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Every page and article on this site in one place, organized by topic.

Pages

• About Barrett Linburg: How Barrett got into Dallas apartments, found Opportunity Zones by accident, and ended up running a real estate company on AI.
• Invest With Savoy: Join Savoy Equity Partners' investor list. Accredited investors only.
• Links: The short list: invest, learn how Opportunity Zones work, podcasts and more.
• Now: What I'm Working On: Current focus: the second round of Opportunity Zones, North Oak Cliff, AI at Savoy, and where I am speaking next.
• Friends: People Barrett knows who have their own personal websites, each linked to their site.
• Contact: How to reach Barrett: hosts, organizers, press and everyone else.
• Posts: Every post, filterable by category.

Best Posts

Start here: the essential posts.

• Texas quietly filed 605 Opportunity Zones. Here is what it did differently from 2018.: Texas sent its new Opportunity Zone map to Treasury with no announcement. The interesting part is not the 605 tracts. It is how they were chosen.
• How to sell appreciated stock and pay zero federal tax on the gain: A late-2026 stock sale plus a January 2027 Opportunity Zone investment moves the tax bill to 2032. Pair it with harvested losses and the federal tax can be zero.
• POWERS #390: Big Beautiful Opportunity Zones: The full story on POWERS with Chris Powers: the rough start in North Oak Cliff, the contractor with no insurance, the banker who said yes, and OZ 2.0.

Opportunity Zones

How the tax benefits work, what changes in OZ 2.0, and what makes a deal worth doing.

• The site you're about to buy is on the proposed Opportunity Zone map. Now what?: A developer found his Dallas site on Texas's proposed Opportunity Zone map mid-raise, closing in 2027. What it changes, whether the deal qualifies, how the investors fit together, and what can go wrong.
• Texas quietly filed 605 Opportunity Zones. Here is what it did differently from 2018.: Texas sent its new Opportunity Zone map to Treasury with no announcement. The interesting part is not the 605 tracts. It is how they were chosen.
• How to sell appreciated stock and pay zero federal tax on the gain: A late-2026 stock sale plus a January 2027 Opportunity Zone investment moves the tax bill to 2032. Pair it with harvested losses and the federal tax can be zero.

AI

Running a real estate company on AI without putting it in front of residents.

• AI for CRE Podcast: how Savoy runs on Claude: Episode 11 of the AI for CRE Podcast: how Savoy uses Claude, a shared knowledge base and a home-built operating system, and why none of it faces residents.

Milestones

Groundbreakings, grand openings and other days worth marking.

• Sabine opens in Paris, Texas: The old Westgate Apartments in Paris, Texas, sat empty for about ten years. On October 23 the Savoy team opened them as Sabine, 124 apartments for people who work in Paris and Lamar County.
• The Parker opens in Lake Cliff: The ribbon cutting for The Parker, 127 new apartments in the Lake Cliff neighborhood of North Oak Cliff, and the sixth new building the Savoy team has finished there.
• The Marcus opens in the Cedars: The ribbon cutting for The Marcus, 76 new apartments in the Cedars neighborhood of Dallas, and the first building where Savoy did every job itself.
• Burnett Lofts opens, and why it has that name: The grand opening of Burnett Lofts in North Oak Cliff, named for my great-grandfather, who owned the Dallas Eagles and the ballpark down the street.

Speaking

Where I spoke, who I spoke with, and what I took away.

• Reconvene '26 in Santa Monica: Moses and Simran Kagan's sixth Reconvene: two talks on AI, three days with operators and investors, and an Opportunity Zones breakout with Jimmy Atkinson.
• AI and equity at this point in the cycle, at the GP/LP Summit in New York: Informa's GP/LP Summit at the Union League Club: a panel on AI in deal evaluation and asset management, and a day of conversations about where equity is going next.
• Opportunity Zones 2.0 for appraisers: Five things I told appraisers and brokers at the Appraisal Institute's Realty Conference about how OZ deals work and what the second round changes for valuation.
• Government tools and incentives, with The Real Estate Council: A panel for The Real Estate Council's Associate Leadership Council on the public tools that make Dallas projects work, and why the next council election matters.
• What attracts Opportunity Zone capital to a Texas town: Five things I told Texas economic development directors about getting OZ investors to show up, from the final TEDC and CDFA webinar of 2026.
• Unlocking Opportunity: a playbook for OZ 2.0: Four rules for using the second round of Opportunity Zones for housing, from a panel at TAAHP's Texas Housing Conference.
• Opportunity Zones and valuation, for a bank's appraisers: A session on Opportunity Zones and valuation for the review appraisers at a top 10 bank, May 2026.

Podcasts & Press

Podcast appearances and press, each linked to the host.

• The TreppWire Podcast: value-add, development and Opportunity Zones: Lonnie Hendry and Hailey Keen had me on Trepp's podcast to talk gut renovations, how we became Opportunity Zone investors by accident, and the operating system Seth built.
• Bisnow: what the new Opportunity Zone map means for Dallas-Fort Worth: Billy Wadsack of Bisnow on the newly nominated Opportunity Zone tracts in DFW. The map didn't shrink. It flipped from rural to urban, and Dallas County went from 18 zones to 60.
• Bisnow: Dallas' 50-mile trail loop and what it does to land: Billy Wadsack of Bisnow on The Loop, the 50-mile trail circuit connecting the Katy Trail to South Dallas and White Rock Lake, and why developers are watching it.
• Opportunity Zones Podcast #380: one Dallas neighborhood, by car: Jimmy Atkinson recorded episode 380 of the Opportunity Zones Podcast on site in North Oak Cliff, with a driving tour of the neighborhood.
• Major League Real Estate: Opportunity Zones 101 for CPAs: Episode 15 of Major League Real Estate, from The Real Estate CPA: the basics of Opportunity Zones for the people who prepare the returns.
• POWERS #390: Big Beautiful Opportunity Zones: The full story on POWERS with Chris Powers: the rough start in North Oak Cliff, the contractor with no insurance, the banker who said yes, and OZ 2.0.
• Y'all-itics: empty offices, old malls and the future of housing in Texas: WFAA's Y'all-itics had me on to talk about SB 840, the Texas law that lets housing go up on office and retail land without a rezoning fight.
• The Promote Podcast: the traveling HFC: The Promote Podcast had me on to explain the traveling housing finance corporation, a Texas property tax structure, while the Legislature weighed what to do.
• Candy's Dirt: bullish on Dallas housing: A Candy's Dirt profile from April 2025 on Savoy and why we stay bullish on Dallas housing.
• The Rent Roll with Jay Parsons: Opportunity Zones and the Wizard of OZ: Jay Parsons walks through a new study on Opportunity Zones and housing, then we talk about why the program worked and what a second round should look like.
• Know Your Numbers: the ultimate guide to Opportunity Zone investments: A conversation with Chris McCormack of Better Books on how Opportunity Zone investments work and how we use them in Texas.
• Weiss Advice: an expert's guide to Opportunity Zone investing: Yonah Weiss had me on Weiss Advice in July 2024 for a half hour on Opportunity Zone investing.
• Tax Smart REI: the tax advantages of OZ investing: A deep dive on Opportunity Zone tax mechanics on the Tax Smart Real Estate Investors podcast, May 2024.
• Ronald Rohde: a new way to handle capital gains through the OZ program: A conversation with attorney Ronald Rohde on using the Opportunity Zone program to defer capital gains.
• Masters in Real Estate: Opportunity Zone investing: An hour on Opportunity Zone investing with the Masters in Real Estate podcast, December 2023.
• Mundane Millionaires: leveling up with Opportunity Zone investing: The Mundane Millionaires Podcast had me on in November 2023 to talk about Opportunity Zone investing.
• Max Gagliardi: Qualified Opportunity Zones: An hour with Max Gagliardi on Qualified Opportunity Zones, from February 2023, plus the two-minute version.
• Opportunity Zones Podcast #243: the OZ opportunity for advisors: Episode 243 of the Opportunity Zones Podcast with Jimmy Atkinson, on how registered investment advisors and other financial advisors can use OZ for clients.
• Tax Smart REI: maximizing returns with QOZ funds: My first appearance on the Tax Smart Real Estate Investors podcast, in January 2023, on how Qualified Opportunity Zone funds work.
• Real Estate 101: multifamily Opportunity Zones: Episode REI129 of Real Estate 101 with Robert Leonard, on the basics of multifamily investing inside Opportunity Zones.
• The Fort #226: Real Estate Opportunity Zones 101: My first long podcast appearance, with Chris Powers in June 2022: Opportunity Zones from the beginning.