How are you using AI to manage private lending operations?

Question

Hello!

I’ve been thinking a lot about how AI might actually help in private lending, especially on the day-to-day side of things.

Not in a flashy “replace everything” way, just in practical ways that make the business easier to manage. Things like staying on top of leads, organizing deal notes, drafting follow-ups, or helping move things along faster without dropping the ball.

I’d love to hear how others here are using it, if at all. What’s been useful? What’s been a waste of time?

Just looking to learn from what’s working for other lenders.

Robin Simon · Answer

I personally think all the stuff you mentioned "staying on top of leads, organizing deal notes, drafting follow-ups" is pretty overrated or non-helpful use case of AI right now - lots of CRMS and software already essentially does that (maybe just rebranded as AI) and still a huge need for the personal touch.  Right now, I think AI (and am using AI) pretty much strictly as a tool like helping with video editing, graphic design, coding charts/applications on the website etc - very very helpful, but a different use case than most people are using.  I think AI writing is terrible and harming people who use it more than it helps

Miguel Perez · Answer

We have been optimizing a lot of our deal workflow and loan pipeline CRM inputs using AI. It still needs work but definitely useful in running numbers especially for the more creative deals.

Definitely with you on the sentiment that's it not a fix/replace all but another useful tool in our kit. We are still very much "hands on" and by no means intend on using AI buzzwords to promote ourselves. If there are any major breakthroughs in the future, perhaps. But more than likely, AI will become so ubiquitous that it would be redundant to even mention. Would be happy to chat and share notes, cheers.

Andrea Fernandes · Answer

The follow-up and lead tracking use case is where most operators see the fastest wins — not because it's the flashiest application but because it's the one where dropped balls actually cost deals. Even a simple automated touch point sequence after first contact removes a surprising amount of manual mental load.

What does your current follow-up process look like — mostly manual outreach, or do you have something tracking it already?

Dale Neibert · Answer

We utilize AI to connect investors and lenders to obtain free quotes in a private lending marketplace we built.  The AI takes a simple application the investor fills out and deciphers their criteria matching it to 30+ Direct Capital Providers to obtain and organize free quotes with no credit pull.  Once a satisfactory amount of quotes is obtained the AI sorts the lenders based on the best deal for the investor weighing their criteria in an apples to apples analysis.  Now the investor has options and redundancy to immediately hedge should lender A fail them then they can immed pivot to lender D that also offered a higher LTV with a similar rate and total fees.  Hardly any time is lost.  Traditionally, the investor would start over at square one.

Our AI platform and experienced professionals serve investors either as a free benchmark, a hedge should things go wrong with an outside lender or in 95% of cases it offers investors a tool to obtain best in class Non-QM terms bcse AI is literally pricing the DSCR or Fix and Flip market by way of coverage to obtain the best the market can offer.  The other 5% of deals are typically where lenders are offering special off book deals to operators that can justify the reduced margin bcse they are volume producers.  AI in this case is providing a solution that improve the odds that a rental property investor closes and closes with the best available execution by providing redundancy.

Waruna Y. · Answer

I can answer this from a unique perspective of both real estate and technology. The most effective place AI will help you is based on where you invest the most time.

Some examples:

Website / Marketing

• Beginner (5 min): Drop your existing site copy and marketing material into ChatGPT or Claude and have it rewrite and polish everything.
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• Intermediate (a few hours): Use Claude Code or another codegen tool to rebuild your site so it actually looks better, not just reads better.
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• Advanced (weeks): Real UI design plus automated flows. Someone fills out a form or clicks around, and they instantly get a personalized email or call based on their behavior.

Client Communications

• Beginner (5 min): AI inbox filter that kills spam and surfaces real client messages.
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• Intermediate (a few hours): AI-drafted replies and follow-ups personalized to each client, plus thread summaries so you respond in minutes.
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• Advanced (weeks): Every inbound message classified by borrower intent, with custom responses enriched by live market rates and automated touch points (rate drops, milestone updates, expiring pre-approvals).

Client Self-Service / FAQ

• Beginner (5 min): Use AI to write a solid FAQ page from your most common questions.
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• Intermediate (a few hours): Add a chatbot to your site trained on your FAQ and loan products to answer borrower questions 24/7.
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• Advanced (weeks): A chatbot connected to live data that can quote current rates, check application status, and hand off to you when a lead is hot.

The pattern is the same everywhere: the beginner version saves minutes, the advanced version compounds. Start where you spend the most time. Where I've personally gotten the most use is building all the tools myself but that was only possible because of my software background. Some of my less tech savvy business partners just buy software as well. This requires a bit more discernment though.

You could also just start with the 5 min version across all areas and see which one is most effective. Then double down on it

Happy to dig in more!

Erik Estrada · Answer

AI is really good at doing the stuff that takes a lot of mental strain from you. I use it all the time to look at a conditions list and make it breakdown requests for each party involved. It's not 100% accurate all the time, however it's much easier to check than to do it all yourself.

It also works well for follow ups and marketing news letters. You could tweak it a bit the more you use it, so it does not seem like an AI spam email..

Amir Khan · Answer

I've implemented use of ai tools in the entire spectrum of my real estate investment business and coaching. Specifically for private money raising, I've used ai to build a portal where I connect PMLs with my students. While the functions are quite basic, the core features offered by this ai developed portal has helped us bring in PMLs, and connect them with borrowers.

Also using ai-based tools, I've developed my investor portal, that is one place to create a investor hub for real estate operators. They can then have a gauge on their entire real estate portfolio in one glance. In addition, the portal allows the real estate operator to showcase their deal flow and give access to their PMLs. This portal can also be used for onboarding PMLs, and getting hard commits on their deals.

Another ai app that I have developed (and currently testing), allows my students to find networking/speaking opportunities (virtual or in-person) for raising private money..