What is Real Estate Ignite?
Real Estate Ignite is the FortuneBuilders' annual real estate super conference that will leave you ready to IGNITE your investing business! That's why every year, for the last 8 years, thousands of real estate investors attend Real Estate Ignite to share what's new, what’s hot and what is working right now in real estate investing and letting you in on how the systems apply to your own growing business.
One of the best parts of Ignite is getting to pick your personalized schedule for the breakout sessions. This year, you will have breakout sessions to choose from on a range of real estate related topics including:
- Real estate investing post- COVID-19
- Negotiation strategies so everyone leaves feeling like a winner
- Creative financing options to fund your real estate deals
- Investing in probate properties
- Social media musts for real estate investors
- Commercial syndication opportunities
- How to make passive income in multi-family investing
- Construction techniques for developing raw land
- Understanding retail laws
- Marketing strategies to dominate any market
- Economic outlook for real estate investors
- Attracting private lenders
- How to master 1031 Exchanges
- Long-distance real estate investing
- And more!
REGISTER TODAY AND SAVE
PAST IGNITE SPEAKERS
Magic Johnson
Diana Nyad
Jesse Itzler
Kevin O'Leary
Les Brown
Glenn Sanford
What to Expect at Ignite
Get Inspired
One of the things we love most about Ignite is the excitement and passion that fills each and every session.
Throughout Ignite, you’ll find the support, guidance, and encouragement to tackle obstacles and get your business on the right track to success.
You're sure to leave each session with a deep-rooted fire to step up your game and take your business to the next level!
Take Action
It's one thing to want to improve your business. But following through and actually doing it is what separates the successful from the rest.
At Ignite, our speakers focus on providing valuable, actionable content that real estate professionals can apply in their businesses right away. You’ll learn the same time-tested strategies that some of the industry’s best use to accelerate their growth.
You'll finish Day 3 not only with the right strategies to drive more business, but more importantly with a plan of action to help you get there!
Connect. Interact. Network.
At Ignite, you'll have the opportunity to form strategic relationships with active investors in every part of the real estate industry, from residential wholesalers and rehabbers to large commercial property owners, and everything in between.
With thousands of investors joining us each year, you're going to connect with people from all over the country who invest in every aspect of real estate. You're also sure to meet those who have been in your shoes, who have encountered the same growth obstacles and opportunities, and have gone on to create successful real estate businesses of all sizes.
At Real Estate Ignite, you’ll find the key partnerships your business needs to crush your goals into next year and beyond!
What Attendees Say About Ignite
Patrick and Maria Alcoke
"She's learning about being a woman entrepenuer and I'm learning about how to market better online. She’s learning about different buying strategies and I'm learning about passive income strategies."
Gwen Guillotte
"The training that they’ve had really helps you want to progress more quickly into the field!"
Lonnie Freeman
"I've never been to a conference like this where there’s so many different breakout sessions. You can literally learn anything you want."
Stacey & Geoffrey Tyson
"Awesome presenters, a wealth of information, and a great investment of your time. It really allows us to network and expand our relationships across the country."
Corey Griffin
"To be able to rub shoulders with Than, Paul, JD, Konrad, and for you to be able to sit next to these guys and they’re listening to the same stuff that we’re listening to, I kind of feel like it’s an unfair advantage."
Cory Wilks
"The coaches sharing their tips and tricks – these guys mastermind. We get to see what’s happening on the front-lines firsthand, and get that advantage over everyone else."
Best Of Ignite
Hotel
Harrah’s Casino & Hotel
3475 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Our team has negotiated a discounted rate for all Real Estate Ignite attendees at Harrah’s Las Vegas Casino & Hotel which is the closest hotel and connected to the Caesar’s Forum Convention Center via Skybridge.
By staying at the official Real Estate Ignite hotel, you’ll have convenient access to all the Real Estate Ignite sessions and events so you don’t miss a thing. This hotel is going to have so many real estate investors that it will feel like a complete takeover.
To book your stay, you can call Harrah’s Las Vegas reservation line at 888-458-8471 and mention you are part of the 2022 Real Estate Ignite Group or click the button below.
Book Now
Real Estate Ignite
Kevin O'Leary
Kevin O’Leary was born on July 9th, 1954. As the son of a United Nations ILO official,he had the opportunity to live and be educated in Cambodia, Cyprus, Tunisia, Ethiopia,France and Switzerland.
Kevin attended the University of Waterloo where in 1977 he received an Honors Bachelor's degree in environmental studies and Psychology. He attended the IveyBusiness School where he received his MBA in 1980.
After working briefly as an assistant product manager at Nabisco Brands, he left to pursue a career in television production and became a founding partner in Special EventTelevision, an independent production company that produced original sports programming such as “The Original Six”, “Don Cherry’s Grapevine” and “Bobby Orrand the Hockey Legends.”
Kevin co-founded SoftKey Software in 1986. SoftKey was the first software company to apply the principles of consumer goods marketing to the software industry. SoftKeygrew quickly as the price of personal computers declined and millions of North Americanfamilies began to buy software for family education and entertainment. In January of 1994, SoftKey became a catalyst of consolidation in the software industry,raising over $ 1 billion in a series of debt and equity financings and completing the first trans-border three-way pooling, merging with Spinnaker Software and WordStarInternational. As a result of this merger the company moved its headquarters to Boston,Massachusetts. In late 1995, SoftKey acquired Compton’s New Media and The LearningCompany. In early 1996, SoftKey completed the acquisition of the MinnesotaEducational Computer Company. In late 1997 and early 1998, the company acquired three more of its competitors, Creative Wonders, Mindscape and Broderbund makingSoftKey the world leader in the development of educational, reference and home productivity software and the world’s second largest consumer software company with annual sales over $800 million, two thousand employees and subsidiaries in 15 countries. In 1996 SoftKey changed its name to The Learning Company. In early May 1999, The Mattel Toy Company acquired The Learning Company for $4.2 billion. In 2003 he became co-investor and a director in Storage Now, a leading developer of climate-controlled storage facilities. Through a series of development projects and acquisitions, Storage Now became an owner/operator of storage services with facilities located in eleven cities serving such companies as Merck and Pfizer when it was acquired by the In-Storage REIT in March 2007 for $110 million.
In July of 2007 Kevin became a founding SPAC investor and Director of Stream GlobalServices Inc., focused on the growing outsourcing business services market.Kevin O’Leary is the Chairman of O’Shares ETF Investments and Beanstox anautomated internet-based investment advisory service. He also holds investments in over 30 private venture companies across a wide range of sectors. He is a member of Boston's 120-year-old Hamilton Trust, the oldest investment club in the US. He is a contributor toCNBC, ABC News and Good Morning America and an entrepreneur/investor co-host for the Discovery Channels Project Earth series that explores innovative ways man could reverse global warming implementing large scale geo-engineering infrastructure projects. He is also an investor/host of ABC Television’s four-time Emmy Award winning venture capital reality programs “Shark Tank” and “Beyond the Tank” produced by MGM/Sony/ABC.
Kevin O’Leary is an active photographer, watch collector, guitarist and author of three number #1 best selling books “Cold Hard Truth,” “Men, Women and Money” and “Family Kids and Money.”
Les Brown
As one of the world’s most renowned motivational speakers, Les Brown is a dynamic personality and highly-sought-after resource in business and professional circles for Fortune 500 CEOs, small business owners, non-profit and community leaders from all sectors of society looking to expand opportunity. For three decades he has not only studied the science of achievement, he’s mastered it by interviewing hundreds of successful business leaders and collaborating with them in the boardroom translating theory into bottom-line results for his clients.
As a premier Keynote Speaker and leading authority on achievement for audiences as large as 80,000—Les Brown energizes people to meet the challenges of the world around them. He skillfully weaves his compelling life story into the fabric of our daily lives. The thread is forever strengthened, touting why you can’t afford to be complacent and to aim high, achieve and actively make an impact on the world.
Les Brown never tires of using his energies to transform the world, well-beyond the podium and public appearances, meshing traditional and social media to empower his audiences. Hundreds of thousands are watching him on YouTube and tens of thousands interact with him regularly on Facebook. He has a keen way of turning what he touches into gold. Over 20 years ago, he won a Chicago-area Emmy® for his unsurpassed fundraising pledge drive for the Public Broadcasting System. Followed by several bestselling books and hosting popular national talk shows on television and radio.
Addressing audiences from Denmark to Dubai, Canada to the Caribbean, Les Brown is invited back again and again for his powerful message and the ability to connect deeply with people from all walks of life. It isn’t just his great smile and his way with words that motivates people to take action like never before; when people face roadblocks or adversity it is the depth of his knowledge on achievement that creates lasting results.
Les Brown’s straight-from-the-heart, passion and high-energy, motivates audiences to step beyond their limitations and into their greatness in many ways. Over the past decade, Les has expanded his role from keynote speaker to Master Trainer, creating the kind of workshop learning experience that got him committed to personal-and-professional development many years earlier. His charisma, warmth and humor have transformed ordinary people into extraordinary achievers by using his own life, and his in-depth study of others’ challenges, to build an understanding of what works, what doesn’t work, and why.
Revered as an icon by his colleagues, Brown received the National Speakers Association coveted Council of Peers Award of Excellence (CPAE), and ultimately, its most prestigious Golden Gavel Award for achievement and leadership in communication. Toastmasters International also voted him one of the Top Five Outstanding Speakers. Worldwide. Legions of followers flock to stadiums and arenas to hear a man who never stops believing that with proper guidance and training you can achieve anything you desire in life.
A stumbling block in elementary school was when he was mistakenly declared, “Educable mentally retarded,” teachers did not recognize the true potential of little Les Brown. However, he used determination, persistence and belief in his ability to go beyond being a sanitation worker to unleash a course of amazing achievements including broadcast station manager, political commentator and multi-term state representative in Ohio.
Les Brown is committed to motivating and training today’s generation to be achievers and leaders as he introduces new audiences every day to It’s Not Over Until You Win, Up Thoughts for Down Times and Fight For Your Dream. Les Brown’s audio series,“Choosing Your Future,” remains his all-time bestseller for its acclaimed impact worldwide.
In business as in real life there are always going to be ups and downs. However, where there is a will, there is always a way to achieve amazing results for your organization when Les Brown fills the room with his high-impact, customized message and standing ovation performance!
Source: lesbrown.com/about
Marc Brutten
Marc Brutten, the Founder and Chairman of Brutten Global, is one of the region’s best performing value added, private equity real estate investor. Under his direction, Brutten Global has been the founding or principal investor in numerous direct private equity investments in diversified industries, including toy manufacturing, specialty retailing, banking, professional sports, cosmetic manufacturing, crowdfunding, and most recently the largest commercial plumbing company in California. Marc also founded and continues to serve as Chairman of three commercial real estate investment companies: Westcore Properties, Westcore Europe, and Brixton Capital.
Westcore Properties has a dynamic track record of investing in warehouse, distribution and Industrial buildings over the last twenty years throughout the western United States. Marc has overseen Westcore’s strategic investment in over $6 billion dollars of industrial transactions totaling over 750 buildings and 50mm square feet.
Westcore Europe is Marc's European investment management firm with offices in London, Berlin, Geneva, and Vienna, where he currently owns and operates a portfolio of office, industrial, and airport properties valued at approximately $500 million.
Marc founded Brixton Capital to provide a platform for investing in retail shopping centers and workforce housing. Currently, Brixton owns and operates a portfolio of over 100 retail properties consisting of 8 million square feet and valued at over $1 billion along with a residential management company located in six southwestern states that manages 32,000 units.
Marc is recognized as one of the most prolific commercial real estate investors on the west coast and has been named one California’s real estate icons by Real Estate Forum Magazine as well as one of Real Estate’s Influential Business Leaders by the San Diego Business Journal. Over the past 40 years, he has facilitated more than $6 billion in property acquisitions, totaling over 850 buildings and 50 million square feet. He has been particularly successful in the acquisition of portfolios and properties that require repositioning and aggressive management in order to function more successfully in their respective environments.
Prior to forming Westcore Properties, Marc was president of Shidler West, Inc. Under his direction, the company’s industrial portfolio grew to more than 11.3 million square feet, and the company’s asset value grew from $20 million to $800 million. Marc has also served as a board member with the San Diego Community Foundation Real Estate Board, Ritz Camera, and California Republic Bank.
Marc is involved in numerous professional and community organizations, including the Urban Land Institute (ULI), NAIOP, Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). Marc is a member of the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate's Policy Advisory Board Executive Committee at University of San Diego (USD), serves on the Board of Trustees of the UC San Diego Foundation and Sharp Hospital. He is a former Regent at Boston College in Boston, MA.
In 1996, Marc founded The Brutten Family Foundation, a private U.S. foundation focused on benefiting multiple San Diego County charities, schools, and organizations. These include the Make A Wish Foundation, The Vanguard Academy, The Bishop’s School, The San Diego Center For Children, The New Children’s Museum, and The San Pasqual Academy.
Marc is a graduate of University of California, San Diego. A dedicated martial arts practitioner, Marc holds black belts in Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He was the 2012 World Masters Jiu Jitsu gold medalist. Marc is also an accomplished equestrian, having played polo for 15 years.
Larry Feldman
Mr. Feldman has been the president and CEO of Feldman Equities since 1990. From 1997 until 1999, he was the founder of, and served as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Tower Realty Trust, a publicly traded REIT (NYSE: “TOW”).
From 2004 to 2009, Mr. Feldman served as Chairman of Feldman Mall Properties, Inc. a publicly traded REIT (NYSE: “FMP”) . He is also the founder and former Chairman of the Midtown West Association of New York City. Mr. Feldman was formerly a member of the Board of East Woods School in Oyster Bay NY. He graduated from Windham College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. Mr. Feldman has lectured at the graduate schools of N.Y.U. and Columbia University on commercial real estate development.
Mr. Feldman has been directly responsible for the management, development or acquisition of over 11 million square feet of real estate with an aggregate value of over $3 billion dollars during a career spanning over 30 years in the commercial real estate business. Mr. Feldman’s primary focus over his career has been on the acquisition and redevelopment of turnaround real estate.
Rob O'Neill
Former SEAL Team Six Leader,
Naval Special Warfare Development Group
New York Times Best-Selling Author
Rob O’Neill is one of the most highly-decorated combat veterans of our time and the author of the New York Times best-selling memoir The Operator: Firing the Shots That Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior. A former SEAL Team Six leader with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, he deployed more than a dozen times and held combat leadership roles in more than 400 combat missions in four different theaters of war. A highly-trained Navy SEAL, he led the military’s most elite and was involved in our nation’s most important campaigns. With most of his career shrouded in a classified cloak, O’Neill was the man on the ground we have never heard of but know exists. He was one of the quiet professionals performing the most difficult tasks in the most difficult circumstances, serving his remarkable career in the shadows and keeping America safe in the process.
In the world of high-pressure Navy SEAL missions, instant, critical decision-making is a necessity for success. He has proven experience in exceptionally high-risk and fluid environments. Having trained more than 800 special operations and tactical operators, O’Neill brings this unique expertise to organizations and translates his elite SEAL team training into high-impact, actionable insights on leadership, decision-making, operating in uncertain environments, and how to become the ‘best of the best.’ Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, his mantra is “never quit,” and he believes this is the single most important factor in determining success. O’Neill reminds us that the servicemen doing the dirtiest work are often making the hardest sacrifices.
Decorations. One of the nation’s most decorated veterans, O’Neill has been decorated more than 52 times with honors, including two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, three Presidential Unit citations, and two Navy/Marine Corps Commendations with Valor. Silver Stars, the military’s third highest honor, are awarded for extraordinary gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States. Bronze Stars with Valor are awarded for merit, with Valor signifying a heroic act and direct participation in combat operations. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award overall. Joint Service Commendation Medals are given for senior service on a joint military staff and is the most senior of the commendation medals.
Military History. O’Neill rose to the rank of senior chief petty officer in the United States Navy and served as a team leader at DEVGRU, positions not come by easily. O’Neill has a laundry list of certifications, including instructor, physical trainer, master training specialist, special warfare sniper and breacher, diving supervisor, and survival expert. He was also an officer in charge of small arms, demolition, close quarters combat, explosives breaching, fire and maneuvers, and laser systems safety. His military air operations qualifications include high-altitude and high-opening free fall jump master, tandem and bundle master, parachute rigger, master naval parachutist, drop zone safety officer, and air operations trainer/examiner and quality assurance inspector. He has completed more than 1000 jumps.
Since leaving active duty, O’Neill is a co-founder of Your Grateful Nation, which provides individualized transition support for Special Operations heroes and their families. They provide executive-level mentoring, transition services, and family stabilization support.
David Childers
In his role as the Vice President of Content and Marketing at Keeping Current Matters (KCM), David Childers has kept his finger firmly on the pulse of the real estate industry for more than 20 years. David regularly contributes the current industry and market insights through various webinars, podcasts, and videos with the aim of helping real estate professionals establish themselves as their market’s definitive “go-to” resource.
Keeping Current Matters is an educational content provider specializing in Real Estate industry trends, believing every family should feel confident when buying and selling a home. KCM does this by helping agents better understand what’s happening in the overall real estate market, so they can communicate the impact it has to their clients. To find out more visit KeepingCurrentMatters.com.
Shay Eskew
Shay is an All American / IRONMAN All World ranked triathlete, Healthcare RCM strategist, former black bear researcher, burn survivor with scars over 65% of his body, motivational speaker and best-selling author of “What the Fire Ignited”. At the age of 8, Shay was set afire by a neighbor’s child and credited with saving the life of his 7 year old friend. Despite being told he’d never play sports again, enduring over 35 surgeries the last 37 years, Shay is a 4x IRONMAN, 4x member of Team USA, 30x IRONMAN 70.3 athlete, ranked top 1% of IRONMAN worldwide, and has competed in 11 triathlon World Championships in 7 countries on 4 continents, including the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, Hawaii (competed at the 2018 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in South Africa). Additionally, Shay is a sponsored triathlete of Newton Running and an inaugural cohort of exceptional service-oriented athletes known as the Mālama Club, long standing members of the IRONMAN Foundation ambassador team. Shay was inducted into National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2019 under the Medal of Courage designation. Equally impressive, Shay is the proud father of 5 kids under 13.
Professionally, as Chief Development Officer for Kemberton, Shay has established himself as a seasoned revenue cycle sales executive and recognized authority on complex claims, with extensive experience forging relationships with some of the most respected healthcare systems in the country. Shay received a BS (cum laude) and an MBA (finance) from the University of Tennessee. Shay’s background is heavily entrenched in finance with 8 years’ experience as a CFO prior to getting into Healthcare.
Chris Clothier
Chris Clothier is the owner of Memphis Invest, one of the nation’s top turnkey residential development and property management companies. Chris and Memphis Invest have bought and sold thousands of rental properties to real estate investors in Memphis, Dallas, and Houston.
Chris serves as the external voice for the company, working with the team to help potential investors define their purpose for investing in real estate and educating peer companies on the best practices in the emerging turnkey real estate industry.
Chris is also an experienced real estate educator and addresses both small and large audiences of real estate investors and business professionals nationwide. Chris has taught many classes within the FortuneBuilders community on owning rental assets.
In his spare time Chris enjoys having kids. He has a lot of them. Not sure how many now, but there are quite a few running around last I checked.
Than Merrill
Than Merrill is the co-founder of FortuneBuilders, CT Homes, and Equity Street Capital. Than Merrill has over 15 years of professional experience in the real estate investment and lending industry. He is the founder and principal in several real estate investment companies and has been involved in over $1 billion of real estate investments during that time frame. Than has experience in many facets of real estate investment including marketing, sourcing, underwriting, appraisal, negotiations, raising money, investor relations, and business management.
Than Merrill is the co-founder of CT Homes, LLC a residential real estate development company founded in 2004 in New Haven, CT. The company has acquired over 1,000+ properties since inception. Throughout the year the company currently has between 25 and 40 ongoing real estate development projects.
Than Merrill also has a separate commercial real estate investment company, Equity Street Capital. With this company Than and his team focus on investing in income producing commercial property throughout the United States. Their commercial investments include apartment communities, retail properties, and office buildings. The company has acquired over $300 million dollars in commercial real estate in the last two years alone.
Than Merrill is the founder of FortuneBuilders Inc., one of the largest and most trusted real estate educational companies in the country. Merrill founded FortuneBuilders with the idea of sharing his knowledge and passion for real estate with other aspiring real estate investors. FortuneBuilders works with people who are looking to start or grow their real estate investment businesses and want to follow a proven business model.
Through their various educational programs FortuneBuilders has been able to help thousands of real estate investors around the country make successful real estate investments. Than Merrill is truly passionate about real estate investing and entrepreneurship, which is why he considers it his life’s work to help guide his investor students towards financial freedom. The FortuneBuilders coaching programs are unique in that they offer 14 different advanced multi-day training classes, an extensive multi-year online curriculum, systems, tools, software, and group and one-on-one coaching.
Than Merrill also starred on three seasons of A&E’s Flip this House, a very popular house flipping TV show. Merrill is a highly sought after speaker and educator, having shared the stage with some of the top entrepreneurs, politicians, and business owners in the country including former FED chairman Alan Greenspan, former first lady Laura Bush, Tony Robbins, Richard Branson and Robert Kiyosaki.
Merrill is also active in philanthropic efforts and started a non-profit charity with his wife Cindy (the brains of the operation) called Equal Footing Foundation. In addition to his own charity, he spearheaded the creation of FortuneBuilders Gives; the company’s philanthropic initiative to provide opportunities for employees and students to give back to their communities.
As a graduate of Yale University and a former NFL player with the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Bucaneers, Merrill attributes all his success in athletics, business and investing to his coaches, mentors, and his Mom who all helped guide him along the way. He is married and has two children Tyce and Sky.
Paul Esajian
Paul Esajian, is the co-founder of FortuneBuilders, CT Homes, LLC, and Equity Street Capital and one of the nation’s premier real estate investors and educators. Paul Esajian has over 15 years of professional experience in the real estate investment and lending industry. He is the founder and principal in several real estate investment companies and has been involved in over $1 billion dollars of real estate investments during that time frame. Paul has experience in many facets of real estate investment including underwriting, raising money, investor relations, transaction coordination, construction management, disposition coordination, accounting and taxation.
Paul and his two business partners Than Merrill and JD Esajian founded their first real estate investment company CT Homes, LLC in 2004. Over the past 15 years the company has specialized in acquiring, developing, and re-selling distressed real estate. Throughout the year the company has between 25 and 40 ongoing real estate development project.
Paul Esajian is also the co-founder of a commercial real estate investment company, Equity Street Capital. The company focuses on investing in income producing commercial property throughout the United States. Their commercial investments include apartment communities, retail properties, and office buildings. The company is focused on achieving attractive risk-adjusted returns while maximizing long-term capital appreciation. The company has acquired over $300 million dollars in commercial real estate in the last two years alone.
Paul Esajian is originally from California, where he graduated from the University of California at Davis with a focus in accounting. Paul also wrestled for the University while earning his degree. Paul is married and has three children and in his free time he enjoys spending time with his family and competing in triathlons.
Frank Mir
Frank Mir is a two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion, Bellator MMA in the Heavyweight division, Nevada State Wrestling Champion, and the first Mixed Martial Arts inductee into The Nevada Sports Hall of Fame.
Mir began his MMA career in 2001, later joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he competed for 16 years and was the longest-tenured fighter in the league.
One of Mir’s most infamous fights was against Tim Sylvia, where they competed for the UFC Heavyweight Title. Judge Herb Deam stopped the fight in less than a minute when Mir snapped Sylvia's forearm awarding Mir the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
However, Mir was stripped of the title due to a near career-ending motorcycle accident. He was unable to defend his title after undergoing multiple operations, so an interim title was created, which Andrei Arlovski won after also beating Tim Sylvia. During this time, Frank found a technique to use his fear as his motivation and would eventually return to the UFC almost two later to win his second UFC Heavyweight championship.
After retiring in 2016 with an 18-11 record, he was inducted into the Nevada Sports Hall of Fame. In addition to fighting, Mir was also a color commentator and analyst in the MMA promotion “World Extreme Cagefighting” (WEC).
Mir is a lifelong resident of Las Vegas where he currently lives with his wife and three children.
Rex Crain
Rex Crain is an acclaimed speaker, author, and catalyst for change to Fortune Five Hundred companies, professional athletes, entertainers and people from all walks of life.
As a young man, Rex walked away from a baseball career with the Boston Red Sox to pursue his passion to help people. Rex has devoted the last eighteen years of his life to helping people discover and develop their own unique qualities of greatness. His gift to inspire has taken him around the world to bring strategies and insights to elevate human achievement and performance. Rex’s passion is to make the world a better place to live by assisting individuals to live their best life.
Throughout the years he has unselfishly given his energy and resources to those in need. Rex is considered one of the nation's top leaders in peak performance coaching.
Rex, his wife Katrina, and daughter Kira live in Los Angeles, California.
JD Esajian
JD Esajian is the President of CT Homes, LLC, a real estate investment and redevelopment firm headquartered in San Diego, CA. JD has over 15 years of professional experience in the real estate investment, construction and lending industry. JD has experience in many facets of real estate investment including underwriting, raising capital, investor relations, transaction coordination, negotiations, construction management, disposition coordination and liquidation.
CT Homes, LLC has acquired over 1,000+ properties since inception. Throughout the year the company has between 25 and 40 ongoing real estate development projects.
CT Homes, LLC, founded in Connecticut, is a nationally recognized real estate company featured on A&E's "Flip This House." JD starred on "Flip This House" for the duration of the series with his business partners, his brother Paul Esajian and friend Than Merrill.
In addition to managing CT Homes, LLC, JD is a trainer, instructor and speaker for FortuneBuilders Inc. JD is originally from California, where he attended the University of Southern California and Fresno State University with a degree in business. JD is married and has one son.
Andy Tanner
Andy Tanner is a best-selling author of two books: 401(k)aos, which exposes the hidden pitfalls of the popular 401(k) investing plan, and Stock Market Cash Flow, a book on how the average investor can use the stock market to generate regular cash flow and not just buy and hold capital gains.
Andy is a renowned paper assets expert and successful business owner and investor known for his ability to teach key techniques for stock options investing. He is also very well know for classes he has taught on Communication and Negotiation. Andy is a sought after educator and has taught tens of thousands of investors and entrepreneurs around the world. Students love Andy’s ability to make investing concepts simple and understandable. He often speaks with Robert Kiyosaki around the world. In his free time Andy enjoys coaching basketball and reliving his glory days.
John Blackburn
John Blackburn began his real estate career over 13 years ago and has since taken part in over 1,400 real estate transactions. He is a co-founder & owner of Sleeping Giant Homes, LLC, a full-service real estate investment company in New Haven, CT. This business is truly a family affair, he is business partners with his wife, father-in-law, and mother-in-law. Not only is real estate a passion for him but being able to work with his family every day and help his parents create a retirement makes each day that much more meaningful.
In addition to his active investing business. John has a passion for long-term wealth creation and investing. John also co-directs the Passive Income Club at FortuneBuilders. Over the last 7 years he has helped over 1,000 Mastery students build successful strategies on how to best buy and hold rental properties all across the US so that they can truly enjoy retirement with CASH FLOW.
John’s greatest achievement in his life is his marriage with his wife Kristi. Real estate his passion that he uses to improve his life with Kristi & the lives of his closest family members.
Bob Lachance
Bob LaChance started investing in real estate at the beginning of 2004. In 2005, Bob became a member of the Connecticut Board of Realtors, and is now a licensed real estate agent with William Raveis. He started a number of online CRM companies: FinerSolution CRM, PropTrackr.com and ManageMyShortSale.com. In 2008, Bob helped create and manage the FortuneBuilders Mastery Coaching Program. He continually speaks, mentors and educates licensed real estate agents and investors around the country. Since 2004, Bob has successfully negotiated over 600 short sale transactions and currently invests in residential and commercial real estate.
Howard Berg
Howard Stephen Berg is recognized as the world’s fastest reader thanks to the cutting edge accelerated learning techniques he developed that turn information overload into information assets. Respected internationally for his contribution to the learning process, he is listed in the 1990 Guinness Book of World Records for reading more than 25,000 words a minute and writing more than 100 words a minute. Howard uses his talents to train you on how to stay on top of the information your success depends upon.
Howard is a graduate of S.U.N.Y., Binghamton where he majored in Biology and then completed a four-year Psychology program in one year. His graduate studies at several New York City colleges focused on the Psychology of reading.
Howard is the spokesperson for the SONY E-Reader along with Justin Timberlake, Peyton Manning, and Amy Sedaris. He is also a featured guest on Fox News, and Fox Business News with Neil Cavuto. He launched the 4G network for Optus, the second largest phone company in Australia.
Howard has appeared on over 1,100 radio and television programs including Neil Cavuto, Jon Stewart, and Live With Regis. Maybe you saw him with Justin Timberlake & Peyton Manning as Sony's E-Reader spokesperson, or on Cavuto completing the 1,500 page health care bill in just 50 minutes. Missed it? Go to WatchHowardRead.com
His brain-based learning strategies have been hailed as a major breakthrough in publications like Forbe’s FYI, Selling, Men’s Health, Red Book, and Bottom Line Magazine, and have been featured in dozens of newspaper interviews throughout North America.
Howard has created more than 14 other accelerated learning programs including speed math, and memory. Berg’s Time-Warner book, “Super Reading Secrets,” is in its 28th reprint, and Barrons books requested him to write a text for students. Howard’s Nightingale-Conant program, “Mega Speed Reading,” grossed over $65,000,000, and established him as a leader in brain-based learning.
He is mentioned in a number of books as a leading expert on brain based learning, and has been honored by over 9 books that track outstanding professional performance including, “Who’s Who Among Emerging Leaders, and 2,000 Notable American Men”.
Darlene Smith
Darlene Smith was FortuneBuilders’ first Canadian student, and now the head Mastery Canadian Coach. After 15 years in the retail industry, she committed to her entrepreneur passion by operating two Special Care Homes for the mentally ill, selling them as turnkey operations. She then furthered her real estate education and is now responsible for creating another brand-new building and Special Care Home Business. Darlene has used her expertise as a speaker and trainer for everything from flipping houses to flipping people’s mindsets. With a passion to teach and inspire others to achieve more, she is here to serve you. Darlene is also a past winner of one of the top three most profitable deals of the year within the Mastery Community.
Darlene loves selfies so make sure you track her down for one.
David Fabricius
David offers a unique combination of inspiration, entertainment and the worlds most advanced field-tested how-to strategies for optimized leadership, business growth and personal development. Each of his life-enriching presentations are customized for his client’s needs. Let David show you how he grew his overall business by 326.97%, and his coaching practice accelerated by 6,763.94%, in less than 180 days.
David Fabricius is often compared to James Bond or Jason Bourne, with the wisdom of Yoda and the charismatic superhero presence of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although he has skills that less than .01% of the population have, he is not a secret agent or spy. Instead, his mission is to help arm those who wish to learn with the tools to create a truly full spectrum life. David began life far away in a small village in South Africa. He spent his early days eating figs from trees with the monkeys and avoiding crocodiles.
After starting his first successful business before turning 18, David served as an instructor in a classic special forces unit, trained by the British SAS & an instructor and team leader in a national counter terrorism SWAT unit specializing in hostage rescue and high value target arrest. David consistently receives standing ovations from audiences on 5 continents of up to 50,000. He has shared speaker’s programs with Sir. Richard Branson for YPO London, Tony Robbins for the 1997 JCI World Congress in Hawaii, and Robert Kiyosaki in South-Africa with his own real estate investment club. David’s teachings are based on building a foundation of balance, which he calls the Full Spectrum Life Mind-Body-Spirit System. This simple yet transformative approach has helped thousands worldwide, including top performing corporate business leaders, maverick entrepreneurs, professional investors, & world champion strength athletes.
Eric Winkler
Eric Winkler is a Senior Corporate Analyst for Nevada Corporate Headquarters, Inc., focused on evaluating business structures for long-term asset protection.
Working with entrepreneurs since 2001, Eric got his start in business consulting through innovation. His entrepreneurial passion and collaboration with a local CPA led to the development of a program directed to strengthen the relationship between business owners and CPAs. The program allowed owners to consult with their CPAs more often than once annually, ensuring clear communication on profits, losses, taxes and general accounting. The program also offered entrepreneurs insight into Fortune 500 company taxation strategies. This elevated business owners’ abilities to maximize their profits and minimize taxation.
Eric Winkler always had a zest for building businesses and partnerships with entrepreneurs. With over 16 years of experience, providing business owners knowledge and confidence regarding entity selection, asset protection and business funding, Eric’s extensive partnerships with each business owner bred great success … successes like Rockstar Energy Drink, a company Eric aided in business formation, who in 2015, boasted $820 million in worldwide annual sales.
In 2005, Eric joined Nevada Corporate Headquarters, Inc. It was at NCH he built thriving relationships with business owners and traveled coast-to-coast assisting thousands of startups with launching their dream businesses. With stellar business formation credentials, it’s no wonder Eric receives thousands of offers to speak on business structuring and financing options. Business owners nationwide have requested his expertise for their organizations and clientele, not only for the valuable information he offers, but the genuine passion he exudes for helping entrepreneurs achieve success. A feat not easily attainable, but Eric repeatedly proves to be effective in startup formation, while protecting business owners’ assets.
Eric emphasizes his efforts on opening new doors to capital for entrepreneurs previously unknown or unavailable. Through creative structuring and capitalization options, Eric works with business owners to access funding necessary for startup or maintenance costs. Specializing each business-funding plan to ensure it’s the right fit for that business, not only builds a solid foundation for success, but proves his dedication to each client as a partnership made for growth.
Eric resides in Sparks, Nevada and diligently travels cross-country working with Nevada Corporate Headquarters, Inc. to ensure each client, wherever they are, has a partner to help them overcome daunting obstacles on the path to achieving their entrepreneurial dreams.
Geoff Chadwick
Geoff Chadwick heads FortuneBuilders' brand management, marketing, and technology teams. His technological aptitude, combined with amazing marketing instincts, makes him a key player in the FortuneBuilders organization. Geoff, “The Brain,” joins the team with 16 years of software development and enterprise solutions experience. As owner and operator of his own mortgage company, he brokered in excess of $650,000,000 in residential real estate. Geoff has also worked as a high-level consultant with clients including Nabisco, BarnesAndNoble.com, Priceline.com, and Best Buy. Geoff has received various honors including; member of Emerging Technologies Panel in 2001, featured on CNBC’s “Technology Weekend Review” in 2003, and featured in the Wall Street Journal on how to run a mortgage brokerage that provides employees with benefits – such as health insurance and a 401(k).
Gregg Cohen
Gregg Cohen is the CEO and founder of JWB Real Estate Capital, a privately owned real estate investment, operating and management company focused on building fund portfolios of single-family rental properties in Jacksonville, FL.
INC. Magazine recently ranked Gregg’s company the 12th fastest growing real estate company in the U.S. in 2012. Gregg Cohen has bought and sold thousands of properties over the past decade in Jacksonville, FL and built a rental portfolio of over 500 properties.
Gregg’s team handles every part of each investment – from the property acquisition and construction, to the property management itself. Gregg is considered one of the most successful residential real estate investors in the state of Florida.
Gregg is also one of FortuneBuilders first coaching students. In his free time Gregg really enjoys watching the Florida Gators and reminiscing about his college days.
Gene Trowbridge
Prior to becoming an Attorney, Gene was a real estate syndicator. He developed numerous mini-storage facilities using money from private investors. In addition to his law practice, Gene is a pre-eminent educator in the world of real estate and syndication. Gene has written a comprehensive book on real estate syndication entitled It’s a Whole New Business.
Gene is very knowledgeable in helping real estate investors set up real estate syndications, how to structure their investment companies, how to split money with investors, and how to legally solicit investors for private and Crowdfunding offerings. Gene also has expertise in Tenant-In-Common or “TIC” offerings that allow investors to participate in 1031 exchanges and has written articles on this subject as well as numerous others on how to start and run a real estate syndication company. Gene and his partners provide securities offering documents and advice for seeking to do Regulation D Rule 506 Offerings, Crowdfunding Offerings, Regulation A Offerings, and Public Offerings.
Jeff Rosenberg
In 1997, Jeff joined the family firm, Big V Property Group, and he currently runs and manages the family real estate, which includes shopping centers, office buildings, and residential apartments. As manager of the family firm, he has been involved in many real estate projects, including redeveloping and re-tenanting shopping centers, developing age-restricted housing and managing the day-to-day operation of the business. Prior to joining Big V, Jeff was involved in the retail side of the real estate business. From 1995-1997 he managed 25 Big A Auto Parts stores in Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska. Prior to that, he owned a chain of Computer Stores in the New York/ New Jersey. Jeff graduated from Pace University in 1984 with a degree in business and received his MBA from The Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1995.
Jeff Rutkowski
Jeff Rutkowski’s real estate career began in 2001 as a Real Estate Agent for Re/Max in Milford, CT. After spending a few years as a successful Realtor working with and finding profitable deals for investors, Jeff realized it was time to take advantage of those deals himself. In 2004 he wholesaled his first deal (using none of his own money). Since that time, he has rehabbed numerous properties, continued wholesaling, purchased raw land, subdivided land, GC’d new construction, joint ventured with CT Homes, LLC, raised over $7.5 million dollars in private money and negotiated 78 pre-foreclosure deals. Jeff joined the FortuneBuilders Mastery Coaching program in 2008. Within the first two months, had made $72,000 on a rehab deal that was featured on A&E’s hit TV show ‘Flip This House.’ Jeff is currently a FortuneBuilders Coach and his main focus as an investor is growing his passive income portfolio.
Paige Panzarello
Paige Panzarello is the “Cashflow Chick”. Having been a Real Estate investor and entrepreneur for over 20 years, Paige has experienced many facets of real estate investing. Her experience includes founding and running her own Residential and Commercial Construction and Acquisition companies, Buy and Hold residential and commercial real estate investing, Tax Deeds/Liens Investing, and Fix and Flip (Residential Remodeling), and other forms to name a few. She currently focuses on Non-Performing Notes that she purchases all across the United States. Whether in notes, residential or commercial real estate, in California, Arizona, or nationwide, Paige has been successful in completing over $150 million in real estate transactions to date. She has been a regularly featured guest on “The Cashflow Guys” podcast, and you can also find her on the “Best Ever Show” with Joe Fairless, “The Note Closers Show”, “Cashflow Ninja”, “Secrets to Real Estate Investing” and “Real Estate Investor Goddesses” podcasts, among many others. Paige has also been interviewed and highlighted in an article in the Wall Street Journal. She also speaks at various different Real Estate Investing clubs and conferences across the country.
Having experienced the hardship of the economic downturn of 2007, and what she calls “a very difficult learning experience”, Paige knows first-hand how “life can happen” to everyone. Her company was founded to help people in distress. Paige is also driven to help educate people on the importance of passive income, deal evaluation, money and debt management. She wants everyone to elevate their situation and become free of dependence on anyone or anything, so that when “life happens”, people will be ready, not broken.
Whether it is improving communities one house at a time, helping borrowers stay in their homes, or working with other investors to learn a new way to potentially earn higher investment dollars for their retirement years, Paige is dedicated to helping people improve their lives in every way. She lives by the motto, “People first, profit second.”
JP Servideo
John "JP" Servideo has been a valuable member of the Fortunebuilders family for 5 years. He has been awarded, over the years, multiple times as an "Example of a Fortunebuilder" having done his own real estate deals and creating community service events helping the homeless. In 2014 at Ignite he was awarded for his creation of the Future Fortunebuilders teen camp and online curriculum. Future Fortunebuilders fills the gap between what teens are taught in high school and the information it truly takes to succeed and build wealth. JP, over the last 4 years, has been working with the top teen experts and mentors, speaking at high schools and running summer camps teaching kids how to make good decisions - both financially and personally. He is taking his genuine approach to public speaking into schools and events across the nation, moving an entire generation towards financially accountability.
Jason Nidiffer
Jason is a third generation commercial real estate professional, beginning his career in a family business his grandfather started in the 1950s and which his father continues to run today. Jason has worked in nearly every sector of the commercial real estate industry, including property management, land assemblage, disposition/acquisition of single tenant net leased investment properties and multitenant shopping centers, office complex leasing and management, and medical building leasing. Over the past 10 years, Jason has focused on leasing work for second generation shopping centers and ground up development, shepherding many projects from under 50% occupancy to 100% full. Jason graduated from Cumberland College with a BA degree in Business and received his MBA from the Gatton School of Business at the University of Kentucky.
Konrad Sopielnikow
Konrad Sopielnikow, is the co-founder of FortuneBuilders Inc., CT Homes, LLC, and Equity Street Capital. Konrad has over 16 years of professional experience in the real estate investment and lending industry. He is the founder and principal in several real estate investment companies and has been involved in over $1 billion dollars of real estate investments during that time frame. Konrad has experience in many facets of real estate investment including operations, legal, accounting, systems development, IT, raising capital, and investor relations.
Konrad and his two business partners Than Merrill and JD Esajian founded their first real estate investment company CT Homes LLC in 2004. Over the past 15 years the company has specialized in acquiring, developing, and re-selling distressed real estate. Throughout the year the company has between 25 and 40 ongoing real estate development project.
Konrad is also the co-founder of a commercial real estate investment company, Equity Street Capital. The company focuses on investing in income producing commercial property throughout the United States. Their commercial investments include apartment communities, retail properties, and office buildings. The company is focused on achieving attractive risk-adjusted returns while maximizing long-term capital appreciation. The company has acquired over $300 million dollars in commercial real estate in the last two years alone.
Konrad was born in “one of the most beautiful historic cities of Europe” (Krakow, Poland) and moved with his family to the USA in 1992. Konrad graduated from Yale University where he played football with his business partner Than Merrill. Konrad is married with three children and in his spare time he enjoys traveling and discovering new places, people, cultures and experiences.
Lawrence Yun
Lawrence Yun is Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Research at the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS. He oversees and is responsible for a wide range of research activity for the association including NAR’s Existing Home Sales statistics, Affordability Index, and Home Buyers and Sellers Profile Report. He regularly provides commentary on real estate market trends for its 1 million REALTOR members.
Dr. Yun creates NAR’s forecasts and participates in many economic forecasting panels, among them the Blue Chip Council and the Wall Street Journal Forecasting Survey. He also participates in the Industrial Economists Discussion Group at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. He appears regularly on financial news outlets, is a frequent speaker at real estate conferences throughout the United States, and has testified before Congress. Dr. Yun has appeared as a guest on CSPAN’s Washington Journal and is a regular guest columnist on the Forbes website and The Hill, an “inside the beltway” publication on public affairs.
Dr. Yun received his undergraduate degree from Purdue University and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland at College Park.
Linda Pedersen
Linda Pedersen is a successful real estate investor with her husband in Austin TX. Linda is a FortuneBuilders Mastery Alumni student and now coach and trainer. She created and leads a Real Estate Social Network in Austin, TX with over 1,100 members.
Linda excels at online marketing, negotiations, and solving complex real estate challenges such as stopping foreclosures and negotiating liens. Her business focuses on wholesales, rehabs, new construction and commercial property. Prior to joining Fortune Builders, she was a global IT Program Manager for enterprise software development and an electronics technician in the Navy. Her mantra is “I am too positive to be doubtful, too optimistic to be fearful, and too determined to be defeated.” Her why is to build a powerful legacy and inspire others to greatness.
Marina Hauser
Marina Hauser, is co-founder and owner of Beantown Property Group,LLC, one of the premiere full service investment companies in the Greater Boston area. Fueled by Marina’s marketing and acquisitions systems, Beantown Property Group has carved out a niche focusing on larger rehab projects that draw in six-figure profits. Prior to founding her own real estate company, Marina was one of the first people hired by Than Merrill in 2005. During her time at CT Homes, she managed a team of 10 people, generated over 140 leads per month and was responsible for creating and implementing many of the systems taught by FortuneBuilders today. In 2008, she moved back to her hometown of Boston, where she took advantage of the upside-down market, founded a short sale management company, and completed well over 100 short sales and counting. As one of the FortuneBuilders Coaches and Speakers, Marina has helped investors across the nation start and grow their real estate investing businesses.
Mark Dotzour
Dr. Mark G. Dotzour is a real estate economist who served for 18 years as Chief Economist of the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University in College Station. He has given more than 1,500 presentations to more than 275,000 people and has written over 90 articles for magazines and journals. His research findings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Money Magazine and Business Week.
His clients include banks, private equity firms, real estate investments trusts, construction firms, engineering companies, wealth managers, private foundations, and commercial and residential brokerage firms. He has also made presentations to local and national trade associations all over America. He makes complex economic issues easily understandable. Mark’s goal is to provide his audience with a “tool kit” of useful information that will help them make good business decisions for their families, their clients and their company.
In 2015, Dotzour stepped down from his position at the Real Estate Center to focus all of his time and effort on analyzing current economic conditions and communicating his analysis to others. He combines academic training in economics, real estate, finance and history to make sense of current economic trends.
After earning his PhD in finance and real estate from the University of Texas at Austin in 1987, Dotzour was a tenured professor of real estate and finance at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas for 10 years. Prior to his academic career, he was President of Gleneagles Development, Inc., which was a residential land development firm in Wichita. During this time, he also served as President of Dotzour Inc., Realtors, which was a residential brokerage firm in Wichita.
Mark and his wife LuAnn have been married for over 40 years, and have two children and two grandchildren. His father was a professional golfer. He and LuAnn spend a lot of time on the road, and they enjoy playing golf, exploring antique stores and old book stores.
Michael Becker
Michael Becker is a Principal at SPI Advisory LLC and heads SPI’s Dallas, Texas office. Under Michael's leadership, over the past 4 years SPI Advisory has acquired approximately 10,000 apartment units in the DFW area. SPI Advisory specializes in repositioning multi-family assets.
Through professional asset management and a high level of integrity, SPI Advisory increases the value of properties while improving quality of life for its residents. SPI Advisory derives stakeholder value through hands on asset management and construction oversight. Our exclusive multi-family focus enables better pricing of value and risk to identify projects with superior risk-adjusted returns.
Prior to forming SPI Advisory, Michael was a 15 year veteran Commercial Real Estate Banker and has originated and managed numerous portfolios of permanent and bridge loans in all major asset classes. Over the last 5 years of his banking tenure, Michael focused exclusively on multi-family properties, where he was the number one loan producer for his division at a Top 3 National lender for his last 3 consecutive years.
Michael is a lifelong resident of North Texas and a graduate of The University of North Texas with a BBA in Finance.
Perianne Boring
Perianne Boring is the founder and president of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, the world's largest trade association representing the blockchain industry.
Established in 2014, the Chamber’s members consist of the world’s leading innovators, operators and investors in the blockchain ecosystem. The Chamber also sponsors a number of keystone industry initiatives including the Token Alliance, which fosters best practices and frameworks for the responsible growth of tokenized networks and applications.
Perianne sits on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) blockchain expert policy advisory board. She was named among “America’s Top 50 Women in Tech” by Forbes, and among the top 10 “Most Influential People in Blockchain” by CoinDesk. Prior to forming the Chamber, Perianne was a television host and anchor of an international finance program that aired in more than 100 countries to over 650 million viewers. She was one of the first journalists in the world to report on bitcoin.
She worked as a legislative analyst in the U.S. House of Representatives, advising on finance, economics, and tax policy. Perianne is a distinguished fellow at Georgetown University. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida in business administration and economics. Raised in Florida, she currently resides in Washington, DC.
Noah Cosby
Noah Cosby has over five years of experience as a real estate investor. A graduate of the FortuneBuilders Mastery Program, Noah’s focus quickly shifted from actively investing in real estate rehab projects to investing exclusively in passive income properties. Noah currently owns 16 rental properties in four different markets across the country. His “checks-in-the-mailbox,” anti-landlord strategy is due, in large part, to leveraging bank financing. Noah developed the “C3X” system as a means of increasing passive income as quickly as possible. He is passionate about educating others on how to achieve true financial freedom - not dependent on trading time for money. Noah is currently Director of Student Development at FortuneBuilders, where he helps driven investors realize their goals in real estate.
Paul Shively
Paul Shively has over 10 years of experience in the real estate and investment sectors, and has been involved in raising over $500M of equity and helped to build over 5,000 real estate portfolios for individual investors.
Paul is also a Principal in a commercial real estate investment company, Equity Street Capital, alongside Than Merrill, Paul Esajian, JD Esajian and Konrad Soplienkow. With this company Paul and his team focus on investing in income producing commercial property throughout the United States. Their commercial investments include apartment communities, retail properties, and office buildings. The company has acquired over $300 million dollars in commercial real estate in the last two years alone.
As the Director of the Passive Income Club at FortuneBuilders, and having spent the last 10 years developing strategic real estate portfolios, Paul has provided a secure and diversified, high-yield strategy for more than 5,000 of his clients. Paul has seamlessly developed and implemented an investment curriculum and system that produces consistent results by acquiring cash flow positive real estate holdings. Paul holds a degree from the University of California – San Diego, and a Real Estate Salesperson License.
Ralph Plumb
Ralph Plumb is a successful real estate investor and online marketing expert. Ralph has leveraged his experience as a seasoned real estate investor and entrepreneur and combined it with his online marketing savvy to achieve tremendous success. With a focus on generating organic (FREE) traffic, Ralph’s marketing methods and systems are recognized as the best by some of the most successful business owners around the world.
Ralph has spoken and hundreds of conferences around the world teaching real estate investors how to improve their online presence and real estate businesses. He has also spoken with the likes of Tony Robbins and Sir Richard Branson.
Ralph has proven to be an invaluable resource for Than Merrill and Paul Esajian, as he is largely responsible for creating an extremely successful online presence, helping generate more motivated seller and buyer leads, and growing their business exponentially.
In addition, over the past ten years, Ralph has helped thousands of real estate investors launch their own businesses online, including several of the fastest growing million dollar businesses! Ralph’s systems allow entrepreneurs and business owners to release themselves from the day-to-day grind of generating leads to fuel their businesses, allowing them to dramatically increase profits in less time.
Ralph is a graduate of Yale University where he played football. He currently resides in Newport Rhode Island. Ralph is usually in bed by 9:00 PM and as a result most people call him “Grandpa”.
Randy Zimnoch
Randy Zimnoch is an entrepreneur, dedicated husband and avid adventurer. He co-founded Realty National, nation’s most investor-friendly real estate brokerage, in 2011 and quickly set the business on a path of exponential growth. He and his team of agents have sold 950 houses totaling over $450 million in sales volume. In 2017, his book, “The Perfect Brokerage For You” became an Amazon best seller. Prior to managing Realty National full-time, Randy served as the Acquisition & Sales Director for Realty National’s sister company, CT Homes LLC, a residential re-development company featured on A&E’s hit TV show, “Flip This House.” In this role, he became a master of contracts, negotiations and sales. Now, Randy trains thousands of real estate professionals from stages across the country with Realty National’s parent company, FortuneBuilders. Randy’s ultimate lifestyle includes plenty of adventure. He’s jumped out of planes, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, volunteered in Haiti and traveled to over 25 countries. You can find Randy riding a golf cart to his office in San Diego, California.
JoAnna Anderson
JoAnna Anderson is a successful real estate investor, realtor, speaker, coach, and radio host. JoAnna prides herself with being a lifetime FortuneBuilders Inner Circle Alumni student as well as a lifetime educator for other FortuneBuilder students and local investors. Her investment company, Remnant Real Estate Solutions, operates in NC, VA, and SC and she currently holds her Realtor/broker license in 2 states. JoAnna has served as the Realeflow expert coach for many years and continues to add to the Fortune Builder community in that aspect as well as others.
JoAnna excels at marketing, negotiations, team building and management, outsourcing, and partnering with county officials to improve communities while creating real estate solutions for homeowners. Her business focuses on wholesales, rehabs, and buy and holds. Prior to joining Fortune Builders, she was a high school biology teacher for 14 years. She strongly believes that you can Give a Man a Fish, and Feed Him for a Day But if you Teach a Man To Fish You Feed Him for a Lifetime”. She enjoys making sure that generations of bellies are full for a lifetime as she shares her knowledge with others especially her 2 daughters, 27 siblings, 63 nieces and nephews, and an immeasurable amount of greats. Educating others is both her passion and her gift.
Matthew Eubank
Matt Eubank is the Director of Support at FortuneBuilders. He has worn many hats since joining the FortuneBuilders family over 7 years ago and because of his passion for helping people, was tasked by the owners to start developing the Student Support team in 2015. This required the implementation of various systems to make sure we are delivering a world class experience for our students. It has since grown to 18 team members that handle a variety of tasks that support our student’s needs.
Matt is constantly working on projects to enhance the Mastery experience for our students, such as the launch of the Weekly Rundown in the Mastery Facebook Group. He has also spent a portion of his time working closely with our students at our live events helping them navigate the Mastery program as well as picking the brains of our coaches and successful students on what advice they would give to students just starting out.
When Matt isn’t helping our students, he likes to spend time with his wife, Mara, and dog, Divot somewhere outside in San Diego. He also has a passion for golf, basketball and working out at his local gym.
Laura Pirie
Growing up in Canada, Laura’s mom used to always call her a social butterfly. Laura joined Fortune Builders in 2016 and since has created multiple real estate investing businesses, grew teams and completed rehabs in several states. She had 16 units cash flowing by the age of 33. She continues to strategically buy properties to generate long term wealth. She now travels all over the country speaking and coaching as well as attending classes and trainings herself to always be a student. She attributes her success to the people she surrounds herself with and the power of effective networking.
Shane Hunt
Shane was a part of over $3 billion in heavy construction, as an Electrical Field Superintendent from 1996 to 2013. In 2013, Shane started a new career in real estate investing after joining FortuneBuilders. Since 2013, he has completed all his projects successfully, and has done millions in residential, small commercial, and condo projects. In addition to real estate, at the end of 2014, Shane took his knowledge to the stage speaking on entrepreneurship, mindset, and investing. With over 4 years of speaking experience, Shane has spoken at hundreds of events and to thousands of students and fellow entrepreneurs, and speaking has become his biggest passion in life. Come see how in the last 4 years, Shane has managed to travel 30 weekends per year, and sale over $5.8 million in real estate while ONLY SPEND $600 TOTAL in marketing over the last 4 years!
Sayam Ibrihim
Tim Rosenthal
Tim presently lives and runs his real estate investment company and real estate brokerage, New Light Real Estate, in Buffalo, New York. Tim worked in the corporate world for 13 years with General Motors before leaving to start his own real estate company. He has also been a licensed real estate broker for the past 17 years. In 2017 Tim Started Live your Dash Vacations a short -term rental management company, He is a FortuneBuilders Mastery graduate and has been coaching with FortuneBuilders since 2012.
David Vanlandingham
David Vanlandingham is an Executive Corporate Analyst for Nevada Corporate Headquarters, Inc.
EXPERT ADVICE
David became a Life Coach in 2002, specializing in career coaching with a primary focus on helping clients transition from being employees to becoming employers. While many individuals share the dream of owning a business, David’s coaching has elevated and inspired people to do much more than dream. His vast knowledge in business structuring and funding has been the catalyst for launching thousands of small businesses. David’s proven techniques continue to create entrepreneurial success all over the world.
REAL ESTATE GURU
After years of being an effective Life Coach, David joined Nevada Corporate Headquarters, Inc. as part of the elite speaker team, Corporate Analyst Division. In this position, David is able to pursue his true passion of speaking and coaching real estate investors for business and financial success. Coming from a successful real estate investing family, David’s personal and professional experience has solidified him as an expert in advanced structuring for real estate investors. He is able to fully understand the complexities that come with rehabbing and flipping homes, as well as simultaneously purchasing various investment properties. David effectively combines entity structuring with tax strategies and estate planning to provide maximum asset protection and minimal tax liability.
REAL LIFE SUPERHERO
David spent 25 years in Las Vegas and now resides in Florida where he enjoys spending time at local beaches, theme parks, and historical sites with his wife Laura, and two younger boys Daniel and Dylan. David commutes frequently to Las Vegas for meetings and events where he additionally gets to spend time with his oldest son, Brandon. David enjoys playing the guitar and loves karaoke. Because of his charming and sophisticated disposition, he is known to many as Batman in both his personal and professional circles. David continues to focus on empowering entrepreneurs, providing the necessary knowledge to become successful business owners with advanced structuring for long-term protection.
Cort Christie
Cort Christie is the founder and President of Nevada Corporate Headquarters, Inc. Cort is a skilled entrepreneur, executive, author, and speaker who has garnered widespread recognition for his expertise in small business start-ups and finance. A national expert on entrepreneurship, he has an extensive background in business formation, small business tax strategies and fundraising for start-ups. He has distinguished himself as a nationally recognized speaker and has appeared as a featured guest on some of the largest radio shows across the country. Adept at translating his extensive experience and skill into informative publications for aspiring entrepreneurs, Cort is the author of Incorporating in Nevada – The Do-it-Yourself Kit, The Nevada Edge, Fast Money, 77 Ways to Raise Start-up Money and many other publications.
Cort also looks strikingly similar to another speaker at Ignite Ralph Plumb. They may be related?
Ammon Brimhall
For over a decade, Ammon has been highly regarded as a leader who brings out the best in people. He combines his real life, in-the-trenches real estate experience dating back to 2002 and his degree in psychology to create a radically unique style for coaching investors. He takes a “no mercy” approach to helping others conquer challenges and seize opportunities that come with starting a new business. Ammon draws upon his own practical insights based on starting his real estate career with no money or experience. It wasn’t hard for him to become a true believer in the business when he made $60,000 on his first flip. Since that time, he has gone on to become active in rentals, lease options, wholesaling, rehabbing, and residential commercial (trailer parks and small apartment buildings) as well as lending. In 2012, he joined FortuneBuilders as a coach, content developer and virtual trainer. Ammon has been recognized as “Crusher of the Month,” webinar presenter of the quarter and coach of the year. Ammon loves serving his community and creating adventures with his wife and 5 amazing children. It’s really a toss-up as to which he loves more – the investing, or the training, and it is his belief that anyone who is willing to learn and take action can achieve financial freedom.
Christy Duckett
Christy Duckett is a very successful real estate investor in South Carolina. Christy is heavily sought after for her knowledge on rehabbing, passive income properties and mobile home parks. She is a two-time FortuneBuilders Inspire Award Winner and Coach. Christy has a true passion for real estate and helping others achieve their goals. While recently married and now a mother of two, she’s done anything but slow down. This supermom has mastered what it takes to balance family life and take her real estate business to the next level.
Dale Comstock
Dale Comstock has given 35 years of service to the United States combating U.S. enemies abroad. He served in every campaign from Grenada to the present conflicts that the United States is involved in as a frontline combatant directly engaging the enemy, either as a Paratrooper, Green Beret, Delta Force Operator, OGA Paramilitary Operative, and Mercenary. He has worked as a legitimate Soldier of Fortune for friendly foreign governments targeting high-value terrorist commanders and financiers. Comstock has been decorated twice for Valor in combat, and he is also the author of the book American Badass.
Speros Vouriotis
Speros Vouriotis has been an active real estate investor since 1997 in Colorado & Massachusetts. He started investing by building his rental property portfolio before finding FortuneBuilders in 2010.He and his wife, Kimberly are Graduate Mastery students. Speros has been a Field Expert Coach since March 2012 and a Full Immersion & Bootcamp speaker since 2016.Since joining FortuneBuilders, Speros’ team has bought and sold numerous wholesale and rehab properties in CO, MA & FL, while building passive income with the addition of private money lending Speros & his team are currently looking to expand his rehab into ground up construction, commercial and multi unit developments.Prior to joining FortuneBuilders and establishing the family owned business, Speros has spent the last 22 years as an active RE Broker of his own RE Brokerage in both Colorado and Massachusetts. Speros is also one of our national trainers speaking to our new students at both the Immersion Weekend events, Marketing Systems and REO/SS bootcamps.
Greg Clement
Greg Clement is the Founder and CEO of Realeflow (2011 INC. 500 Company)
He graduated from Baldwin-Wallace University in 1997 with a BA in Marketing. Over the past 6 years he has guided Realeflow from a product development and marketing perspective to become the largest SaaS company in the country for the real estate investing niche. Realeflow has been recognized for being one of the "500 Fastest Growing Companies in America" and also one of the "Top 50 Companies to Work For In America" by Outside Magazine in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Realeflow is currently expanding it’s CRM and MaaP (Marketing as a Platform) software into many other niches.
In 2007 he also started I Don’t Like To Work, LLC and started constructing and selling information products on how to be a successful entrepreneur making more money and working less hours. His success with I Don’t Like To Work, LLC resulted in him being recognized by Fast Company Magazine as one of the “10 Most Influential People Online in 2010.”
Greg has since started several other successful companies including investing in and co-founding Everything Happy. Everything Happy is a baby blanket company that sells premium baby blankets and children’s clothing that operates on a, buy one give one business model, giving one blanket to a child in need for every one sold.
In 2010, Greg and his wife Kelly purchased Mapleside Farms, a 110-acre apple orchard in his hometown of Brunswick, Ohio and has since turned it into a thriving agritourism destination. It provides over 275 jobs to the Northeast Ohio community. His latest venture, AppGiraffe, is a mobile app company that provides a technology platform for small businesses and organizations to create and manage cost effective mobile apps.
Josh Server
Josh Server is a Chicago born actor who is known for his work on Nickelodeon’s hit sketch series, All That, which was deemed the first of it’s kind and considered the SNL for younger audiences. Server is the longest running cast member of All That, having starred in over 100 episodes from 1994 to 2000. Other Nickelodeon credits include the cult classic film Good Burger, The Secret World of Alex Mack, Figure It Out, Kenan & Kel, The Amanda Show and Gameshakers. Server recently appeared on Nickelodeon’s The Splat, as part of the All That Reunion and starred in 2016 alongside Anna Camp and Jim Belushi in the Amazon Prime series, Good Girls Revolt. You can catch Josh starring in the upcoming feature film April’s Flowers slated for release in 2019!
As a student and an adviser, Josh has been working with Fortune Builders for many years and is so proud to be part of the FB Family and community. Because of Real Estate and Fortune Builders, Josh has a vehicle to pursue his passions and live out his dream as an actor in Los Angeles. He is grateful to help others pursue their own dreams through Mastery.
Elisa Stabile
Elisa Stabile started her real estate career in 1998 when she bought her first home to renovate. Since that time she has worked in the areas of mortgage lending, rental property management as well as run her own corporate event planning and marketing consulting business. Entrepreneurship has been a passion of hers for quite a long time, but it wasn’t until being educated through FortuneBuilders Mastery starting in 2011 that she realized how systems and a great network could really catapult her success. She has experience with short sales, foreclosures, large- scale development and raising private money in multiple markets throughout the country. She believes that the better we can improve our people skills and focus on our ability to help others the more success we can achieve. She has been a speaker for FortuneBuilders since 2012 and loves giving back to the FortuneBuilders community. She was a co-star on A&E’s Flipping San Diego and has addressed audiences throughout the U.S. and Canada. Elisa is a single mother to an epic teenage son and considers her greatest blessing to be raising her own Future FortuneBuilder.
Bill Hook
Bill Hook spent over 20 years in the IT industry before he found his passion for real estate investing. In early 2013, Bill became a Mastery student and left his job as an IT director later that year, never looking back. After making a nice 6-figure profit on his first deal, he moved on to deal after deal. He found that his passion for investing included helping others and he soon became a Mastery Coach (Field Expert). One year later, he was asked to be a Full Immersion speaker. He also runs the Pittsburgh Meet-Up Group, a closed event for Mastery students only. In just over three years in Mastery, Bill has become a local leader in the Pittsburgh community and respected throughout the country. Today he not only serves as a Field Expert and speaker, but also as a Full Immersion team captain, working with some of the best in the field.
Jenna Hoover
You may recognize Jenna Hoover as an empowering female entrepreneur, investor, public speaker, and eccentric online marketer. Not only is Jenna featured nationally in the FortuneBuilders infomercials and commercials, she also starred in her own rehabbing TV show, “Renovation Road,” that aired on both HGTV and DIY networks. She excels in marketing/advertising, lead generation, wholesaling, raising private money, creative financing, subject-to, owner financing, rentals, negotiating with contractors, negotiating with sellers, and of course rehabbing. This vivacious investor entered into business and real estate as a single mom of a rambunctious toddler, undeniably making a lasting impression in a short amount of time. Since 2013, Jenna has been coaching and training students as a Full Immersion speaker for FortuneBuilders. She radiates an enthusiasm for her work and exudes nothing but passion in helping others achieve the same success.
Dee Willard-Ruffin
Dee Willard-Ruffin is a respected and successful entrepreneur, launching her real estate investment business 11 years ago on a part-time basis before transitioning to full-time in 2012 upon joining FortuneBuilders as a Mastery student. Dee was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Northern Virginia. She is known for her adept leadership abilities. She prides herself in helping people reach heights of success, which has contributed to her overall success in the industry. Prior to launching her full-time real estate company, Dee had several accomplishments in various leadership positions, which range from vice president of the freshman class in college, director of the Gospel Chorus at church for 10 years, to first African American female to be installed in the position of Postmaster of Bethesda, Maryland.
As CEO of her company, her vision is to redevelop neighborhoods one house at a time in her community with a special interest in distressed properties. Three of the several housing projects that she has produced were featured both locally and nationally: one property was noted in the Bloomingdale newspaper for being the first two-story property to be sold in LeDroit Park for over $1,000,000; one property was featured in the local Compass brokerage in their quarterly newsletter; another property was shown on HGTV’s hit TV show, “House Hunters” in 2014. She has successfully completed over $10,000,000 in real estate transactions in the last 3.5 years.
Dee is also a past winner of one of the top three most profitable deals of the year within the Mastery Community.
Josh Hastings
Josh Hastings began his real estate career in 2008 taking over his family’s property management business and in 2012 he joined the FortuneBuilders Mastery program to begin his career as a real estate investor. For 2 years Josh was able to run his property management company while growing his investment business, although ultimately he knew his passion was in residential real estate. In 2014 Josh made the bold life changing decision to sell his property management company to focus on the dream of real estate investing full time. His drive comes from a true and deep desire to improve homes and communities one home at a time including remodels, additions and new build projects. Josh has also focused on building a large group of private lenders to lend on his real estate deals and every one of his projects have been funded through his group of private lenders. Over the years in Mastery, Josh has grown his lending power to over 8 million dollars in private funds while his company, NorCal Homes & Development is typically working on 10 to 15 projects at any given time. In April 2015 Josh joined the coaching team at FortuneBuilders which has been both enlightening and extremely humbling to watch students bloom one by one each step of their journey; coaching has become one of the single most rewarding pieces of his journey with FortuneBuilders.
Alex Schuck
Alex and Kathy Schuck founded North Shore Real Estate Solutions, LLC located in Andover, Massachusetts in 2009. Their company has bought, rehabbed, and sold numerous properties in the suburban Boston area. They have bought houses going through: short sale, pre-foreclosure, probate, and bankruptcy processes; through estate sales, REO properties, and physically distressed properties. They have experienced everything from mold remediation, to rebuilding foundations, to tear-downs and new construction. And they have used a number of different ways to finance their deals; self-directed IRAs, Solo(k), hard money loans, private loans, and commercial bank loans to name a few.
In addition, Alex has a sales and advertising background and is responsible for finding deals through marketing and networking. Kathy specializes in managing the entire rehab process, from managing the contractors, to material choices. Also, having her real estate salesperson’s license with Realty National in Boston, has given her the ability to buy, market, and sell their rehab and new construction properties. Alex and Kathy joined the Fortune Builders family as students back in 2010. They are also FortuneBuilders coaches. They have been guest hosts on a real estate talk show on a Boston radio station, and have spoken at many Fortune Builders and local REIA events. They also run a local Facebook page and monthly Meet-Up group for Fortune Builders students and alum in the greater Boston area.
Kathy Schuck
Alex and Kathy Schuck founded North Shore Real Estate Solutions, LLC located in Andover, Massachusetts in 2009. Their company has bought, rehabbed, and sold numerous properties in the suburban Boston area. They have bought houses going through: short sale, pre-foreclosure, probate, and bankruptcy processes; through estate sales, REO properties, and physically distressed properties. They have experienced everything from mold remediation, to rebuilding foundations, to tear-downs and new construction. And they have used a number of different ways to finance their deals; self-directed IRAs, Solo(k), hard money loans, private loans, and commercial bank loans to name a few.
In addition, Alex has a sales and advertising background and is responsible for finding deals through marketing and networking. Kathy specializes in managing the entire rehab process, from managing the contractors, to material choices. Also, having her real estate salesperson’s license with Realty National in Boston, has given her the ability to buy, market, and sell their rehab and new construction properties. Alex and Kathy joined the Fortune Builders family as students back in 2010. They are also FortuneBuilders coaches. They have been guest hosts on a real estate talk show on a Boston radio station, and have spoken at many Fortune Builders and local REIA events. They also run a local Facebook page and monthly Meet-Up group for Fortune Builders students and alum in the greater Boston area.
Debbie Avicoli
Debra is one of FortuneBuilders’ first students. After 30 years in the beauty industry, Debra sold her business and walked away from everything she knew to pursue real estate investing. She embarked on an endeavor that proved to be not only profitable, but life-changing. At 62 years old, Debra’s retirement goal is to focus on building passive income. After many years of rehabbing both single-family and multi-family properties and building spec homes, she’s become an accredited investor. She is now building long-term wealth by investing in FortuneBuilders’ commercial deals. Debra is also an active advocate for women investors.
Brian Estes
Off the Chain Capital runs the #1 performing bitcoin and blockchain asset investment fund over the past three years through June 2020. The fund embraces the value investment philosophy of Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett, which provides downside protection without sacrificing upside growth, making it a great fit for family offices, endowments, foundations and first time investors in blockchain assets. Founded as a family investment fund in 2016, Off The Chain Capital is managed by CIO and Managing Partner, Brian Estes. Brian has helped finance, build, and mentor 4 blockchain companies that have a combined value of more than $10 billion today. Prior to entering the blockchain space in 2014, Brian was a leading endowment and foundation asset manager, ranked in the top 0.1% of Morningstar Equity managers between 2004 and 2014.
Chris Robinson
Chris Robinson is the founder of R3 Coaching, a company dedicated to the development of individuals and businesses. His speaker/leadership training as well as his one-on-one coaching has influenced his client’s trajectory towards success.
Chris is an international speaker and executive coach, who has spoken before crowds as large as 4,500. On a weekly basis, he trains small groups within varied organizations. He has dedicated his life to enhancing others, by speaking/teaching on leadership, personal and professional development.
Chris’s leadership beginnings started while he was a sales representative, for one the largest vehicle services contract service providers in the U.S. Within a five year period, he quickly advanced 4 positions to Senior Sales Manager. He continued to develop his leadership strengths while overcoming his weaknesses by helping to grow the company from a staff of 18 employees to over 700. While experiencing such a tremendous growth and recognizing his impact, he sought greater, for himself, which led to the birth of R3 Coaching.
Chris has the ability to assess a situation, recognize the problem, and lay a solid workable plan of action that empowers the business or individual involved, to create life-altering success. Whether it is a team of 200 telemarketers, a new business without clear direction, or an individual looking to climb the corporate ladder, He will get you where you want to go. His training will enrich your attitude, rekindle your determination to succeed, and expand your self-confidence. You’ll come away empowered, centered, and focused on your determined goals.
Elissa Stone
Strong Body, Strong Mind, Strong Entrepreneur…
Wanting it all and the daily pursuit of having it all…Elissa Stone is a mother of four year old twins, a pro-ranked fitness competitor, and the owner/founder of Acquisitions By Design; a real estate solutions firm with a diverse spectrum of services designed to provide the key to simplifying real estate transaction processes including acquisition, repositioning, and disposition of single-family assets, multi-family assets, and land development opportunities.
Elissa’s business acumen includes over 17 years experience bridging business partnerships and building internal teams within the healthcare, staffing, and real estate industries. She started her career with Robert Half International, a 3.3 billion dollar organization. Elissa ranked 45th in the world within the international company as Rookie of the Year, competing just six months in the yearlong competition (over 400 offices worldwide).
She was most recently recognized in 2017 as Top Producer within the Stephen Stagner Sales Excellence Institute. In conjunction with this award, she also received an award for Top Producing Team and was nominated and elected President for the Sales Executive Board. Her roles have ranged from Director of Sales to Division Director, most recently as Vice President of Client Strategy within a Houston, TX real estate firm. Stone’s initial immersion in real estate was in 2010 under the mentorship of a CEO who served as the 2014 President for the Houston Apartment Association.
In addition, her mentor and supervisor also held multiple other leadership positions in the industry such as Rental Owner of the Year at the city (Houston), state (TX), and national level. Elissa’s previous Fortune 500 experience, her fascination and myopic immersion into real estate, combined with her consultative nature and business integrity set the foundation for Acquisitions By Design.
From a fitness perspective, Elissa is a strong believer that it is not the physical body that holds us back…it is the mindset! A personal goal set forth by Elissa was to achieve pre-baby weight within three months after giving birth to her twins in 2015, Gavin and Layla Stone (ACHIEVED!). She then decided her next goal was to compete in her first fitness competition.
Fitness competitions are not for the faint of heart. This is serious business, and it requires a commitment of time, effort, and a near flawless diet. The challenge, determination, and dedication was a fun way for her to take her workouts and mindset to the next level. Prepping, training, and competing in a handful of fitness competitions, which led to a pro-ranking, provided the education to nutrition and strength training to get results (for everyday life-style coaching and competing). She leads by example but also loves her desserts too!
Elissa’s favorite quote that she applies to everyday life and rereads often is:
"Deep down inside you were terrified of taking risks. You really wanted to WIN, but the fear of LOSING was greater then the excitement of WINNING. Deep inside, you and only you will know you did not go for it. You choose to play it safe."
She often asks herself…”Am I choosing to play it safe or am I on the HOT pursuit of having it ALL?”
Frank McKinney
Meet Frank McKinney, a true modern day Renaissance man Real Estate Artist, 6x International Bestselling Author (in 5 genres), Philanthro-Capitalist, Ultramarathoner, Actor, and Aspirational Speaker who sees opportunities and creates markets where none existed before.
Upon attending his 4th high school in 4 years (he was asked to leave the first 3), Frank earned his high school diploma with a 1.8 GPA. Then, with $50 in his pocket and without the benefit of further education, Frank left his native Indiana for Florida in search of his life’s highest calling.
Now Frank creates real estate markets where others fear to tread. He has built oceanfront spec homes (homes built without a buyer) valued in the tens of millions of dollars, shattering price records with each new project. Frank started with a $ 50,000 fixer-upper, and climbed all the way to a $50 million oceanfront mansion!
Frank’s latest creation? “ 3492 South Ocean” – his FINAL masterpiece!
In addition, on 9.18.18, Frank released The Other Thief – A Collision of Love, Flesh and Faith, his 6th title in five book genres. “A seductively spiritual love story…that shatters the Christian romance genre and boldly creates a new one, compelling readers to examine the boundaries of their own faith and the dark forces that challenge it.”
The Frank McKinney brand has captivated the media and public for nearly 30 years. His vision and risk-taking have been the subject of numerous international television, radio and print features including Oprah, ABC’s 20/20, cover of USA Today, CBS’ The Early Show, FOX, CNN, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, HGTV, The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Fortune, Barrons, and in over 2,600 additional TV and print stories.
Dan Wright
Dan Wright is the Director of Acquisitions for CT Homes, LLC, a real estate investment and redevelopment firm headquartered in San Diego, CA. Dan has led this position for over 7 years acquiring well over $100,000,000 in residential real estate. Applying sales and negotiation skills from his previous corporate experience, he has successfully implemented and refined techniques to cater to the constantly changing market, and keeping CT Homes a leader in the industry. Dan is also a licenced Real Estate Agent and has years of investing experience in passive income properties as well as commercial syndications.
Glenn Sanford
Glenn Sanford is the founder eXp Realty, CEO of eXp World Holdings, Inc. and Chief Strategy Officer for VirBELA. After being involved with a number of internet start-ups in the 1990s and early 2000s, including a stint at AOL, Glenn started a highly successful real estate career in 2002. In 2006, his fourth full year in the business, Glenn and his team closed over $60,000,000 in real estate almost entirely from online lead generation and was ranked as one of the top 50 teams nationally with Keller Williams. After the downturn in 2008, he and his team developed the first cloud-based brokerage model that uses a 3D avatar based online office to collaborate and communicate while abandoning the physical bricks and mortar infrastructure normally associated with real estate brokerage. In the last 11 years, since launching with 25 agents, eXp Realty has grown to over 36000 agents in all 50 states, DC, most of Canada, the UK, Australia, and most recently South Africa. eXp Realty now does business in over 600 different MLS market areas around the US and Canada and multiple markets internationally. eXp Realty refers to itself as Agent-owned and the company became a public company in 2013 and in 2014 started to distribute equity to its productive agent owners. eXp Realty provides the first ESOP style Stock Ownership Program for its agents and brokers as well as a revenue sharing program all designed to enhance the agent-centric business model.
Patrick Judd
Patrick Judd is the Managing Partner for both Turnkey Investment Properties and Turnkey Wealth Builder LLC’s, located in Bonita, California. His companies offer value-added real estate investment properties to individuals and business establishments throughout the southwest United States. The company is organized and managed in a creative, innovative fashion to generate very high levels of customer satisfaction.
The investment company was started as a sole proprietorship in 1973. Patrick Judd purchased two houses with basements, did a complete renovation, and created four rental units doubling the value of the property. During the first few years all properties that were purchased were held for investment and needed rehabilitation work in order to bring them to their full value and rental potential. All properties acquired during this early period had between two and twenty-one units. Some of the properties included partners to allow for larger projects.
In 1977 the investment company joined together with other likeminded individuals and companies to acquire large multi-family apartment units in Texas. Most of the focus was in Austin and San Antonio. Acting as the General Partner, Patrick Judd created several limited partnerships under California law to amass the needed funds to purchase and rehabilitate the purchased properties. Properties ranged from forty units to one hundred and twenty-three units. Because of economic realities at the time, inflation and interest rates were very high which made real estate a good investment choice. These properties were liquidated during the economic downturn of the 1980's caused by the savings and loan deregulation and the drop in wholesale oil prices. Both of these events hit Texas very hard and created a prolonged economic downturn. Property Management and oversight of the investment properties was one of the investment company's responsibilities that Patrick Judd oversaw.
The company worked through the cold war real estate downturn in California in the late 80's and early 90's as well as the real estate downturn in early 2000. Property acquisition and renovation during the early stages of the real estate boom in the mid 2000's allowed the investment company to retain investments with equity and cash flow through the severe downturn beginning in 2007. As the market started to bottom out Patrick Judd lead the investment company on an aggressive acquisition phase of buy-and-hold rental housing, including college student housing, vacation rentals. The business became a Limited Liability Company in May of 2011 and has expanded into additional phases of investment property opportunities including buy-and-flip, wholesale and rent-to-own.
Patrick Judd holds a Masters’ Degree in Public School Administration and works as a consultant for Fortune Builders, Inc. as a small business development advisor with their student population.
Mark Kappelman
Mark brings over fifteen years of accounting, operations, and real estate experience to RealEstateAccounting.co (REA), where he is a co-founder. REA is a technology driven real estate accounting company providing complete back-office solutions for third-party property managers (residential and commercial), owner-operators, syndicators, and developers.
Prior to REA, Mark held a senior operating & finance position with a venture-backed technology company (4C Insights) in Chicago for approximately 6 years that was acquired in 2020. And before that, Mark spent seven years in public accounting at PwC and Ernst & Young doing both M&A financial due diligence and auditing.
Mark joined FortuneBuilders back in 2013, and over the past eight years, Mark has acquired more than $12m of real estate across ~35 units providing him with hands on experience across all types of real estate transactions. He is currently managing 20 units in Chicago, as well as overseeing (as a general partner) the re-development of an 11 unit mixed unit building in Chicago, and is a general partner on an 8 unit new development townhome project in Florida. Mark has syndicated on nearly all his projects so has hands on experience with operating agreement and raising capital. Mark’s undergraduate and graduate degrees are from Arizona State University. Additionally, Mark holds the Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
David Eaton
David's life-long passion as a professional classical pipe organist has provided him the opportunity to travel throughout the world performing, conducting, and teaching. After moving to Raleigh-Durham, he developed a love for the area and an interest in contributing to the development of the area through real estate, thus One Love Properties, LLC was born. In addition to maintaining an active musical life, he is now an active real estate owner, investor, and lender thanks to the education provided by the FortuneBuilders Mastery program and Internet Quickstart!
Kristin Ryan
Kristin Ryan is a full time real estate investor in the Chicagoland area. With a lifelong background in sales, she accidentally discovered a passion in real estate investing in March of 2020 while attending a Fortune Builders seminar. She dove right in and never looked back. She founded KGG Property Ventures, which specializes in rehabs in the Chicago market. What she loves most about the real estate investing business is the ability to help others out of difficult situations, creating genuine relationships, and being involved in the creative side of designing homes. Her goal for 2022 is to scale the rehab business as well as invest into passive income with rental properties in out of state markets.
She is devoted to her two daughters, 21 and 18, and is excited that her oldest daughter has aspirations to join the KGG team (after all, she is the first G in KGG). In addition to her business, she also has a passion for travel, fashion, food, wine, and health and wellness.
Jake Remillard
Originally from Maine, Jacob spent his early twenties studying business at Central Maine Community College where he met his wife, Carissa. After a decision to join the United States Army as a Paratrooper, Carissa and Jacob spent three and half years living abroad in Italy. They conceived their first child, James, one month before returning to the United States. Jacob left active-duty military service in September of 2021 and they now Live in Fayetteville, NC, actively investing and helping to improve the communities in the surrounding area.
On May 23rd, 2021 Carissa and Jacob attended the Fortune Builders three-day event where they committed to their dreams of creating freedom through financial Independence. On May 25th, 2021, Carissa gave birth to their first child, James. The overwhelming amount of tasks and learning that accompany starting your own real estate investment business seemed to fit well with the challenge of new parenthood. They relied heavily on weekly coaching calls to not only help with comprehension of topics and learning material but also to develop the necessary mindset.
After committing to Mastery, a month passed and Jacob and Carissa decided to jump into the deep end (metaphorically) and joined Internet QuickStart. The addition of a marketing and online presence coach catapulted their efforts. With a new curriculum and a detailed plan of action, Jacob implemented techniques learned from the Mastery and Internet QuickStart Program to get their first deal under contract five months after joining Fortune Builders.
Today, Carissa and Jacob co-own Evolve Property Solutions, LLC. They specialize in residential wholesaling and have begun working with commercial properties. Jacob recognized early on that delegation, outsourcing, and scaling their business needed to be a key focus. In November they hired their first employee and intend to onboard another in December. They are currently working on 23 property acquisitions.
Ed Castaneda
Ed Castaneda is a Real Estate Investor and Restaurateur. He is a dedicated "family man" devoted to creating a lifestyle by design for his family, comprised of his beautiful wife, four amazing children and four wonderful grandchildren, by growing his family enterprises through the passing on of his business knowledge and life philosophies to his next of kin.
Monaz Karkaria
Monaz Karkaria is a seasoned real estate investor investing in real estate since 1999. She is the Cofounder and Chief Operating Officer of REAlpha Tech Corp. Realpha is democratizing real estate investing by breaking the barriers to entry. Anyone with a1000 dollars can invest in Realpha, Think Robinhood for real estate investing. She is responsible for building the global operations of the company, including data science, acquisitions, roll-out management and operations.
Prior to ReAlpha, Monaz founded Ben Zen Properties LLC where she manages the company's operations, finances, and property management. She is responsible for strategic growth and planning to ensure that the company has a national presence in the real estate industry. She has vast experience in commercial and residential redevelopment and has been involved in over a 100+ real estate transactions.