Team Spotlight

Darren’s love for both real estate and entrepreneurism makes him a great culture fit for our company and an enthusiastic advocate for our members. Here’s what Darren has to say about what he loves most about his job.

“There’s something truly rewarding about getting to see an entrepreneur’s business grow in real time. I talk to all of our managed service members on a quarterly basis. That’s over 300 talented real estate investors who range from novice to expert in experience. Being in regular contact with so many investors gives us great insight on tips and techniques that are working right now across the country. My absolute favorite part of this job is when I get to see the needle move after a member implements a strategic plan we build together. Seeing this happen and being a part of helping an entrepreneur hit their goals is exciting!” —Darren Wassell

His thoughts on the recent merger between REIvault and InvestorPO.

When Gary Boomershine and Robert Syfert chose to merge their businesses into the powerhouse full-scope platform that’s now called REIgnyte, it drummed up a lot of excitement and change. We asked Darren for the inside scoop and what he thought of the merger. Here’s what he had to say.

“We’re all super excited about it because we at REIvault have always had excellent managed services with an “okay” technology piece. InvestorPO had the incredible technology and CRM piece we needed. Apart we were both good, but together we’re great! As the Director of Client Services, I love that we can now offer our members the best of both worlds and help them produce even better results than we could before.” —Darren Wassell

Here’s a tip for struggling real estate investors from Darren Wassell.

We asked Darren if he could give a tip to a struggling real estate investor, what would it be. This tip was spot on!

“The fortune’s in the follow up. We as investors are all ready to buy houses today and every day. But most sellers aren’t ready to sell their house until sometime in the future. Few are ready now. So the key is to connect with them, build rapport and credibility, and educate them. If they’re ready to sell now, that’s great! If not, follow up, follow up, follow up, until that seller is ready to sell. If you’re in front of them when they’re finally ready to sell in the future, that’s when you’ll get the deal. Most investors don’t have the patience or time to stay with sellers until they’re ready to sell. While the people who do, make the most money.” —Darren Wassell

Getting to know Darren.

Born in San Diego, Darren began moving his way northward along the California coast where he attended Pepperdine University near Malibu. After graduating with a degree in Organizational Communication, his career track took him even further north to the San Francisco Bay area where he still lives today.

When Darren’s not working, he’s spending time with his family. He’s a firm believer that a healthy body equals a healthy mind, and enjoys exercising on a consistent basis alongside his lovely wife of 26+ years. Darren has three kids, two of which are already out of the house and across the country in North Carolina and in Texas, where Darren and his wife frequently travel for a visit. While some of their friends are having babies and starting their families late in life, Darren and his wife are anxiously looking forward to the grandparent phase of life in the future.

Julia loved her career as a wife and mother and never expected to have to work outside of the home. But, life threw her family a curveball in 2002 when her husband became one of the 30,000 innocent employees who lost everything after the infamous WorldCom accounting scandal and bankruptcy filing. Along with thousands of people, Julia’s family lost not only the income and benefits their family depended on, but every single penny they had saved for retirement.

Faced with needing to take her career outside of the home, Julia pulled herself up by the bootstraps and got to working on a solution. That solution was real estate, and it’s ultimately what led her to RealEstateInvestor.com. (Read her full real estate investing story here.)

Julia’s focused on making a measurable difference at RealEstateInvestor.com.

Julia’s committed to making a measurable difference in the lives of our members, our team, and our community. Her passion for relationship fostering, coaching, and encouraging are among the many admirable traits that make her a beloved part of our company and our community. For fun, we decided to ask a few people to share with us either a fictional job title or a nickname that best describes how Julia is making a measurable difference in the lives of others. Here are a some of those answers:

Mama Bear- She guards our team and our members fiercely and protectively watches to make sure that nobody gets left behind. She’s always looking for ways to solve problems and make things better.

Leader of Team Culture- Our company culture is a huge part of what we all love about working for RealEstateInvestor.com, and Julia is big on making sure it stays that way.

Our Moral Compass- As the accountability coach for our leadership team, Gary calls Julia their moral compass. Our core values are another thing we all love about this company, and Julia makes sure we’re always moving in the right direction.

The Closer- If there’s a challenge or a problem, Julia’s usually called in because of her uncanny ability to find solutions and to make things happen.

Jolly Julia- Twice a day Julia hosts motivational calls with our overseas phone teams that she affectionately refers to as our Sales Ninjas. Our sales ninja’s may live across the world, but Julia always makes them feel like they’re just as much a part of our family here. During these calls, Julia makes sure our sales ninjas are happy, pumped up, and that they have all the training and resources they need in order to land more qualified sellers for our members.

We asked Julia what she loves most about our company, here’s what she said:

“Our culture and our core values is what makes our company great. We have an interwoven team atmosphere where we’re all willing to jump in and help each other. We understand that everything we do is for the combined result of the company. We work hard, but we have fun too. I love that we’re a bottom up company, versus a top down. We take input and go and do things based on that philosophy. That allows us to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be. At the end of the day, we’re all part of one big family. That’s what keeps us outwardly focused and committed to making a measurable difference in each other’s lives and in the lives of our members.” —Julia Jordan, Senior Director of Success

Let’s get personal! Getting to know Julia Jordan.

Julia is a southern girl to the core who lives with her husband on a 25-acre ranch in North Texas. In true real estate investor fashion, she leases out 22 of those acres to a neighboring rancher as a grazing lease for his herd of cows and one stubborn mule. Julia starts her day off at 5am with a cup of coffee in one hand and her Bible in the other. She’s powered by Jesus and energized by spending quality time with the people she loves. When she’s not working, Julia can be found spoiling her grandkids, devouring books, cooking southern dishes, or working in her garden. She affectionately refers to “porch time” as one of her favorite ways to partake in self-care. Porch time includes unwinding on her oversized porch where she can watch the animals graze from her favorite rocking chair.

HERE’S OUR FAVORITE ANSWER FROM JULIA’S TEAM SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW:

We Asked Julia: If you could have any super power, what super power would you choose and why?

Julia Answered: “I feel like the Holy Spirit in me is my super power and I don’t really need another one.”

When we asked Doug what his favorite part of his job was, he said that he loves empowering people to become their best versions of themselves and unlocking their hidden potential. He’s committed to building a team culture where his team can think freely, and completely unleash their innovation and creativity. The atmosphere was charged with a newfound energy when he gave his new team the following charge.

“I have one sole purpose in this company—to empower smart people with the support, tools, and processes they need to be great. That’s my job. Not to tell you what to do. My job is to be your sounding board and to empower you to do what you know how to do and what you already know you need to do. Your voice is being heard. It’s always been heard. But with the merging of our companies now we have the manpower and the bandwidth to actually implement everything you’ve always wanted to do.”—Doug Lewis, Chief Information Officer, RealEstateInvestor.com

Getting to know Doug Lewis on a personal level.

Doug lives in San Diego, California where he was born and raised. His super powers include being both creative and analytical, a rare dual talent.

When Doug’s not working, you can find him spending time with his wife and beautiful granddaughters, or taking a sunset ride on his cruiser up to Hot Springs Mountain. If he had to pick an alternative career, he would own and run a rescue for horses alongside his wife.

“The best year of my life is to come, and it starts today!” —Doug Lewis

We feel the same way as Doug does and our entire team is thrilled to have him onboard as our CIO of RealEstateInvestor.com. With a powerhouse team and the best members in the world, we’re definitely set up to fulfill our mission to— REIgnyte your business. REInvent your life.

Wayne is an Integrator who provides a steady balance for our executive team.

As a natural Integrator, Wayne works seamlessly alongside our Visionaries, taking their ideas and developing the business plan and strategy that assists them in bringing those visions to life. Like most Integrators, he’s often found working behind the scenes. He’s a steady force within our organization who makes sure that our initiatives and business strategies are implemented and integrated seamlessly.

“The Visionary is the CEO who comes up with the great ideas, and the Integrator is the person who goes out and makes them happen. I’m good at helping people define their ideas by putting them into a blueprint that shows them how it could work.”

—Wayne Jarrett, RealEstateInvestor.com CFO and Integrator

From business mentor to a friendship that has spanned multiple decades.

Wayne’s first time meeting Gary Boomershine was at a couples event hosted by Andersen Consulting back in 1996. Newly hired Wayne was assigned a mentor named Gary Boomershine who he didn’t get to meet until a few days later at a couples retreat sponsored by their employer. It was a bit of an unconventional first meeting when Wayne and his wife Kathy met Gary and his wife Shanna at the event. But it didn’t take long for the two couples to hit it off after discovering that they lived near each other, had mutual friends in common, and enjoyed similar pastimes.

While Gary ended up leaving Anderson Consulting shortly after that event to pursue high tech sales with dot-com startups, the two couples remained close friends from then on out. For ten years both Wayne and Gary maintained a friendship where they would get together with their families for backyard barbeques, fishing, and boating on the lake. The two traded home improvement tips and real estate knowledge over the years. They often joked about working together again in the future, and in 2016 the timing lined out perfectly to make that happen.

“Our families remained good friends for well over 10 years. And during those years, both Gary and I took turns going back and forth talking about working together again. Sometimes he would say, ‘you should come work for me.’ Other times I would say, ‘I should come work for you.’ But the timing wasn’t right. Not until 10 years later in 2016 when the timing lined out perfectly. Ever since, working with Gary and the RealEstateInvestor.com team has been amazing. It’s a perfect culture fit for me and I couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.”

—Wayne Jarrett, RealEstateInvestor.com CFO and Integrator

Who’s Wayne Jarrett Anyway?

Wayne was born and raised in California’s Bay Area and currently lives in his home town of Walnut Creek. As a kid, Wayne was enamored with wildlife and dreamed of becoming the next Marlin Perkins or Steve Irwin. He spent a lot of time outdoors exploring nature’s wonders where he learned how to capture snakes and lasso lizards. All of which, his mom forbade him from bringing into the house. And yes, he has been bit a few times. But while he had a close call with a rattle snake, he never got bit by anything venomous.

As Wayne grew up, his strength in math, analytics, and business led him to pursue his MBA. During his first year of college he met the love of his life, and has been with her ever since. In fact, Wayne and his beautiful wife Kathy recently celebrated their 30^th wedding anniversary! And together, they’ve raised three bright and talented teenage daughters. All of whom he attributes his full head of white hair to.

During our interview, we got the chance to ask one of Wayne’s daughters what her dad does after he finishes work. She told us that he likes to stare at nothing on the TV while drinking a beer. Wayne laughed and then explained that his brain is always on the move, so watching nothing on TV and vegging out for an hour or two is a luxurious way to wind down from a long day at the office. But Wayne’s actual favorite pastime is spending quality time with his family and friends. He and his family play golf together, hunt, fish, snow ski, and spend most of their Summer’s boating on the lake.

A future in the mountains?

Wayne’s dream retirement would include waking up with a view of Lake Tahoe, grabbing a steaming cup of coffee, and going for a nice walk alongside his wife. But he might not have to wait for retirement to wake up to a mountain view since Wayne has excellent real estate investing skills and works for an amazing company that allows him to work remote from anywhere. Perhaps he’ll even make this a part of his 5-year plan.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR TEAM AT REALESTATEINVESTOR.COM.

Our team at RealEstateInvestor.com is thrilled to have Wayne Jarrett on our executive team. If you have any questions for Wayne or would like to connect with us, don’t hesitate to reach out. Until then, Wayne will be busy helping us fulfill our mission through his innovative business management skills, and his ability to seamlessly Integrate innovative solutions for our members and our business.