Many of our readers rely on Pensford to stay up to date on the latest in interest rates. Likewise, we have go-to sources that we rely on for material. Here are some of our favorite sources, each of which are immensely more qualified than us in their respective fields. If you’ve never heard of any one of these, we can’t speak highly enough of them and would strongly urge you to check them out.
Economics and Research
- Neil Dutta - Head of Economic Research at RenMac and a name frequently seen on Bloomberg, CNBC, WSJ, and many others. One of our all-time favorite economists, particularly for his research on employment and inflation.
- Bloomberg’s Anna Wong, Ira Jersey, Edward Bolingbroke - A trio of economists at Bloomberg we turn to without fail for trusted insights on the path of monetary policy and the U.S. economy. They’ve got the fancy degrees and experience but more importantly the consistent, sound analysis to back ‘em.
- SMBC’s Troy Ludtka - Senior U.S. Economist at SMBC and a regular writer of clear and to-the-punch U.S. macro breakdowns.
- The Fed - With a special shout out to Adam Shapiro for his research at the San Fran office.
- New Century Advisors’ Claudia Sahm - Formerly the Chief Economist at the Fed and in the Obama Administration, Sahm is a rock-solid economist - she even has a rule named after her; the “Sahm Rule” has been a strong recession indicator since she crafted it in 2019.
- Macropolicy Perspectives’ Julia Coronado - President and founder of MPP and another former Federal Reserve economist (can you see the trend by now?). You've probably seen her on Bloomberg or CNBC.
- Wells Fargo Eco Team - Their monthly economic outlooks (and most recently, their 2026 outlook) are completely free and a must read balance of data, macro analysis, and forecasting. Great, broad resource for anybody in the world of real estate.
- Peter Berezin - Chief Global Strategist at BCA Research and a regular commentator across the finance media sphere on all things U.S. economy.
- The Kobeissi Letter - One of the leading voices in global capital markets analysis, they recently hit 1.2M followers on X, where they share quick, data-driven insights. Their paid newsletter breaks down global markets with a specific focus on the S&P, oil, gas, gold, and treasuries and has launched the founder, Adam Kobeissi, into a position of influence on Wall Street.
Online Presence
- CRE Analyst - They teach highly effective CRE classes that we send 5-10 of our own to take each year as a part of training. However, that’s not the only reason they’re on our favorites list - their LinkedIn is home to a weekly “Quick Hits” newsletter and short, digestible case studies from every corner of the CRE industry. They have over 100,000 followers for a reason.
- StripMallGuy - A blend between strip mall guru, social media star, and mentor to the next generation of CRE studs, StripMallGuy (AKA Don Tepman) brings a mix of real estate knowledge, career advice, and life stories to social media for his 300k+ audience across X and LinkedIn.
- Hue Chen - President of Saglo Companies, sharing retail industry insights across LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Spotify as he manages shopping centers across the Southeast.
Podcasts
- The Promote - One of the most popular pods in the space, bringing a fresh spin to discussions of deals, trends, and stories across the industry.
- The Rent Roll - Another great listen hosted by rental housing economist Jay Parsons. He brings on top guests each week to discuss everything rental housing.
- The Memo - Howard Marks’ notorious memos for the CRE industry carry similar weight to Buffett’s memos in the equity investing space. He’s been writing them for 35 years, and the founder of Oaktree Capital’s track record makes his thoughtful breakdowns of economics, government policy, and real estate trends a gold standard in our space.
Books
- The Coming Wave - The best book right now to learn about AI’s future - the opportunities, the risks, and everything in between written by Mustafa Suleyman, the current leader of Microsoft’s AI efforts.
- The Exponential Age - Another must read if you want to know how technology has and will continue to affect our world written by Azeem Azhar, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor.
Favorite AI
- Claude - Accurate, complex calculations
- Claude for Excel turns anyone into an Excel guru
- ChatGPT - General use and creative problems or writing
- Grok - Image generation
- Notebook LM - Organization and collaboration
- Ohai - Notifications and calendar management