Christian Pepe

Christian Pepe is a New Jersey-based real estate finance entrepreneur and the Managing Partner behind the "First Equity" family of companies. His career in lending began in 2004, when he founded First Equity Mortgage, a conventional lending company providing loans for owner-occupied properties. He has an extensive background across residential and commercial mortgage lending, with a working command of FHA, VA, and Fannie Mae underwriting guidelines and a particular specialization in renovation and construction lending.

In 2008, amid the subprime mortgage crisis, Pepe partnered with financial executive John Child to launch First Equity Capital, LLC, an entity created to invest in non-performing residential whole loans. Pepe describes his role at First Equity Capital as focused on real estate acquisition, construction project management, and residential asset management. Together the partners have completed more than 50 real estate investment projects, ranging from light rehabs to ground-up new construction. Child, his co-Managing Partner, brings 25+ years in investment banking and real estate finance and is a former Morgan Stanley Executive Director.

The business continued to evolve: in 2015 the group launched First Equity Homes, a fully insured, licensed, and registered general contractor and new-home builder, applying their hands-on construction expertise directly. In 2016 they established First Equity Funding, LP, the current private-lending arm, to provide financing for non-owner-occupied investment properties. Today First Equity Funding markets itself as one of the premier private lenders in the country, citing 100+ years of combined team experience across lending, finance, construction, and real estate investing.

• Provides debt capital, not equity — First Equity is an asset-based/private ("hard money") lender to real estate investors, not a venture or startup investor.
• Three core loan programs: Fix & Flip (bridge) loans, Rental / DSCR loans, and New Construction loans.
• Lends against non-owner-occupied investment properties: residential, mixed-use, and multifamily.
• Takes a consultative, partnership-style approach — the firm says it helps borrowers "analyze and identify investment opportunities," ensures "fast approval and disbursement of funds," and uses its construction experience to help rehabs "run smoothly and efficiently."
• Underwriting is designed to be accessible: works with investors who have "little to no experience," lets borrowers hold title in an LLC, and can approve loans "without personal income verification" (asset-/deal-based rather than borrower-income-based).
• Broad reach — actively lending in 40+ U.S. states from a New Jersey base.