SPEAKING & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
John Edmead at the 2026 Central Florida Real Estate Forum
Mortgage experience met artificial intelligence at a multidisciplinary forum for real estate, valuation, lending, law, academia, and technology.
THE APPEARANCE
A Mortgage Practitioner’s View of AI
John Edmead was a featured speaker at the 14th Annual Central Florida Real Estate Forum on September 16, 2026. The printed program identified him as a Central Florida mortgage professional with nearly 30 years of experience and as the creator of Pepe the Prestamista™.
John’s presentation focused on a practical question: how does artificial intelligence shape a homebuyer’s understanding, expectations, and decisions before that buyer ever speaks with a human mortgage professional?
His perspective comes from originating mortgages since 1997 and from building Pepe the Prestamista™, an educational mortgage guide available through LenderPepe.com. Pepe is designed to explain mortgage concepts in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. It is educational only: it does not quote rates, approve loans, or replace a licensed mortgage professional.
WHY THIS WORK MATTERS
AI Should Clarify the Mortgage Process—Not Pretend to Be the Lender
John’s work sits at the intersection of mortgage practice, multilingual education, and responsible AI. The goal is not to automate a promise. It is to help people arrive at the human conversation better informed and better prepared to ask the right questions.
That distinction guides Pepe the Prestamista™: education before application, clear boundaries around regulated mortgage activity, and escalation to a licensed professional when a consumer needs individualized guidance.
THE PUBLISHED SPEAKER ROSTER
A Multidisciplinary Real Estate and AI Forum
The printed program listed John Edmead together with leaders from law, artificial intelligence, university real-estate programs, valuation, brokerage, and appraisal.
John Morgan — Founder & Attorney, Morgan & Morgan
Dr. John Licato — Associate Professor, USF Bellini College of AI, Cybersecurity & Computing
Dr. Randy Anderson — Director, Real Estate Programs, USF Muma College of Business
Dr. David Harrison — Professor & Howard Phillips Eminent Scholar Chair in Real Estate, UCF
Justin Gohn, MAI, CRE, SRA — President, Gohn and Company
Yvonne Baker — Executive Director, Brett C. Linguist Real Estate Center, FSU
Kelly Price — Owner, Kelly Price & Company
Shawn Wilson, MAI — Owner, Compass Real Estate Consulting Inc.
Brendan Lynch — Shareholder, Lowndes
Steve Marshall, MAI, AI-GRS — Event Chairman, Host and Moderator
INTERVIEWS, PANELS & SPEAKING
Book John to Discuss Mortgage AI and Hispanic Homeownership
John speaks from nearly three decades in mortgage origination and the experience of building a trilingual mortgage-education platform.