Design-Build Firm serving homeowners in Washington, DC, Bethesda, Chevy Chase MD | Architecture | NGage Properties Group
NGAGE PROPERTIES GROUP PRESENTS
THE FIRESIDE CHAT SERIES
The riskiest money in your portfolio might be the money doing nothing at all. "Scared money doesn't make money." — Ben Balser, Episode 2 of The Fireside Series
Architecture | Financial Strategy | Tax Strategy | Design-Build
| ABOUT THE SERIES
The Fireside Series began with a simple belief: the conversations that shape extraordinary homes shouldn't happen behind closed doors. As a licensed general contractor, certified interior designer, founder and CEO of NGage Properties Group, Nicole Butler sits at the intersection of architecture, design, and construction every day. This series opens that room — bringing you into unguarded, in-depth conversations with architects, financial strategists, tax strategists, and the experts who think about great homes at the highest level.
No talking points. No sales pitch. Just the conversation you wish you’d had before you built.
| EPISODE 2 - FINANCIAL STRATEGIES
what a Senior Loan officer and private Lending Strategist has to say about funding your renovations
1hr · Ben Balser, Senior Loan Officer and Private Lending Strategist · Filmed at The Ritz-Carlton, Washington D.C.
In Episode 2 of this unique and exclusive Fireside Chat Series, brought to you by NGage Properties Group, Founder and CEO Nicole Butler sits down with mortgage strategist and private lending expert Ben Balser, filmed live at The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C., for an unfiltered conversation about home equity, capital gains exclusion thresholds, tax strategy, and why the renovation decisions you make today can change your financial position for years to come.
Ben Balser, mortgage strategist and private lending expert, sits down with Nicole Butler, Founder and CEO of NGage Properties Group, filmed live at The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C., in front of an intimate group of invited guests. They cover the home equity blind spot most homeowners don't discover until it's too late, how a HELOC can let your home help fund “its” own renovation, and how the capital gains exclusion actually works. For real estate investors, the conversation goes further — into accelerated depreciation and cost segregation, and why those strategies matter even more once you're renovating across multiple properties. This is not a highlight reel. It's the real conversation.
| EPISODE 1 - ARCHITECTURE
what a World-Renowned Architect Really thinks About How Homes Are Designed
45 minutes · Travis Price, FAIA · Filmed at the Travis Price Residence, Washington D.C.
In Episode 1 of this unique and exclusive Fireside Chat Series, brought to you by NGage Properties Group, Founder and CEO, Nicole Butler sits down with award-winning architect Travis Price, FAIA and Principal of Travis Price Architects and Kelly Davies Grace, AIA, Managing Partner for an unfiltered conversation about luxury design, the architect-builder relationship, and what great homes actually require.
Travis Price, FAIA — Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and one of the most decorated architects in the country and Kelly Grace, Managing Principal, Travis Price Architects — sits down with Nicole Butler, Founder and CEO of NGage Properties Group, at his private residence for a candid, 45-minute conversation.
They cover the brutal truths of the design-build process, what AI is getting wrong about architecture, why authentic residential design is increasingly rare, and what a world-class architect actually looks for when he walks a job site. This is not a highlight reel. It's the real conversation.
| HOST AND FEATURED FIRESIDE CHAT GUESTS
Travis Price, FAIA
Principal, Travis Price Architects
Award-winning Architect, Professor and best selling Author. Five decades of architectural practice spanning private residences and international cultural projects. Among a small number of architects nationally to hold the FAIA designation.
Kelly Davies Grace, AIA
Managing Principal, Travis Price Architects
Ben Balser
Senior Loan Officer & Private Lending Strategist · Potomac Trust Mortgage Company
His experience as a mortgage loan originator began in 2004 and has worked as a direct lender, mortgage banker and broker.
Nicole Butler
Founder & CEO, NGage Properties Group Licensed GC · Interior Designer
Built NGage Properties Group around one conviction: design, construction, and interior expertise should never be separated. Featured in Architectural Digest, FOX 5 D.C., and Lifetime TV's Designing Spaces.
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| ALL EPISODES
EP. 1 ARCHITECTURE
Travis Price, FAIA
The design-build relationship, authenticity in residential design, and what great homes actually require.
EP. 3 COMING SOON
Already recorded!!
EP. 2 FINANCIAL STRATEGIES
Ben Balser
The design-build relationship, authenticity in residential design, and what great homes actually require.
Be the first to know when the next episode drops.
New guests. New disciplines. The conversations that matter before you build.