Utah Real Estate Investors Association

Executive Committee

Geoff Dearing

President

Geoff has been an avid investor for over 16 years. He began when he first got married, buying a duplex, and has worked on hundreds of deals and millions of dollars worth of real estate since. He has coached with gurus like Robert Kiyosaki and Carleton Sheets. Geoff has extensive experience with real estate investments specializing in commercial and residential cash-flow property. He has taught these concepts to thousands of students all over the world! He currently invests in apartment complexes, Single Family Residences, and other commercial buildings. He founded the Utah Real Estate Investor's Association three years ago and currently presides as the President of that organization. He resides in the greater Salt Lake area with his wife Rebecca. Feel free to contact him at (801) 232-9500 or gwdearing@yahoo.com if you would like help finding or selling real estate!

Geoff is a licensed real estate broker with Return Real Estate, Inc.

E-mail: gwdearing@yahoo.com

Phone: (801) 232-9500

Jeff Rappaport 

Vice President/Education Chair 

I grew up in Utah since I was 8 years old. I went to the U of U for both undergraduate and graduate school. I have a 15 year old daughter that is the apple of my eye. I am very fortunate to share this journey of building a business with my best friend and love of my life, Rebecca Jensen. 

I have been involved in real estate investing since 2000. I got started in real estate by ordering some books and tapes through an infomercial on TV. I built a successful business based on buy and holds by taking over debts (no qualifying for new loans) and putting no money down. I supplemented that part of my business with short sales. In 2006, I branched out into high end renovations, commercial projects and land. After the crash of 2008, I lost everything! I was totally out of real estate by the end of 2011.

In 2014, I began my second journey in real estate. I am primarily a wholesaler for the time being. I work in Utah and Idaho and may even look at branching out to other markets. Soon, I will be holding properties and will make commercial projects a bigger emphasis in my business. 

I have experienced many of the highs and lows of real estate investing. I have a passion for teaching real estate to others and had a separate business where I did just that. I currently teach new investors through an Apprentice program I developed. I believe education is critical to any investor’s success and continue to soak up as much information as possible.

E-mail: jeff@weofferoptions.com 

Phone: (801) 209-2945

Lisa Cruz

Membership Chair

Lisa Cruz loves all things Title & Escrow! She finds the title industry to be an amazing and rewarding way to not only provide for her family, but to help other families obtain their dreams.  Lisa's bright smile and warm friendship will be felt at every closing.  She can win over the most nervous and moody clients.  While working well with the lenders, real estate agents and other title companies.  Lisa is here to help you in all your title needs. You will walk away feeling uplifted and grateful for the service Lisa provides!    

Lisa Cruz was introduced into the Title Industry in 2005. Lisa’s natural talents in handling high stressful situations allows her to enjoy the fast pace demanding Real Estate Industry. She began as a policy typist and quickly moved into an escrow assistant, this experience has given her a unique advantage for providing the best service on her files from the moment the transaction is received to the final closing.  This knowledge, tools, and understanding has developed her into the dedicated Escrow Officer that she is today. 

These skills along with her great detective instinct has helped her problem solve items that come up while process files right up to closing. She has a thorough knowledge of ALL aspects of a transaction, from start to finish, with a special emphasis on seller financing and complicated property splits. She excels at finding solutions to problems that arise, breaking down the financing, and figuring out the best possible outcome for every deal.  Lisa has been involved with the Utah REIA and BNI groups for the past 5 years!  She is adored and loved by the groups.  Lisa is loyal, and her dedication shows as she gives her all to clients, friends and family. 

E-mail: 528lisa@gmail.com

Phone: (801) 888-1037

Rebecca Dearing

Marketing Chair

Rebecca is a marketing professional with more than 12 years experience in the creation of clear, engaging pieces of communication and in the organization and hosting of a variety of specialty events.  Her communication portfolio consists of flyers, brochures, banners, forms, newsletters, signs, window clings, car magnets, flags, mud flaps, vehicle wraps, and a range of advertisements.  Her event portfolio consists of golf tournaments, bowling competitions, figure skating competitions, awards assemblies, movie screenings, scholarship events, networking luncheons and educational seminars.

E-mail: rebecca@utahreia.org

Phone: (801) 647-8862

Nate Lambert

Greeter/NREIA Liaison and Benefits Expert

Nate Lambert is the proud father of four boys. He is psychology professor and the author of over 65 research articles and book chapters on the topic of thriving in life and served as an editor of The Journal of Positive Psychology. He has presented his research across the United States and on four continents. His research has been featured in Today, Men’s Health, America Online News, Women’s Health, Good Housekeeping Magazine, Radio Rhema New Zealand, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Encyclopedia Britannica, Health Day, MSN Healthy Living, Examiner, Science Daily, and The Economist. Dr. Lambert is also the author of the book See the World on Any Budget, as well as the books Publish and Prosper, Standing Up for Standing Out: Making the Most of Being Different, and Four Truths about Weight Loss that Nobody Tells You, and writes articles for Psychology Today! He loves international travel and recently lived with his family in Fiji for seven months. He now focuses mostly on real estate as a Realtor with Century 21 Everest and as an investor. He currently owns 3 rentals and made as much as 109k on a flip. He is anxious to triple his investment portfolio in 2016 and he knows that the Utah REIA can help him achieve his goals.

E-mail: natemlambert@gmail.com

Phone: (801) 651-8000

Roger Jacobsen

Co-Networking Luncheon Chair

Roger bought his first flip at age 22. As a carpet cleaner he realized that the cost to pay contractors to do all the work on his house would cost too much, so he decided to get "into" construction. Roger became a Concrete mason, then moved into Ironworking, Finish Carpentry, Cabinet Install, Cabinet Building, Framing, Wood Siding, and finally became a contractor in 2001. He has specialized in high-end Finish Carpentry and Remodeling since. He has worked on The McCune Mansion, Jon Huntman Jr's house, the Largest and Longest Houseboat in Utah and many other awesome projects. Roger bought his first Buy-and-Hold in 2011 and still owns it and 2 others. Roger became a RE Agent in 2016 and works under Randall Wall at Equity Real Estate. Roger is becoming a Wholesaler and is Loving that more than any of his other "jobs." Roger is a member of UtahREIA, UVREIA and SLREIA. Roger loves helping people with ALL their questions and needs.

E-mail: rogergixxer@yahoo.com

Phone: (801) 694-0564

Shane Hakala

Home Depot Benefits Expert

I started working with an investor out of Ogden back in 1996 as a "grunt" I help with over 30 projects over a 2 year time span, After asking him to "show me the ropes" he stopped having me work on projects with him and I moved onto other opportunities outside of investing but the bug has always been with me. Late 2014 after 15 years with Greyhound bus lines I was out of work. In April 2016 with the support of my wife Christina we created Soarin Home LLC and started investing. As a company we have completed one full fix and flip and a handful of smaller construction jobs. We are always looking for wholesale or fix and flip deals. We plan on adding buy and holds to our portfolio soon.

E-mail: soarinhomeutah@gmail.com

Phone: (801) 413-3616

Rebecca Belnap

Government Actions Liaison

Rebecca Belnap is a loan officer with Castle & Cooke Mortgage, LLC.  She has been a real estate investor since 1999. Before getting degrees in Accounting and Business Management, she taught a Finance Lab class at UVU where she developed a love of educating people about their finances.  Since then she has been a consumer credit counselor, Realtor, managed rental properties, owned a kitchen cabinet business, and has switched from flipping homes to mostly buy and holds.

Outside of work, Rebecca enjoys spending time with her husband and 3 adult daughters.  Her hobbies include home remodeling, writing fiction, cooking, helping at her weight loss club TOPS, and running.  One of her proudest moments was finishing her first half marathon.

E-mail: bbelnap2@gmail.com

Phone: (801) 400-6426

Rebecca Jensen

Meetup Coordinator

Rebecca Jensen is an accomplished sales and marketing professional who has leveraged networking to achieve great results. She has built strong relationships with clients across multiple industries with her Win-Win approach. Rebecca has a collaborative spirit and lives by the motto “How you do anything is how you do everything”.

Rebecca joined Jeff Rappaport in 2014 after a career with Skywest Airlines, Worldmark Resorts and ESPN Talk Radio. She immersed herself in learning and development with multiple boot camps and mastermind groups. The knowledge imparted on Rebecca by Jeff and these other leading Real Estate professionals was so impactful that she was anxious to pay it forward. In addition to helping run and organize two monthly Meet-ups for Utah REIA, Rebecca created the mastermind group W.I.N. (Women Investing Now).

Rebecca’s professional drive comes from her greatest gift and accomplishment, her daughter Isabel. Together they enjoy golfing, hiking, skiing, bicycling and the beach.

With networking and mentorship as the keys to her success, Rebecca looks forward to connecting with everyone at the UT REIA monthly meetings and the Utah Investor and Wholesale Meetups.

E-mail: rebecca@weofferoptions.com 

Phone: (801) 865-4167