Commercial real estate note buying is a strategy that allows investors to acquire loans secured by real estate rather than purchasing the properties themselves.
While often associated with distressed assets, today's note-buying market is increasingly driven by refinancing pressure, lender balance sheet management, and capital market dislocations rather than widespread property impairment and offers an opportunity for investors.
In a recent episode of Peachtree Point of View, Greg Friedman spoke with Daniel Siegel and Michael Ritz of Peachtree Group about how note acquisitions have evolved across the Global Financial Crisis, COVID-era disruptions, and today's higher-rate environment.
Commercial real estate note buying involves purchasing an existing loan from a lender at a negotiated price.
The buyer acquires the lender's position, including:
Unlike acquiring real estate directly, investors must underwrite both the collateral and the legal structure surrounding the loan.
Many investors assume loan sales occur because the collateral is fundamentally impaired.
In reality, banks often sell loans for reasons unrelated to property performance.
Common reasons include:
Understanding the seller's motivation can reveal opportunities where market pricing does not accurately reflect asset quality.
One of the key themes from the discussion was the difference between today's market and the Global Financial Crisis.
During the GFC:
Today's market is different.
Current challenges are more frequently driven by:
In many cases, the underlying real estate remains fundamentally sound.
Successful note acquisitions require investors to evaluate three critical areas:
Investors must assess:
Investors review:
Investors evaluate:
In many cases, borrower behavior becomes the most important determinant of investment outcomes.
Some of the best opportunities emerge when lenders need liquidity, regulatory relief, or balance sheet flexibility rather than when properties are distressed.
Successful investors underwrite legal rights, incentives, and borrower behavior alongside real estate fundamentals.
Many current opportunities involve stronger underlying collateral than previous cycles, creating potentially more attractive risk-adjusted outcomes.
A commercial real estate note is a loan secured by a commercial property. The note represents the lender's right to receive payments and enforce loan terms.
Buying the loan can provide downside protection through collateral rights while offering multiple potential paths to return generation, including repayment, modification, refinancing, or asset recovery.
No. Many note purchases involve performing or near-performing loans that are being sold for institutional or balance-sheet-related reasons.
Direct real estate investing focuses primarily on property ownership and operations. Note buying requires evaluating the property, the loan structure, and borrower behavior simultaneously.
For a deeper discussion on commercial real estate note acquisitions, market cycles, underwriting discipline, and lessons learned across multiple periods of market dislocation, listen to the full episode of Peachtree Point of View featuring Greg Friedman, Daniel Siegel, and Michael Ritz.
PERE Credit: The first edition of the PERE Credit 100 is an annual ranking of the leading commercial real estate private credit managers active around the globe.
The PERE Credit 100 ranks managers by the amount of capital raised from external investors for real estate private credit strategies over a five-year period. This edition captures cumulative capital raised between 2021 and 2025, inclusive.
The top 50 firms in the inaugural ranking collectively raised $304.7 billion during the five years ending in 2025. This is an 18 percent increase from the volume of $259.1 billion tracked for the five years ending in 2024.
Peachtree Group ranked #77 on the list.
Read the article and see the full list on perecredit.com.
ATLANTA (July 7, 2026) – Peachtree Group, a leading commercial real estate investment firm, today announced the first investment completed through Peachtree Special Situations Fund I, LP, marking an important milestone for the firm's newest equity strategy.
The investment consists of approximately $14.5 million of preferred equity investment from Peachtree Group as part of a total capitalization of approximately $42 million. The financing supports the acquisition and repositioning of the 203-key DoubleTree Suites Detroit Downtown Fort Shelby, which will undergo a comprehensive renovation and conversion to Embassy Suites by Hilton. The project is designed to enhance the property's long-term value through brand elevation, targeted capital improvements and operational enhancements.
The transaction exemplifies the type of opportunity the fund was created to pursue. As commercial real estate owners and sponsors continue to navigatere financing challenges, liquidity constraints and increasing capital requirements.
"This investment reflects how we're approaching today's market," said Greg Friedman, managing principal and CEO of Peachtree Group. "We're seeing a meaningful opportunity set driven more by market dislocation than distress. Capital remains available, but often not in the right form or at the right level of the capital stack. By providing flexible capital solutions, we can help sponsors execute attractive business plans while maintaining a disciplined focus on downside protection and positive, risk-adjusted returns."
- Preferred, structured and common equity investments provide capital solutions to sponsors facing liquidity constraints, refinancing gaps or equity shortfalls while offering enhanced downside protection.
- Special situations investments to pursue opportunities including REO acquisitions, deed-in-lieu transactions, discounted note purchases and other situations where disciplined structuring and an attractive basis create compelling investment opportunities.
While the strategy maintains flexibility across commercial real estate sectors, the fund is expected to focus primarily on hospitality opportunities, where Peachtree believes its vertically integrated platform provides a competitive advantage. The firm's capabilities span credit, equity and development, as well as asset and property management, enabling it to identify, structure and execute opportunities across the entire commercial real estate lifecycle.
"The days when market appreciation alone could do most of the work are largely behind us," said Michael Ritz, EVP, investments at Peachtree Group. "Today's environment rewards investors who can identify liquidity gaps, structure capital creatively and execute business plans that create value rather than relying on a rising tide."
Peachtree Special Situations Fund I, LP, has a target size of $250 million and represents the firm's fourth dedicated equity fund. The strategy builds on Peachtree's long standing track record of investing across hospitality and other commercial real estate sectors.
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Peachtree Group's leadership team is actively shaping the conversation across commercial real estate and private credit, providing perspective on a market defined by capital constraints, refinancing pressure and emerging opportunity.
“It’s an inflection point… you’re going to start seeing assets trade… it’s not an issue with the fundamentals at the asset level, it’s more of an issue of broken balance sheets.”
“We’ve had to be very agile to pivot through all these various things… that’s what’s helped us find good opportunities by not being so set in being just a developer, operator or owner… and pivoting and finding the right partner really made a difference for us to do what we wanted to do, but also grow beyond that.”
“Projects like this require thoughtful structuring given the complexity of historic redevelopment and construction completion… that complexity is exactly why sponsors seek lending partners with the experience and balance sheet to structure capital solutions and help move projects forward.”
“That capex doesn’t go away… brands need reinvestment to protect guest experience. But many owners simply can’t fund it.”
“Developing hotels in today’s environment requires both conviction and capability… our vertically integrated platform and access to capital allow us to partner with best-in-class brands to deliver properties on-time and on-budget that will elevate the markets in which we build.”
“With banks pulling back and refinancing risk rising across the market, demand for experienced private lenders has accelerated… borrowers are not just looking for capital. They are looking for partners who understand assets, cash flow and downside risk.”
“In this case and in many cases where Peachtree implements EB-5, having that funding source from these foreign investors allows us to give developers a slightly better deal than they might otherwise get from traditional sources… it’s a really worthy development tool.”
You can listen to our leadership team give these insights and more on our YouTube channel.
