The Walker Webcast · Oct 15, 2026 · 1h 4m · 54m saved
With Willy Walker, Chairman & CEO of Walker & Dunlop
Walker & Dunlop went public at a market cap of about $220 million, the first mortgage-related company to list after the financial crisis, and found few institutional buyers.
Willy Walker, Chairman and CEO of Walker & Dunlop, has asked the questions on The Walker Webcast for 300 episodes. For the 300th, he gave the interviewer's chair to Evan Osnos, a staff writer at The New Yorker, and answered audience questions himself. Most CEO interviews stay on the quarter. This one ran from his divorce and his biggest deal regret to why he would choose a cheaper AI model over a frontier one.
"I didn't realize that the world really did not need a $220 million market cap commercial real estate mortgage company." — Willy Walker
Willy took the company public, ran it through a two-year stretch of high rates and low volume, and has interviewed guests from David Rubenstein to Admiral William McRaven. He says the show has drawn over 30 million views in five years.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 64 minutes of audio, 10 minutes of reading.
Here are the 13 lessons that matter.
Key Takeaways
Clients are moving from a "hope trade" to a "fear trade" on rates
One client is now relieved to have locked a 5.03% 10-year mortgage months ago
Willy would take a cheaper AI model over a frontier one for what Walker & Dunlop needs
He questions whether premium valuations like Anthropic's hold if open models catch up
A 2012 deal had no protection if three key bankers walked, and all three stayed
Willy's biggest regret is a property-brokerage acquisition he judged wrong
Growth came from hard knocks, not smooth periods, starting with the end of his marriage
Low deal volume has kept commercial real estate closed to women and minorities
1. Exercise as Daily Discipline
Evan opened on how Willy organizes his days. Willy traced the answer to a Harvard Business School application essay on "a day in your life."
Willy Walker has kept cardiovascular exercise constant since college lacrosse
"I think back to that when I wrote that, exercise has always been part of my life and has been a key piece of my physical and mental health." — Willy Walker
The habit now has a target. Willy tracks his biological age on WHOOP and is working it down toward the 40s before he turns 60. He also quit drinking this year.
