When most people hear “franchise,” they think fast food. Jon Ostenson thinks bigger — and quieter. In this episode, host Jim Remley sits down with the CEO and founder of FranBridge Consulting, who calls himself “a real estate broker, but for franchises,” to unpack the world of non-food franchising and why it’s become a favorite diversification play for real estate investors.

Jon breaks down the “boring” businesses quietly throwing off cash — property services, home services, senior mobility, B2B niches — why “non-sexy is the new sexy,” and how the executive (semi-absentee) model lets you own a business without running it day to day. We also cover what it really costs to get in, the misconceptions that trip people up, the red flags to watch for, and the tax advantages that pair so well with real estate.

👉 Free resources & Jon’s book “Nonfood Franchising”: FranBridgeConsulting.com

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Most agents didn’t get into real estate to chase signatures and send follow-up emails at midnight — but that’s what the job has become. In this episode, host Robert Kennedy III sits down with Kristen Thompson and Michelle Schubert, co-founders of Subi, the AI-powered transaction platform built on one idea: let the robot do what the robot can do, so the human can be human.

They break down how Subi turns ~an hour of post-contract admin into about two minutes — reading the purchase agreement (even California’s 160-page version), loading every contingency and deadline onto your calendar, dropping documents into your TMS, and drafting your escrow and client emails for you to approve. We also get into why the future of software is “no dashboards,” what an agent’s job looks like in three years, and a first look at Cadet — their crowdsourced AI skills engine.

👉 Learn more about Subi: oksubi.com

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Commercial real estate brokers are still driving around neighborhoods looking for properties. In 2026. Doug Sullinger — 30 years at Oracle, IBM, and Dun & Bradstreet — watched it happen and built Basil AI to fix it.

Basil is an agentic AI platform that covers every parcel in the United States with 150-200 verified data points. Brokers type in what they're looking for, and the platform returns the best sites with feasibility scores and financial underwriting — in minutes.

In this interview, you'll learn:

• Why commercial brokers are still "driving the market" — and why that's about to end

• How intent data generated 4 offers from 100 contacts in 2 days

• How Basil covers every US parcel with 150-200 verified, multi-source data points

• Why open AI models pulling from the internet can't compete with proprietary cleansed data

• The Georgia Tech partnership training the next generation of CRE brokers

• How a broker with 9 months of experience closed a $5M industrial deal using Basil

• Where AI in commercial real estate is headed — LOI creators, OM builders, CRM integration

"One tank of gas can pay for a month of Basil. There's your ROI — just from not driving around."

Try Basil AI: basil.ai

Free trial available — use it on your first deal

🏠 Icons of Real Estate delivers proven strategies from the world's top producers.

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At 33, AJ Osborne became a quadriplegic overnight. He lost his job, his mobility, and nearly everything — except his self-storage portfolio. That passive income saved his family.

From his wheelchair, AJ built companies worth over $100 million in storage assets. Today he operates 3M+ net rentable square feet across 12 states through Cedar Creek Capital and Self Storage Income.

In this interview, you'll learn:

• How passive income from self storage saved AJ's family during paralysis

• Why self storage is a business, not just real estate — and why the system IS the asset

• Why the best buying window since 2010 is happening right now

• How beginners can start for the cost of a duplex with SBA loans and seller financing

• The three things that transform any underperforming facility immediately

• How technology and third-party management have removed the operator barrier

• How to invest alongside AJ through Cedar Creek Capital

"The system is the asset. You don't need huge capex to change the value. Buy an asset with no system, install one, and capture the money being left on the table."

Invest with AJ: cedarcreekcapital.com

Learn self storage: selfstorageincome.com

AJ Osborne on YouTube and social media

🏠 Icons of Real Estate delivers proven strategies from the world's top producers.

📩 Want to be a guest? Reach out at https://iconsofrealestate.com/

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In the world's most competitive real estate market — 79,000 agents, the largest board on the planet — 85% of agents did zero deals last year.

Tyler McLay is a third-generation agent who earned seven figures by his early twenties and now coaches agents through Rex Coaching. His system delivers 2-3 deals from a client's existing database in the first 90 days.

In this interview, you'll learn:

• Why 85% of agents fail and authority is the root cause

• The 1-7 tagging system that turns cold contacts into clients one step at a time

• Why Tyler hates scripts and uses real-time client profiling instead

• Habit stacking: the Monday morning routine that compounds over time

• The "What, So What, Now What" framework for building instant authority

• Why campaigns beat events — and how to build systems that maintain momentum

• What separates seven-figure agents from the rest: inputs over outputs

"A win is having the opportunity to call someone again tomorrow. We're so focused on the outcome, we're not focused on the input."

Connect with Tyler McLay: @rexcoaching on Instagram | rexcoaching.com

@mcley.re on Instagram for real estate content

🏠 Icons of Real Estate delivers proven strategies from the world's top producers.

📩 Want to be a guest? Reach out at https://iconsofrealestate.com/

📱 Follow Icons of Real Estate:

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

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Most investors are leaving capital on the table — not because it isn't there, but because their loan officer doesn't know how to get it out.

In this episode, we sit down with Ben Stef, founder of Funding Freedom and mortgage loan advisor through Nexa Mortgage. Ben specializes in the creative financing tools most traditional lenders won't touch: DSCR loans, second-position rental equity lines, and programs that let investors keep scaling without refinancing, without waiting, and without giving up the low rates they locked in.

He grew from $40K to over $250K a year — largely through YouTube — and built his entire brand around making complicated financing accessible to everyday investors.

In this interview, you'll learn:

• What a DSCR loan is and why it's the ultimate tool for scaling an investment portfolio

• How second-position equity lines close in 1-2 weeks on LLC-held properties (where traditional banks won't go)

• The defense-first framework for qualifying: credit, assets, and reserves before you invest

• Why Rocket, Guaranteed Rate, and other big lenders don't offer these programs — and what that means for investors

• How to vet a loan officer: the one question that reveals if they've actually done the deal

• The right-now money vs. next-year money framework for agents and lenders building their brand

• How Ben went from $40-50K to $250K+ per year by posting YouTube videos nobody watched for two years

"Can you work in the dark without anyone cheering you on? That's the question that determines whether you actually build something."

Find Ben Stef: Search "Ben Stef Funding Freedom" on YouTube or visit his Substack for weekly creative financing breakdowns.

🏠 Icons of Real Estate delivers proven strategies from the world's top producers to help agents, brokers, and investors grow their authority and close more deals.

📩 Want to be a guest or sponsor the show? Reach out at https://iconsofrealestate.com/

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If you own a brokerage and you're struggling to recruit or retain agents, there's a good chance you're making the same mistake 99% of broker-owners make: you're pitching people instead of building relationships.

In this episode, we sit down with Jim Remley — founder of eRealEstateCoach.com and former owner of the largest independent real estate company in Oregon. Jim started in real estate at 19, listed over 150 homes in a single year by 20, and went on to build a brokerage empire spanning 17 offices before building another company from 38 agents to three offices and $1.4 billion in sales.

He now coaches broker-owners across the country on the only two things that actually drive brokerage growth: recruiting and retention.

In this interview, you'll learn:

• Why the classic recruiting call gets you ghosted — and what to say instead

• What "no recruiting recruiting" looks like in practice (and why it works)

• Why push-button recruiting only attracts the agents you don't want

• How to re-recruit your existing team before someone else steals them

• The 2P Principle — how to set standards from day one and actually enforce them

• Why competing on commission splits is a death sentence for broker-owners

• The five daily non-negotiables that separate leaders who scale from those who stall

• When to fire an agent — and why it actually builds your culture

"When you decided to own a brokerage, you said to yourself — whether you realize it or not — my number one job is now a recruiter. That's your number one job."

Connect with Jim Remley: https://erealestatecoach.com

Free discovery call, webinars, and podcast available on site.

🏠 Icons of Real Estate delivers proven strategies from the world's top producers to help agents, brokers, and investors grow their authority and close more deals.

📩 Want to be a guest or sponsor the show? Reach out at https://iconsofrealestate.com/

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Everyone in real estate tech is building CRMs, lead gen tools, and marketing platforms. But who’s solving the actual chaos that happens after the offer is signed?

In this episode, we sit down with Karan Khanna, product manager and co-founder of ListedKit AI, the venture studio-backed platform behind Ava—an AI transaction coordinator that has already powered over 2,000 transactions across all 50 states. Karan is 25 years old, and this is his first major venture. But the results speak for themselves: TCs going from 30 to 50 deals a month, solo agents managing their own deals without a TC, and teams collaborating with Ava like she’s another member of the roster.

In this interview, you’ll learn:

• Why nobody in PropTech was solving transaction coordination—and how ListedKit found the gap

• How Ava reads your contract, calculates state-specific timelines, and maps compliance in minutes

• Why starting with the hardest users first (independent TCs in California & Hawaii) was the smartest move

• The biggest lesson: let AI augment your process, not reinvent it

• The pay-as-you-go pricing model ($10/deal, no monthly fees, credits never expire)

• Where AI still can’t replace humans: legal review, compliance sign-off, and data-sensitive communications

• The roadmap: inbox integration, texting Ava, and autonomous proactive deal management

AI is not going to take your job. An agent using AI is going to take your job.

Try ListedKit AI: https://listedkit.com (L-I-S-T-E-D-K-I-T.com)

Book a demo with Karan directly on the site

🏠 Icons of Real Estate delivers proven strategies from the world’s top producers to help agents, brokers, and investors grow their authority and close more deals.

📩 Want to be a guest or sponsor the show? Reach out at https://iconsofrealestate.com/

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