The AI Edge Podcast: CRE & AI

Most investors don’t fail because of bad deals.

They fail because something breaks when they try to scale.

And by the time they realize it…
the money is already gone.

Scaling in real estate sounds simple.

Do more deals. Make more money.

But in reality, scaling is where most investors break.

In this episode, we sit down with Mark Hayes, President of Bridge South Investments, to break down what actually happens when investors try to grow, and where things fall apart.

This is a real operator conversation, not theory.

We cover:

• Why speed and certainty matter more than rate
• The hidden risks most borrowers don’t understand
• What lenders actually look for when funding deals
• Why construction is where deals quietly fall apart
• The biggest mistake investors make mid-project
• What separates real operators from tourists
• How to scale without creating chaos

If you’re doing deals, or planning to scale…

This episode will save you time, money, and stress.

Mark Hayes
President, Bridge South Investments

Mark has been investing in real estate since 2002, completing over 100 builds and renovations while building a rental portfolio across multiple Tennessee markets.

Today, he helps investors scale through bridge loans, construction financing, and DSCR rental loans across the Southeast, bringing an operator’s perspective to capital and deal execution.

Website: https://www.bridgesouthinvestments.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-hayes-bridge-south/

AI can already write an appraisal report.

That’s not the problem.

The problem is…
you don’t know if it’s right.

And that’s where real risk begins.

AI is already transforming commercial real estate.

But there’s a problem no one is talking about:

👉 Speed without defensibility creates risk.

In this episode, we sit down with to break down what’s really happening inside valuation, underwriting, and decision-making as AI takes over more of the process.

This is not a surface-level conversation.

We go deep into:

• Why AI-written reports can quietly introduce massive risk
• The difference between data, judgment, and defensibility
• Why “tech as a moat” is disappearing faster than people realize
• How networks will replace software as the real advantage
• What lenders and investors must understand about valuation in the next 24 months
• The future of appraisers, underwriting, and decision authority

This episode will change how you think about:

👉 Risk
👉 Valuation
👉 AI in real estate

If you’re making investment decisions, this is not optional knowledge.

Ashton Rowles, MAI
Founder, Canyon Data

Ashton is a commercial real estate valuation expert with nearly two decades of experience. As the founder of Canyon Data, he is building a national network focused on scalable, defensible valuation powered by human judgment and AI systems.

His work sits at the intersection of technology, underwriting, and decision-making in modern real estate.

Website: https://canyondata.tech
Website: https://canyonvaluation.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/royce-ashton-rowles-mai-a489747/

You can have the perfect deal on paper…
and still lose it.

Because real estate isn’t just numbers,
it’s negotiation, timing, and understanding what people actually want.

Most people get that wrong.

Theresa Mueller has been winning deals for 30+ years… and she’ll tell you exactly why.

Most real estate deals don’t fail because of bad underwriting.

They fail because people don’t understand negotiation.

In this episode, we sit down with to break down what actually separates average operators from elite dealmakers.

With over three decades in commercial real estate and a global network of investors, Theresa shares how deals really get done across markets, cultures, and personalities.

We go deep into:

• Why deals fall apart even when numbers make sense
• How to structure true win-win outcomes
• The biggest mistakes buyers and sellers make
• How negotiation actually works in real life
• What’s changing in global commercial real estate
• Why relationships still dominate in an AI-driven world

This is not theory.
This is how deals actually close.

If you’re serious about operating at a higher level in real estate, this episode will sharpen how you think, negotiate, and execute.

Theresa Mueller, CCIM
CEO, Trelleum Real Estate

Theresa is an international commercial real estate broker with over 30 years of experience across residential, commercial, and global investment markets. She leads Trelleum Real Estate and specializes in connecting investors, structuring deals, and navigating complex negotiations across borders.

Known for her persistence and relationship-driven approach, Theresa operates at the intersection of global opportunity, negotiation strategy, and execution.

Website: https://trelleum.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresamueller/

What if I told you there’s a model where you can buy real estate at 27 cents on the dollar…
create homeowners…
and still deliver 15–18% returns to investors?

Most people think that’s impossible.

John Laine is doing it right now.

Most investors are fighting over thin margins, praying for cap rate compression, and hoping the market turns.

John Laine is playing a completely different game.

In this episode, we break down a model that:

• Buys distressed multifamily at deep discounts
• Converts units into affordable homeownership
• Partners with nonprofits at scale
• Still delivers strong investor returns

This is not theory.
This is execution.

We go deep into:

• How he sources deals no one else sees
• The exact capital stack behind his model
• Why “impact investing” doesn’t mean lower returns
• The real bottlenecks in scaling housing solutions
• And why most operators are solving the wrong problem

If you’re an investor, operator, or builder trying to understand where real estate is actually going, this episode will shift how you think.

John Laine
Founder, StarterHome.fund

John is a veteran real estate operator with nearly 40 years of experience and over $200M+ in closed transactions.

After losing everything during the 2008 cycle, he rebuilt with a new mission, solving housing affordability through what he calls “compassionate capitalism.”

Today, he leads StarterHome.fund, a model that transforms distressed multifamily into affordable homeownership while delivering strong investor returns.

Website: https://starterhome.fund
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-laine/

What is this… who did you hire to do this?”

“No one. It’s an AI assistant reading your deal in real time.

Most AI tools feel like demos.

This one feels like a real employee.

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, I sit down with Jeremiah Taylor, Co-Founder of Ribera AI, to break down what happens when AI moves from being a tool… to becoming part of your team.

We go deep into:

• Why most AI in real estate fails
• How BrokerBot acts like a trained employee, not a chatbot
• The hidden bottleneck inside brokerages that kills scale
• Why compliance is the real barrier to AI adoption
• How AI can read your documents, answer calls, and operate in real workflows

At one point, a client called back and said:

“What is this… this is witchcraft.”

That’s when you realize this isn’t hype.

This is what happens when AI is built for operators.

If you’re in real estate, brokerage, mortgage, or any service-based business… this is where things are going.

Jeremiah Taylor is the Co-Founder of Ribera AI, building vertical AI systems for real estate and mortgage.

With over 20 years of experience across real estate, mortgage operations, and technology, Jeremiah sits at the intersection of business and product, helping companies scale through systems, automation, and intelligent infrastructure.

He is currently building BrokerBot, a compliance-safe AI assistant designed to integrate directly into brokerage workflows, policies, and day-to-day operations.

Follow Jeremiah Taylor:
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtaylorrealtor/
👉 Ribera AI: https://brokerbot.ai/
👉 BrokerBot: https://brokerbot.ai/

Follow Louis Fernandes:
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-fernandes-011860286/
👉 Edge Partners AI: https://edgepartnersai.com/

Most real estate deals don’t fail because of the deal.

They fail because of capital, structure, and what no one sees behind the scenes.

In this episode, Steven Stein breaks down:

• why deals collapse late
• what lenders actually care about
• and the hidden rules that separate closers from everyone else

If you’re raising capital, structuring deals, or scaling in CRE…

👉 this is the part of the game nobody teaches.

What really determines whether a commercial real estate deal closes… or dies?

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis sits down with Steven Stein, President of Capital Markets at Tauro Capital Advisors, to break down what actually happens behind the scenes of debt and equity in today’s market.

Steven has spent decades in commercial real estate across multiple cycles, working on thousands of transactions. His perspective is simple but powerful:

👉 Capital doesn’t just fund deals. It determines whether they survive.

We go deep on:

• Why most deals fall apart late in the process
• The truth about interest rates vs. what actually matters
• How lenders think (and what sponsors miss)
• The hidden risks inside loan covenants
• Why AI helps speed, but not solve, real estate deals
• What separates sponsors who get capital from those who don’t

If you’re an operator, investor, or capital raiser…

This episode will change how you think about deals.

Steven Stein is the President of Capital Markets at Tauro Capital Advisors, a national commercial real estate advisory firm specializing in structured debt and equity across all asset classes.

With a career spanning multiple market cycles and thousands of transactions, Steven has worked across investment sales, leadership, and capital markets. His approach is deeply execution-driven, relationship-led, and focused on solving complex capital challenges for sponsors nationwide.

At Tauro, Steven and his team focus on simplifying capital markets, creating competition among lenders, and structuring solutions that help clients close deals in any market condition.

📌 Connect with Steven Stein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-d-stein/

📌 Tauro Capital Advisors
Website: https://www.taurocapital.com

📌 Connect with Louis Fernandes
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-fernandes-011860286/

📌 Book a Discovery Call (AI Systems for Operators)
https://calendly.com/edgepartnersai/ai-edge-podcast

📌 Subscribe to The AI Edge Podcast
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@theaiedgepodcast

Most real estate deals don’t fail because of bad opportunities…

They fail because the system behind the deal breaks.

In this conversation, Matt Hagar exposes where deals actually slow down, why most brokers never scale, and how AI is quietly reshaping the future of commercial real estate faster than the industry can keep up.

Just wrapped a powerful conversation with Matt Hagar, co-founder of AI CRE Partners, on what’s really happening behind the scenes in commercial real estate.

This isn’t surface-level.

This is how deals actually get done… and where they fall apart.

We break down:

• Where deals actually die in the process (it’s not where you think)
• The difference between working in the business vs on the business
• Why most brokers hit a ceiling and can’t scale
• The hidden inefficiencies slowing down deal flow
• How AI is giving smaller, faster operators an edge over legacy firms

If you’re an operator, investor, or building in CRE, this is a conversation you need to hear.

🎧 Watch now and rethink how deals really get done.

Matt Hagar is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of AI CRE Partners.

With over 15 years in commercial brokerage, Matt has been a top producer, scaled regional brokerage operations, and now leads a platform focused on how AI and systems are reshaping how deals get done.

His edge comes from a non-traditional path, combining deep operational experience with a systems-first mindset that challenges how the industry has always operated.

Connect with Matt Hagar

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-hagar-sior-ccim-msre-8375a51b/
• Company: AI CRE Partners

Connect with Louis Fernandes

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-fernandes-011860286/
• Podcast: https://youtube.com/@theaiedgepodcast

Want to optimize your deal flow with AI?
→ Book a call: https://calendly.com/edgepartnersai/ai-edge-podcast

Most people think real estate deals fall apart because of financing…

But right now, deals are dying for a completely different reason…

Insurance.

And if this keeps going… it’s going to reshape the entire housing market.

What if the biggest threat to real estate right now… isn’t interest rates… but insurance?

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis sits down with Robert Feldman, CEO and Co-Founder of WoW’s Insurance Services, who has spent nearly three decades in high-risk property insurance.

This conversation goes deeper than insurance.

It exposes a system-level problem affecting:

• Homeowners
• Investors
• Brokers
• Entire real estate transactions

Inside this episode:

• Why insurance is becoming the #1 deal killer in real estate
• How rising premiums are destroying affordability
• The hidden reason property values are starting to drop
• What “fire hardening” is and why it’s becoming mandatory
• Why some homes are becoming completely uninsurable

Robert breaks down what’s actually happening behind the scenes…

and why most operators aren’t prepared for what’s coming next.

If you’re involved in real estate in any way… this is something you need to understand.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertfeldman1/
Company: WoW’s Insurance Services
Website: wowsinsurance.com

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@theaiedgepodcast
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ai-edge-podcast-cre-ai/id1867613089
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1S0tOQ0G68MCoBKbs6xemA
Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/1eb1bc13-3a3b-4706-8147-473a0a2ac62b/the-ai-edge-podcast-cre-ai
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Deezer: https://link.deezer.com/s/32pb138lB41qTj51V1F1B
Website: https://theaiedgepodcastcreai.riverside.com/

Today I’ve got Robert Feldman with me, CEO and Co-Founder of WoW’s Insurance Services.

Robert has spent nearly three decades in the insurance world, specializing in high-risk properties and fire zones across the Western United States.

What makes this conversation especially important is this…

When insurance breaks… real estate breaks.

Transactions slow down, financing becomes harder, and property values start getting impacted.

Robert is right in the middle of that shift, helping brokers, homeowners, and investors navigate a market that’s becoming increasingly difficult to insure.

Robert, welcome to the show.

Most real estate deals don’t die because they’re bad…
they die because capital and execution are completely out of sync.

Today’s guest is solving that at a $3.5 trillion level…
and what he’s building could completely change how real estate gets owned.

What if the biggest problem in commercial real estate isn’t deal flow… but broken capital flow?

In this episode of The AI Edge Podcast, Louis sits down with Alex Bell, Founder & CEO of AVKI, who is building the infrastructure layer for tokenized real estate at an institutional level.

This isn’t another crypto conversation.

This is about:

• Why deals fall apart even when they should close
• The disconnect between capital, timing, and execution
• How banks and asset managers will offer fractional real estate ownership
• What “tokenization” actually means in the real world
• Why this shift could impact a $3.5 trillion private CRE market

Alex breaks down how his platform is creating the rails for ownership, liquidity, and access, while staying compliant and aligned with regulators.

If you’re an operator, investor, or developer, this conversation will change how you think about capital, scale, and the future of real estate.

Today I’ve got Alex Bell with me, Founder and CEO, building the infrastructure layer for tokenized real estate at an institutional level.

We’re not talking about hype or marketplaces.

We’re talking about the actual rails, the legal, technical, and compliance systems that allow banks, asset managers, and financial platforms to offer real ownership in real assets.

Alex is focused on solving one of the biggest problems in commercial real estate…

the disconnect between capital and execution.

Alex, welcome to the show.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vostretti/
Website: https://www.av-ki.com

Company: AVKI

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@theaiedgepodcast
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ai-edge-podcast-cre-ai/id1867613089
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1S0tOQ0G68MCoBKbs6xemA
Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/1eb1bc13-3a3b-4706-8147-473a0a2ac62b/the-ai-edge-podcast-cre-ai
iHeartRadio: https://iheart.com/podcast/320656102/
Deezer: https://link.deezer.com/s/32pb138lB41qTj51V1F1B
Website: https://theaiedgepodcastcreai.riverside.com/

Most real estate deals don’t fail because they’re bad deals…
they fail because capital never shows up.

In this episode, we break down what actually moves money…
and why most operators are getting this completely wrong.

Just wrapped a powerful conversation with Linda Holtz, a real estate development and finance operator with experience across institutional capital, underwriting, and large-scale project execution.

We went deep into what’s actually happening behind the scenes in real estate deals, from capital raising and equity structuring to why so many opportunities never make it across the finish line.

This is not theory. This is how deals actually get done.

If you’re an operator, investor, or builder trying to scale, this conversation will change how you think about capital, execution, and growth.

In this episode, we break down:

• What really determines whether a deal gets funded
• Where most operators lose capital without realizing it
• The hidden bottlenecks in development and deal execution
• How institutional players evaluate risk and opportunity
• Why capital flow, not deal flow, is the real constraint

The AI Edge Podcast is where operators, founders, and investors share how they actually build, scale, and execute in the real world.

🎙 Hosted by Louis Fernandes, Co-Founder of Edge Partners AI

Linda Holtz is a real estate development and finance professional with deep experience across capital structuring, underwriting, and large-scale project execution.

She is the Founder of Save The Chat Group, where she advises developers, family offices, and institutional capital partners on acquisitions, financial structuring, and development strategy.

Linda has worked across hundreds of millions in transactions, including multifamily, student housing, medical office, and mixed-use developments, and has played a key role in underwriting, capital formation, and deal execution at scale.

Her background includes institutional-level underwriting, asset management, and capital markets strategy, giving her a unique perspective on what actually drives successful real estate deals.

https://married2realestate.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-holtz-1493495a/