For Family Offices and Private Wealth Advisors

Non-Recourse, Discreet Capital for Family Office Real Estate Holdings

Commercial Lending Solutions arranges acquisition, bridge, and non-recourse permanent financing for family offices, private trusts, and the wealth advisors who serve them. We work directly with life insurance company correspondents and private credit lenders comfortable with trusts, family limited partnerships, and multi-generational ownership structures. We work quietly, and we never put a family's name in front of a lender without permission.

Email loans@clscre.com → Call 310.708.0690

Trevor Damyan, Commercial Mortgage Broker · Los Angeles · Nationwide

~$1B Loan Volume

1,000+ Lender Relationships

50 States Served

20+ Yrs Industry Experience

Situations We Handle

The Financing Problems Family Offices Actually Bring Us

Family office real estate financing rarely looks like a conventional purchase or refinance. The borrowing entity is often a trust, a family limited partnership, or a single member LLC layered beneath a holding company, and the objective is frequently capital preservation, tax deferral, or discretion rather than maximum leverage. Every situation below is one we have structured for a family office or for the wealth advisor, attorney, or accountant representing one.

1031 Exchange Into Institutional Quality Real Estate on a Tight Timeline

A family office is exiting a legacy asset, often held for decades at a low tax basis, and needs replacement property financing structured to close inside the 45 day identification window and the 180 day exchange period. We move quickly on acquisition debt sized to the replacement property while the qualified intermediary holds proceeds, and we coordinate directly with the family's tax counsel so the financing does not jeopardize Section 1031 treatment.

Cash Out Refinance of a Low Basis Legacy Asset Without Triggering a Sale

The family wants liquidity from an appreciated, debt free or lightly leveraged property without selling it and recognizing gain. A cash out refinance through a life insurance company or private credit lender lets the family redeploy capital into diversification, a new acquisition, or a liquidity event for the next generation, while the real estate stays in the family and the tax basis stays exactly where it was.

Direct Co-Investment or Preferred Equity Role Alongside an Operating Partner

A family office wants to act as a co-general partner or preferred equity provider on a direct acquisition, rather than allocating passively to a fund. We arrange the senior debt around the family's equity position and structure the capital stack so the family's preferred return and control provisions survive the loan negotiation intact.

Dynastic Trust, Family Limited Partnership, or Layered LLC as the Borrowing Entity

The asset sits inside a dynastic trust, a family limited partnership, or a single purpose LLC beneath a holding company, and the corporate trustee or managing member needs a lender comfortable underwriting that structure. We place non-recourse debt with lenders who understand key principal carve-out guarantors, trust certification requirements, and the layered ownership that estate planning creates, without asking the family to simplify a structure that took years to build.

An Offshore Family Member Who Will Guarantee or Hold a Principal Role

A family with a principal, beneficiary, or guarantor residing outside the United States needs financing that accounts for FIRPTA withholding on eventual disposition and the additional underwriting lenders apply to offshore guarantors. We work with life insurance companies and private lenders experienced with foreign national and offshore trust structures who can document the loan without requiring a domestic guarantor the family does not have.

Consolidating a Scattered Portfolio Into a Single Blanket Facility

A family office holds a dozen properties financed separately over twenty years, each with its own maturity date, rate, and reporting requirement. We consolidate the portfolio into a single blanket loan or a cross-collateralized facility, reducing the number of lender relationships the family office has to manage and typically lowering the blended cost of capital in the process.

Building a Private Credit Correspondent Relationship, Not Just Borrowing

A family office building out a direct lending or private credit strategy wants a correspondent relationship that gives it access to commercial real estate loan participations alongside institutional capital, rather than originating deals cold. We introduce family offices active in private credit to life insurance companies and debt funds where a participation or co-lending relationship benefits both sides.

Diversifying Into Real Estate After the Sale of an Operating Business

The family sold an operating business and is redeploying a portion of the proceeds into commercial real estate for the first time as an institutional allocation rather than a founder's side project. We help the family office and its advisors underwrite acquisitions the way an institutional buyer would, and we arrange financing that matches the family's actual risk tolerance and holding period instead of defaulting to maximum leverage.

Why CLS CRE

What Makes Us the Right Partner for Family Capital

Most commercial mortgage brokers default to whatever produces the highest leverage. Family offices usually want the opposite: patient, non-recourse capital structured around a trust, a partnership, or a multi-generational ownership plan that took years to build. We underwrite the way family capital actually behaves, which is why our submissions get placed with the right lender the first time.

Direct Life Insurance Company Access

Life insurance companies remain the deepest source of non-recourse, long duration, fixed rate capital for stabilized commercial real estate, and family offices are exactly the borrower profile they want: patient capital, conservative leverage, generational holding periods. We maintain direct correspondent relationships with life company lenders rather than sourcing through a conduit or a generalist mortgage bank, so pricing indications come faster and the loan terms are negotiated by someone who already has the relationship.

Discretion Is How We Operate, Not a Marketing Line

We do not publish family names, entity names, or property addresses in case studies, on social media, or in any marketing material, and we do not distribute a family's financing request broadly across the market. A loan request goes to the specific lenders whose programs actually fit the transaction, not to a mass distribution list. Confidentiality is the default, not an upgrade.

We Underwrite Trusts, FLPs, and Layered Ownership Correctly the First Time

Lenders slow down or decline loan requests when the borrowing entity structure is unfamiliar. We prepare the submission with the trust certification, the family limited partnership provisions, and the key principal carve-out guarantor documentation lenders actually need, so the request is underwritten on its merits instead of stalling on structure. We know which lenders are comfortable with dynastic trusts and offshore guarantors, and which ones are not.

1,000+ Lender Relationships, Including Private Credit and Life Companies

Beyond banks and agency lenders, our network includes life insurance company correspondents, debt funds, and private credit platforms that regularly work with family office capital. When a family's situation calls for a lender comfortable with a bespoke structure rather than a standardized conduit loan, we already know which ones to call.

We Work Directly With Principals, or Through Your Advisor

Some families want their wealth advisor, attorney, or family office CFO to run point on financing. Others want us working directly with the principal. We adapt to whichever the family prefers, and either way the referring advisor stays informed and is never cut out of the relationship.

CBRE and Marcus & Millichap Pedigree, Applied to Family Capital

Our underwriting and structuring background comes from institutional brokerage, not a generalist lending shop. We evaluate a family office's real estate the way an institutional buyer or lender would, then structure financing around the family's actual objectives: tax deferral, capital preservation, discretion, or liquidity, instead of assuming maximum leverage is always the goal.

How It Works

How the Referral Works: Three Steps

We have designed the referral process to be as straightforward as possible for you and for the family you represent. You make the introduction. We engage the family or its advisor directly, structure the financing, and keep you informed at every stage until closing.

Make a Warm Introduction

Send an email to loans@clscre.com or call 310.708.0690 and introduce the situation in plain terms. We do not need a full package to start. Tell us the asset type, the borrowing entity structure (trust, FLP, LLC, or holding company), the capital need, and the approximate timeline, and we will tell you quickly whether we can help and what the realistic financing options look like.
We Engage the Family and Keep You Informed

We work directly with the family office, or through you, whichever the family prefers, to gather the entity documents, financial information, and property due diligence a lender will need. We structure the submission for lenders who are actually comfortable with the entity and the objective, whether that is a life company correspondent, a private credit fund, or a bank with a family office desk. You receive regular status updates throughout. We do not surface only at closing.
The Family Gets Financed, You Get a Reliable Referral Partner

The family receives financing structured around its actual objectives and timeline. You get a referral partner you can rely on for every future real estate financing question a client raises. We are compensated by the borrower at closing. There is no cost to you or your client for the referral relationship, and we do not share fees with non-licensed parties.

BBB Accredited Business

Mortgage Bankers Association Member

California DRE Licensed

CBRE and Marcus & Millichap Pedigree

1,000+ Lender Relationships

Nationwide Coverage, 50 States

Frequently Asked Questions

What Family Offices and Their Advisors Ask Us

Can you keep our family's name off any public marketing or case study material?

Yes. We do not publish family names, entity names, or specific property addresses in any marketing material, case study, or public facing content, and we do not distribute a financing request broadly across the market. We contact only the lenders whose programs actually fit the transaction, and we do not disclose a family's financial position to any party without consent.

One nuance worth knowing: the deed and the loan itself typically become public record once recorded, the same as any other real estate transaction. Some families address this by taking title through a single purpose LLC or trust whose name does not identify the family. We can advise on which lenders are comfortable with that approach and which prefer a more conventional titling structure.

Our real estate is held in a dynastic trust with a corporate trustee. Will a lender actually underwrite a trust as the borrower?

Many lenders will lend to a trust, but the underwriting and documentation requirements vary widely by lender type. Life insurance companies and private credit lenders tend to be more comfortable with trust borrowers than regional banks, provided the trust certification is complete and there is an acceptable key principal, typically a natural person with sufficient net worth and liquidity, to sign non-recourse carve-out guarantees.

A family limited partnership or an LLC beneath the trust is, in practice, a more common borrowing entity than the trust itself, since it gives the lender a cleaner signature block and a clearer path to enforce the standard carve-outs (fraud, waste, unauthorized transfer, bankruptcy) without touching the trust's other assets. We will tell you upfront which structure the lenders we are approaching will actually accept.

A family member who would need to guarantee the loan lives outside the United States. Does that rule out financing?

No, but it changes which lenders make sense. An offshore guarantor or principal triggers additional underwriting: source of funds documentation, enhanced know your customer review, and, on any eventual sale, FIRPTA withholding considerations for the foreign person's share of the proceeds. Some banks decline offshore guarantors outright. Life insurance companies and private credit lenders who work internationally are typically better positioned to underwrite these situations properly.

We prepare the source of funds and entity documentation in the format these lenders expect from the outset, rather than letting the file stall midway through underwriting when a compliance question surfaces. If a domestic key principal is available in addition to the offshore family member, that usually broadens the lender pool further.

What is the smallest loan CLS CRE will actually place for a family office?

Our minimum is $1,000,000, though our sweet spot for family office transactions is $5,000,000 and up, where a life insurance company or private credit lender can offer meaningfully better pricing and structure than a smaller regional bank. Many family office portfolios are well above these minimums by the time consolidation or a large acquisition is on the table.

Below $5,000,000, we can still place complex, high touch structures where the situation warrants the extra work, particularly for an existing referral relationship or a family we expect to work with repeatedly across a portfolio.

Do you work with our wealth advisor, or does a family office principal need to deal with you directly, and is there a cost to us for the referral?

Either. Some advisors want to stay in the middle of every conversation, and we are glad to work that way. Others prefer to make an introduction and step back while staying copied on updates. We follow the family's and the advisor's preference on this, not a fixed process.

There is no cost to you or your client for the referral relationship. We are compensated by the borrower at closing, and for attorneys and CPAs specifically, we do not share fees with non-licensed parties. Your role as trusted advisor to the family is never at risk from bringing us in.

Start a Conversation About Family Capital

For family office principals, private wealth advisors, trust and estate attorneys, and the accountants who advise them: contact Trevor Damyan directly. No forms, no gatekeepers, and no distribution of your situation beyond the lenders who actually fit it.