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Clay Lehman spent 20 years in real estate, starting at Arthur Andersen, running the Ocala controller desk for Pulte Homes, and eventually building Lehman's Strategic Partners to help agents grow their businesses. He runs an AI Facebook group with members in 65 countries and now spends most of his time helping real estate pros turn AI from a shiny object into a revenue tool. If you're still using AI to write listing descriptions and calling it a day, this one will push your thinking.

In this episode you'll learn:
- Why Clay calls obscurity, not competition, the biggest threat to any real estate business
- How the "eliminate, automate, delegate" framework turns documented processes into leverage
- Which AI tools Clay actually uses daily, and how Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT scored in his blind writing test
- How Ed built an AI voice agent that gets a lead on the phone in 45 seconds, across five languages
- Why the Harvard 391% rule makes speed-to-lead the single biggest edge in real estate today
- How solo operators and small teams can look and act like companies many times their size

Resources Mentioned: Google NotebookLM for deal prep and process documentation. Gamma for instant presentations. ylopo for lead nurture automation.

Takeaway: AI is a force multiplier, not a crutch. It levels the playing field on access, but experience and wisdom still do the heavy lifting. Use it as the spotter at the gym, not the guy lifting the weight.

Elevista - Speed as a Service™
Elevista Connect is the first AI-powered lead conversion system built for real estate investors.

Heads up: If you find this week's book intriguing and you buy using our link, we receive a small commission that helps support the show. Thank you!

🎧 Subscribe to Real Estate Underground for weekly insights on building wealth through real estate, without sacrificing your sanity.

Additional Resources:

• Clark St Capital -> Passive real estate investments for busy business owners and executives
• Elevista -> AI SaaS for real estate investors
• Clark St Academy on YouTube -> Learn how to invest in real estate

Social Media:

• LinkedIn -> Ed Mathews (President at Clark St and Elevista)

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Joel Kraut co-founded BRRRR Loans after losing $4.2 million in the 2008 crash. He had 144 properties at over 100% leverage when the market turned. Five tenants called the same day to say they couldn't pay rent.

Today he runs one of the country's fastest-growing private lending shops, and he sees the DSCR lending industry doubling in size over the next three years.

In this episode, Joel and Ed break down:

- Why investors are rotating from Texas and Florida to Ohio, Kentucky, and the Midwest

- How DSCR loans actually work (and why 1.0 coverage isn't enough)

- The real math on leverage: why the smartest investors stay at 60% LTV or below

- Why "relationship capital" matters more than real estate knowledge

- What happened when Joel wired money on March 5, 2020 and the market froze

- His $99 training modules vs. the $35K guru trap

- The best advice he ever got: "Post that in 5 years. Shut up. Go back to work."

Joel currently reads: Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell

Connect with Joel: brrrr.com

Real Estate Underground is hosted by Ed Mathews of Clark St Capital.

Elevista - Speed as a Service™
Elevista Connect is the first AI-powered lead conversion system built for real estate investors.

Heads up: If you find this week's book intriguing and you buy using our link, we receive a small commission that helps support the show. Thank you!

🎧 Subscribe to Real Estate Underground for weekly insights on building wealth through real estate, without sacrificing your sanity.

Additional Resources:

• Clark St Capital -> Passive real estate investments for busy business owners and executives
• Elevista -> AI SaaS for real estate investors
• Clark St Academy on YouTube -> Learn how to invest in real estate

Social Media:

• LinkedIn -> Ed Mathews (President at Clark St and Elevista)

Send us Fan Mail

Ladislas Maurice left a corporate career at Nestle to spend the last nine years investing in real estate across emerging and frontier markets around the world. He buys apartments in Nairobi for $65,000, sits on land in Nicaragua, and flips properties in Montenegro. His approach is the opposite of what most US investors are used to: no leverage, no perfect data, and no rushing.

In this episode, Ed and Ladislas talk about:

• Why emerging market real estate is actually a harder asset than US multifamily (and arguably less risky)
• How he evaluates a new country before putting money in (the Uzbekistan stock exchange story is worth the listen alone)
• Managing property across dozens of countries with local property managers (and why you always need a backup)
• The case for putting a small percentage of your portfolio outside the US
• How $200K in a Panama bank or $400K in Turkish real estate can buy generational citizenship and a Plan B for your family
• The Ivory Coast deal that went wrong and why you should never skip the buyer's agent
• His father's best advice: "You don't have to answer every question"

Learn more about Ladislas at The Wandering Investor and on YouTube.

Elevista - Speed as a Service™
Elevista Connect is the first AI-powered lead conversion system built for real estate investors.

Heads up: If you find this week's book intriguing and you buy using our link, we receive a small commission that helps support the show. Thank you!

🎧 Subscribe to Real Estate Underground for weekly insights on building wealth through real estate, without sacrificing your sanity.

Additional Resources:

• Clark St Capital -> Passive real estate investments for busy business owners and executives
• Elevista -> AI SaaS for real estate investors
• Clark St Academy on YouTube -> Learn how to invest in real estate

Social Media:

• LinkedIn -> Ed Mathews (President at Clark St and Elevista)