Jaren Sustar, who goes by JD for short, or Finance Cowboy on social, says you don’t need to use your own money to make millions in real estate. Matter fact, he bought 22 properties in the last few years, using almost entirely other people’s money, all while working a nine-to-five. Here’s how it all happened. After playing baseball throughout college, Jaren graduated, went to work in the service industry, pivoted to sales, then made his first investment in real estate.
It was a flip and it did not go well. But JD was lucky enough to break even. “I was young,” he says. “Like 25 years old. And I was using a private lender’s money and it was just a debacle all the way through. From transferring the funds to me to dealing with the contractors each week, managing them. Then we thought the project was done and then we end up having to pull a permit that we didn’t pull, and so we had to go back and redo a lot of stuff. And then we go to close and the buyer couldn’t get funding.”
Eventually he got it wrapped up, but it was a yearlong lesson in humility, that’s for sure. Two years after that, with a mentor in his corner, Jaren bought a long-term rental. And then another, and then another. He scaled to 20+ properties, and he just keeps on buying. Loves real estate. Has learned a ton over the years. And now he’s able to help others. How’d he come up with the Finance Cowboy brand, you ask? Jaren had this older relative who he’d been trying to get to invest in real estate for years, right? And the dude just kept blowing him off.
So JD just kept doing his thing, acquiring properties using OPM, building his wealth. Then his cousin or whatever sees this 26-year-old Instagram influencer with a decent following, telling everyone to invest in index funds, and of course he jumps all over that. Even starts bugging JD, like, “Bro, you should really be getting in on these index funds.” Unreal. Here JD was multiplying his money much faster through real estate, but because he didn’t have a following on IG, nobody was gonna listen to him? Okay, I see how it is, he thought.
Screw it then, I’ll build my own damn following, he decided. And then one day he’s putting his boots on, and it just hit him: I’ll be the Finance Cowboy. Yee-haw, pardner! And here we are. Now. JD finds his deals a number of ways. Off the MLS, working with an agent that just sends ’em on over; he’s plucked deals right off of Zillow; he’s cold called; got referrals from wholesalers; and just networks like a maniac, telling everyone within earshot, “Yo, I invest in real estate. Send me deals.” And then he just meets his sellers’ needs to close the ones he wants.
As far as what the future holds for Jaren, he’s mostly focusing on his bread and butter: long-term rental, single family homes. Three bed, two bath, nice homes. He’s open to bigger multifamily deals, especially now that he’s built up that following and he’s got so many folks who wanna invest with him. And yeah, he dabbles in short-term rentals, but man, Airbnb’s a lot of work, and anyone who tells ya different is probably trying to sell you a $7,000 coaching program, ya know? So he’s pumping the brakes on that for now.
But yeah. If you’re a hardworking American who wants to build wealth through real estate, and use other people’s money to do it, JD’s gotcha covered like a chuckwagon. His Rental Academy will teach you his so-called W2 Millionaire Method, which just breaks down what he did to hit seven-figures before his 30th birthday, without having to quit his job or neglect his family. No mention of cost, but whatever he’s charging, I’m sure he’s gonna treat ya right. Nice change of pace from the slick-talking real estate gurus I usually review.
