Season 3, Episode 2: Riding the Waves of Real Estate: A Conversation with Rida Sharaf
SoCal Roots, Desert Detours & a 30-Year REO Platform
- Dana Point upbringing – Pre-class dawn-patrol, surf-team letterman, dolphin mascot pride.
- ASU years – Swapped swell for saguaros; curiosity for real-estate finance ignited.
- Escrow immersion – Learned every clause, lien & prorate while the ’06–’07 market overheated (peek-a-boo-view condos at $1.2 M!).
- 2008 pivot to USRES / RES.NET – Joined a 50-person shop that ballooned to 400 as REO volumes exploded.
- Three business lines today
- Portfolio Valuations – Non-lending BPOs/evals for investors.
- REO Asset Management – Field services + liquidation.
- RES.NET SaaS – End-to-end case-management portals (loss-mit, deed-in-lieu, short sale).
Why the NPAS Merger Makes Sense
- Shared culture – Customer-first, boutique-service DNA.
- Complementary lanes – NPAS dominates origination; USRES dominates servicing/distress. Together = “nose-to-tail” collateral care.
- Joint mission 2025 – Educate lenders/servicers that one partner can solve valuations, REO, alt-val, STR Pro—and everything between.
Conversation Cheat-Sheet
TL;DR – Episode 2 Takeaways
- Peek-a-boo $1.2 M condos? Rida saw ’06 froth and jumped to the servicing side before ’08 hit.
- USRES x NPAS now spans origination valuations, STR Pro, alt-vals and REO/field services.
- Customer-first + boutique service = 15-year client stickiness.
- Surfboards beat snowboards; sardines beat…well, anything?
- Free-diving for 180-lb tuna is cool—just keep Charlie on shore with his nunchucks.
🎧 Full episode stream: rss.com/podcasts/valunation/1699369
📸 Follow on IG/TikTok for road-trip & surf-team outtakes: @valunationpodcast