Pat Jackson

Orange County-based Sabal Capital Partners is still open for business during the pandemic. Sabal is not only closing existing loan requests, it is accepting and processing new loan requests in its agency-related lending program—and that is more than a lot of lenders can say. Both traditional and private lenders have stepped to the sidelines during the pandemic, effectively shutting down large swaths of capital market activity. As a private lender, Sabal says that it is able to remain flexible and active despite the market disruption.

"A big portion of our business is agency-related, and the agencies are still lending. Not only are we funding loans that were going through the underwriting process, but we are also accepting new loans that are signing up today," Pat Jackson, CEO and founder of Sabal Capital, tells GlobeSt.com. "If you have a new loan requirement, bring it to us. If it qualifies for our guidelines, we will absolutely fund that loan right now. We are still going to underwrite it and we are still going to be prudent, but the reality is that we are open for business. Being a private company, we have the opportunity to look at the market in a more macro way."

Lenders have largely stepped back due to repurchase risk. Pricing assets today is challenging, and there is total uncertainty about how much prices will drop and when. Sabal is focused on asset and market quality as a way to offset that uncertainty. "The way that we are structured, given that we have a robust investment management business, we understand risk from a real estate point of view. If we did have to take loan back, if the asset is fundamentally a good property, it will get back to strong performance," says Jackson.