Real Estate Underground
Real Estate Underground
Ed Mathews
Real talk from an operator who learned real estate the hard way.Ed Mathews analyzed 1,100+ deals before buying his first property in 2011. Frozen in fear. He made every mistake, all while traveling 150+ nights a year working for some of Silicon Valley's top companies. 100+ deals later, he shares what actually works and what doesn't.Each week, Ed brings you candid conversations with experienced operators, investors, and syndicators. No hype. No theory. Just real deals, real lessons, and the street-level intelligence you won't find anywhere else.You'll learn and hear about:Deals that worked (and the ones that didn't)What we learned when contractors ghosted and we had to step inHow to vet opportunities when everyone else is sitting on the sidelinesConservative underwriting in markets that punish optimismSystems that protect capital when deals go sidewaysWhether you're analyzing your first deal or your hundredth, this is the conversation you'd have over coffee with someone who's been there, made the mistakes, learned the lessons and built the track record.New episodes every Tuesday at 12pm ET.
Tom Dunkel's SAFE Method: Vetting Every Deal Before You Invest
If you are within three feet of Ed Mathews, you are probably talking about real estate. This week the conversation is with Tom Dunkel, managing principal at Eagle Capital Investments, and it is a clinic in how to vet a deal before a dollar leaves your account. Tom has been a full-time investor for two decades. Over that span he has raised more than $50 million in private capital from a network of investors who lean on his experience to place money into alternatives most people never see: mu...
Jun 16
40 min
B-Class Property, A-Class Management: The Short-Term Rental Edge with Tim Hubbard
Short-term rentals are supposed to be the most hands-on asset class in real estate. Tim Hubbard runs hundreds of them across the U.S. and multiple countries—without ever being on the ground. Tim is the CEO and co-founder of Corzly, the virtual management company he built after 16 years of operating his own short-term rental portfolio from outside California, then outside the U.S. entirely. His team handles pricing, listings, guest communication, and back-end operations across Eastern Europe...
Jun 9
28 min
From X Games Gold to 3,300 Multifamily Units with Dan Brisse
What does it take for a professional snowboarder, six X Games appearances, gold and silver medals, fifteen years on tour, to land in real estate? For Dan Brisse, the answer was watching the guys five and ten years ahead of him lose their houses, their cars, and worse. That was the wake-up call. While most of his peers spent every pay raise on the biggest house they could buy, Dan was reading books and buying apartments. By the time his snowboarding career ended, he had 70-some units already p...
Jun 2
42 min
Real Estate Hustle vs. Real Estate Business with JB Thibodeaux
JB Thibodeaux grew up in Acres Homes in Houston and is a third-generation carpenter and concrete specialist who turned that craft into a vertically-integrated real estate development business. His firms, J.B. Thibodeaux Homes & Properties, CCB Construction LLC, and CCB General Contractors LLC, have led over $100 million in projects across mass development, pocket development, and affordable housing infill. This year, the Houston market crowned him the "Duplex King." In this episode, Ed an...
May 26
42 min
400 1031s, Zero Failures: The Senior-Care Niche Hiding in Plain Sight with Dan Ihara
Dan Ihara has sold over $1 billion of real estate, moved 1,600+ units, and completed 400+ 1031 exchanges—without failing a single one. And he built the whole thing around a niche almost no operator talks about: senior-care real estate. In this episode, Dan and Ed get into the demographic inevitability that drives his business (“should we all be blessed to live long enough, we’re going to need some level of care”), why 1031 exchanges fail for everyone else but never for him, and his definition...
May 19
29 min
Internet Isn't a Tenant Cost...It's an NOI Lever - with Adam Bell
Most multifamily operators treat internet as a tenant problem or a cost line they grumble about. Adam Bell, Founder and CEO of Internet Subway, says they're leaving real money on the table. Adam runs a modern ISP focused exclusively on apartment communities. His company delivers fiber-to-the-unit (FTTU) in bulk to property owners, who pass it to residents as an included utility and capture the rent spread. Industry data shows 5 to 15% NOI uplift on well-executed bulk deployments. The math alo...
May 12
29 min
Plan A, B, and C: Buy More Land with Brandon Cobb
Brandon Cobb's business model is simple: take farmland, get it approved for housing, and sell it to national home builders like Lennar and DR Horton. The builders have no choice but to buy. They're publicly traded. Plan A is buy land and build houses. Plan B is buy more land and build more houses. There is no Plan C that doesn't involve buying land. Brandon returns to Real Estate Underground to break down how HPG Capital creates new housing neighborhoods in Nashville, why he stopped building...
May 5
46 min
It's Not Gambling, It's Building: A Billion-Dollar CRE Playbook with Ben Reinberg
Ben Reinberg has done over $1 billion in commercial real estate transactions. He didn't get there chasing returns. He got there by treating CRE as what it actually is: a hard asset that produces cash flow, not a bet. Ben is the Founder and CEO of Alliance CGC, where he's built one of the most respected portfolios in the country, with deep focus on net-leased properties and medical office buildings. In this episode, Ben and Ed cover: - Why medical office is recession-resistant in any market...
Apr 28
34 min
Obscurity is the Enemy: AI, Marketing, and the Operator's Edge with Clay Lehman
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 ...
Apr 21
42 min
123% Leverage and the Crash That Changed Everything with Joel Kraut
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 Midwes...
Apr 14
52 min
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