Advertise on podcast: The Best Ever CRE Show

Seth Bradley interviews Ben Fraser, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer at Aspen Funds, on how Aspen built a scalable fund-to-funds platform to support more than 40 independent capital aggregators in 2025 alone. Ben breaks down Aspen’s macro-driven investment philosophy, how the firm evolved from distressed mortgage notes after the Great Financial Crisis into a multi-asset platform, and why focusing on tailwinds matters more than sticking to a single asset class. The conversation dives deep into the structural shift from co-GP capital raising to compliant fund-of-funds models, the importance of simplifying backend infrastructure for promoters, and why recurring cash-flowing products can unlock true scalability for capital raisers. Ben also shares where he sees the independent capital aggregator model heading as private market demand accelerates. Guest InfoBen FraserCurrent role: Managing Director & Chief Investment Officer, Aspen FundsBased in: United StatesSay hi to them at: https://aspenfunds.us | Invest Like a Billionaire Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sean Flanagan shares real, raw lessons from failed land deals, capital raises, and the key mindset shift that can turn setbacks into success. If you're tired of spinning wheels and ready to make high-impact moves in industrial or water rights, this episode reveals how to get in the right room, build undeniable credibility, and create content that attracts your ideal investors and partners. Discover why focusing on one niche can skyrocket your authority and how to leverage simple content strategies to stay top of mind. Sean breaks down the exact steps to get your first few million raised, why reputation matters in complex deals, and how to turn your knowledge into a consistent lead generator. Sean Flanagan Current role:  Founder-Owner, Flanagan Real Estate LLC,  Water Resource Broker, Hydro Source Incorporated Based in: Castle Rock, Colorado Where to find them: https://www.flanagan-real-estate.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-flanagan-7a294625/ Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Chang unpacks massive downward revisions to U.S. job growth and what they signal for commercial real estate. He explains how nearly 900,000 jobs were wiped out through revisions, why government data models are struggling in a post-pandemic economy, and how policy uncertainty and tariffs are weighing on hiring. John also addresses the recent AI-driven Wall Street selloff in brokerage stocks, arguing that fears of automation disrupting CRE brokerage and office demand are overstated. Throughout, he connects labor trends, wage growth, healthcare hiring, and consumer sentiment directly to property performance across sectors. Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Oden shares his journey from Detroit to Atlanta, highlighting his innovative approach to affordable housing development. As a broker developer, Michael focuses on acquiring raw land and leveraging creative zoning strategies to unlock value and increase housing density. He discusses the importance of understanding local market factors, such as area median income, to set affordability thresholds and ensure that new construction projects remain financially viable even in challenging economic environments. Michael Oden Current role: CEO and Affordify Housing Fund, Dream Home Today,  Based in: Atlanta, Georgia Where to find them: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-oden-59960b32b https://affordifyhousing.com/ https://www.dreamhometoday.net/ Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join us at Best Ever Conference 2026! Find more info at: https://www.besteverconference.com/  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zach Feldman joins Matt Faircloth for a conversation about the intricacies of student housing, a niche yet highly profitable sector within real estate. He explains how student housing has evolved from informal setups to institutionalized assets, offering unique investment opportunities.They also talk about the importance of location, amenity design, and market research in achieving rent premiums, and how these factors differentiate student housing from traditional multifamily properties. He also highlights the significance of branding and community building in attracting tenants and ensuring high occupancy rates. Zach Feldman Current role: Partner, Aptitude Development Based in: New York, New York Where to find them:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharyrfeldman/https://www.e77h.com/ Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join us at Best Ever Conference 2026! Find more info at: https://www.besteverconference.com/  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pascal is joined by fellow Best Ever host, Amanda Cruise. This episode offers a comprehensive exploration of the mobile home park sector, highlighting its unique position as an affordable housing solution with declining supply. Amanda shares her journey from traditional real estate to becoming a successful mobile home park operator, providing valuable insights into the strategic decisions that drive success in this niche market. Listeners will gain an understanding of the critical factors to consider when investing in mobile home parks, such as choosing between seasoned operators and emerging managers, and the importance of market size and demographic trends. Amanda discusses the benefits of depreciation and the macroeconomic advantages of mobile home parks, alongside practical strategies for infill, infrastructure upgrades, and value appreciation. Amanda Cruise Current role: Owner, Voyage Investing Based in: Wake Forest, North Carolina Where to find them: https://voyageinvesting.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandacruisemhpinvestor/ Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join us at Best Ever Conference 2026! Find more info at: https://www.besteverconference.com/  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fernando Angelucci joins Amanda Cruise and Ash Patel to share how he scaled from single-family investing into a 55-facility self-storage portfolio by intentionally building three parallel businesses: marketing, capital raising, and operations. He explains why focusing on direct-to-seller acquisitions and seller financing helped insulate his deals from rising interest rates, and how working directly with community banks allows for long-term construction-to-permanent debt. The conversation also covers SEC compliance, what actually defines a “sophisticated investor,” and why many syndicators ran into trouble relying on short-term bridge debt. Fernando challenges the idea that self-storage is broadly overbuilt, arguing that demand is hyper-local and increasingly driven by housing affordability pressures. Fernando AngelucciCurrent role: Self-storage investor and operatorSay hi to them at: https://ssse.com Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join us at Best Ever Conference 2026! Find more info at: https://www.besteverconference.com/  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seth Bradley explains why many common capital-raising practices in real estate are quietly illegal and increasingly risky as regulators, investors, and institutions pay closer attention. He breaks down why intent and deal quality do not matter if securities laws are violated, and why compensation tied to capital raised is the fastest way to cross the line. Seth walks through the three legally distinct roles in capital raising active participant, passive participant, and third party and shows how co-GP and finder models are frequently abused. He concludes by explaining why compliant fund-to-fund structures are rapidly becoming the preferred path for scalable, defensible capital aggregation. Compliance Is Currency in Modern Capital Raising with Seth Bradley Why Co-GP and Finder Models Are Quietly Dying with Seth Bradley The Real Legal Risks Behind Raising Capital the Wrong Way with Seth Bradley Active Passive and Third Party Roles Explained with Seth Bradley Building a Scalable Capital Raising Business the Compliant Way with Seth Bradley If you want, I can also sanity-check this against your last correctly done solo episode to make sure the tone and length are dead-on before you publish. Title Options Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join us at Best Ever Conference 2026! Find more info at: https://www.besteverconference.com/  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard McGirr records an emergency solo episode explaining why 2026 will be the year AI agents fundamentally change how real estate businesses operate. He introduces OpenClaw, an open-source AI agent framework, and explains how agents differ from chat tools by having memory, tool access, and the ability to run autonomous workflows. Richard shares real examples from his own business, including tracking legal document revisions, generating daily sales intelligence across CRM, email, and calls, and replacing repetitive VA-style reporting with automated agent summaries. He also warns extensively about the security risks of agent tools, outlining why strict permissions and safeguards are essential before deploying them in a live business environment. The episode closes with a look at how AI agents could soon assist with capital raising, webinar sourcing, and outreach, while stressing that this technology is still best suited for highly technical users — for now. Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join us at Best Ever Conference 2026! Find more info at: https://www.besteverconference.com/  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Chang breaks down the economic trends set to define 2026 from tepid job growth, declining population growth, and geopolitical uncertainty to the surprising resilience of certain real estate sectors. Discover why AI investments, despite fueling GDP growth, aren't creating jobs, and what that means for commercial real estate demand. Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join us at Best Ever Conference 2026! Find more info at: https://www.besteverconference.com/  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Casmon interviews Matthew Pezon, who shares his journey from being told he was the “worst employee” in his engineering job to building a vertically integrated multifamily portfolio in Pennsylvania. Matthew explains how early mentorship, relentless deal touring, and making dozens of offers helped him build confidence and land his first deals through distressed single-family and small multifamily properties. The conversation digs into Matthew’s shift away from long-term buy-and-hold thinking toward what he calls the “velocity of capital,” recognizing when equity becomes trapped and redeploying it into larger value-add assets. After becoming a father of twins, he realized brute-force solo investing no longer scaled, pushing him to trade up into 20–40 unit properties and build leverage through people, systems, and capital. Matthew also breaks down how long-term relationships with agents and investors unlock off-market deals, why certainty of closing often matters more than top-dollar pricing, and how maintaining a reputation for not retrading sellers has fueled his growth. He closes by sharing how in-house property management, acquisitions staff, and clean financial reporting have helped him scale to hundreds of units while reclaiming time with his family. Guest Info Matthew PezonCurrent role: Founder and owner, Pezon PropertiesBased in: Lehigh Valley, PennsylvaniaSay hi to them at: https://pezonproperties.com Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join us at Best Ever Conference 2026! Find more info at: https://www.besteverconference.com/  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Faircloth interviews Brian Burke, reflecting on the prolonged multifamily downturn and why 2025 failed to deliver the recovery many investors expected. Brian explains how elevated construction deliveries, negative rent growth, and mispriced cap rates have kept deal fundamentals from penciling, especially for assets acquired with high leverage. The conversation dives deep into the dangers of bridge debt, emphasizing that loan maturity risk, not floating interest rates, is what ultimately puts lenders in control. Brian also shares why he has shifted capital into assisted living, citing demographic tailwinds, improving fundamentals, and a supply-demand imbalance that contrasts sharply with multifamily. Brian BurkeCurrent role: Founder & CEO, Praxis CapitalBased in: CaliforniaSay hi to them at: www.PraxCap.comwww.linkedin.com/company/praxcapwww.linkedin.com/in/praxiscapitalhttps://www.facebook.com/praxcap/https://twitter.com/praxcaphttps://www.instagram.com/praxcap/https://www.instagram.com/investorbrianburke Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join us at Best Ever Conference 2026! Find more info at: https://www.besteverconference.com/  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pascal Wagner interviews Shawn Owen, CEO of Salt Lending, to unpack how crypto holders can responsibly leverage Bitcoin for liquidity without taking on unnecessary risk. Shawn shares his journey from traditional real estate investing through the 2008 financial crisis and into early Bitcoin adoption, explaining why lending against crypto mirrors familiar tools like HELOCs more than speculative margin trading. The conversation explores how Bitcoin-backed loans work, what happens during sharp drawdowns, and how Salt structures products to protect both borrowers and lenders. They also discuss why institutional adoption, regulation, and long-term credit infrastructure are critical to Bitcoin’s role as a serious financial asset. Shawn OwenCurrent role: CEO, Salt LendingBased in: United StatesSay hi to them at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-owen-052a6153 ​Twitter/X: https://x.com/Shawn_OwenJ​SALT Lending Twitter/X: https://x.com/SALTLending​SALT Lending Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRmyfzXjus8/​ Company profile and blog: https://saltlending.com/author/shawn-owen/​ Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join us at Best Ever Conference 2026! Find more info at: https://www.besteverconference.com/  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amanda Cruise interviews Neil Wahlgren, a partner at Mad Capital Partners, about investing in industrial real estate through long-term sale-leaseback strategies. Neil explains why his firm focuses on large, single-tenant industrial facilities with absolute net leases, how reshoring and e-commerce continue to support long-term demand, and why industrial behaves very differently from multifamily. He breaks down how cap rates, rent escalations, and conservative leverage create durable cash flow, while shifting operating risk almost entirely to the tenant. Neil also shares lessons on underwriting tenant credit, navigating vacancy risk, and why smaller-bay industrial can be an attractive entry point for newer investors. Neil Wahlgren Current role: Partner, Mad Capital Partners Based in: San Francisco, California Say hi to them at: ⁠https://www.magcp.com⁠ | ⁠[email protected]⁠ | https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilwahlgren/ Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join us at Best Ever Conference 2026! Find more info at: https://www.besteverconference.com/  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seth Bradley interviews Bronson Hill, sharing how Bronson transitioned from a high-paying medical sales career into full-time capital raising and built a business that has raised nearly $60 million. Bronson explains why capital raising is fundamentally a sales and relationship-driven process, how authenticity and transparency have helped him retain investor trust through a difficult market cycle, and why cash flow has become more important than appreciation for many investors. He also breaks down the evolution from co-GP structures to fund-of-funds models, the importance of compliance and professionalism, and how systems, partnerships, and investor experience play a critical role in scaling a sustainable capital aggregation business. Bronson HillCurrent role: Founder & CEO, Bronson EquityBased in: Pasadena, CaliforniaSay hi to them at: Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/bronson.hill.37⁠ | LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/bronsonhill equity/mycompany⁠ Youtube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc1KYJL8ZjF3GC3Wh5lYNfg⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/bronsondavidhill⁠ Website: ⁠https://bronsonequity.com Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join us at Best Ever Conference 2026! Find more info at: https://www.besteverconference.com/  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices