Shows
VCap Real Estate PodcastMMM Edition: How Specialization Will Get You To #1 with Dale KesslerWant more REO wins with fewer surprises? We sat down with 20+ year veteran Dale Kessler to decode how banks actually think, why some offers fly while others stall, and what separates investors who get accepted from those who get ghosted. Dale has moved thousands of bank-owned properties with a lean admin-first team, and he lays out the practical steps that make institutional sellers say yes: entity-aligned proof of funds, 10% earnest money on cash offers, clean timelines, and precise paperwork that plays nicely with automated portals.We explore when post-foreclosure purchases beat pre-foreclosure deals by shifting title cleanup...
2025-11-1844 minVCap Real Estate PodcastMMM Edition: From Zero To 700+ Units with Jon BrandonFreedom doesn’t come from a single lucky deal; it comes from stacking repeatable wins. John Brandon joins us to share how a childhood spent around apartment complexes turned into a 700+ unit portfolio, a hard-earned education in debt cycles, and a new focus on smaller, faster-moving multifamily that can outperform jumbo syndications.We walk through the first 16-unit JV in Greenville, North Carolina—how under-$500 rents doubled after deliberate turns, why local knowledge mattered, and what changed once interest rates jumped. John breaks down a tough Baltimore exit where investors were made whole but sweat equity vanished, then...
2025-11-1255 minVCap Real Estate PodcastMMM Edition: Why Seller Financing Is The King of Leverage with Karl KulpakWhat does it take to go from a 12-year career as a Pennsylvania State Trooper to owning dozens of lots and building a lifestyle business in affordable housing? We bring on Karl to unpack the real playbook: a mindset pivot sparked by Rich Dad Poor Dad, smart use of a W-2 for lending credibility, and a relentless focus on creative finance that fits the deal rather than forcing the numbers.We trace his journey through early single-family and a creatively financed fourplex to the first mobile home park that most buyers ignored. On paper it looked rough...
2025-11-0430 minVCap Real Estate PodcastMMM Edition: $300K Short 3 Days Before Closing A Golf Course with Ryan PotuckWhat if the fastest route to freedom wasn’t more doors, but a better-aligned asset? We sit down with Ryan to trace a bold leap from duplexes and a five-unit to owning a 100-acre golf course, unpacking the exact moves that turned a passion into a viable business. You’ll hear why early rentals taught the right lessons but couldn’t deliver the life he wanted, and how one mastermind conversation reframed the plan: buy what you love if the numbers work.We break the deal into concrete steps. Ryan explains how a golf course is both land a...
2025-10-2832 min
VCap Real Estate PodcastMMM Edition: How wrong cadence makes your leads hate you w/ Pawl GoodA half-million-dollar fourplex with zero cash at closing and a check on the way out the door—this is where the journey starts. From that first FHA deal to a steady rhythm of flips and rentals, we lay out the exact playbook: how to generate predictable deal flow with direct mail, win trust with private lenders, and use a push-away sales style that gets sellers talking without feeling pressured.We unpack the mechanics of direct mail that behaves like a calculator: list selection, cadence, and response-rate math that lets you forecast contracts before you spend. Wh...
2025-10-2241 minVCap Real Estate PodcastMMM Edition: How to use the 80% capability rule to build a successful team w/ Moe EllhusiniIf you’ve ever felt one call away from a breakthrough but somehow stuck in neutral, this conversation is your playbook. We start where real change begins: the chain from thoughts to feelings to actions, and how that inner flow sets your ceiling long before you pitch a seller. Mo Hissini, associate professor and business coach, unpacks practical ways to rewire self-talk—using visualization, emotional anchors, and even a simple vision board—to push past doubt and make decisive moves in competitive markets.From there, we shift into behavior you can read and adapt in minutes. Mo breaks...
2025-10-2244 minVCap Real Estate PodcastMMM Edition: Why trust allows you to cherry pick deals w/ Dave RibardoTired of advice that treats real estate like a spreadsheet and ignores everything that actually breaks on a Tuesday night? We sit down with Dave RIbardo—Army infantry officer turned Lehigh Valley investor, broker, and pilot—who turned early missteps in a dead market into a 400-unit operating platform built on people, process, and responsiveness. From the infamous $1,000 squirrel removal to a water billing fiasco solved by local boots on the ground, Dave shows how property management, maintenance, and communication drive returns more than any pro forma.We unpack why time freedom, not “passive income,” was the real tar...
2025-10-2231 min2025-10-2203 min
Forged In FireEpisode 51: Luxury Vacation Rentals: Building a Portfolio That Creates MemoriesWhat if your biggest vacation frustration became your next business breakthrough? That's exactly what happened to Troy Evans, founder of LRVP (Luxury Residence Vacation Portfolio). After years in corporate America, Troy found himself increasingly annoyed by inconsistent vacation rentals that never matched their photos and failed to deliver the experience his family deserved.In this captivating conversation, Troy reveals how he transformed this personal pain point into a thriving business that's disrupting the luxury vacation rental market. Rather than accepting the status quo of unreliable vacation homes, he built a portfolio of carefully selected multi-million dollar properties...
2025-10-0657 minForged In FireEpisode 50: Stories Sell Using Personal Narratives to Build Trust in BusinessWhen Radhika Rastogi purchased her first condo in Long Beach a decade ago, she never imagined it would spark a journey toward a multimillion-dollar senior living portfolio. Today, as co-founder and managing partner of Relik Capital Group, she oversees 300 senior housing units with more than $17 million under management—all while balancing a Fortune 20 corporate career and motherhood.The turning point came during her maternity leave with her second child. While her wife bonded with their newborn, Radhika dove deep into real estate, moving from fix-and-flip projects into commercial properties. That exploration ultimately led her to the overlooked bu...
2025-09-2944 minForged In FireEpisode 49: Real estate barriers create the biggest opportunities.Could mobile home parks be the most overlooked wealth-building opportunity in real estate?On this episode of the Forge In Fire Podcast, we sit down with Chad Freeman, Founder of MHPinvestors and commercial airline pilot, to explore how he turned a side hustle into a portfolio of more than 200 mobile home pads.Chad’s story started with a crash pad for fellow pilots and a duplex house hack — but his real turning point came in 2015 when he recognized the unique economic advantages of mobile home parks. With virtually no new...
2025-09-2233 minForged In FireEpisode 48: What happens when you trade security for possibility?What does it take to trade a dream tech career for a life of financial freedom and purpose?On this episode of the Forge In Fire Podcast, we sit down with Georgy Marrero, founder of Equis Capital, whose journey spans from coding as a kid in the Dominican Republic to managing a $28M multifamily real estate portfolio.After teaching himself to code at age 9, Georgy left his home country at 18 with just $1,000 and a dream. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a computer science degree and landed roles at...
2025-09-1545 minForged In FireEpisode 47: Scaling From Zero to Almost 900 Units Starts With Taking the First StepWhat happens when you trade a secure healthcare career for the uncertainty of real estate?On this episode of the Forge In Fire Podcast, we’re joined by Lee Yoder, Founder & CEO of Threefold Real Estate Investing, whose journey from physical therapist to real estate syndicator shows the power of perseverance, partnerships, and methodical scaling.Lee’s story began in 2017 with a single house flip while still working his W-2 job. That project revealed a crucial insight: flipping houses was just another job, not the passive income path he wanted. From ther...
2025-09-0838 minForged In FireEpisode 46: Numbers Don't Lie, But They Need Someone to Tell Their StoryWhat does it really take to thrive as an entrepreneur in today’s challenging real estate market? In this episode, we sit down with Lilian Chen, founder of Proptimal, the 10X real estate analyst platform for lean teams.Lilian’s experience spans multifamily, commercial, and hospitality deals, having advised on over $2B in transactions, including $100M+ acquisitions and major projects like the Iovance Biotherapeutics HQ in Philadelphia. She’s worked with 200+ real estate firms, teaches 300+ high-net-worth investors how to underwrite and structure deals, and has guest lectured at Oxford’s Saïd Busines...
2025-09-0148 min
Above the Title: A Saoirse Ronan PodcastArtemis FowlSurprise! The lost Colin Farrell episodes have been recovered! Listen back to April 2024 when the great Colin Hamingson joined us to discuss the long in development children's fantasy adventure picture Artemis Fowl, an extremely normal Covid era catastrophe that Colin Farrell definitely wasn't added to at the last second. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2025-08-302h 31Forged In FireHow an Engineer Pivoted from Single Family to Multifamily Investing: Breaking Down Doors with Stephen PredmoreWhat happens when the security blanket of a 20-year career gets ripped away in an instant? For Stephen Predmore, a seasoned engineer in the automotive industry, that shocking moment became the catalyst for an extraordinary transformation in his financial future.Stephen's journey begins with a gut punch—his entire department walked out after two decades of service, shattering the illusion of job security despite working on cutting-edge electric vehicle technology. While devastating, this moment accelerated a path he'd already been exploring through real estate investment education.Like many newcomers, Stephen started with single-family homes in Ba...
2025-08-2541 minForged In FireEpisode 44: The Art of Adding Value — Building Mountains of Success One Grain at a Time with Etinosa AgbonlahorPricing your products or services is perhaps one of the most emotionally charged decisions entrepreneurs face. In this deeply insightful conversation with Etiosa, CEO of Decision Alpha, we uncover the psychological underpinnings of pricing strategy and how behavioral economics can transform business monetization.When asked what emotions come up around pricing, business owners typically respond with words like "dread," "anxiety," and "fear." Most admit they're "guesstimating" or "undercharging." This widespread uncertainty highlights the critical need for a science-based approach to pricing. Etiosa's firm helps businesses not only determine optimal price points but also craft compelling narratives that...
2025-08-1837 minForged In FireEpisode 43: Avery Robertson's journey from Cattle Rancher to Capital ProviderWhat does it take to walk away from a stable job and build a multimillion-dollar lending business? Avery Robertson pulls back the curtain on his remarkable journey from cattle rancher to capital provider in this riveting conversation.Avery's story begins in the wide-open spaces of one of America's largest cattle ranches before transitioning to agricultural lending. All the while, a passion for real estate investment simmered beneath the surface. Despite years of attending investor meetups and analyzing potential deals, Avery found himself stuck on the sidelines – until a pivotal moment when he realized his lending expertise could be...
2025-08-1239 minForged In FireEpisode 42: Midterm Rental Success by Building a Dual Marketplace w/ Aisha GovaniWhat does it really take to build a thriving real estate business while homeschooling kids and maintaining your sanity? Aisha Govani doesn't sugarcoat her answer: "100 hours a week for two years, seven days a week, no days off." But the freedom and future she's building make every grueling moment worthwhile.Growing up watching her contractor father covered in sawdust and paint, Aisha witnessed firsthand how real estate created generational wealth. After a decade in the nonprofit sector followed by corporate events, she realized building someone else's dream wasn't her destiny. When she met her husband—already a se...
2025-08-0453 minForged In FireEpisode 41: Matt Burk's 30 Years in Real Estate CapitalWhat does it really take to thrive for three decades in real estate investment? Matt Burk, founder and CEO of VeraVest, pulls back the curtain on his remarkable journey from desperate entrepreneur to seasoned fund manager in this candid conversation that every investor needs to hear.Starting with just $10,000 borrowed at a staggering 21% interest rate in the early 1990s, Matt transformed necessity into opportunity when he lost his job during the S&L crisis. With refreshing honesty, he recounts his evolution from mortgage broker to fund manager, revealing the strategic pivots that kept him not just surviving...
2025-07-2843 minForged In FireEpisode 40: Jonathan Greene's Journey From Attorney to Real Estate InvestorWhat does it really take to build generational wealth through real estate? Not flashy strategies or market timing secrets, but something far more foundational – something Jonathan Green learned walking properties as a toddler.Jonathan's journey begins with childhood weekends spent at yard sales, where his attorney father would scout potential properties while young Jonathan hunted for baseball cards. These seemingly ordinary outings served as masterclasses in opportunity recognition, deal-making, and patience. By age 18, Jonathan had already co-owned dozens of properties through family trusts, positioning him with a knowledge base most investors spend decades trying to acquire.
2025-07-2145 minForged In FireEpisode 39: Behind the scenes of fraud detection, Shane Pogue reveals how he protects investors from bad actors.What happens when someone with investigative skills meets the investment world? You get a powerful tool for protecting individual investors from fraud. Shane, founder of Aegis RSI, brings institutional-level due diligence down to earth for everyday investors.Shane's journey began in an unexpected place. Originally pursuing a career in law enforcement, a heart condition discovered during military service forced him to pivot. After working as a private investigator, he found himself at Fidelity Investments during the pandemic, where he discovered his true calling in the due diligence department. What he missed, however, was helping individual people directly – so...
2025-07-1546 minForged In FireEpisode 38: Dave Kohl proves that Tracking Everything Changes EverythingWhat happens when radio broadcasting skills meet real estate opportunity? Dave Cole's journey reveals how unexpected pivots can lead to entrepreneurial success when you're paying attention to the possibilities others miss.Dave's story begins in Chicago's radio industry, where a station sale forced him to reevaluate his path. This unexpected development led him to telecommunications and eventually into real estate marketing, where he discovered his talent for finding unique angles to promote properties. When an expensive real estate kiosk technology was rejected by agencies for its high cost, Dave didn't see failure – he saw an opportunity to cr...
2025-07-071h 00Forged In FireEpisode 37: Beth Underhill Shows What Happens When You Face Fear Instead of Avoiding It?What does it take to go from complete novice to successful commercial real estate investor? Beth Underhill's journey reveals it's not expertise, connections, or money—it's the courage to raise your hand and say "I can do that" even when you have no idea how.Beth and her husband's real estate adventure began unexpectedly in 2018 when a middle-of-the-night infomercial led them to explore house flipping. Already running a successful outdoor construction company, they thought transferring those skills indoors would be straightforward. Then COVID hit, completely shifting market demands and forcing them to pivot into commercial real estate—a wo...
2025-06-301h 00Forged In FireEpisode 36: "What if your business is next to be hacked?' with Todd MitchellTodd Mitchell transforms cybersecurity for small businesses by bridging the gap between enterprise-level protection and solo entrepreneurs who lack resources but face the same legal requirements. Drawing from 20 years of Navy experience and advanced cybersecurity training, he focuses on protecting the most vulnerable business owners by taking a people-first approach rather than just securing networks.• Spent 20 years in the Navy before transitioning to IT and cybersecurity• Started his business after helping his DJ friend who lost all his music to hackers• Discovered most cybersecurity companies only serve large businesses, ignoring solopreneurs• Takes a holistic approach...
2025-06-2434 minForged In FireEpisode 35: Matthew Cianci is Finding Deals Where Others Don't LookEver felt that gnawing sensation—the one where you're working at your corporate job until 1 AM, only to go home and hustle on your side business until 4 AM? That entrepreneurial itch that just won't go away? Matt knows this feeling all too well.After nearly 11 years on Wall Street at prestigious institutions like Bank of America and UBS, Matt finally took the leap into entrepreneurship, founding both a private wealth management firm and a real estate investment business. But his journey wasn't an overnight success story—it was paved with baseball card trading ventures as a kid, a co...
2025-06-1746 minForged In FireEpisode 34: Holly Seybert Explains Why AI Can't Replace the Human Touch in Strategic CopywritingWhat truly separates effective marketing from forgettable noise? The answer lies in powerful, persuasive copywriting – and few understand this craft better than Holly Seibert, founder of Holly Seibert Copywriting.In this captivating conversation, Holly shares her unconventional path from marketing major to HR professional to successful copywriting entrepreneur. After experiencing two corporate layoffs, she realized the illusion of job security and took control of her own destiny. "Nowhere is safe," she reflects. "If your job is going to get eliminated, it's going to get eliminated. Having that control and being on my own was really what I ne...
2025-06-0940 min