Podcasts about Underwriting

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This week we talk to Lisa Renton-Ahmadi and Rav Atwal from Ki about algorithmic underwriting, actuarial innovation and the growing use of AI in insurance pricing. We explore how Ki combines data, technology and machine learning with underwriting expertise and actuarial judgement; why human oversight remains essential; and how modern tools can help teams make better, faster and more scalable decisions.

Are you chasing double-digit returns on mortgage notes only to risk losing your principal in a second-lien wipeout? Welcome back to The Note Closers Show Podcast! In this episode, Scott Carson sits down with former defense software engineer turned international digital nomad Harley Green, founder of InvestAway. Broadcasting live from Antigua, Guatemala, Harley shares how he transitioned from active house flipping and corporate 401(k) management to managing over $5M in first-lien private real estate debt in just a few hours a week. Harley pulls back the curtain on common pitfalls self-directed IRA (SDIRA) and passive investors face in today's shifting housing market. He breaks down why junior debt positions carry extreme risk, how to evaluate real-world After Repair Value (ARV) cushions, and how he leverages an lean tech stack with AI-driven underwriting to scale a private lending business without hiring a massive corporate team. Scott and Harley also explore co-lending structures that yield 15% annualized returns, extension terms that prevent defaults, and key markets in the Southeast. The Dangers of Second-Lien Notes: Why junior positions get wiped out in bankruptcy or foreclosure when first liens balloon with legal fees. Transitioning Corporate Wealth: Rolling 15 years of defense industry 401(k) funds into self-directed IRAs to become the bank. The High-Yield Sweet Spot: Structuring 4- to 9-month short-term fix-and-flip loans across single-family and small multifamily assets. Underwriting & Risk Protection: Capping maximum loan-to-value at 75% of ARV and managing extended days on market in softer regions. Southeast Growth Markets: Why markets in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Kansas City offer ideal entry-level inventory for flipping. AI & Tech Operations: Utilizing custom AI agents to scrub title commitments, flag errors, and manage borrower updates with a single virtual assistant. Passive Co-Lending Structures: How passive SDIRA investors can earn 15% annualized net returns backed by first-position real estate. Borrower Retention & Legal Compliance: Partnering with specialized private lending attorneys instead of relying on title companies or generic templates. Stop chasing high-risk yield and learn how to secure your capital as a first-lien private lender! Connect with Harley Green directly by visiting investaway.co or searching for Harley Green on LinkedIn! Have questions about setting up first-position private notes, analyzing deal collateral, or putting your SDIRA funds to work? Book a strategy call directly with Scott at talkwithscottcarson.com! Register for upcoming virtual masterclasses at notebuyingfordummies.com or wholesalingnotes.com. Remember to subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with fellow real estate investors!Watch the Original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes Pinterest

BJ Kuula talks about the business of real estate and underwriting and ways to build and scale successfully while creating long-term value through disciplined leadership and strategic growth. BJ is co-founder and managing partner of Kinect Real Estate Partners and CEO of American Capital Group. Listen for three action items you can use today. Host, Kevin Craine Do you want to be a guest? https://Everyday-MBA.com/guest Do you want to advertise on the show? https://Everyday-MBA.com/advertise

Noel Walton is a former Air Force Security Forces member and Army Captain who served as a UH-60 Blackhawk aviator. He joined Rod's Warrior Group in January 2020 and co-founded JCORE Partners, going on to participate in 750 apartment and mobile home/RV park units as a GP, JV partner, and LP, primarily focused on investor relations and capital raising. Now living in Austria, Noel is finishing his Master's in Digital Marketing at Rutgers University and helps multifamily operators build investor relationships. Here's some of the topics we covered:   Noel Walton's military background and entry into multifamily real estate The 172 unit Waco, Texas syndication and getting the deal back after it fell through Underwriting, CapEx, financing challenges, and the unexpected capital raise Navigating the 506B raise, contract extensions, and preferred equity Selling the property early and lessons learned from the deal Expanding into RV parks and mobile home parks with fellow veterans Building investor relationships through capital raising, digital marketing, and education   If you'd like to apply to the warrior program and do deals with other rockstars in this business: Text crush to 72345 and we'll be speaking soon.   For more about Rod and his real estate investing journey go to www.rodkhleif.com  

What does it really take to build a $60 million real estate portfolio starting in your early 20s?In this episode of the Builders of Authority Podcast, Adam McChesney sits down with James Gleeson, a St. Louis real estate investor and serial entrepreneur, to break down how he went from college basketball and mechanical engineering to owning more than 450 rental units.James shares how he built the majority of his portfolio without syndications, using the BRRRR method to create equity, recycle capital, and scale faster.In this conversation, Adam and James discuss:• Transitioning from college athletics into real estate investing• Building a portfolio of more than 450 rental units• How the BRRRR method works: Buy, Renovate, Rent, Refinance, Repeat• Using leverage to grow without constantly putting in new capital• Underwriting deals and understanding net operating income• Why long-term cash flow matters for protecting equity• The tax advantages available to real estate investors• Depreciation, refinancing, and real estate professional status• Vertically integrating construction, property management, lending, and education• Managing the operational chaos that comes with rapid growth• The connection between an athlete mindset and entrepreneurship• Why execution matters more than endlessly consuming informationJames also explains why vertical integration became necessary as his portfolio expanded. By bringing more of the operation in-house, he was able to create greater control across construction, management, lending, and education.The episode closes with a conversation about perseverance, taking action, and why gathering more information means very little if you never execute.

In this Greatest Hits episode of Making Risk Flow, host Jake Harding speaks with Bryan Falchuk, author of the Future of Insurance series, about why insurance's next competitive edge lies in intelligence, not efficiency. Bryan argues that carriers focus too heavily on operational optimisation when profitability depends on understanding and managing loss ratios. He introduces the “how might we” mindset as a way to break through cultural resistance and reframe constraints as opportunities. The conversation explores AI as a bridge between legacy systems and modern analytics, enabling transformation without massive system overhauls. Bryan also examines how misaligned incentives, complacency, and leadership hubris quietly undermine long-term strategy. Ultimately, he makes the case that curiosity, humility, and proactive risk intelligence will define the insurers that thrive in an era of rapid technological change.Fan Mail: Got a challenge digitizing your intake? Share it with us, and we'll unpack solutions from our experience at Cytora.To receive a custom demo from Cytora, click here and use the code 'Making Risk Flow'.Our previous guests include: Bronek Masojada of PPL, Craig Knightly of Inigo, Andrew Horton of QBE Insurance, Simon McGinn of Allianz, Stephane Flaquet of Hiscox, Matthew Grant of InsTech, Paul Brand of Convex, Paolo Cuomo of Gallagher Re, and Thierry Daucourt of AXA.Check out the three most downloaded episodes:The Five Pillars of Data Analytics Strategy in Insurance | Craig Knightly, Inigo20 Years as CEO of Hiscox: Personal Reflections and the Evolution of PPL | Bronek MasojadaImplementing ESG in the Insurance and Underwriting Space | Simon Tighe, Chaucer, and Paul McCarney, Moody's

Frank Forte was the kind of kid who was already fascinated by Wall Street by the time he was about 15. He was a whiz at math, and rather precociously, he also loved reading about options, derivatives and the market. But even back then commercial real estate was on his radar, too. After a few well-timed twists and turns early in his career, he made his path into real estate investment.Ten years ago, he co-founded a private equity investment firm that he named Lucern Capital Partners, which he runs with David Hansel, the firm's co-founder and managing partner. Since then, he's been involved in transactions valued at more than $380 million across a wide swath of the East Coast.Lately he's been finding attractive opportunities in the burgeoning small-bay industrial market at a time when he believes the larger industrial sector has become overbuilt. Forte discusses the economic climate that's impacting the decision-making of his customers and prospects. He talks about the bid-ask gap and his strategy for underwriting potential deals.In our conversation, my guest addresses what it takes to build a successful commercial real estate investment business and offers caveats about the traps that new participants can fall into. He emphasizes the importance of taking a clear-eyed view of market opportunities. And he cautions against buying into the myth that commercial real estate is some kind of get-rich-quick scheme. He told me that "what people don't see is (that) to really generate the value, you need to roll up your sleeves, and you need to be a good operator.”Yet for all the hard work that success demands, Forte doesn't think of it as being a grind. As he puts it: “I feel like I never work a day in my life, so I'm very lucky.” Take a listen.Follow, rate and review CPE's podcasts on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and don't forget to subscribe to CPE's YouTube channel!Episode highlights: (1:47) Launching a new investment platform(4:28) What's in a company name(7:06) Career origins, from Wall Street dreams to private equity success(11:05) Finding big opportunities in small-bay(16:02) Lucern's geographic sweet spot(17:29) Caveats for new investors: play the long game(19:30) The keys to operational excellence(23:48) Navigating capital market complexities(26:16) How volatility is impacting leasing velocity(29:46) Inside the bid-ask gap(32:28) Underwriting in an unsettled market(34:01) Plan for powering through '27 and '28(36:32) Executive off the clock: it's a shore thing

Insurers are moving quickly from asking what AI can do to asking how they can actually make it work in underwriting. But experimenting with AI is one thing. Running it reliably across an insurance business is another.  In this episode, Matthew Grant speaks with Andy Moss, GM Underwriting at Duck Creek and former Co-founder and CEO of Send, following Duck Creek's acquisition of the underwriting technology business.  Andy explains why successful enterprise AI needs to run “on rails”, supported by the infrastructure, governance and workflows required to move beyond proofs of concept and into production. He explores how underwriting workbenches are evolving into orchestration engines and why that shift could become increasingly important as insurers begin introducing AI agents into their workflows.  The conversation also examines a growing challenge for the industry: how to preserve underwriting knowledge as experienced professionals retire. With underwriting becoming more complex, Andy argues that insurers need to codify the processes, referrals and institutional knowledge that often still exist in people's heads, creating a technology foundation that can support both underwriters and AI.  They also discuss how insurers should approach the increasingly important question of whether to build or buy technology. Andy's advice is simple: “Buy the commodity and build the differentiators.” Rather than recreating established systems, insurers have an opportunity to focus their development efforts on the data, processes and underwriting expertise that genuinely give them an advantage.  Finally, Andy shares the story behind Send's acquisition by Duck Creek, how a search for growth investment became an acquisition in around 120 days and what building and selling Send taught him about the importance of assembling a team that genuinely cares about the problems customers are trying to solve.  In this episode you'll learn:  Why enterprise AI needs to run “on rails” to succeed in underwriting  How underwriting workbenches are evolving into orchestration engines  Why AI proofs of concept can struggle to make the transition into production  How agentic AI could change underwriting workflows and automate previously manual tasks  Why capturing institutional knowledge is becoming increasingly urgent as experienced underwriters retire  How technology can codify the processes and knowledge that currently sit inside underwriting teams  Why insurers should “buy the commodity and build the differentiators”  Where internal technology teams can create the greatest competitive advantage  What bringing underwriting orchestration and core insurance systems together could enable  How Send's search for growth funding developed into its acquisition by Duck Creek  Why Andy believes shared values and genuine commitment to customers were critical to building Send  Andy's recommendations:  Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy  Desert Island Discs  Read InsTech's recent report with Send on 'Underwriting orchestration engines: equipping insurers for the AI age' here. Register for InsTech's upcoming 7 October Evening Event with Send and Duck Creek here: Bridging between the islands of automation. If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.  Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Most lenders underwrite the property. Will Harvey underwrites the person — and it's the reason he's funded 45+ loans without a single dollar of principal loss.Will is the Founder and CEO of Harvey Capital, a private credit fund based in Richmond, VA that issues first-lien hard money loans in Central Virginia. Before building Harvey Capital, he sat on the borrower's side of the table as a GP and LP in private syndications, which is exactly why his approach flips the industry standard on its head: know the borrower well enough, and protecting principal stops being a guessing game.In this episode, Will lays out the contrarian beliefs that guide every deal he does; why diversification can actually hide bad underwriting, why the tenth loan to a proven borrower beats the first loan to a stranger, and why high yield was never the real risk in private lending, bad underwriting always was. We get into his conservative approach to leverage, why he caps loans well below full ARV, and why he puts his own money into every deal he funds. We also talk about how accredited investors, including those using Self-Directed IRAs, can access secured real estate income without chasing yield or taking on the risk most people assume comes with it.If you've ever wondered how private lending actually works, or whether there's a way to earn strong, secured returns without gambling on the next hot market, this conversation lays out a real, disciplined framework for doing exactly that.In this episode:Why Will built Harvey Capital around underwriting the borrower, not just the propertyThe case against diversification: how it can mask weak underwritingWhy high yield isn't the risk, bad underwriting isHarvey Capital's track record: 45+ loans funded, 0 principal losses, 70% max ARV LTVHow accredited investors can earn secured income through SDIRAsWill's non-negotiables: conservative leverage, never overpaying, and always having skin in the game Download our new AI Rental Property Calculator Book your mentorship discovery call with Cory RESOURCESGet business funding - Revenued.com/juice

Send us Fan MailWhat does a good multifamily deal look like in 2026? John Jones, Mara Poling's Director of Operations, joins The Laurens to talk about what we're seeing in today's market, how we're underwriting new acquisitions and why most deals aren't making the cut. From lower occupancies and no rent growth, to costly deferred maintenance and ongoing operational challenges, we're taking a reality check on what it takes to make a deal work in the current 2026 market and how important it is to work with experienced asset managers and property managers alike. 

Jake Rome, co-founder of Backflip, joins us to share the wild journey from institutional real estate private equity to building a vertically integrated lending platform for fix-and-flip investors! Jake breaks down the return-on-equity math that makes single-family flips so powerful, then digs into the leverage and risk decisions that separate successful investors from those who blow up their portfolios. He explains why Backflip decided to service and securitize its own loans, what red flags show up in underwriting (wholesaler markups, seller concessions), and how Chicago's Cook County foreclosure timeline uniquely impacts local lending. Jake also shares his outlook on where the fix-and-flip capital markets are headed, plus how he's using AI to run his own real estate portfolio. If you enjoy today's episode, please leave us a review and share with someone who may also find value in this content! ============= Connect with Mark and Tom: StraightUpChicagoInvestor.com Email the Show: StraightUpChicagoInvestor@gmail.com Properties for Sale on the North Side?  We want to buy them. Email: StraightUpChicagoInvestor@gmail.com Have a vacancy? We can place your next tenant and give you back 30-40 hours of your time. Learn more: GCRealtyInc.com/tenant-placement Has Property Mgmt become an opportunity cost for you? Let us lower your risk and give you your time back to grow. Learn more: GCRealtyinc.com ============= Guest: Jake Rome, Backflip Connect with Backflip: LinkedIn | Instagram | Careers Link: Ready to fund your next deal? Apply with Backflip here. Guest Questions:  02:07 – Housing Provider Tip: What to do when a tenant stops paying rent 04:04 – Intro to our guest, Jake Rome of Backflip! 06:07 – From institutional real estate private equity to startups 13:44 – How the idea for Backflip was born 19:25 – Breaking down return on equity on a fix and flip 23:27 – Understanding leverage, risk, and how much is too much 28:09 – Building Backflip: raising capital and servicing their own loans 34:13 – Underwriting red flags: wholesaler markups & seller concessions 39:17 – Where Backflip lends, and the Cook County foreclosure timeline 44:36 – Red flags for first-time construction loan borrowers 46:39 – What lenders actually look for: credit score, experience, liquidity 51:10 – Building community: closing dinners and "Burgers and Flips" 53:19 – The future of fix-and-flip lending and securitization 56:08 – Competitive advantage & advice for new investors 57:53 – How listeners can learn more about Jake and Backflip ----------------- Production House: Flint Stone Media Copyright of Straight Up Chicago Investor 2026.

What if lenders could identify issues before a loan ever reaches underwriting—and give underwriters more time to focus on the decisions that actually require their expertise?That's the opportunity Naren Krishna and the team at Balerion AI are bringing to the mortgage industry.In this episode of the FinTech Hunting Podcast, Michael Hammond sits down with Naren, CEO and Co-Founder of Balerion AI, for a fascinating look at how purpose-built AI is changing mortgage manufacturing—not by removing the people who understand lending, but by giving them better intelligence earlier in the process.Naren calls it “intelligence before underwriting.”The concept is powerful: analyze the loan earlier, surface what needs attention, clear what doesn't, and give every person in the process the information they need to make better decisions faster.The potential impact:• Fewer unnecessary touches on every loan• Faster analysis and underwriting• Better-quality files entering underwriting• Greater operational capacity without simply adding more people• Less manual “stare and compare” work• Faster movement through the manufacturing process• More time for experienced mortgage professionals to focus on exceptions, judgment, and the borrowerAnd this isn't just a vision for the future.Naren shares how Balerion has worked with lenders on complex mortgage workflows—including non-QM lending with extensive investor overlays—to bring AI into real production environments and deliver meaningful operational results.He also explains how AI can quickly surface the condition of a loan, identify what deserves attention, and help teams understand what may already be cleared before an underwriter ever begins their review.But one of the most important parts of the conversation is how Balerion is combining advanced AI with something technology alone can't replace:decades of real mortgage and underwriting experience.The goal isn't simply to teach AI how to read guidelines.It's to combine technology, historical loan data, lender expertise, and human judgment to help mortgage organizations make better decisions at scale.Michael and Naren also explore what this could mean across retail lending, correspondent lending, quality control, investor workflows, and the broader future of mortgage manufacturing.If you're a mortgage executive, operations leader, underwriter, technologist, lender, or industry innovator trying to understand what practical, production-ready AI can actually do for mortgage operations, this is an episode you'll want to watch through to the end.Because the most exciting story about AI in mortgage isn't replacing great people.It's giving great people better intelligence, earlier in the process.

What if lenders could identify issues before a loan ever reaches underwriting—and give underwriters more time to focus on the decisions that actually require their expertise?That's the opportunity Naren Krishna and the team at Balerion AI are bringing to the mortgage industry.In this episode of the FinTech Hunting Podcast, Michael Hammond sits down with Naren, CEO and Co-Founder of Balerion AI, for a fascinating look at how purpose-built AI is changing mortgage manufacturing—not by removing the people who understand lending, but by giving them better intelligence earlier in the process.Naren calls it “intelligence before underwriting.”The concept is powerful: analyze the loan earlier, surface what needs attention, clear what doesn't, and give every person in the process the information they need to make better decisions faster.The potential impact:• Fewer unnecessary touches on every loan• Faster analysis and underwriting• Better-quality files entering underwriting• Greater operational capacity without simply adding more people• Less manual “stare and compare” work• Faster movement through the manufacturing process• More time for experienced mortgage professionals to focus on exceptions, judgment, and the borrowerAnd this isn't just a vision for the future.Naren shares how Balerion has worked with lenders on complex mortgage workflows—including non-QM lending with extensive investor overlays—to bring AI into real production environments and deliver meaningful operational results.He also explains how AI can quickly surface the condition of a loan, identify what deserves attention, and help teams understand what may already be cleared before an underwriter ever begins their review.But one of the most important parts of the conversation is how Balerion is combining advanced AI with something technology alone can't replace:decades of real mortgage and underwriting experience.The goal isn't simply to teach AI how to read guidelines.It's to combine technology, historical loan data, lender expertise, and human judgment to help mortgage organizations make better decisions at scale.Michael and Naren also explore what this could mean across retail lending, correspondent lending, quality control, investor workflows, and the broader future of mortgage manufacturing.If you're a mortgage executive, operations leader, underwriter, technologist, lender, or industry innovator trying to understand what practical, production-ready AI can actually do for mortgage operations, this is an episode you'll want to watch through to the end.Because the most exciting story about AI in mortgage isn't replacing great people.It's giving great people better intelligence, earlier in the process.

Long-term care coverage is an essential, yet often misunderstood, aspect of retirement planning in the United States. Although many people will require some form of long-term care as they age, most are unprepared for the high costs and limited coverage options available. On the show this week, I'm debunking common myths like the notion that Medicare will fully cover all long-term care costs and taking a deep dive into the four main ways retirees can pay for these expenses.    You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... 00:00 Understanding the options for long-term care help 03:10 The difference between Medicare and Medicaid 05:07 Spouse asset protection options 09:15 Understanding hybrid policy benefits 13:24 Hybrid vs. traditional long-term care 19:25 Long-term care insurance application process   Understanding Medicare's Limitations There is often a misconception that Medicare covers long-term care. In reality, it's split into two primary parts: Part A, which covers some costs for hospital stays, and Part B, which addresses preventative care such as doctor visits and certain procedures. While Medicare may pay for medically necessary hospital stays—such as those following an injury like a broken hip—it stops covering the costs when ongoing care is no longer deemed medically necessary. Extended or custodial care, where you need help with daily living activities but do not require intensive medical treatment, is not included under standard Medicare coverage. This leaves retirees exposed to significant out-of-pocket expenses once hospital-based care ends.   The Four Main Options for Long-Term Care Coverage There are four primary payment strategies for long-term care. Each option has its benefits and limitations, and selecting the right one depends heavily on individual circumstances.   1. Medicaid Medicaid is a needs-based program designed for individuals with low income and limited assets. To qualify, applicants must pass specific income and asset thresholds, which, for single individuals, often means owning less than $2,000 in assets. Married couples have more leeway—the "community spouse" can usually retain a higher amount of assets and income. Medicaid planning may involve establishing a qualified income trust or transferring assets into an irrevocable trust. It is important to note that most states enforce a five-year look-back period for asset transfers, meaning that gifts or transfers must occur at least five years before the Medicaid application to be effective.   2. Self-Insuring Self-insuring is also an option, which involves setting aside personal assets, such as retirement savings or home equity, to pay for potential care needs. This method offers autonomy but carries risk, especially given the high and regionally variable costs of care. Depending on where you live, full-time nursing care can average over $15,000 per month, and home care or assisted living can still cost tens of thousands of dollars per year. Planning ahead is critical, particularly for couples, to ensure one spouse's care does not financially imperil the other.   3. Hybrid Long-Term Care Policies Hybrid long-term care insurance policies have emerged that combine life insurance with long-term care coverage. These products provide either long-term care benefits or a death benefit to your estate, ensuring that money paid into the policy is not "lost" if long-term care is never needed. Hybrid policies tend to offer flexible payout options and the potential for locked-in premiums, but they may provide less coverage per premium dollar when compared to traditional policies.   4. Traditional Long-Term Care Insurance Traditional long-term care insurance remains an option for those prioritizing higher benefit payouts. While these policies can stretch benefit pools further, they don't usually offer death benefits, and their premiums are not guaranteed—they can increase over time and may eventually become unaffordable. Underwriting is also stringent: many applicants over 70 are denied coverage, and certain medical conditions result in automatic disqualification. Making the Right Choice for You and Your Family You need to balance protecting personal assets, securing a spouse's future, and managing premium costs. Retirees should honestly assess their health, financial circumstances, and family situation. Consulting a financial advisor or insurance professional can help tailor a long-term care strategy that minimizes risk while supporting a comfortable and dignified retirement. Planning now, rather than later, ensures you are prepared for whatever the future may bring—and that you and your loved ones have peace of mind.   Resources Mentioned Retirement Readiness Review Subscribe to the Retire with Ryan YouTube Channel Download my entire book for FREE    Connect With Morrissey Wealth Management  www.MorrisseyWealthManagement.com/contact Subscribe to Retire With Ryan  

More than 100 community-based fair housing organizations facing potential funding cuts received a reprieve after a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked HUD's FY2025 funding overhaul and ordered the agency to distribute funds under the prior year's framework, averting the risk of closures or sharply reduced services nationwide. Robbie interviews Two Dots' Henson Orser on the wave of innovative tech products and vendors flooding the mortgage market. And while Warsh's hawkish rhetoric has pushed September hike odds above 50 percent, the Fed's likely hold amid disinflation contrasts with a Treasury market increasingly pricing a structurally higher-rate regime, as weakening consumer fundamentals, elevated long-term yields, and a prolonged 30-year yield above 5 percent create a bearish backdrop for long-duration bonds.Thanks to Zillow Home Loans, Zillow's in-house mortgage lender, for sponsoring this week's podcasts. By integrating Zillow's real estate platform with financing, Zillow Home Loans helps buyers move from dreaming about a home to holding the keys. With tools built for modern lending, Zillow Home Loan's loan officers can focus on guiding buyers with care and confidence. Zillow Home Loans is an equal housing lender. NMLS #10287.The Chrisman Commentary is your go-to daily mortgage news podcast, where industry insights meet expert analysis. Hosted by Robbie Chrisman, this podcast delivers the latest updates on mortgage rates, capital markets, and the forces shaping the housing finance landscape. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just looking to stay informed, you'll get clear, concise breakdowns of market trends and economic shifts that impact the mortgage world.

Introduction:   Growth equity can open the door to the next stage of an MGA's growth. But the bigger question is how that capital can be used to strengthen underwriting, accelerate technology and build a delegated business that can compete at greater scale.  Joining Robin Merttens on the podcast, Rebecca Ince, Chief Operating Officer at Carbon Underwriting, and Mark Oldroyd, Chief Technology Officer at Carbon Underwriting, explain what comes next following Carbon's growth equity investment from FTV Capital.  Rebecca explains why finding the right investment partner was about more than funding. With Carbon growing from £150 million of premium in 2023 to £450 million this year, its next phase requires greater investment in technology alongside ambitions to expand further into the US. FTV's experience across financial technology and US insurance made both areas important factors in the decision.  The discussion explores how that investment could accelerate Carbon's technology strategy, particularly its proprietary Graphene analytics platform. Mark explains why centralised, structured data provides a strong foundation for AI and where the technology is already creating practical value, including claims matching. He also argues that MGAs need to distinguish between technology they should build themselves and capabilities they can buy, while protecting the underwriting expertise, workflows and intellectual property that differentiate them.  They also discuss why bordereaux are unlikely to disappear anytime soon, despite widespread appetite for richer and more frequent data exchange. Rather than waiting for the entire ecosystem to change, Mark explains why the opportunity is to remove friction from collecting and standardising data, allowing insurers to focus more attention on the insights and decisions that come from it.  Looking ahead, Rebecca explains why Carbon plans to remain focused on delegated underwriting while expanding into new classes and geographies, particularly the US. They also explore how analytics can help identify rate-adequate opportunities as conditions soften and what it takes to protect culture as a business rapidly scales beyond 100 people.  In this episode you'll learn:  Why Carbon chose growth equity and what it looked for beyond capital when selecting an investment partner  How centralised, structured data creates a stronger foundation for applying AI across underwriting and claims  Where AI is already delivering practical value within Carbon's insurance workflows  How MGAs can decide which technology capabilities to build and which to buy  Why proprietary underwriting expertise, workflows and data are becoming increasingly important sources of differentiation  Why bordereaux are unlikely to disappear from delegated underwriting in the next three to five years  What is preventing carriers and MGAs from exchanging richer, more frequent data  Why Carbon sees the US as its next major growth opportunity  How analytics can help underwriters find rate-adequate business as market conditions soften  What rapidly growing MGAs can do to protect their culture as they scale  Hear more from Carbon at The Golden Age of MGAs  Carbon is sponsoring InsTech's upcoming The Golden Age of MGAs? Building to win in any market cycle event on 24 September. Rebecca will moderate the Capital diversification and the resilient MGA panel, joined by Carbon Co-Founder and Managing Director Ben Laidlaw, CFC Underwriting's Philippa Berry and Gallagher Re's Jane Fenton. They'll explore practical approaches to multi-carrier strategies, long-term capacity agreements, fronting, reinsurance access and patient capital structures that can withstand a full market cycle.  Find out more and register here. Career opportunities at Carbon  Carbon is continuing to grow its team and is looking for people interested in helping shape the future of delegated underwriting across underwriting, technology, data and operations.  View current opportunities at Carbon.   If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn.  Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Nathaniel Brimlow runs a nationwide land wholesaling business from Hawaii with a fully remote team of seven people. He walks through the buy box he uses to cut the entire country down to a workable list: two acres and up, $50,000 and up in value, owners over 65, and ten years of ownership or an inherited property. He also breaks down sell through rate, the metric he uses to throw out markets before he spends a dollar marketing to them, plus how his team disposes of land through realtors, neighbors, and local investor lists. KEY TALKING POINTS: 0:00 - Intro & Welcome 0:45 - An Overview Of Nathaniel Brimlow's Business 6:05 - Why Land Over Houses 6:51 - Underwriting & Deal Criteria 8:37 - Buying Remotely From Hawaii 9:24 - Pulling & Scrubbing Data 10:18 - Finding Buyers For Land 11:46 - Creative Title & Deal Stories 15:25 - Choosing Markets & Sell-Through 19:39 - Ideal Seller Profile 21:00 - VA Staffing & Where To Find Him 23:04 - Outro LINKS: Instagram: Nathaniel Brimlow https://www.instagram.com/nathaiel/ Website: Vita Talent Staffing https://www.vitatalentstaffing.com/ Instagram: David Lecko https://www.instagram.com/dlecko Website: DealMachine https://www.dealmachine.com/pod Instagram: Ryan Haywood https://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments Website: Heritage Home Investments https://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/

René Saúl spent seven years running an offline agricultural lending business in Mexico before selling it and pouring the proceeds into Kapital, a bet that the future of B2B fintech in Latin America belonged to companies willing to become regulated banks. Today Kapital is the largest B2B fintech in the region, and René is the only founder in the space who has bought not one but two banks, one of the deals agreed to on a napkin.What We CoveredWhy the future of fintech is regulated, and why that was a contrarian call in 2021René's seven years running an offline agricultural lending business in MexicoThe founding thesis behind Kapital's one-stop B2B banking ecosystemHow Mexico's electronic invoicing system became Kapital's underwriting moatThe "red car theory" of spotting opportunities before they arriveBuying Banco Autofin on a napkin, and growing its deposits from $150 million to $400 million in three monthsAcquiring the banking, brokerage and payments assets of Grupo Financiero IntercamBuilding instant, 24/7 cross-border payment rails on top of SWIFTClosing the small business financing gap with AI-native underwritingWhy Mexico is becoming a cornerstone of America's AI manufacturing boomThe limits of banking an economy that still runs largely on cashKapital's growth numbers and its path to a dual listing in New York and MexicoKey TakeawaysMexico's electronic invoicing mandate hands Kapital more than 50,000 data points per customer, a seven-year head start on underwriting that competitors using third-party providers cannot easily close.For large enterprises and cash-strapped SMBs alike, a banking license, not a slicker app, is what earns the trust needed to hold their money and their cash flow.Opportunities have to be hunted, not waited for. Kapital tracked potential bank acquisitions for years so it could move in days when the Autofin deal appeared.Staying liquid and profitable before either acquisition is what let Kapital move fast when the opportunity came, rather than scrambling to raise capital under pressure.About René SaúlRené Saúl is the co-founder and CEO of Kapital, which he built after selling an offline agricultural lending business that financed berry and avocado exporters in Mexico and Peru. Under his leadership, Kapital has grown into a licensed financial group serving more than 300,000 customers across Latin America, with more than $5.3 billion in assets and two bank acquisitions behind it.Connect with Fintech One-on-One:Tweet me @PeterRentonConnect with me on LinkedInFind previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Kelsey Connors is a Senior Policy and Performance Underwriter at USAA. She holds the CPCU and AIDA designations from The Institutes and is an active leader within the CPCU Society, currently serving as President of the Arizona Chapter and Vice Chair of the Publications Committee. Here, Kelsey joins Chris Hampshire on In The Know for a conversation about underwriting, how her time as a Disneyland Jungle Cruise operator prepared her for a career in insurance, and the value of getting involved in the CPCU Society as soon as possible.   Key Takeaways ● Kelsey's pivot from Disneyland to the insurance industry. ● Getting involved with the CPCU Society. ● Kelsey's decision to pursue a career in insurance. ● Similarities between the Disney experience and the insurance experience. ● Details of an underwriting career. ● Utilizing AI in underwriting. ● Pursuing the CPCU designation. ● Rewards of involvement in the CPCU Society. ● A five-year look to the future of the industry. ● Attracting talent to the insurance industry. ● Kelsey's advice to her early-career self.   In the Know podcast theme music written and performed by James Jones, CPCU, and Kole Shuda of the band If-Then.   To learn more about the CPCU Society, its membership, and educational offerings, tools, and programs, please visit CPCUSociety.org.   Follow the CPCU Society on social media: X (Twitter): @CPCUSociety Facebook: @CPCUSociety LinkedIn: @The Institutes CPCU Society Instagram: @the_cpcu_society   Quotes ● "I always knew that underwriting was what I wanted as a long-term goal, and that was when I started looking into the CPCU Society." ● "My membership in the CPCU Society is by far the greatest thing I've done for my own career." ● "My role in the CPCU Society has given me even more confidence in my role as an underwriter." ● "I owe a lot of my career development to the CPCU Society."

Introduction What does it take to launch an insurance product that did not previously exist, get it live in twelve states in under five months, and run it with a deliberately small team? Vital Coverage Insurance Services did exactly that, and in this episode Josh Hollander brings both sides of the build into the same conversation.   Arvind Kaushal, Co-Founder and CEO of Cogitate, and Justin Krone, COO of Vital Coverage Insurance Services, join Josh for a rare three-way conversation on the show. They cover why Justin left a twenty-year carrier career to run an MGU, why Arvind tells founders to underwrite their technology partner the way they would underwrite a risk, and where each of them draws the line on AI in an underwriting workflow. They do not fully agree on that last one, which is the most useful part of the discussion.   Guests Arvind Kaushal co-founded Cogitate in 2012 and leads the company as CEO. He came to insurance software from the operator side. Before founding Cogitate he was CFO and CIO at Insurance House, which meant, in his words, that he was signing the checks and responsible for the systems at the same time. The first version of what became the DigitalEdge platform was not a product, it was a fix for his own company's broken workflows. Earlier in his career he spent eight years at Delta Air Lines, including work as an architect on Delta.com, and started out at Wipro in Mumbai.   Justin Krone spent twenty years at CNA Insurance, the last ten running small business and small commercial strategy, before becoming COO of Vital Coverage Insurance Services. Vital is a lean, single-product MGU selling a first-of-its-kind business continuity coverage for small medical practices, protecting physician, dental, and veterinary offices against the loss of a key practitioner. The program launched across twelve states in under five months and is now live in seventeen.   Key Topics -Underwrite your partner. Arvind's rule for choosing a technology vendor is to run the same diligence on the partner that you would run on a risk, because every provider in the market will tell you they can do everything. -Principles over capabilities. Justin has seen most of the policy administration platforms on the market, and argues the deciding factor was not the feature comparison but whether the two organizations approached problems the same way. -The lean MGU thesis. Vital was designed so that a tenfold jump in quote volume would not require materially more staff, and that constraint shaped the underwriting model as much as the technology stack. -AI as a guardrail rather than an autopilot. Arvind's position is that AI should surface the risk a human misses under volume pressure and flag what falls outside appetite, while the decision stays with the underwriter. -The case for keeping AI out of underwriting. Justin built a deliberately tight, binary risk-selection model and uses AI heavily across marketing, research, and operations while leaving underwriting alone for now. -Why the culture change is harder than the tooling. Cogitate began its AI-first push three years ago and stumbled early, and Arvind argues the models were never the difficult part. -Waiting for regulation to catch up. Both guests work through the NAIC AI model bulletin and what compliance looks like in practice when the carrier remains responsible for what a vendor's AI does.   Notable Quotes "I don't think of AI in underwriting as an autopilot. I think of it as a guardrail."   "It's not about the tools or LLM models. It's actually about the mindset. The tools are the easy part. Shifting how people think is the hard part. And everyone underestimates it."   "It's not that they have the best capabilities out there. It's that our principles aligned."   "Ideas are easy and execution is hard. And the one thing that I think AI might be kind of changing is that second piece."   Resources Guests: Cogitate: https://cogitate.com/ Arvind Kaushal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvind-kaushal-cogitate-digital-insurance/ Vital Coverage Insurance Services: https://myvitalcoverage.com/ Justin Krone on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-krone-78b96563/ Host & Organization: Joshua R. Hollander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuarhollander/ Horton International (USA): https://www.horton-usa.com/ Insurtech Leadership Podcast (LinkedIn Showcase): https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insurtech-leadership-show   Subscribe & Review If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe on your favorite platform and leave a review. The Insurtech Leadership Podcast is available on YouTube, Podbean, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Steve Kuppenheimer, Head of Private Investments, discusses the portfolio management decisions behind private credit outcomes, from portfolio construction to leverage, valuation, and the convergence of public and private markets.

On today's show, we're talking about a situation that confuses a lot of investors. How can the same property have two different underwriting models, and how can both of them be correct?The answer comes down to perspective.A lender is underwriting the property for one purpose. An investor is underwriting the property for a different purpose. Those two objectives overlap, but they are not identical.Let's use a real-world example.There are a number of state and local programs around the country that offer some form of property tax abatement for qualifying projects. Perhaps the property provides affordable housing, senior housing, or satisfies some other public policy objective.The economics can be very meaningful.Suppose the property would normally pay one million dollars a year in property taxes. Under the applicable program, the actual tax expense might be a $700,000 difference in net operating income.But there is a wrinkle.The tax abatement has to be approved each year. There is a small but non-zero risk that the property might not qualify one year. Should you assume the tax abatement in your underwriting?-------------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [podcast@victorjm.com](mailto:podcast@victorjm.com)  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  

Private equity firms are under increasing pressure to create value in a tougher market, with longer hold times and evolving value creation theses. Leading funds are using re-underwriting as a repeatable discipline that supports better decisions across the hold period. Join AD Bhatia, Jason Phillips, Hassen Ahmed and Manuel Fernandez Angulo as they unpack the what, when and who of re-underwriting. They share how AI assistance, leaner teams and a systematic approach can help overcome resourcing restraints to place this practice in the reach of every fund. Related insights Unlocking full potential: Five practices reshaping PE value creation 2026 Global Private Markets Report: Private equity−clearer view, tougher terrain Beating the odds: How private equity firms can improve exit prospects How private equity is using M&A integrations to overcome headwinds Transforming value creation in private equity portfolio companies (podcast)Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Discover how insurance—often seen as dull—actually powers our world and is evolving at lightning speed thanks to artificial intelligence. What happens when an industry rooted in caution becomes a hotbed of technological innovation? On this episode of Thrive LouD, Lou Diamond welcomes Nick Lamparelli—the self-proclaimed "Insurance Nerd"—to explore the unexpected excitement, challenges, and opportunities in insurance as it enters the AI era.You'll learn how agentic AI is transforming underwriting, claims, and customer experience, what makes insurance a foundational yet underappreciated societal force, and how culture and regulation are just as crucial as tech when it comes to industry change. Nick Lamparelli also reveals why insurance professionals and non-professionals alike should care about these shifts, and what the future might hold for an industry that touches every facet of our lives.Plus: Make sure to check out the new podcast series hosted by Nick - The Agentic Insurer: The New Frontier of AI.00:00 Intro and Welcome00:41 Who is Nick Lamparelli?01:44 Nick's Unexpected Path into Insurance03:07 Building and Celebrating the Insurance Community05:07 Why Insurance is a Great Human Invention07:17 Insurance and Tech: Past and Present09:22 AI's “Hockey Stick” Moment in Insurance11:17 Agentic AI Explained13:18 Agentic AI's Impact on Industry Pros and Consumers15:10 What Happens to Underwriting—and Underwriters—Now?17:11 Speed and Efficiency for Policyholders18:54 The Claims Process: Fraud, AI, and What's Changing21:58 How AI is Used for Detecting—And Committing—Fraud23:07 “The Agentic Insurer” Program and What Listeners Gain27:27 Culture Change, Regulation, and Lessons for All Industries30:25 Where to Find Nick & Final Thoughts32:10 Fun Street: Nick's Favorites and Rapid-fire Q&A36:07 Closing

Steven Song is the founder and CEO of Diald, an AI-powered decision intelligence platform for commercial real estate. Before founding Diald, Steven worked on both the investing and development sides of real estate, and built his career across architecture and urban planning, training at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pennsylvania. He was a founding principal at SCAAA, a global strategy, planning, and design firm, and is a partner at Axle Companies, a family office focused on real estate investment and social impact ventures. Steven is based in Los Angeles.(02:26) Why CRE Decisions Are Still Judgment-Driven (04:41) The Signal That Killed an Atlantic City Deal (07:44) Contextual Drift: The Risk Nobody Models(10:20) Diald's approach (11:59) AI Token Costs and Asking Better Questions (14:27) Tools vs. Workflows (15:52) Diald's Underwriting (17:58) Killing Bad Deals Earlier (19:18) How AI Upgrades the Analyst Role (20:44) Where General Purpose AI Fails at Underwriting (24:23) Does AI Make CRE More Efficient or More Competitive (26:02) What Underwriting Looks Like in 5 Years (27:14) Where Human Judgment Still Matters (29:06) The Local Signals Investors Miss (31:15) Collaboration Superpower: Denise Scott Brown and Reyner Banham

Jason Malabute is a CPA and MBA with experience in accounting, bookkeeping, tax planning, and real estate investing. He began investing in single-family real estate before transitioning into multifamily syndication and becoming a general partner in 342 units. In 2024, he launched an accounting firm focused on real estate investors, with approximately 99% of his clients coming from the real estate investment space.    Here's some of the topics we covered:   Jason's journey from growing up with cerebral palsy to becoming a CPA and MBA Discovering real estate after seeing the cash flow of an investor client Building a single family portfolio in Indianapolis and transitioning into multifamily syndications Underwriting over 100 deals before landing his first syndication and becoming a general partner Launching a real estate focused CPA firm and helping investors with strategic tax planning Unlocking tax benefits through cost segregation, bonus depreciation, 1031 exchanges, and short term rentals How passive investors can use timing and paper losses to offset gains from other real estate investments   To find out more about partnering or investing in a multifamily deal: Text Partner to 72345 or email Partner@RodKhleif.com    For more about Rod and his real estate investing journey go to www.rodkhleif.com   Please Review and Subscribe  

In this episode, Daniel Tsikata of DealWorthIt shares how his background in software engineering and real estate investing led to the creation of a powerful platform that leverages AI and data analysis to transform real estate investment decisions. Discover how technology is reshaping the industry, the opportunities it presents, and how investors can stay ahead of the curve.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true 'white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a "mini-mastermind" with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming "Retreat", either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas "Big H Ranch"? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

Want to learn more about Vodyssey or start your STR journey. Book a call here:https://meetings.hubspot.com/vodysseystrategysession/booknow?utm_source=vodysseycom&uuid=80fb7859-b8f4-40d1-a31d-15a5caa687b7WEBINAR LINK:https://shawnmoore.clickfunnels.com/optiniyvvg89sFOLLOW US:https://www.instagram.com/vodysseyshawnmoorehttps://www.facebook.com/vodysseyshawnmoore/https://www.linkedin.com/company/str-financial-freedomhttps://www.tiktok.com/@vodysseyshawnmooreCONTACT US:support@vodyssey.comPROPERTY:https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/798736872447755691?source_impression_id=p3_1786658894_P3OTPb_CF235Gqto&check_in=2026-09-14&guests=1&adults=1&check_out=2026-09-16Chapters00:00:00 Intro00:01:54 Property selection in ski towns00:06:00 Underwriting and financing process00:07:55 Property setup and value-add strategies00:12:00 Understanding seasonal demand in ski towns00:16:00 Renovations and outdoor improvements00:21:00 Performance and growth of the rental00:24:00 Managing bookings and maximizing revenue00:29:56 Future plans and scaling00:31:57 Lessons learned and advice for investors

This episode examines evolving U.S. crypto regulation, bitcoin market developments, and the growing capital requirements behind AI infrastructure buildouts. Topics include reported SEC plans to address aspects of the regulatory framework following the delayed CLARITY Act vote, Strategy's stated intention to purchase additional bitcoin before year-end, and bitcoin's muted reaction to a reported decline in inflation. The discussion also covers CoreWeave's latest earnings, potential fundraising by Databricks and Cognition, Tether's reported completion of its first full audit, and Nvidia's reported efforts to support large-scale AI infrastructure financing. The episode closes with a look at the IMF's perspective on Europe's fragmented financial markets and the potential implications for capital allocation. Remember to Stay Current! To learn more, visit us on the web at https://www.morgancreekcap.com/morgan-creek-digital/. To speak to a team member or sign up for additional content, please email mcdigital@morgancreekcap.com Legal Disclaimer This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice or a solicitation for the sale of any security, advisory, or other service. Investments related to the themes and ideas discussed may be owned by funds managed by the host and podcast guests. Any conflicts mentioned by the host are subject to change. Listeners should consult their personal financial advisors before making any investment decisions.  

Don Goff shares his journey from biomedical engineering to real estate, emphasizing the importance of systems, relationships, and mindset in building a successful multifamily business. This episode offers practical insights on underwriting, capital raising, market strategies, and overcoming challenges in real estate. In this episode, Don Goff shares his journey through real estate, overcoming personal and market challenges, and strategies for scaling a multifamily investment business. Discover actionable insights on building systems, leveraging networks, and maintaining resilience in a fluctuating market.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true 'white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a "mini-mastermind" with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming "Retreat", either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas "Big H Ranch"? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

Rena Strohmeier is the Underwriting Manager at Wawanesa Insurance and a San Diego State University faculty lecturer, teaching insurance and risk management classes. She is a member of the Executive and Leadership Council of the CPCU Society, and holds CPCU, AIC, and AINS designations. Here, she joins Chris Hampshire on In The Know for a conversation about working for a California-only insurer, global insurance interests, and insurance careers for women and offerings for underserved communities.   Key Takeaways ● Rena's career path started in auto theft. ● Underwriting or claims? CPCU helped determine Rena's decision. ● Insights into personal lines. ● Why insurance? Rena shares her personal answer. ● Women In Leadership offerings. ● Rena's involvement with the CPCU Society. ● Rena's role as guest lecturer at San Diego State University. ● The current state of the California insurance industry. ● A five-year look to the future of the industry. ● Rena's advice to her early career self.   In the Know podcast theme music written and performed by James Jones, CPCU, and Kole Shuda of the band If-Then.   To learn more about the CPCU Society, its membership, and educational offerings, tools, and programs, please visit CPCUSociety.org.   Follow the CPCU Society on social media: X (Twitter): @CPCUSociety Facebook: @CPCUSociety LinkedIn: @The Institutes CPCU Society Instagram: @the_cpcu_society   Quotes ● "The partnership between underwriting and claims is a very good one that we should think about more in the industry." ● "Women — there is a space for you in this industry." ● "If you know what you're passionate about, reach out, and someone can help connect that to insurance." ● "The possibilities and probabilities of success and building generational wealth and creating a legacy, I'd say, are greater in insurance than any other industry out there."  

In this episode of Making Risk Flow, host Jake Harding brings together ten leaders from across insurance, data, and technology to explore how spatial intelligence, real-time data, and climate modeling are reshaping risk assessment and underwriting. Mark Varley, Simon De La Hoyde, Izik Lavy, Jacob Grob, Joan Saladich, Caroline Grey, Pierre-Henri Janssens, Bryan Falchuk, Jay Wallace, and Nick Franz examine why insurers need more than greater data volumes to gain an advantage. The discussion explores point-of-quote accumulation, property-level geospatial analysis, probabilistic climate intelligence, and the value of embedding spatial context early in underwriting workflows. The group also considers emerging opportunities in post-binding cyber intervention and agricultural risk data, while examining how integrated technology, proactive portfolio analysis, and clean-sheet thinking can improve risk selection, profitability, and long-term competitive advantage across insurance markets.Fan Mail: Got a challenge digitizing your intake? Share it with us, and we'll unpack solutions from our experience at Cytora.To receive a custom demo from Cytora, click here and use the code 'Making Risk Flow'.Our previous guests include: Bronek Masojada of PPL, Craig Knightly of Inigo, Andrew Horton of QBE Insurance, Simon McGinn of Allianz, Stephane Flaquet of Hiscox, Matthew Grant of InsTech, Paul Brand of Convex, Paolo Cuomo of Gallagher Re, and Thierry Daucourt of AXA.Check out the three most downloaded episodes:The Five Pillars of Data Analytics Strategy in Insurance | Craig Knightly, Inigo20 Years as CEO of Hiscox: Personal Reflections and the Evolution of PPL | Bronek MasojadaImplementing ESG in the Insurance and Underwriting Space | Simon Tighe, Chaucer, and Paul McCarney, Moody's

What if every door that ever opened for you started with a message you almost didn't send? In this episode, Susanne Sandler, SVP and GM of Fintech at Mews, a $2.5 billion global hotel technology company, shares how a bold application as a college sophomore led her into the office of the CFO of Merrill Lynch, and how a cold message to a keynote speaker years later led to six years working alongside the future CEO of Booking Holdings. Susanne runs the fintech division at Mews, which accounts for 75% of company revenue. But the principles that drive how she leads trace back to two men who saw her potential before she did, and to one simple belief: you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.   [00:03:48] What She Does and Who She Serves SVP and GM of Fintech at Mews, a $2.5 billion global vertical SaaS company Mews calls itself the operating system for modern hotels Runs the fintech business, which is about 75% of company revenue [00:04:30] Who Mews Serves Serves everything from small mom and pop hotels to large global chains Partnerships with Best Western, Choice, and the Asian American Hotel Owners Association AHOA members make up about 60% of US hotels [00:05:30] What Inspires Her Travel is where people have their most memorable experiences Most people name a trip when asked about their best moments of the year Mews removes the manual work so hotels can focus on the guest experience [00:06:48] How She Got Here Started her career in financial services and investing in financial companies Won her undergraduate business plan competition and launched a tech startup in New York The last 12 to 13 years have been focused on travel tech and fintech Says she feels lucky every day doing work that combines both passions [00:08:17] Client Impact: The Multi-Currency Win Launched a product letting hotels offer FX services to guests Guests can lock in their price in their own currency Hotels now earn markup revenue that previously went to banks and card networks Some hotels cover the full cost of all their Mews services from this product alone [00:10:52] AI at Mews: Thoughtful, Not Trendy Building a semantic data layer combining guest, property, and payments data The goal is better insights and experiences, not just cutting headcount Early results from the approach have been incredible [00:12:11] The Vision for Fintech at Mews Wants to build a holistic financial suite for hotels Expanding beyond payments into accounts, loans, and supplier payments Everything is deeply embedded and connected to hotel data [00:13:27] Why Hospitality Is Underserved Hotels have seasonal cash flow that banks struggle to understand Mews holds all bookings data plus a revenue management system That gives a full forward-looking picture of the business Underwriting becomes far easier than a bank reading old financial statements [00:15:08] The First Relationship That Changed Everything Saw an internship posting at NYU Stern for the CFO of Merrill Lynch Assumed it couldn't be the real CFO; applied anyway Walked in thinking worst case she meets someone impressive, best case she gets the job A short-term role became over two years with growing hours and responsibility [00:17:54] What She Learned from Him Finding people who believe in you and see your potential is everything Learned resilience by working under constant high-pressure stakes He was precise and held her fully accountable for her numbers People still compliment her composure; she credits that early training [00:20:24] Treating Every Human with Respect Watched him treat the person cleaning his office the same as a head of state He did it because it was right, not for gain That taught her the kind of person she wanted to become as she grew senior [00:21:31] How He Set Her Up After College He opened doors to meetings with teams across Merrill Lynch She still had to prove herself and work the grueling hours Landed a role investing in equity, debt, and early fintech companies That first role set the tone for the next 20 years [00:25:02] What Makes Mentorship Actually Work Both sides have to invest in the relationship Assigned mentorships often fail; organic ones tend to succeed Nobody owes you anything; it is all give and take [00:26:13] The Second Relationship: Glenn Fogel Saw Glenn deliver a keynote at a conference in 2013 and was blown away He told the story of rebuilding Priceline after the dot-com crash The company is now Booking Holdings with a $135 billion market cap [00:28:18] The Cold Message That Changed Her Career Reached out just to tell him the presentation was incredible He responded, they talked, and he ended up hiring her She worked with him and his team for over six years [00:29:08] What She Learned from Glenn Got a front row seat as he became CEO of Booking Holdings in 2017 Was handed some of the most critical projects for the business Learned what leadership looks like at the highest level Left only because she had learned enough to run a company at IAC [00:31:26] You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don't Take For every story that worked, there are hundreds that went nowhere She repeats the Gretzky line whenever imposter syndrome shows up There is almost no downside to taking the shot [00:33:10] Why Glenn Still Makes Time Even as a global CEO, he finds time for people who reach out He has never become overconfident or self-important He continues supporting people who did right by him Relationships become exponentially more valuable as both people grow   KEY QUOTES "Finding those people who believe in you and see potential in you, I would say, is so important." - Susanne Sandler "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. I say that to myself a lot when I'm like, well, what's the point?" - Susanne Sandler "That's how we all give back, and that's how we all create this great karma in the world and support each other." - Susanne Sandler CONNECT WITH SUSANNE SANDLER Website: https://www.mews.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susannegreenfield   Thanks for tuning in! If you liked my show, please LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW, like, and subscribe! Find me on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Wayne Pommen, Chief Revenue Officer at Affirm and founder of PayBright, Canada's first e-commerce buy now, pay later platform. Wayne shares his unlikely journey from competitive rowing, including the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, to a PhD in international relations, Bain Consulting, and private equity at TorQuest, where a failed deal set him on the path to building a fintech unicorn.Wayne pulls back the curtain on PayBright's early days, from spinning out a tiny 5-person division called HealthSmart Financial Services to pivoting into e-commerce and landing Casper and Endy as launch partners. He offers a practical breakdown of running a successful M&A process, sharing the dos and don'ts that led to Affirm's acquisition of PayBright in 2020.Now a senior executive at a public fintech giant, Wayne reflects on what he's learned from working alongside Max Levchin, why Affirm refuses to charge late fees or deferred interest, and how AI is transforming everything from underwriting to go-to-market. He also shares his views on agentic commerce, the Canadian consumer credit landscape, and why “don't quit” is his favorite life lesson.Whether you're a founder navigating a pivot, an operator scaling through acquisition, or just curious about the future of payments and AI, Wayne Pommen delivers the kind of straight talk that comes from building and scaling one of Canada's most successful fintech stories.–A big thanks to our sponsor, Moomoo CanadaThis is the kind of tooling that used to live on a Bloomberg terminal, but now it is on your phone, just a few taps away. They offer real-time data, full options chains, and an AI assistant that actually explains trading strategies.Moomoo is the perfect place for people who want to take their money seriously. Open an account today at moomoo.caFrom Cambridge to Bain to Private Equity (03:10)* The Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, a broken wrist, and a comeback story* Why he chose Bain over academia and how consulting shaped his career* Joining TorQuest and zeroing in on non-bank financial servicesFinding the Kernel: HealthSmart Financial Services (05:18)* The summer of 2013, losing a deal but falling in love with the point-of-sale lending model* Why banks ignored this niche and how technology was changing the game* Spinning out a tiny five-person division with no CEOThe Pivot to E-Commerce (10:14)* Doubling the health business in 2016 and realizing it would take forever* The epiphany: Canada had no point-of-sale financing for e-commerce* Mapping out the user experience over Christmas 2016 and pre-selling Casper and EndyBuilding PayBright: Scrappy, Fast, and Capital Efficient (15:00)* Running a “double-headed monster,” healthcare and e-commerce side by side* Advice for founders navigating platform shifts, from legacy platforms to AI-native products* The economics of buy now, pay later, merchant fees, interest rates, and cost of riskThe Affirm Acquisition (21:02)* Growing annual loan volume from $6 million to $220 million in five years* The COVID boom and inbound interest from Klarna, RBC, TD, and Affirm* Running a mini process, dos and don'ts for foundersStaying On: Becoming CRO at Affirm (27:34)* Why he stayed past the earnout and has now been there for more than three years* Lessons from Max Levchin and the “dog on a bone” approach to going deeper* How to stay focused across multiple products and jurisdictionsAgentic Commerce and the Future of Shopping (33:09)* What agentic commerce really means and what it doesn't* Why agents will read the fine print and guide consumers to better choices* The partnerships with Google, Stripe, and ShopifyBanning Deferred Interest and Late Fees (36:04)* Why deferred interest is “borderline abusive” and hard to defend* Affirm's no-late-fee, no-compounding, transaction-level underwriting model* Aligning lender and consumer interests, the Max Levchin insightFrom Private to Public: Lessons in Discipline (40:32)* How being public forces discipline without over-dictating the quarter* Advice for CROs on timing the public markets* Why Stripe staying private proves there's no one-size-fits-all pathAI at Affirm: Supercharging Revenue and Underwriting (44:11)* The proliferation of AI tools internally and the excitement of experimentation* How transformer-based models are improving underwriting* The future of work, querying Slack for tribal knowledge in secondsAbout Wayne PommenWayne Pommen is Chief Revenue Officer at Affirm, where he oversees the company's revenue-generating teams and products. He joined Affirm in January 2021 through its acquisition of PayBright, Canada's leading buy now, pay later provider, which he founded and led as President and CEO starting in 2015, growing it from 5 to 250 employees with retail partners including Apple, Hudson's Bay, Wayfair, Samsung, and Sephora. Before PayBright, Wayne was a Principal at TorQuest Partners and a consultant at Bain & Company. A former competitive rower for Canada's national team, he holds a degree from Harvard and a PhD from Cambridge.Connect with Wayne Pommen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayne-pommen-8844021/Visit Affirm's website: https://www.affirm.com/Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

Steve Kuppenheimer, Head of Private Investments, explains how experienced lenders price risk, evaluate borrowers, and prioritize downside protection in today's private credit market.

Contractors face environmental exposures that can lead to costly claims, coverage disputes, project delays, cleanup expenses, legal defense costs, and third-party liability. In this episode of the Environmental Strategist Podcast, presented in partnership with the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, Brooks Bunbury is joined by Christopher Pell, Senior Underwriting Manager with Intact Insurance, Midwest and Eastern Environmental Division, to explore real-world contractor pollution liability claims and the environmental insurance solutions that can help protect businesses. The conversation examines current environmental insurance market conditions, growth in contractor pollution liability coverage, and the types of claims carriers are seeing across the construction and contracting space. Examples include mold from an improperly installed HVAC system, asbestos-contaminated demolition debris, underground utility strikes, fuel line leaks, stormwater runoff, liquid asphalt spills, illicit dumping, vapor intrusion, and aging underground storage tanks. Listeners will also learn how Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL), site pollution coverage, transportation pollution liability, underground storage tank coverage, and related environmental insurance products may respond to exposures that are often excluded or limited under general liability, commercial auto, or property policies. The episode also offers practical underwriting insights for agents and brokers, including why project lists, loss runs, financial stability, health and safety practices, and well-drafted contracts matter when placing environmental coverage. This episode is ideal for insurance agents, brokers, risk managers, contractors, and environmental insurance professionals who want to better understand contractor pollution exposures, coverage gaps, and the importance of environmental financial assurance. Key Topics Environmental liabilities facing contractors Current environmental insurance market conditions Growth trends in contractor pollution liability (CPL) Mold claims and water intrusion exposures Asbestos contamination and demolition risks Fuel spills, leaking tanks, and underground utility strikes Vapor intrusion, silica, PFAS, and stormwater runoff Contractor Pollution Liability (CPL) coverage Environmental Impairment Liability (EIL) and site pollution coverage Transportation Pollution Liability coverage Underground Storage Tank (UST) risks and insurance considerations Legal defense costs in environmental claims Contractual environmental insurance requirements Environmental financial assurance programs Underwriting best practices for contractors How pollution coverage can provide a competitive bidding advantage Key Takeaways Environmental exposures exist for nearly every contractor, not just environmental specialists. Excavation, demolition, HVAC, plumbing, utility installation, roofing, and transportation operations can all trigger costly pollution claims. Standard general liability policies often contain pollution exclusions that leave contractors uninsured for significant environmental losses. Contractor Pollution Liability (CPL) coverage can address cleanup costs, bodily injury, property damage, business interruption, natural resource damages, and legal defense costs. Mold continues to be a major source of environmental claims affecting contractors across multiple trades. Underground utility strikes, fuel releases, asbestos discoveries, and stormwater runoff can quickly generate six- and seven-figure losses. Transportation Pollution Liability fills important coverage gaps that may not be addressed by commercial auto policies. Aging underground storage tanks present increasing risk and may become more difficult and expensive to insure over time. Strong safety programs, favorable loss histories, stable finances, and well-written contracts can improve underwriting outcomes and pricing. Contractors can use pollution liability coverage as a differentiator when competing for projects that require environmental financial assurance.   Want to build stronger environmental risk and insurance expertise? Enroll in the Certified Environmental Strategist, Self-Paced Online Course from the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance. This four-hour, on-demand course helps insurance professionals better understand environmental exposures, coverage solutions, and risk management strategies. Start learning on your schedule and earn your Certified Environmental Strategist certification.   Focusing exclusively on risk management and insurance professional development, the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance provides a practical advantage at every career stage, positioning our participants and their clients for confidence and success.

Michel Léonard, chief economist and data scientist, Insurance Information Institute, discusses the improving underwriting outlook for property/casualty insurers and how emerging risks, stress testing and AI are shaping the industry's future.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.We sat down with Jake Elmhirst, Partner, Head of Private Wealth Secondaries Solutions and Head of Capital Formation at Coller Capital.We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry's leading alternative asset managers.Coller Capital has been a pioneer in the rapidly growing secondaries market. Coller's tagline? “First in secondaries.” Coller might be “first in secondaries.” The industry they focus on has moved to the forefront of private markets. Secondaries are coming in first for many LPs, in part because secondaries are now an active portfolio management solution for LPs (LP-led secondaries) and a way for LPs and GPs to continue to invest in the growth and value appreciation of some of their funds' best assets (GP-led secondaries). The firm completed its first secondaries transaction in 1990 and its first GP-led investment in 1996. Today, Coller has $55B in AUM (as of 3/31/26). Jake joined Coller after a long career at UBS, where he partnered with Coller from a few different vantage points co-founding and co-leading the Private Funds Group within UBS Investment Bank and leading the Private Markets effort within UBS Global Wealth Management. His perspective on Coller was very much a reason why he decided to leave his farm in Yorkshire (as a 23rd generation farmer!) to join Coller as they build out their wealth efforts.Jake and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of secondaries and how they are increasingly “solutions” for LPs and GPs. We covered:Jake's experience witnessing the rise of the early days of private markets and how that's shaped how he thinks about secondaries today.Why secondaries are becoming “solutions” for LPs and GPs.Why secondaries can be a core portfolio holding.The features of secondaries. The drivers of the increase in LP-led sales.Why have GP-led continuation vehicles become a popular solution?Why secondaries make sense for private wealth investors.BioJake is a Partner and Head of Private Wealth Secondaries Solutions and Head of Capital Formation. He is based in the firm's London office.Prior to joining Coller Capital in April 2022, Jake spent 25 years at UBS where he led the Private Markets effort within UBS Global Wealth Management, based in London. Prior to that, Jake co-founded and co-led the Private Funds Group within UBS Investment Bank, based in New York.He previously worked at Freshfields in London, where he qualified as a solicitor working in the Tax Team with a focus on collective investment schemes.Jake has a degree in Law (LLB) from the University of Bristol.Jake Elmhirst is a registered representative of Parallel Distributors LLC.Thanks, Jake, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion in private markets, private wealth, and secondaries. Show Notes 00:00 Live in Berlin Intro00:39 Jake Elmhirst's Career Journey02:08 Wealth Channel Lessons05:06 Farming Roots Detour07:34 Secondaries Liquidity Fix09:26 Continuation Vehicles Impact11:21 Wealth Channel and Scale13:21 Why Secondaries Work15:15 Core Holding for Wealth16:31 Discount Versus Quality18:43 Underwriting in CV Era20:56 Evergreen Portfolio Mix21:56 Future of Solutions23:02 Toolbox Expansion Ideas24:55 Why Scale Matters25:53 Discount Nuance Explained27:30 Active Portfolio Management28:45 Closing Thoughts

Today's show features: - Robert O'Koniewski, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association (MADA) - Dan Mowid, Senior Division Reinsurance Executive, Direct Markets at Zurich North America - Josh Wear, Vice President of Underwriting, Direct Markets at Zurich North America - Chris Hudson, General Manager at Mark Miller Subaru This episode is brought to you by: Podium – Most AI is a black box. Podium's is yours to control — and it increases conversion by upwards of 26%. Check it out at podium.com Check it out at https://www.podium.com/ Zurich North America – Your loss ratio may be telling you more than you realize. Zurich brings the reinsurance expertise, underwriting insight and dealer-focused guidance to help you better understand what may be driving performance and where action may be needed. Visit www.zurichna.com/checkup to request a no-obligation review. Check out Car Dealership Guy's stuff: CDG Circles ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://cdgcircles.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ CDG News ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://news.dealershipguy.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ CDG Jobs ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ CDG Recruiting ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cdgrecruiting.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My Socials: X ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/GuyDealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ➤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook ➤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠dealershipguy.com

Featured Guests Jeffrey Williams, Managing Director, Microsoft Global Insurance Advisory Practice Andy Welch, Product Architect, HSB Max Waddell, Head of Sales, Covenir Topics Discussed AI liability insurance Emerging AI risks and exposures Insurance coverage gaps Underwriting AI-related risks Insurance operations and automation MGA and carrier strategy AI adoption and employee enablement Claims and customer service transformation Future insurance technology trends The evolving relationship between people and AI Key Takeaways AI is creating new insurance coverage needs and exposures. Insurers are beginning to address AI-specific liability risks. Successful AI adoption requires employee education and engagement. AI should augment insurance professionals, not replace them. Insurance remains a relationship-driven industry. Organizations that thoughtfully integrate AI into workflows will gain a competitive advantage.   CIC Insurance Company Operations Want a deeper understanding of how insurance companies operate, make underwriting decisions, manage claims, and leverage technology? The CIC Insurance Company Operations course from the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance provides insurance professionals with a practical look inside carrier operations, business strategy, financial considerations, underwriting processes, and organizational decision-making. Explore CIC Insurance Company Operations and gain the knowledge needed to better understand the insurance companies you work with every day. Focusing exclusively on risk management and insurance professional development, the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance provides a practical advantage at every career stage, positioning our participants and their clients for confidence and success.

Vessi Kapoulian spent fifteen years as a commercial lender. She underwrote more than a thousand deals and managed a credit portfolio north of a billion dollars before she ever bought a building for her own account. That order matters, and it is the whole reason this conversation is different from most multifamily interviews. Her framework has four parts, and she looks at them in a deliberate order: the operator, the market, the numbers, and last, the structure of the deal. Last. As she puts it, people pay back loans, not properties. The building is collateral and a secondary source of repayment. The person is the deal. The lender's opening question is the one most passive investors never ask: how do I lose money on this? Not what is the projected return. What is the downside, and where does it come from. She is direct about where LPs get hurt. The preferred return is not guaranteed, and a lot of investors believe it is. She walks through both waterfalls, the capital event and the cash flow, and what she wants to see about priority when a deal is stressed rather than when it performs. She has walked away from deals where the sponsor checked out and the numbers checked out but the structure did not align. She also talks about fraud, from both sides. She caught it as a lender. She was a victim of it as a passive investor. That is in the new book, and she does not soften it. Her latest, The Busy Professional's Guide to Passive Apartment Investing, is written for the doctor, lawyer, accountant, or executive working an eighty-hour week who wants real estate exposure without becoming an operator. Each chapter stands on its own so it works as a reference rather than a front-to-back read. Her first book, Mastering Multifamily Underwriting, is an Amazon bestseller and goes deep on the deal analysis itself. Both are on Amazon in all four formats. We also get into what changed in her 2026 underwriting on rates and insurance, why she wants insurance modeled well above the standard three percent, why she will not invest where the operator has no local infrastructure, and what a decade of watching LPs lose money taught her about protecting capital. Connect with Vessi Kapoulian: dbacapitalgroup.com masteringmultifamilyunderwriting.com LinkedIn Chapters 00:00 A lot of fraud, a lot of scams emerge in this part of the cycle 00:45 Welcome to Real Estate Underground 01:00 A returning guest: Vessi Kapoulian 01:30 Bulgaria, the Iron Curtain, and what it shaped 02:30 Fifteen years underwriting, then buying for her own account 04:00 Parallel paths: Clark St moves to the lending side 04:30 Why she wrote Mastering Multifamily Underwriting 07:00 The four areas, in order: operator, market, numbers, structure 08:00 People pay back loans, not properties 09:00 The Busy Professional's Guide to Passive Apartment Investing 11:00 Fraud, from both sides of the table 12:00 What a lender sees that a syndicator pitching LPs does not 14:00 Following the deck versus reading the documents 15:00 Both waterfalls, and why the preferred return is not guaranteed 17:00 Fees, alignment of incentives, and capital call conditions 18:00 Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, run from Los Angeles 19:00 Why she starts with local boots on the ground 20:00 Underwriting rates and insurance in 2026 22:00 Losing money, and why nobody has until they do 24:00 FOMO, and the deal you should regret more 27:00 Transparency after a loss, and the venture rule about cycled founders 29:00 The Final Five 29:30 Purpose: lasting positive impact 31:00 Best advice: you will get ready when the opportunity is presented 33:00 The decision she would take back, and God's timing 35:00 What is on the nightstand 36:30 Defining success: a life of significance 36:50 Life outside real estate: running, reading, family 37:30 How to reach Vessi Vessi's books: The Busy Professional's Guide to Passive Apartment Investing Mastering Multifamily Underwriting This week's books: The Family Office Handbook by Kirby Rosplock, and Raising Financially Fit Kids by Jolene Godfrey. Real Estate Underground with Ed Mathews. Find us wherever you get your podcasts, at clarkst.com/podcast or elevista.com/podcast Elevista - Speed as a Service™Elevista Connect is the first AI-powered lead conversion system built for real estate investors.

Caylee Robles is a retired CPA turned Florida real estate agent who spent five years earning her accounting credentials at the University of Wisconsin before walking away from Deloitte to chase real estate. After six months without a paycheck, a $90,000 wholesaling run, and two years of raiding her own tax account, she built a Profit First system that now pays her a salary every 1st and 15th and could carry her through six months of zero income.David Richter and Caylee dig into why agents stay trapped in feast or famine, why she deliberately chose the lower risk agent path over investing, and the exact account structure that let her double three years of income in a single year. If you're a real estate agent or investor whose commissions land straight in your personal checking account, this episode is your wake-up call.Timeline Summary[0:33] – David sets up the episode: thinking like a business owner and building systems that keep more of your money[1:15] – Caylee shares her backstory: decided at age eight to become an accountant, earned her CPA at the University of Wisconsin[2:39] – Within a month at her first accounting job she knew she hated it, searching real estate jobs every night during busy season[3:43] – Where her "do hard things" wiring came from: two parents in sales who worked 25 years before the payoff[6:07] – The three year transition out of accounting: Deloitte auditing, a real estate internship, and an Austin transfer that closed the door[7:42] – Underwriting $1 million plus luxury leased homes across the Caribbean, Mexico, and South Florida[8:08] – Joining New Western at the end of 2022: "you eat what you kill," 75 to 80 hour weeks, and two months with no income[9:39] – Six months without making a dollar, then $90,000 in three months wholesaling with her partner[10:10] – Setting up her LLC and Profit First accounts on Relay before the money ever showed up[11:49] – The two year struggle: pulling from her tax account to pay personal credit cards during the lean stretch[13:38] – The 2025 turning point: repeat client business and splits big enough that she never touches her owner's distribution account[16:38] – Her S corp structure: salary every 1st and 15th, SEP IRA contributions, and distributions on top[17:19] – In 2025 she doubled what she made in the three prior years combined, and 2026 has already matched it[21:25] – Why agent risk beats investor risk: her downside is time, while investors she works with have $300,000 on the line[23:21] – Diversifying beyond real estate: 401k, SEP IRA, joint investments, and a 3% interest rate home that becomes a rental[29:59] – Her one move to make this week: set it up as a business with an LLC and dedicated business accounts5 Key TakeawaysTreat Yourself Like a Business Owner — Whether you're an agent or an investor, you're self-employed, and that means acting like it. An LLC, a business checking account, and dedicated tax and owner's pay accounts come before anything else.Set Up the System Before the Money Arrives — Caylee opened her Profit First accounts while she was broke, so when the $90K hit there was already a place for every dollar. The foundation matters more than the timing.Risk Your Time, Not Your Money — She left investing for the agent side on purpose. A canceled listing costs her hours, while an overleveraged flip can cost an investor six figures at inspection.Automation Removes the Willpower Problem — Money hits her Relay account and splits instantly: credit cards paid, SEP IRA funded, salary scheduled. She only touches the system when she overspends.A Buffer Buys You the Power of No — With six months of runway in the business, a slow summer doesn't create panic. Financial cushion is what turns "what do I need to do" into "what do I want to do next."Links & ResourcesSimple CFO — https://simplecfo.comFollow Caylee Robles on Instagram — https://instagram.com/thedailycayleeRelay business banking — https://relayfi.comProfit First by Mike MichalowiczEnjoyed This Episode?If Caylee's story of going from raiding her tax account to a self-paying salary every two weeks hit close to home, don't keep it to yourself. Share this episode with an agent or investor whose commissions are still landing in their personal checking account. Then follow the show and leave a rating and review so more real estate professionals can find Profit First.

Buying a home, building good credit, preparing for retirement, and navigating the markets all require looking beyond today's headlines. Shanna Squires of Henssler Mortgage Advisors joins us to explain what actually happens during the mortgage process — from pre-approval to closing — including why pre-approval may not always be what you can afford, why lenders ask for so much documentation, and how your mortgage lender should be working with you every step of the way  before getting the keys.After the break, we also explore the growing divide in consumer credit, as more Americans achieve top-tier credit scores while others struggle with record credit card balances and how it mirrors our K-shaped economy.We examine the changing realities of retirement as more Baby Boomers choose to upsize instead of downsize, reflecting a shift toward multigenerational living, entertaining, and homes designed to support aging in place.We close with a look at the latest earnings season, why investors are becoming more selective about companies' AI spending, and whether the other 493 companies in the S&P 500 can help broaden market leadership. Join hosts Nick Antonucci, CVA, CEPA, Director of Research, and Managing Associates K.C. Smith, CFP®, CEPA, and D.J. Barker, CWS®, and Kelly-Lynne Scalice, a seasoned communicator and host, on Henssler Money Talks as they explore key financial strategies to help investors navigate market uncertainty. Henssler Money Talks July 25, 2026  |  Season 40, Episode 30Timestamps and Chapters6:36: Inside the Mortgage Process24:16: A Tale of Two Credit Economies33:41: Aging in Place—or Living Larger44:05: Investors Questioning AI SpendingFollow Henssler:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HensslerFinancial/ YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/HensslerFinancial LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/henssler-financial/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hensslerfinancial/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hensslerfinancial?lang=en X: https://www.x.com/hensslergroup “Henssler Money Talks” is brought to you by Henssler Financial. Sign up for the Money Talks Newsletter: https://www.henssler.com/newsletters/ Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Center for Financial Planning, Inc. owns and licenses the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®, and CFP® (with plaque design) in the United States to Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., which authorizes individuals who successfully complete the organization's initial and ongoing certification requirements to use the certification marks.See important disclosures at Henssler.com

Most investors think market crashes are what destroy wealth. They're wrong. The fastest way to lose money in real estate is much simpler: • Underestimating your expenses. • Overestimating your rental income. • Buying without a clear exit strategy. In today's market, disciplined underwriting matters more than ever. Rising insurance costs, increasing property taxes, higher interest rates, and slowing rent growth have changed the rules of investing. If you're still using yesterday's assumptions, you could be setting yourself up for costly mistakes. In this episode, Gino Barbaro explains the three numbers every real estate investor should analyze before purchasing any investment property: ✅ Know your true operating expenses. ✅ Be realistic about income and occupancy. ✅ Always have a defined exit strategy. Whether you're investing in multifamily apartments, commercial real estate, or your first rental property, these principles can help you avoid expensive mistakes and build long-term wealth. If you're serious about becoming a better investor, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

Join Us for DealMachine Unveiled: https://www.dealmachine.com/unveiled AI can now underwrite a deal from nothing but a property address, and this episode shows exactly how. Devin Robinson, a real estate investor who runs his wholesale company on AI, walks through his full setup step by step. He breaks down why AI skills beat prompt engineering for consistent results, how Claude Cowork handles due diligence and closing coordination, how his follow-up system worked a foreclosure lead into a booked appointment, and why prospects reply to his AI outreach thinking it's human.   KEY TALKING POINTS: 0:00 - AI Agents & Skills Intro 0:53 - How to Create a Skill 1:45 - Why Claude Desktop 3:13 - Cowork: Agents on Your Computer 5:34 - Underwriting a House by Address 6:32 - Email Monitoring & Deal Management 8:22 - LinkedIn & Facebook Outreach 10:14 - AI-Powered CRM Follow-Up 13:17 - The Full Underwriting Report 14:39 - Outro LINKS: Instagram: Devin Robinson https://www.instagram.com/devin.robinson1/   Website: Devin Robinson https://www.devinrobinsonrei.com/   Instagram: David Lecko https://www.instagram.com/dlecko   Website: DealMachine https://www.dealmachine.com/pod   Instagram: Ryan Haywood https://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments   Website: Heritage Home Investments https://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/ 

Episode 5487: Underwriting Your Own Destruction

Where is commercial real estate headed in 2026? Is the market crashing, recovering, or simply resetting? In this episode, Gino Barbaro breaks down the latest multifamily market data and explains why the answer depends entirely on where you're investing. Using current market trends, rent growth statistics, supply and demand dynamics, construction data, and transaction volume, Gino explains what investors should be paying attention to right now. In this episode, you'll learn: • Why national rent growth remains historically weak • Which markets are outperforming due to low supply • Why high-supply markets continue to struggle • What falling construction starts mean for future investors • Why transaction volume remains muted • The importance of understanding market cycles • How to analyze occupancy and concessions • Why "no deal is better than a bad deal" Some of the markets discussed include: ✔ New York ✔ Chicago ✔ Detroit ✔ Kansas City ✔ Phoenix ✔ Denver ✔ Austin ✔ Orlando ✔ Dallas ✔ East Tennessee One of the biggest mistakes investors make is assuming every market behaves the same way. As Gino explains, understanding your market's supply, demand, occupancy, concessions, and development pipeline can mean the difference between buying a great deal and buying a disaster. Key takeaways from this episode: