business.  Assignment fees are normally 6 figures and we have done a number of multi 6 figure deals over the years.  As the market has shifted a bit in the last year or so, the opportunities are increasing and many sellers look to us to provide a solution to their problem. 

We continue to wholesale properties today.  However, there are too many really good deals to just sell so we have begun to raise private money.  We expect to keep 10+ properties a year for the next few years.  This should provide enough passive income to retire if we see fit.  Real estate is in my blood so who knows if that will really happen.  The option to make that decision is what is important. 

A few other things about me.  I started a Podcast in 2018 on creative finance called The Creative Financing Podcast.  I just ended putting out new content but did almost 300 episodes.  Check it out if you are interested in learning more about creative finance.  I have been doing two Meetups every month for the last 8 years.  One is strictly networking which we get 25-75 people there each month.  Great for creating relationships and connections that can help you build your business.  The second Meetup is the 2^nd Thursday of the month and is done virtually.  It started out as the Wholesale Meetup and now is called The Creative Investor Meetup.  I teach about different types of creative financing and how it can be used in your business. 

If you want to reach me the best is to text or email.  I am always happy and willing to help!