Webinar Recap: Cristina Franco on Lending, Liability, and Why Clean Books Close Deals

I sat down with Cristina Franco from Opt-In Lending. Cristina isn’t just in lending. She’s spent decades as a real estate operator, landlord, and now works in pre-litigation mediation dealing with probate, divorce, inheritance disputes, and the real mess investors eventually face.

Her message was simple and blunt:

If you don’t know your numbers, and you can’t prove them, real estate will humble you.

That’s exactly where bookkeeping automation, document organization, and AI software for real estate stop being “nice to have” and start being non-negotiable.

From More Doors to Less Liability

Cristina built a sizable rental portfolio over the years, then intentionally shifted toward owner financing later in her career.

Why?

Because scaling rentals also scales liability:

Repairs
Nonpayment
Evictions
Insurance renewals
Rising property taxes

Her math was straightforward. Property taxes alone become a massive drag at scale. Moving into owner-financed notes reduced hands-on risk while preserving income.

The takeaway wasn’t “copy my strategy.”
It was match your strategy to your season of life.

The Hidden Costs That Kill Deals

Cristina stressed something many investors gloss over:
the purchase price is only the beginning.

She called out two silent deal killers:

HOAs
Fines, violations, and penalties stack fast and quietly erode cash flow.

MUD taxes
They look manageable until refinancing or qualifying for the next loan becomes impossible.

If your margins are thin, these costs corner you into deals that “work on paper” but block growth.

Lending Reality: Guessing Is Expensive

Cristina broke down what actually costs investors money:

Points
Origination fees
Holding costs
Insurance
Taxes
Transaction fees

DSCR loans can work, but often at higher cost.
Bridge and transactional funding solve problems, but money always has a price.
Adjustable rates do adjust, and many investors underestimate how fast things change.

Her advice wasn’t anti-debt. It was:

Stop guessing. Start calculating.

Because if you’re not tracking these cleanly, your “profit” is just a feeling.

Why Deals Fall Apart Without Clean Records

Cristina now sees real estate disputes up close in mediation, especially probate.

Families assume equity equals cash.
Then reality shows up:

Title issues
Liens
Judgments
Legal fees
Closing costs

Without organized documents, nobody trusts the numbers.
When documents are scattered, emotions rise and deals stall.

This is where document management and bookkeeping automation matter most.
If the paperwork isn’t clean, decision-making stops.

The Real Theme: Numbers You Can Prove

Cristina repeated one truth all session:

Cash flow first. You can’t eat equity.

Being “paper rich and cash poor” is how investors get trapped — especially when taxes, insurance, and poor planning pile up.

The real takeaway:

If your business isn’t documented, it isn’t real to lenders, partners, courts, or the IRS.

Where AI Bookkeeping Software for Real Estate Fits

Most investors don’t fail because they’re lazy.
They fail because everything is scattered:

Receipts in text messages
Invoices buried in email
Bank transactions with no context
Photos stuck in a camera roll
“I’ll organize it later”

Later becomes tax season panic.

A real system should:

Connect transactions to receipts and HUDs
Separate properties and entities cleanly
Track points, fees, and holding costs accurately
Produce numbers you can send to a lender without scrambling

That’s the lane Carbon Copi is built for:
connecting documents and dollars so your financial story holds up under scrutiny.

No hype. Just structure.

Practical Next Steps (Do This Now)

If you’re actively investing:

Stop commingling personal and property expenses
Create property-level folders (Acquisition, Rehab, Operations, Exit)
Save every receipt, invoice, lien waivers, any document especially financial one's
Track lending costs like rehab line items
Use a system that stays current, not once a year

Because when it’s time to refinance, raise capital, or scale, the first question is always:

“Show me the numbers.”

And the second question decides everything:

“Can you prove them?”