The AI Edge Podcast: CRE & AI

Everyone is selling more data.

But what if the real competitive advantage isn't having more information.

It's making better decisions faster?

Most real estate investors spend hours bouncing between spreadsheets, comps, rental estimates, financing calculators, and market reports trying to answer one simple question:

"Is this actually a good deal?"

Andrew Weiss believes AI should eliminate that uncertainty—not create more of it.

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis Fernandes sits down with Andrew Weiss, Founder & CEO of HomeStream, to explore how AI is transforming real estate investment analysis by shifting the focus from raw data to confident decision-making.

Andrew's entrepreneurial journey began at just 15 years old, when he launched an e-commerce business with only $300. After scaling that business into a six-figure operation, he turned his attention to real estate investing—only to discover that evaluating investment properties was still painfully manual, fragmented, and dependent on endless spreadsheets.

That frustration became the foundation for HomeStream.

Instead of simply giving investors more property data, HomeStream combines dozens of public and private data sources with proprietary AI models to generate comprehensive investment reports in minutes—helping investors, agents, and brokerages move from analysis to action with greater confidence.

In this conversation, Andrew and Louis discuss:

• Why "more data" doesn't always lead to better investment decisions
• The biggest mistakes investors make when analyzing properties
• How AI can dramatically reduce analysis paralysis without replacing human judgment
• The difference between data platforms and decision platforms
• Building an AI-first startup in one of the most competitive PropTech markets
• Why speed matters when evaluating investment opportunities
• The future of AI-powered underwriting, property analysis, and real estate investing

Whether you're an investor, real estate professional, founder, or simply curious about how AI is changing traditional industries, this episode offers practical insights into building technology that helps people make smarter decisions, not just faster ones.

Andrew Weiss is the Founder & CEO of HomeStream, an AI-powered property analysis platform that helps residential real estate investors, agents, and brokerages evaluate investment opportunities with greater speed and confidence.

A lifelong entrepreneur, Andrew started his first business at age 15 and later applied that entrepreneurial mindset to real estate investing after experiencing firsthand how inefficient and fragmented the property analysis process could be.

Today, HomeStream combines AI, machine learning, and property data to simplify underwriting, improve investment analysis, and help users make better real estate decisions.

🌐 HomeStream: https://www.homestream.io

💼 Andrew Weiss on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-weiss11/

🏢 HomeStream on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/homestreaminc/posts/?feedView=all

Most people think real estate has already gone digital.

You can search for a house online, but once the search ends, the experience fractures across agents, lenders, insurers, contractors, rental platforms, service providers, and ownership tools.

Bobby Bryant believes that entire system is ready to be rebuilt.

After operating across mortgage lending, brokerage, title, education, and real estate technology, Bobby is now building Homhub: an AI-native marketplace designed to connect the entire lifecycle of homeownership in one place.

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis Fernandes sits down with Bobby Bryant, Founder and CEO of Homhub, to examine why one of the world’s largest industries still feels disconnected, and what it would take to create an operating system for the home.

Bobby’s journey did not begin in technology.

He started as an educator, entered mortgage lending, worked his way up to becoming a successful broker, and says he became a millionaire before the age of 30.

That experience eventually led him to a much bigger question:

Why does a consumer need six to eight platforms to manage one home?

Bobby argues that today’s dominant real estate portals primarily own the beginning of the funnel.

This conversation explores:

• Why real estate is still fragmented despite looking digital
• How Bobby went from teaching to becoming a successful mortgage broker
• What the 2008 financial crisis taught him about the industry
• Why Homhub is positioning itself as an operating system rather than a listing portal
• The difference between an advertising portal and a transactional marketplace
• Why Airbnb owns more of the customer experience than traditional real estate platforms
• Why Bobby chose to build independently from MLS data
• How legacy rules can restrict product innovation
• Why companies cannot simply bolt AI onto old infrastructure
• What it means to build an AI-native company
• Why technology teams and business teams often struggle to communicate
• How AI could improve the experience for consumers, agents, brokerages, and homeowners
• Why real estate’s fragmentation may become both its greatest weakness and its greatest opportunity
• What incumbent industries can learn from Uber, Amazon, Netflix, and Airbnb

This is not just a conversation about proptech.

It is a founder’s argument for rebuilding the infrastructure behind one of the most important financial decisions people make.

Bobby Bryant is the Founder and CEO of Homhub, an AI-native real estate marketplace designed to connect the complete lifecycle of buying, selling, renting, investing, financing, and owning a home.

Before building Homhub, Bobby worked across education, mortgage lending, real estate brokerage, title, real estate education, and technology.

His experience operating across multiple sides of the industry shaped his belief that real estate does not need another isolated tool—it needs a connected, consumer-centered ecosystem.

Homhub:
homhub.ai

Bobby Bryant on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobby-bryant-m-ed-x2-53249610/

Homhub on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/homhub-ai/

At 28 years old, Kassie Smith walked into a business and offered to buy the company.

She had no money and no idea how she would make the acquisition happen.

When the owner refused to sell, Kassie gave him an answer he probably never expected:

“Okay. I’ll be your competition.”

That decision became the beginning of an extraordinary career building companies, shaping luxury destinations, and helping turn raw land into ambitious real estate developments.

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis Fernandes sits down with Kassie Smith, Founder and President of KS Global Development, to explore what it actually takes to transform a vision into an iconic project.

Kassie has spent nearly three decades working across luxury real estate, hospitality, branded residences, private clubs, master-planned communities, capital strategy, and global development.

Her work begins before the building exists.

It begins with a blank piece of land, a complicated collection of stakeholders, and a question:

What could this become?

Kassie explains why the most successful developments are not created by buying land first and figuring out the concept later. The vision, brand ecosystem, customer experience, capital strategy, approvals, and operating model must work together from the beginning.

She also reveals why some of the hardest parts of real estate development happen long before construction starts—and why even a brilliant idea will fail without the right capital stack, government relationships, team, and execution strategy.

This conversation explores:

• How Kassie built a competing company after an owner refused to sell
• What separates an ordinary development from an iconic destination
• Why developers should create the vision before selecting the land
• How raw land can become significantly more valuable once it is entitled and shovel-ready
• Why luxury is now defined by lifestyle, service, and ecosystem—not simply architecture
• How investors evaluate complex real estate opportunities
• Why capital and approvals remain the biggest obstacles to development
• How to assemble teams across markets and jurisdictions
• Why transparency is essential when managing investor relationships
• How AI can improve infrastructure, predictive maintenance, operations, and asset value
• What entrepreneurs can learn from billion-dollar development projects
• Why bold ideas still require rigorous financial execution

Kassie’s story is a reminder that ambitious projects are rarely built by people who wait for perfect conditions.

They are built by people who see what others miss—and are willing to move before the path is obvious.

Kassie Smith is the Founder and President of KS Global Development.

She is a third-generation real estate and construction professional with nearly three decades of experience across real estate development, hospitality, luxury branding, master planning, capital strategy, and project advisory.

KS Global Development:
http://www.ksglobalco.com

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kassiesmith1/

Company LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ks-global-consultants/

Most people think construction projects fail because of bad labor, missed deadlines, or problems in the field.

Nick Johnson says they're looking in the wrong place.

According to Nick, the biggest failures happen long before construction begins—during planning, communication, and coordination.

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis Fernandes sits down with Nick Johnson, Director of Business Development at RYZEC Building Group, to explore what really separates exceptional construction companies from average ones.

Nick shares why trust is the most valuable asset in commercial construction, how a 15-person team manages roughly $30 million in annual revenue, why relationships consistently outperform low bids, and how every successful project begins with operational excellence—not simply great craftsmanship.

The conversation also explores Nashville's booming commercial real estate market, AI's impact on estimating and development, why permitting delays can derail projects, and the leadership mindset required to consistently deliver successful builds.

• Why projects fail before construction starts
• Building trust in commercial construction
• How relationships outperform price
• Managing complex commercial projects
• The future of AI in construction
• Nashville's commercial real estate market
• Operational excellence in construction
• Leading lean, high-performing teams
• Why communication is everything
• Lessons every entrepreneur can apply

Nick Johnson is the Director of Business Development at RYZEC Building Group, a commercial general contractor specializing in ground-up construction and tenant improvements across the Southeast.

He is also the author of When the Pipeline Lies and leads the Nashville chapter of Contractors, Closers & Connections (CCC), one of the country's fastest-growing commercial real estate networking communities.

Nick focuses on helping developers, owners, brokers, and contractors build long-term relationships that drive successful projects.

Website: http://ryzecgroup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-johnson-1abba6b2/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ryzec-building-group-llc/

Everyone is waiting for interest rates to fall.

David Huey believes they're waiting for the wrong solution.

After helping finance billions of dollars in residential construction and thousands of homes across America, he argues that the housing crisis isn't being driven by interest rates, it's being driven by one simple reality:

We aren't building enough homes.

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis Fernandes sits down with David Huey, Founder & CEO of Sound Capital, to discuss the real forces shaping America's housing market.

David shares why banks are pulling back from construction lending, how private credit is stepping in, what builders are actually struggling with, and why the next decade could determine whether an entire generation is priced out of homeownership.

The conversation also explores David's entrepreneurial journey—from building one of the first nationwide MLS aggregation companies that helped shape modern online real estate to leading a company that has financed billions in residential construction.

Whether you're an investor, builder, entrepreneur, or simply wondering where housing is headed, this conversation offers a thoughtful perspective on one of today's biggest economic challenges.

• Why housing affordability is really a supply problem
• Why lower interest rates may not solve the crisis
• Banks vs. private credit
• The future of homebuilding
• Lessons from the 2008 housing crash
• How regulatory costs impact housing prices
• What builders actually need to succeed
• The future of construction finance
• Dave's journey building one of the earliest MLS technology companies
• Why entrepreneurship is about solving problems

David Huey is the Founder & CEO of Sound Capital, a private lending platform focused on financing residential construction projects across the United States.

Before launching Sound Capital, David built one of the nation's earliest MLS aggregation technology companies, helping lay the foundation for modern online real estate search before its acquisition into what became part of Zillow's ecosystem.

Today, his team works with builders, investors, and capital partners to help finance the creation of thousands of homes while addressing America's growing housing shortage.

Website: http://www.soundcapital.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-huey-sound-capital/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/soundcapital/

Everyone says AI is the next electricity.

GS Pannu disagrees.

He believes the better comparison is the Industrial Revolution.

Because AI isn't just creating smarter software.

It's building digital factories capable of automating entire industries.

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis Fernandes sits down with GS Pannu, Co-Founder & CEO of Trajan AI, to discuss why AI's future isn't about chatbots, it's about infrastructure.

GS explains how his team is building what they call an AI Factory for construction risk, automating underwriting, insurance workflows, and risk analysis by transforming fragmented data into actionable intelligence.

The conversation goes far beyond construction.

They explore enterprise AI adoption, why bad data makes AI dangerous, the future of work, digital infrastructure, and why AI companies have a responsibility that extends beyond profits.

• Why AI is more like the Industrial Revolution than electricity
• The concept of digital factories
• Why data—not models—is AI's biggest challenge
• Automating underwriting with AI
• Enterprise AI implementation
• AI in insurance and construction
• Building trustworthy AI
• Civic responsibility in the AI era
• Future of work
• Scaling AI companies

GS Pannu is the Co-Founder & CEO of Trajan AI, an AI infrastructure company building intelligent underwriting and risk automation tools for the construction and insurance industries.

Drawing on experience in real estate development, finance, and technology, GS is focused on transforming fragmented industry data into enterprise AI systems that improve decision-making at scale.

Website: https://trajan.ai/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gs-pannu/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trajan-ai/about/

Every company wants AI.

Very few are actually ready to use it.

According to venture investor Fabian Hediger, the biggest challenge isn't choosing the right AI model, it's whether your business has the data foundation to make AI useful in the first place.

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis Fernandes sits down with Fabian Hediger, GP at Studio Alpha Capital, serial entrepreneur, and early-stage AI investor, to explore what separates AI-native companies from everyone else.

Fabian shares what he's seeing from the front lines of venture capital, how he evaluates AI founders before they generate revenue, why vertical AI applications continue to outperform, and why enterprise AI adoption is far more challenging than most executives realize.

• Why AI isn't the biggest challenge—your data is
• What AI investors look for before writing a check
• Product-market fit in AI startups
• The rise of vertical AI
• Why founders need customer feedback earlier
• Enterprise AI implementation
• Using AI inside venture capital
• The future of AI-native businesses
• Building companies through weekly execution sprints
• Lessons from building and exiting software companies

Fabian Hediger is a General Partner at Studio Alpha Capital, where he invests in pre-seed B2B AI startups.

A serial entrepreneur and former software operator, he has built, bootstrapped, and exited multiple technology companies before focusing on venture capital and helping AI-native founders scale from idea to high-growth businesses.

• Studio Alpha Capital
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabianhediger/
• Substack (100K+ subscribers)

Most real estate companies outsource everything.

Property management.

Construction.

Operations.

Customer experience.

Josh Lugg built his company by doing the exact opposite.

At just 26 years old, he and his team built a vertically integrated real estate platform that sold more than $102 million in real estate while creating one of the fastest-growing companies serving the Notre Dame community.

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis Fernandes sits down with Josh Lugg, Founder & CEO of Golden Legacy Partners, to discuss how his team is building an institutional-quality real estate company through vertical integration, elite culture, disciplined execution, and long-term relationships.

Josh shares how Golden Legacy combines investments, brokerage, property management, construction, and operations under one roof, why they sold out a 36-unit condo conversion in just 28 days, and why he believes the future belongs to companies that own the customer experience instead of outsourcing it.

• Building a vertically integrated real estate company
• Selling $102M in real estate
• Why culture beats growth
• Scaling without sacrificing relationships
• Condo conversions and value-add investing
• Leadership lessons at 26
• Why AI is becoming essential for real estate operators
• Building around the Notre Dame ecosystem
• Long-term investor relationships
• The future of Midwest real estate investing

Josh Lugg is the Founder & CEO of Golden Legacy Partners, a vertically integrated real estate investment, brokerage, development, construction, and property management company serving the Notre Dame community and the broader Midwest.

Under his leadership, the company has rapidly grown while emphasizing culture, long-term relationships, operational excellence, and investor alignment.

Golden Legacy Partners

Website: https://goldenlegacypartners.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshualugg/

LinkedIn: https://www.michianahomesandland.com/

Everyone keeps asking the same question:

Will AI replace people?

Theresa Leatherbury thinks we're asking the wrong question.

The real opportunity isn't replacing property managers.

It's giving them more time to build relationships that technology never can.

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis Fernandes sits down with Theresa Leatherbury, President & CEO of Rachuba, to discuss how AI is reshaping property management without losing the human touch.

As the leader of a third-generation family-owned real estate company managing more than 700 apartment units, Theresa shares how her team is integrating AI into leasing, maintenance, resident communication, and operations while keeping relationships at the center of everything they do.

We discuss:

• Why AI should support people—not replace them
• How faster response times improve resident satisfaction
• The biggest operational bottlenecks in property management
• Centralized leasing and maintenance workflows
• Creating communities residents want to stay in
• How leadership changes as companies grow
• Why communication is the foundation of great operations
• Where AI is overhyped—and where it's already creating value

Whether you're in property management, real estate, or any service business, this conversation offers practical insights on using AI to improve operations without sacrificing the customer experience.

Theresa Leatherbury

President & CEO

Rachuba

Theresa Leatherbury leads Rachuba, a third-generation family-owned real estate company specializing in multifamily property management, investment, and long-term asset stewardship. She oversees strategy, operations, finance, and team development while helping modernize the business through technology, AI, and resident-first leadership.

Website

https://rachuba.com

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresa-leatherbury/

Most people laughed at manufactured housing.

Major Hillard saw something different.

Starting with just $1,500, he bought a single mobile home, reinvested every dollar, and built more than $70 million in manufactured housing transactions, all while creating affordable housing and delivering strong returns for investors.

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis Fernandes sits down with Major Hillard, Founder of MH Estates, to discuss one of the most overlooked opportunities in commercial real estate.

Major shares how he went from working three jobs and living with his parents to building a vertically integrated investment company that acquires, redevelops, finances, and manages manufactured housing communities across the Southeast.

But this conversation isn't just about real estate.

It's about discipline, perseverance, relationships, leadership, AI adoption, and building wealth while creating real impact.

Inside this episode we discuss:

• How Major turned $1,500 into a $70M real estate business
• Why manufactured housing may be one of America's strongest asset classes
• His "buy ugly and clean it up" investment philosophy
• Why the best deals are often the ones you walk away from
• Building a vertically integrated real estate company
• How AI is improving investor communication, marketing, and operations
• The systems required to scale without losing the personal touch
• Why making money is easy—but changing lives is hard

If you're interested in commercial real estate, entrepreneurship, investing, AI, or building long-term wealth, this conversation is packed with practical lessons.

Major Hillard

Founder & CEO

MH Estates

Major Hillard is the Founder of MH Estates, a vertically integrated manufactured housing investment company focused on acquiring, redeveloping, and operating communities throughout the Southeast.

After starting with just $1,500, Major has participated in more than $70 million in manufactured housing transactions while building a business centered on long-term cash flow, investor alignment, and improving affordable housing communities.

He is also the author of the international bestselling book Your Money Is Dying.

Website

https://mhestates.com

Book

Your Money Is Dying https://a.co/d/05c7b1Sk

YouTube

Major Hillard https://www.youtube.com/@themajorhillard

Facebook

MH Estates https://www.facebook.com/mhestatesllc