Our 2026 newsletter highlights Sage Credit Investment Partners’ continued growth, lending activity, and perspective on today’s private credit and real estate environment. Inside, you’ll find fund performance updates, snapshots of recently funded loans in our portfolio, and insights into how we’re building a disciplined, relationship-driven lending platform.

Jan Brzeski is the Founder and Managing Director of Sage Credit Investment Partners, with decades of experience in real estate direct lending, he is passionate about providing his expertise to help both developers and investors.

Assembling a block of rental properties is a different kind of project than flipping a single house. The scale, the coordination and the exit require a lender who understands what a stabilized multifamily portfolio actually looks like. We financed a $550,000 renovation and refinance loan for an experienced Greensboro-based real estate investor to bring an eight-parcel assemblage of duplexes and a single-family residence to rent-ready condition in the city's Old Asheboro/Southside corridor.

New construction in a supply-constrained submarket rarely comes to market at a discount, but when a developer default forces a lender to take back a nearly finished building, the right buyer can step into a position that took years and millions to create. We provided a $5,950,000 acquisition and renovation loan in West Hollywood to finance the purchase and ADU buildout of a newly completed eight-unit condominium building on Fairfax Avenue.

Jan Brzeski is​ ​a​ ​big​ ​believer​ ​in​ ​the​ ​merit​ ​of​ ​investing​ ​in​ ​senior​ ​secured​ ​real​ ​estate​ ​loans.​ ​At​ ​the​ ​same​ ​time,​ he ​sees​ ​that​ ​some​ ​parts​ ​of​ ​this​ ​market​ ​have​ ​become​ ​frothy.​ ​In​ ​his​ ​latest​ ​article,​ he ​discusses​ ​some​ ​recent​ ​data​ ​points​ ​that​ ​likely​ ​point​ ​to​ ​future​ ​problems​ ​for​ ​the​ ​most​ ​aggressive​ ​lenders.

In April 2026, Sage Credit hosted its second annual real estate event in Durham, bringing together more than 100 professionals for an evening of networking and two panel discussions on building and investing in the Triangle. This page includes a summary of what was discussed, along with photos from the night.

Dylan Hart is a co-founder of Village Rebuild, bringing real estate private equity and development experience along with deep roots in the Pacific Palisades community, where he was born and raised. He previously worked at Caruso Affiliated on the redevelopment of Palisades Village and the Rosewood Miramar Beach hotel, helped launch a $225 million cannabis-focused real estate platform at Subversive REIT LP, and later served as Vice President of Acquisitions at Avenue Capital Group. Dylan holds a bachelor’s degree in real estate from NYU and an MBA from Columbia Business School, and serves as a Pacific Palisades neighborhood Block Captain.

Conor O’Donovan is a co-founder of Village Rebuild, where he leads investment structuring and development integration to deliver high-quality homes that preserve the Palisades community. Previously, he worked on the real assets team at ICONIQ Capital and earlier at Goldman Sachs and Eastdil Secured, focusing on real estate acquisitions, development, and capital markets. Over his career, he has executed more than $8 billion in transactions across multifamily, industrial, and office properties, and holds a finance degree from Loyola Marymount University.

Geoffrey von Oeyen is an award-winning architect and Associate Professor of Practice at the USC School of Architecture. A graduate of Stanford University, the University of Cambridge (Fulbright Scholar), and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, he previously worked for seven years with Frank Gehry in Los Angeles before founding Geoffrey von Oeyen Design and Von Oeyen Architects. His work focuses on innovative, resilient architecture, and in recent years, he has become a leading voice in wildfire-resistant design following the total loss of a family home in the 2018 Woolsey Fire.

 Real estate private credit (also known as private lending) has its own terminology. In this article, Jan Brzeski breaks down a dozen or so of the most important terms to know, based on his experience. Understanding the terms can help investors to understand and appreciate an asset class that has a lot of appeal at the moment, since buying and owning real estate today may have more risks than in the past, as long-term interest rates remain “higher for longer.”

Dry-sand beachfront in Malibu is among the most supply-constrained residential real estate in the country. In this project spotlight, we share how we structured an $8,000,000 private bridge loan on a 3,519-square-foot oceanfront residence on Latigo Shore Drive — including the acquisition basis, how the numbers compare to recent beachfront sales and what made this a fit for Sage Credit.

Amy Bach is a nationally recognized insurance consumer advocate and attorney who has been championing policyholders’ rights since 1985. She co-founded United Policyholders in 1991 and serves as its Executive Director and primary spokesperson, leading programs such as Roadmap to Recovery™, Roadmap to Preparedness, and Advocacy and Action to help individuals navigate insurance and disaster recovery. Amy is an expert on insurance claims, coverage, law, and public policy, currently serving her second term on the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance and as an official Consumer Representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. She also sits on the Fire Victim Trust Oversight Committee and the Redwood Credit Union Services Group Associate Board, and is widely featured in national media. An accomplished author, her works include The Disaster Recovery Handbook and WISE UP: The Savvy Consumer’s Guide to Buying Insurance, and her honors include NAPIA Person of the Year and Money Magazine’s “Money Hero.”

Jennifer Gray Thompson is a nationally recognized leader in wildfire recovery and resilience, and a fierce advocate for disaster survivors. Named a Forbes 50 Over 50 Impact Leader, she is the founder and CEO of After the Fire USA, a survivor-led, survivor-focused nonprofit advancing equitable recovery from megafires nationwide. After the 2017 North Bay Fires, she transformed a small local effort into a national model supporting communities after catastrophic fire. Jennifer was instrumental in delivering more than $6 billion in federal tax relief for disaster survivors. A former high school teacher and public administrator, she designs survivor-centered recovery systems, advises federal policy, and hosts the How to Disaster podcast, spotlighting leaders who know how recovery actually works.

In my last article, I covered lessons learned about things that worked for me as an investment manager and real estate lender over the past 17 years. In this new article, I cover red flags that could have helped me avoid some of the defaults and loan losses in my track record.

Devang Shah is a Principal at Genesis Builders and a Managing Director at Cityview, where he previously served as Co-Head of Development and Acquisitions for the Western United States. With more than 27 years of experience across real estate investment, development, design, construction, and asset management, Devang has led large-scale housing and multifamily projects throughout California and beyond. Earlier in his career, he was Principal of Marketcents Inc., providing owner’s representation and project management services to investment firms and developers, and previously served as Vice President at RCLCo, LLC, a national real estate consulting firm. Today, Devang is applying his deep industry expertise through Genesis Builders to help homeowners rebuild faster, safer, and more affordably in wildfire-affected communities like Altadena.

In this article, I outline lessons learned during my career as a real estate lender so far, covering 1,800 loans spanning a 17-year period. This article is the first of a two-part series. The first article focuses on things that worked well, and the second one focuses on red flags that I have learned to pay attention to, usually by making a loan that I later regretted. I hope these articles allow other investors — particularly those newer to investing in loans — to get a little better results than they would have achieved otherwise.

California’s housing shortage has been decades in the making. SB 9, along with related state laws, is designed to unlock new opportunities for small-scale infill development in established neighborhoods. For developers and investors, these changes open up a pathway that avoids many of the delays and costs that have slowed traditional projects.

Amid these challenges, new state laws such as SB 9 have opened the door to a more practical solution. By allowing multiple homes on parcels once limited to a single house, these laws make it possible to streamline the creation of new housing within existing neighborhoods.

Sue Kohl is President of the Pacific Palisades Community Council and a local realtor serving as Assistant Manager at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. A top producer since 1989, she’s recognized as one of the best Realtors in Pacific Palisades, and has been effectively representing both sellers and buyers in sales and purchases of single-family homes and condominiums. Sue lost her own home in the January 2025 Palisades Fire. She's now navigating the rebuilding process firsthand while helping her community recover. Sue brings both personal experience and professional insight into what it takes to rebuild LA after the fires.