In this week’s episode of That Real Estate Tech Guy, Jordan Samuel Fleming sits down with Daniil Kleyman, founder of Rehab Valuator and seasoned real estate developer. Daniil shares how his own struggles analyzing deals and raising private money pushed him to build a platform that helps investors avoid the most common (and expensive) rehab mistakes—like miscalculating renovation scope, underestimating the true cost of capital, and relying on generic formulas that don’t reflect real project details.

Jordan and Daniil dig into how Rehab Valuator’s deal analysis, lender-ready funding packages, nationwide property data, rental and sales comps, and customizable rehab templates help both new and experienced investors make smarter decisions. Daniil also offers practical advice: adopt tech one tool at a time, rely on accurate numbers, and remember that signing up for software isn’t the same as doing the work. A great episode for anyone serious about leveling up their rehabbing or development game.

About Tony Javier

Daniil Kleyman oversees several Richmond, VA–based companies that operate across the real estate and development space.

His software company, True Vision Analytics, builds tools for real estate analytics, marketing, capital raising, and project management. Their flagship platform, Rehab Valuator, is used by wholesalers, rehabbers, builders, developers, and brokers throughout the US and internationally.

He also leads Evolve Development, a real estate investment and development firm focused on ground-up infill multifamily and mixed-use projects. The company currently has approximately $80 million in active developments in the Richmond market and internally manages all assets through its own property management operation.

His areas of expertise include real estate acquisition, development, and redevelopment, real estate analytics, and online marketing.

Important Links

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Website: https://rehabvaluator.com/

Hello and welcome to this episode of That Real Estate Tech Guy. I’m your host, Jordan Samuel Fleming, chairman and co-founder of smrtPhone. Today’s episode was an absolutely fun conversation with Daniil Kleyman from Rehab Valuator.

Unbeknownst to me, we share an affinity for Eastern Europe since I live here and he’s from there as well. We dove into the areas that Rehab Valuator tackles as software, including how to accurately scope a rehab deal, common mistakes people make like not counting hard-money loans properly or fully understanding costs, and how failing to assemble a complete investment package can make you think you’re making a ton of money, only to end up in debt after paying off your loans.

It’s really easy to do that in the rehab world. I’ve seen it and heard it. We explore Daniil’s journey as an investor and how professionalizing his own business led him to create software that can properly analyze deals, pull together funding packages and prospectuses, and give you the nitty-gritty details you need to be a successful rehabber. We also talk about those “unsexy” bits, the line items and details that truly make or break a project. In rehabbing especially, the devil is in the details.

Daniil has a great way of diving into this. He’s built a tool with a free plan you can check out right away, useful for rehabbers and wholesalers alike. Have a good listen.

Welcome to the podcast! Apologies if the name wasn’t pronounced exactly right earlier.

It’s Daniil Kleyman. I don’t live in Poland, but I grew up in Russia, not super far from you. I grew up in Moscow. Now I live in Richmond, Virginia with my family, my wife and three fairly young, energetic kids. They’re a lot of fun.

I’ve been in real estate and software since I got kicked to the curb from my corporate job in 2008. It was wonderful, they put me out of my misery. I got into real estate, and it’s been an interesting journey. I’m happy to talk about that.

Right now my real estate business primarily consists of ground-up development. We build apartment buildings and mixed-use properties, Class A, high-end projects that I hold in my portfolio. A lot of what I do is urban infill. Mixed-use is my passion, neighborhood businesses on the ground floor, apartments above, walkable and attractive buildings that make the neighborhoods more vibrant. On the side, we also build for-sale housing.

I also have a software company called Rehab Valuator. (We’re even redesigning our shirts because every podcast I end up pointing at my chest like I’m about to flash someone. Highly inappropriate. We also tried QR codes that no one would scan for obvious reasons.)

As an aside, I’ve been to Moscow, and I once took the train from Moscow to Murmansk through St. Petersburg, up through Karelia, all the way north. It was January 2007, absolutely freezing, and a 32-hour ride. Intense.

Trains are great, café car, real Russian food, maybe a little vodka if that’s your thing.

The connection glitched for a moment, apologies. I’m excited to talk for a number of reasons. This podcast is about exploring real estate investment tech. Every investor needs and thrives on technology, but there isn’t enough understanding or visibility. That’s why I started the show.

Let’s start with what drove you to build your system. What problem were you solving? Then we’ll dive into what it does and how it helps.

I created it for my own business. My pain points were twofold when I started, deal analysis and securing private money. That’s where the software began, analysis for wholesale, fix-and-flip, and BRRRR deals (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat). I also needed something credible to put in front of private lenders. I had little experience, not much credibility, and I wasn’t bankable. If I went to a bank, they’d escort me out (maybe not politely).

So I needed materials that made private individuals feel comfortable lending short-term, something showing I understood the numbers, the deal structure, and what lenders care about, protecting principal and getting paid back. Originally the software focused on analysis and funding proposals. To this day, in my view, we do that better than anyone, for private lenders and banks. Now, we and our clients use it worldwide to secure construction loans, even $20M+, using the software.

Since then we’ve added a lot, nationwide property and owner data in the U.S. (mortgage history, sale history, characteristics, linked properties, motivation flags). We just rolled out an update where, if I look up your address, I can see other properties you own, loans on them, purchase dates, foreclosures, motivation factors, and so on. We’ve overlaid comparable sales (nationwide) and rental comps so you can price ARVs and rents accurately.

We also built a project management component: renovation budget templates with all your typical costs, scheduling, tracking, accounting, lender draws, and simple construction management.

Our space has lots of CRMs, lead-gen tools, and data providers. We chose to play the other side. Once you have a lead, our software helps with research, analysis, and exit strategy (wholesale, flip, or hold), and for new construction, zoning and what you can build, through funding and project management.

Many investors start with wholesaling due to lower capital needs, then move into rehabs. Some do well; many do their first rehab badly. The ability to understand the numbers and present a credible package is something new investors often lack, and even as you scale, it’s critical. Access to capital gets even more important when you run multiple deals; you need relationships and credibility.

Exactly. We still focus heavily on that. And we’ve massively improved the front-end data to make offer decisions and exit strategies more accurate.

Quick mid-roll: smrtPhone, the only phone system built for real estate investors, connects to best-in-class REI CRMs. As it’s my show and I’m co-founder and chairman, I’ve got deals for you: 5,000 free calling minutes with smrtPhone. Click, call, and close more leads. Back to the show.

What I love is you can “catch the ball” from any CRM or lead-gen tool. CRMs may pretend to be project management for “to contract,” but they’re not for renovation or new-build execution. Some customers track calls with contractors in smrtPhone, get daily photo or video updates, and push to their CRM, even though they’re jerry-rigging it. They use a spreadsheet for rehab details and a lead-gen CRM for contacts. When you miss details, you lose money.

If someone is just starting rehabs, what are the biggest mistakes?

Two things: not understanding the scope and underestimating the cost of capital. People base offers on formulas that ignore or understate money costs. If you borrow at, say, 3 to 4 points and 10 to 12 percent interest, and it takes a year to pay off, your money may cost close to 20 percent. Many don’t account for that. We solve this by modeling money costs directly. If you enter numbers properly, the analysis reflects true financing costs. There’s no quicker way to get wiped out than thinking you’re making money and discovering after payoff that you didn’t, especially with hard-money structures where payments or points are back-loaded.

People also treat analysis like an abstraction, not property-specific. They assume an ARV and go from there. But the specifics and details are what kill you.

Same with ground-up projects. It’s the small missed items that narrow margins. Our constant effort is better checklists and analytics so we stop repeating mistakes.

On the back end, the platform also helps wholesalers market deals.

Yes, marketing packages for wholesalers to get deals sold. We don’t handle retail marketing of a renovated house; at that point, hire a realtor. We take you to project completion where you either rent it or sell it.

A feature worth calling out is project-specific cost templates. If I always replace windows, carpet, and paint, I can build a scope with typical costs (for example, windows at $400 each) and save it as a “cosmetic reno” template. Next time, I press a button, the scope and costs pre-populate, and I just update quantities (20 windows, 1,000 square feet of carpet, 2,000 square feet of paint). It makes budgets predictable, saves time, and keeps you out of trouble.

Balancing features with simplicity is hard but critical. We just launched a redesign; we’ll see how it goes.

Three rapid questions:

1. Biggest mistake with REI tech?
   Running targeted direct mail manually for too long, printing letters and licking stamps. I should’ve adopted tools to automate repeatable mailings years earlier.
2. Best advice for integrating tech?
   One tool at a time. Like habit stacking. Make sure each tool has a place, learn it deeply, extract value, then add the next. If you try many at once, you’ll quit.
3. For a brand-new rehabber, which tech categories to start with (not brands)?

• A deal analysis and budgeting tool so real costs and money costs are accounted for.
• Basic communication tools like text, email, and phone. You don’t need heavy project management for one or two jobs.
• Reliable data and comps access so your ARVs and rent comps are accurate.

People often think signing up for tools equals doing deals. It doesn’t. Start simple and do the work.

How to get started and learn more: there’s a completely free version of Rehab Valuator, feature-limited but full deal analysis. Visit rehabvaluator.com to sign up free. Easy to find on social too: @rehabvaluator on Instagram and YouTube, with lots of long-form educational content on development.

We’ll put those links in the show notes. Check out Daniil and Rehab Valuator, a fantastic tool with a free plan. Thanks so much for joining us.

Thank you. Great to talk with a fellow Eastern European by adoption!

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