2026 EARLY BIRD TICKETS

SUMMIT SPEAKERS

John Bowens, Equity Trust Company

How to Turn Your Retirement Plan into a Real Estate Investing Machine

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Darrin Carey, Dayton Capital Partners

The Missing Half of Your Portfolio: Why Serious Investors Own Notes and Propertiess

How to Get Experienced Investors to Fund Your Deals

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Lindsey Jensen

Thursday All-Day Workshop

The Freedom Portfolio: Buy Creatively. Build Systems. Retire Younger

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Kathy Kennebrook

Direct Mail That Finds Motivated Sellers: Targeting, Messaging, and Follow-Up That Work

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Amanda Neely, CFP®, Counterflow

Beyond the Next Deal: Building Wealth That Doesn't Depend on Buying More Real Estate

The Financial Advice Real Estate Investors Should Stop Following (Including From AI)

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Todd VanMeter

Before You Invest: How to Read a Private Placement Memorandum and Understand What You’re Really Buying

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Anita Johnson

Wrap Mortgages: Buy, Sell, and Lend with One Creative Finance Tool

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Tiffani Ray

The Cash-Flow Rescue Plan: Using Shared Housing to Make Tough Properties Profitable and Your Business Impactful

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Dave Peters

Rentals Without Long-Term Debt: Why I Stopped Chasing More Rentals and Started Chasing Freedom

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Brian Buckalew

How Nonprofits Can Use Real Estate to Fund Their Mission Instead of Constantly Raising Money

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Jay Redding

How to Turn a Problem Property into a Performing Asset

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More speakers will be announced soon.

John Bowens, Equity Trust Company

John Bowens is Director of Education at Equity Trust Company, where he helps investors understand how to use self-directed retirement accounts to invest beyond traditional stocks and mutual funds.

A Certified IRA Services Professional (CISP) and a self-directed investor himself, John has educated tens of thousands of investors on using retirement accounts to purchase real estate, make private loans, invest in notes, and participate in alternative investments while taking advantage of the tax benefits available through qualified retirement plans.

Known for making a complicated subject approachable, John specializes in helping investors understand the rules, opportunities, and practical applications of self-directed IRAs and Solo 401(k)s. Rather than focusing on theory, he shows investors how these retirement tools can fit into the investing strategies they already know.

How to Turn Your Retirement Plan into a Real Estate Investing Machine

You’re investing in real estate for your “today” income and wealth. 

Why isn’t your retirement plan doing the same for your tomorrow? 

We’ve heard all the reasons: “I don’t know how.” “I don’t have the spare cash to put into a retirement account right now.” “My 401K doesn’t LET ME invest in real estate.” “I don’t have enough in my account to buy a house yet.” 

Give John Bowens 90 minutes, and he’ll show you why you CAN, and SHOULD BE using your retirement account to invest in real estate, no matter who you are or where you’re starting.  

He’ll share 

  • Why the money to fund your first retirement investment may be hiding in plain sight 
  • How investors use retirement accounts to buy rentals, fund rehabs, make private loans, purchase notes, and participate in partnerships. Everything you’re ALREADY doing, but tax-free or tax deferred! 
  • Why even a little money—think as little as $500—in your retirement account can lead to meaningful wealth, if you use it right 
  • Common misconceptions that prevent investors from getting started—and why getting started NOW with a little is way better than waiting until you have a lot.

This session is designed for investors who are newer to the idea of using your retirement fund to invest in real estate and notes, so if you’re looking for clear information and examples of how to get started, be here!  


Darrin Carrey, Dayton Capital Partners

Darrin Carey began investing in real estate in 2002 and has spent more than two decades building experience across wholesaling, renovations, rentals, private lending, and notes. 

His path hasn’t always been smooth. After retiring from the U.S. Air Force in 2008, Darrin entered real estate full time just as the housing crisis unfolded. The challenges eventually led him through bankruptcy in 2012. Rather than leaving the business, he rebuilt it by learning from those setbacks, surrounding himself with experienced investors, and becoming deeply involved in his local REIA and the National Real Estate Investing Summit community. 

Since then, Darrin has completed more than 200 wholesale transactions, nearly 200 renovations, and originated more than 1,000 performing private loans. He and his wife also built a rental portfolio that generated enough passive income to cover their living expenses before expanding further into private lending. 

Today, Darrin is the owner of Dayton Capital Partners, where he focuses primarily on hard money lending while continuing to invest in notes and real estate. In 2025, he also acquired Plum Title, a title company specializing in serving real estate investors and the creative transactions they bring to the closing table. 

Whether he’s discussing notes, funding, or investment strategy, Darrin teaches from experience earned through both success and failure. 

 

The Missing Half of Your Portfolio: Why Serious Investors Own Notes and Properties  

Most real estate investors think almost exclusively about buying properties. But that’s only one side of the business. 

Notes can generate passive income, reduce management headaches, diversify your investments by geography and asset class, and put capital to work while it’s waiting for the right property to come along.  

Properties can create cash flow, appreciation, equity, and long-term wealth.  

Knowing when—and why—to own one, the other, or both can make your portfolio stronger in changing markets. 

After more than two decades investing in wholesales, renovations, rentals, and private lending, Darrin Carey has built businesses on both sides of the equation. In this session, he’ll compare the strengths and tradeoffs of notes and properties so you can decide how each fits your own investing goals. 

You’ll learn: 

  • The practical advantages and limitations of owning notes versus owning real estate.  
  • Different types of note investments, including options for investors with modest amounts of capital.  
  • How performing notes are evaluated and where investors find opportunities.  
  • Why combining notes and properties can diversify both income and risk.  
  • A practical framework for deciding which strategy best fits your current stage of investing.  

If you’ve only thought about growing your portfolio by buying more properties, this session will introduce another tool that may deserve a place in your long-term investment strategy. 

Sponsored by Dayton Capital Partners 

 

How to Get Experienced Investors to Fund Your Deals – Lunch

Finding good deals isn’t enough if you can’t get them funded. 

Private lenders finance successful investors every day, but they don’t say “yes” simply because someone asks. They look for well-structured opportunities, realistic numbers, and borrowers who inspire confidence. 

As both an active investor and a private lender who has originated more than 1,000 performing notes, Darrin Carey has reviewed countless funding requests from both experienced and newer investors. In this Lunch & Learn, he’ll explain what separates fundable deals from the ones that never get financed. 

You’ll discover: 

  • The key elements private lenders expect every deal to include.  
  • What experienced lenders evaluate before committing their money.  
  • How to present your opportunity professionally.  
  • Common mistakes that cause lenders to walk away.  
  • Practical ways to build long-term relationships with private lenders instead of searching for one loan at a time.  

Whether you’re wholesaling, rehabbing, buying rentals, or pursuing creative finance, understanding how lenders think can dramatically improve your ability to get deals done. 

Sponsored by Dayton Capital Partners 

Lunch will be provided for attendees with sponsor lunch tickets. 

 

Lindsey Jensen

Lindsey Jensen is the founder of Clever Kitty Investing and has built a real estate portfolio valued at more than $12 million in less than eight years by focusing on creative acquisitions and long-term rental ownership. 

She entered real estate investing in 2016 after attending a creative finance workshop and quickly completed her first transaction with nothing down and zero-percent interest for the first year. Early in her investing career, she partnered with an experienced mentor on many of her first deals, allowing her to gain practical experience structuring creative transactions while building a portfolio designed for long-term wealth rather than quick flips. 

As her portfolio grew, Lindsey discovered that buying properties was only half the challenge. She became equally passionate about creating the systems that make rental ownership sustainable. Drawing on lessons learned from experienced landlords—including David Tilney—she developed practical operating procedures that helped keep every tenant paying during the 2020 rent moratorium, with only one resident ever falling more than 30 days behind. 

Today Lindsey manages more than 70 rental units in only a few hours each week using documented systems, clear expectations, delegation, and technology. Through Clever Kitty Investing, she teaches investors how to combine creative finance with practical business systems so they can build rental portfolios that support the lives they want instead of taking them over. 

Thursday All-Day Workshop

The Freedom Portfolio: 
Buy Creatively. Build Systems. Retire Younger

Owning lots of rentals isn’t the goal. 

Owning rentals that give you lots more income AND lots more time is.  

Too many investors spend years  building a “retirement portfolio”, only to discover they’ve built themselves another demanding full-time job. The bigger the portfolio gets, the more their freedom disappears. 

Lindsey Jensen believes that’s completely backwards. 

In this full-day workshop, she’ll show you not only how to continue buying rental properties creatively, but also how to build the systems that let you own them without your business owning you. 

The morning focuses on creative acquisitions, including master leasing, subject-to purchases, lease purchases, cash strategies, and the marketing that consistently attracts motivated sellers, including: 

  • How to structure creative acquisitions using master leasing, subject-to, lease purchases, cash, and seller-focused negotiations  
  • Marketing strategies that bring motivated sellers to you instead of chasing listings  


Then, after lunch, Lindsey shifts to the part few investors ever learn: creating operating systems that allow a rental portfolio to grow without consuming your life. 

You’ll discover: 

  • Why “passive income” isn’t passive at first—and how to make sure it eventually becomes what you really wanted 
  • The tenant screening, leases, and expectations you should have (they prevent many problems before they start) 
  • How standard operating procedures, delegation, and AI can dramatically reduce your workload  
  • Which responsibilities belong on your desk—and which shouldn’t

Lindsey knows whereof she speaks; she built a portfolio valued at more than $12 million in less than eight years, and today manages more than 70 rental units in just a few hours each week. She’ll show you the practical systems that made that possible—and how you can begin building a rental business that creates freedom instead of another job. 

 

Kathy Kennebrook

Kathy Kennebrook is a real estate investor, direct mail marketer, author, and educator whose work focuses on finding motivated sellers and private lenders through targeted marketing. 
 
Before entering real estate, Kathy spent more than 20 years in the banking industry and earned a degree in finance. She later began investing in real estate and has bought and sold hundreds of properties using a variety of acquisition and financing strategies. 

Her specialty is developing direct mail campaigns aimed at carefully selected groups of property owners rather than relying on broad, one-size-fits-all marketing. Her systems include identifying potential seller niches, creating campaign messages, pre-screening responses, and following up with prospects whose circumstances may change over time. 

Kathy has co-authored The Venus Approach to Real Estate Investing and Real Estate Investing: Your Personal Path to Prosperity. She has also taught real estate audiences throughout the United States and Canada. 

At the National Real Estate Investing Summit, Kathy will focus on the practical mechanics of building a repeatable direct mail system: who to contact, what to send, how to evaluate responses, and how to stay in touch without manually managing every lead. 

Direct Mail That Finds Motivated Sellers: Targeting, Messaging, and Follow-Up That Work

Direct mail doesn’t fail simply because people throw away letters. It usually fails because the investor mails the wrong people, sends a message that sounds like everybody else’s, or gives up before a seller is ready to act. 

Kathy Kennebrook has spent decades perfecting direct mail to motivated sellers across a wide range of situations, building a 7-figure retail and rental business entirely from off-market deals 

In this session, she’ll break down how to create a repeatable marketing process that helps you spend less time chasing unqualified leads and more time speaking with owners who may actually have a reason to sell. 

You’ll learn: 

  • How to identify narrowly targeted seller groups instead of mailing broad, generic lists 
  • How the message, response method, and delivery process work together to improve the quality of incoming leads 
  • How to pre-screen sellers by phone so you can quickly identify motivation, property condition, and possible deal terms 
  • How to build an automated follow-up system that keeps you in front of owners whose timing isn’t right today 
  • How attorneys, vacant-property records, out-of-state ownership data, expired listings, and other sources may reveal opportunities your competitors aren’t pursuing 

 

Whether you’re looking for your first great deal or your 500th, Kathy will show you how to get the consistency you want. 


Amanda Neely, CFP®, Counterflow

Amanda Neely, CFP®, helps business owners and real estate investors build financial systems that create greater control, flexibility, and long-term security. As co-founder of Counterflow, she works with entrepreneurs who want an alternative to conventional financial advice and a strategy that better supports the way they actually build wealth.

Amanda’s perspective comes from both professional training and personal experience. She and her husband, Brandon, started a social enterprise café while carrying a negative net worth, spending seven years learning firsthand what it takes to build a business and a financial foundation at the same time.

She is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional, one of approximately 200 Bank On Yourself Professionals in the United States and Canada, a Profit First Professional, and the author of The STILL Method. Her work focuses on helping entrepreneurs create financial architecture built around ownership, liquidity, and control.

At the National Real Estate Investing Summit, Amanda will show investors how to build a financial strategy that strengthens—not replaces—their real estate investing business

Beyond the Next Deal: Building Wealth That Doesn’t Depend on Buying More Real Estate – Wake Up Wealthy

Most real estate investors spend years building portfolios—but far fewer build a financial strategy that’s just as strong as the properties they own. 

What happens when you need liquidity? When an opportunity comes along but all your wealth is tied up in equity? Or when you simply want your money working in more than one place? 

In this practical session, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® Amanda Neely will show you how to build a financial framework that supports your investing business instead of competing with it. Rather than replacing real estate, you’ll learn how to strengthen your overall financial position so you can weather market changes, seize opportunities, and build lasting financial independence. 

You’ll discover: 

  • How to build wealth beyond your real estate portfolio without abandoning what already works  
  • Strategies to improve liquidity while continuing to grow your investments  
  • Ways to strengthen cash flow without sacrificing long-term goals  
  • Tax-efficient financial strategies that complement real estate investing  
  • A framework for creating greater financial flexibility and resilience  

If most of your net worth is tied up in real estate, this session will help you think more strategically about the rest of your financial picture. 

Sponsored by Counterflow 

The Financial Advice Real Estate Investors Should Stop Following (Including From AI) – Lunch

Americans are constantly told to “pay off debt,” “maximize retirement accounts,” “keep plenty of cash in the bank,” and “diversify” … and, increasingly, the ask an AI chatbot what to do next.

For real estate investors in specific? Some of that advice is good. Some  isn’t. And some of it can actually work against you, if you’re building wealth through real estate.

In this thought-provoking Lunch & Learn, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® Amanda Neely examines five of the most common financial myths that can quietly limit cash flow, reduce flexibility, and make it harder to grow a successful investing business.

Instead of the one-size-fits-all financial advice you get in the mass media, Amanda will show you how to evaluate financial strategies through the lens of a real estate investor.

During this session, you’ll discover:

  • Five common financial myths that deserve a second look
  • Why traditional financial advice doesn’t always fit investors and entrepreneurs
  • How liquidity, taxes, and leverage work together to strengthen—or weaken—your financial position
  • A practical framework for making smarter financial decisions as your investing business grows
  • Why an AI chatbot’s confident answer about your money often misses the one thing that actually matters: your specific situation

Whether you’re just getting started or already own multiple investment properties, you’ll leave with a different way to think about the financial decisions that affect every deal you do.

Sponsored by Counterflow

Lunch will be provided for attendees with sponsor lunch tickets.

 

Todd VanMeter

Todd VanMeter has spent more than 40 years in real estate as an investor, licensed agent, homebuilder, rental property owner, and educator. 

During that time, he has built and held rental properties and spent 34 years leading a real estate investors association. He has also mentored investors and developed a particular interest in taking complicated legal and financial concepts and translating them into language investors can actually use. 

Todd has studied the use of trusts under educators including Dyches Boddiford and has applied those concepts in his own investing. He has personally used irrevocable trusts in connection with the sale of 64 properties. 

His experience as a passive investor is particularly relevant to this Summit session: Todd has invested in dozens of private placements himself. That has given him experience reading the documents, examining how investments are structured, and determining what the investor is actually agreeing to before committing capital. 

At the National Real Estate Investing Summit, Todd brings an investor’s perspective to a document many investors receive—but may not fully understand: the Private Placement Memorandum.  

Before You Invest: How to Read a Private Placement Memorandum and Understand What You’re Really Buying

You invested $50,000 in a passive syndication.  

So…what, exactly, do you own? 

An interest in real estate? Shares in an LLC? Debt? Debt secured by shares of an LLC? And if you decide six months from now that you want your money back, can you actually sell your investment—or are you committed for far longer than you realized? 

Private Placement Memorandums(PPMs) and the related investment documents are supposed to tell you what you’re investing in, how the investment is structured, what your rights are, and what risks you’re accepting. 

The trouble is, they can be long, technical, and very easy to skim, especially when you’re so excited about the investment, or the person promoting it, that you’re not really that interested in the paperwork 

Todd VanMeter has invested in dozens of private placements himself, and he has spent decades learning to translate complicated legal and financial concepts into plain English. 

In this 90-minute session, he’ll help you become a much more careful reader of private investment documents, including how to: 

  • Determine what you are actually buying, rather than what you assume you’re buying, and what security you REALLY have. 
  • Understand important distinctions between equity, ownership interests, debt, and debt secured by other interests 
  • Identify provisions that affect whether—and under what circumstances—you can get out of the investment 
  • Read dense investment language more critically and recognize areas you need to understand before committing your money 
  • Ask better questions when the documents don’t match your understanding of the investment

This isn’t about turning you into a securities attorney in 90 minutes–it’s about making sure that when you make a private investment, you have a much better idea of what you’re agreeing to. 

Don’t even think about investing in a syndication or private placement until you’ve been to this session! 

 

Anita Johnson, AKA The Queen Wrapper

Anita Johnson—known throughout the industry as the “Queen Wrapper™”—is a real estate investor with more than 20 years of experience using creative financing strategies to acquire, structure, and profit from real estate. 

Unlike many educators who teach wraps from theory alone, Anita has completed wrap transactions from both sides of the table—as both a borrower and a lender. Drawing on a corporate engineering background, she has developed practical systems, checklists, and step-by-step processes that help investors understand and implement wrap mortgages with greater confidence and consistency. 

Over the years, Anita has become known for her ability to simplify complex creative finance concepts and turn them into repeatable strategies that investors can actually use in the real world. 

Deeply involved in the real estate investing community, Anita currently serves as President of Cincinnati REIA and leads the REIA/COREE Creative Finance Focus Group, where she helps investors develop the skills and knowledge needed to structure creative transactions successfully. 

Whether she’s teaching experienced investors new techniques or helping newer investors understand the fundamentals of creative finance, Anita’s focus remains the same: making sophisticated investing strategies practical, understandable, and actionable. 

Wrap Mortgages: Buy, Sell, and Lend with One Creative Finance Tool

A lot of investors know the words wrap mortgage. Far fewer really understand how versatile a wrap can be—or the things that can go wrong when you don’t understand what you’re agreeing to. 

Anita Johnson has used wrap mortgages as both borrower and lender, and she’s spent years helping investors work through creative deal structures. In this session, she’ll break wraps down systematically so you can see where they fit and what you need to think through. 

You’ll learn: 

  • What a wrap mortgage actually is and how the basic structure works  
  • The benefits a wrap can offer in a creatively financed transaction  
  • How wraps can be used when you’re buying/borrowing, selling, or lending  
  • Examples that show how the strategy works in actual deal structures  
  • The watchouts both borrowers and lenders need to understand  
  • The pieces that have to come together to create a successful wrap mortgage deal

If you’re looking for another useful—and often misunderstood—tool in your creative finance toolbox, check out this session. 

 

Tiffani Ray

Managing Member, Ray of Hope Realty Services, LLC Co-Owner, Healing Touch Center of Cincinnati 

Tiffani L. Ray is a Cincinnati native and seasoned real estate operator with 35 years of combined banking, mortgage servicing, and investment experience. As Managing Member of Ray of Hope Realty Services, LLC, she leads real estate acquisition, micro-development, business credit consulting, and investor education while actively managing a 93-door portfolio across Greater Cincinnati. 

She is also Co-Owner of the Healing Touch Center of Cincinnati, a licensed group home and shared housing provider serving vulnerable populations through structured, compliant, dignity-centered housing operations. Her leadership includes oversight of audits, regulatory adherence, and multi-entity governance. 

Before expanding into real estate full-time, Tiffani spent three decades in senior banking and mortgage servicing roles, including VP Business Controls Senior Manager at Fifth Third Bank, VP Bankruptcy Director at Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing, and VP Default Mortgage Servicing Site Manager at U.S. Bank, where she led large operational teams, managed portfolios exceeding $25 billion, and directed end-to-end servicing functions across multiple states. 

A past President of REIAGC and current Co-Chair of the Shared Housing Focus Group, Tiffani is recognized as a national voice in shared housing operations, compliance, and mission-driven real estate. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the College of Mount St. Joseph and is committed to helping investors build cash flow, impact, and legacy through the shared housing power niche. 

The Cash-Flow Rescue Plan: Using Shared Housing to Make Tough Properties Profitable and Your Business Impactful 

 

We’ve all seen them (and sadly, some of us OWN a few): properties that  “work on paper”, but don’t produce enough rent to justify owning them. 

Shared housing offers a different way to think about those properties. Instead of renting to one household, you create housing that serves multiple residents while potentially generating substantially more income from the same asset. 

So yes, you make more money… 

…but you also provide more affordable housing, AND create a business that’s impactful and scalable. 

In this session, Tiffani Ray will explain how the major shared-housing models work, where they fit, and how investors can determine whether the strategy makes sense for their market, properties, and goals. 

You’ll learn: 

  • How occupancy optimization can increase income compared to traditional rental strategies  
  • The differences between licensed care homes, unlicensed shared housing, and PadSplit-style models  
  • How operators work to reduce turnover, stabilize occupancy, and create more predictable income  
  • The systems, staffing, compliance considerations, and support services involved in scaling  
  • How to determine where you fit in the shared-housing ecosystem as an investor, operator, landlord, rehabber, or entrepreneur 
     

This session is designed for investors who are looking beyond traditional rental models and want to understand a strategy that combines housing demand, operational systems, and cash-flow potential. 

 

Dave Peters

Dave Peters is a Columbus, Ohio-based real estate investor and buy-and-hold rental property owner. Before building his real estate business full-time, Dave spent 24 years in the U.S. Navy as a Supply Corps officer, retiring in 2009 after a career focused on logistics, planning, and operations. 

Like many investors, Dave initially followed the traditional path of using financing to acquire rental properties. But in 2011, he made a deliberate decision to build a different kind of investing business—one focused on reducing long-term debt rather than accumulating it. Through a combination of disciplined planning, strategic partnerships, and accelerated mortgage payoff strategies, he dramatically reduced his debt burden and created a portfolio designed to generate income with less financial pressure and risk. 

Today, Dave shares the lessons he learned on his journey toward debt-free investing, helping other rental owners think differently about cash flow, leverage, financial freedom, and what it really takes to build a life supported by real estate rather than controlled by it. This practical, experience-based approach has made him a popular speaker and mentor among investors looking for alternatives to the “more units, more debt” model of portfolio growth. 

Rentals Without Long-Term Debt: Why I Stopped Chasing More Rentals and Started Chasing Freedom

Most real estate investors assume debt is simply part of the business. The usual goal is to acquire more properties, take on more financing, and hope that appreciation and cash flow eventually create freedom. 

Dave Peters took a different path. 

In 2011, he made a deliberate decision to build a debt-free real estate business. Over the following years, he combined partnerships, short-term financing, and a focused payoff strategy to reduce mortgage balances by seven figures and transform the way he invested. Eventually, he reached the point where he could acquire rentals with little or no long-term debt and leave his high-paying job years earlier than expected.  

In this practical session, Dave will explain not only how he did it, but why the pursuit of debt freedom changed his business, his risk profile, and his lifestyle. 

You’ll learn: 

  • How Dave created a long-term plan to systematically eliminate bank debt in just a few years 
  • Ways partnerships and short-term financing can help investors acquire properties without relying on permanent mortgages  
  • Why cash flow, freedom, and peace of mind can improve dramatically as debt declines  
  • How many rentals you may actually need to achieve your personal financial goals  
  • The tradeoffs between faster growth through leverage and a debt-reduction strategy

     

If your goal isn’t simply owning more real estate—but creating more freedom—this session will challenge some common assumptions about what successful investing really looks like. 

 

Brian Buckalew

Brian Buckalew has dedicated his working career to helping people develop and thrive at every stage of life. Through his nonprofit work, he has focused on human development from infancy through aging, with programs that support parenting, family dynamics, leadership development, identity formation, purpose discovery, and practical life skills. 

Over the years, Brian has seen firsthand how many nonprofit organizations struggle with a common challenge: spending so much time raising money that they have less time available to accomplish their mission. That experience led him to explore how real estate ownership and investment can create sustainable revenue streams that allow organizations to focus more energy on serving people and less on fundraising. 

Today, Brian helps nonprofit leaders understand how real estate can be used strategically within mission-driven organizations while navigating the practical, legal, and tax considerations that come with that approach. His work combines a deep understanding of human development with a practical approach to organizational sustainability, helping leaders think differently about how their missions can be funded for the long term. 

He’s the Vice President of the board of the Real Estate Investors of Nashville (REIN) and the instructor of the Summit Youth Entrepreneurial Academy since 2025.  

 

How Nonprofits Can Use Real Estate to Fund Their Mission Instead of Constantly Raising Money

Most nonprofits spend an enormous amount of time and energy raising money. There are grants have to be written. Donors to be cultivated, fundraising events have to be planned. Before long, the organization can find itself spending almost as much effort funding the mission as fulfilling it. 

Brian Buckalew believes there’s a better way—at least for real estate investors who are passionate about a mission.  

Drawing on his extensive experience leading organizations focused on human development—from childhood through aging—Brian will show how nonprofits can strategically use real estate to generate income that supports their mission and creates long-term sustainability. 

You’ll learn: 

  • How nonprofits can use real estate investments to support mission-driven work  
  • Why asset ownership can create greater stability than relying solely on donations and grants  
  • When housing-related businesses and programs may be appropriate within a nonprofit structure  
  • Common legal and tax considerations, including situations that may trigger Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT)  
  • How to evaluate whether a real estate strategy aligns with an organization’s mission and long-term goals  


Whether you’re already involved in a nonprofit, serve on a board, operate mission-based housing programs, or simply want to understand an overlooked intersection between real estate and social impact, this session will challenge the traditional fundraising model and introduce a different way of thinking about sustainability. 

 

Jay Redding

Jay Redding has been helping investors solve real estate problems since purchasing his first investment property in 2004. Over the past two decades, he has developed expertise across a wide range of investment strategies, including pre-foreclosures, short sales, rehabbing, lease/options, self-directed IRA investing, syndication, seller financing, and mortgage notes. 

As Manager of Cassidy Investments and JMJ Real Estate Services, LLC, Jay focuses on creating real estate investment opportunities that align with investors’ goals, risk tolerance, and financial objectives. His approach centers on finding practical, profitable solutions for challenges that often leave other investors stuck. 

Jay has become particularly skilled at helping investors unlock value from properties that no longer fit their portfolios. Whether it’s an underperforming rental, a retail property that won’t sell, or equity trapped in a deal, he understands how owner financing and note strategies can create opportunities where conventional approaches fall short. 

His work is guided by a commitment to integrity, education, and creating positive outcomes for investors and the communities they serve. Through his investment activities, Jay strives to provide clean, safe, affordable housing while helping investors achieve above-average returns through well-structured real estate opportunities. 

Today, he shares the strategies he’s used for years to help investors create flexible exits, generate income, and turn challenging properties into valuable assets.  

 

How to Turn a Problem Property into a Performing Asset

In 2026, every active investor eventually owns one. 

A rental that’s no longer cash flowing, thanks to increased expenses and vacancy time.  

A rehab that’s fully renovated but isn’t attracting buyers. 

 Most investors respond by lowering the rent, or the price, AGAIN, and hoping for the best. 

But there’s another, way better option that can get you the cash flow you wanted, or the cash you wanted, that’s in high demand, has almost no competition, and is about as tried-and-true as a strategy gets. 

Since entering real estate investing in 2004, Jay has worked across multiple investing disciplines, including pre-foreclosures, short sales, rehabbing, lease/options, syndication, self-directed IRA investing, and seller-financed transactions. Through JMJ Real Estate Services, he specializes in creating practical real estate solutions that match investor goals and risk tolerance. 

In this session, Jay will explain how owner financing can help investors create buyers where conventional financing falls short, generate income from properties that aren’t moving, and transform equity into a valuable note that can later be sold for cash. 

You’ll learn: 

  • When owner financing makes more sense than a conventional sale  
  • How seller financing can help move rentals, rehabs, and other difficult-to-sell properties  
  • The fundamentals of creating a seller-financed note that you can turn into cash easily, if you decide to 
  • Common mistakes that reduce profitability and flexibility  


If you have a property that’s become dead money—or want more exit strategies than simply listing and hoping—this session will show you how experienced investors create opportunities when traditional approaches fall short.