About OZ HQ: Edited by Barrett Linburg
Last updated: April 2026
Speaking at Linfinity Fest — February 2026
Who Edits This Site
OZ HQ is edited by Barrett Linburg, a Texas real estate operator and Opportunity Zone practitioner. This site exists to make OZ easier to understand — written from the operator side of the table, grounded in statutory text and real transactions.
Background
I have spent 20 years in real estate. I started as a mortgage broker in 2005 and have spent the last 15 years investing in Texas multifamily. Today I serve as Co-CEO of Savoy Companies, a vertically integrated Dallas-based platform operating across the Texas Triangle.
I began investing in Opportunity Zones in 2020 and have since deployed capital into 25+ OZ projects concentrated in Dallas and Austin. A significant portion of that work has been in Bishop Ridge, the North Oak Cliff neighborhood where our team operates approximately 25 properties and 1,000 units in a single bounded micro-community — a deliberate place-based investment strategy rather than a portfolio of scattered deals.
I am not an attorney or a CPA. I have spent years working through OZ mechanics in real transactions, asking detailed questions of OZ tax attorneys, fund structuring counsel, and CPAs, and learning the program from the inside out as an operator. When this site interprets a rule, it does so from the perspective of someone who has structured the transactions, not someone who has only read about them.
OZ Policy Work
I participate in policy discussions related to OZ 2.0 through the Economic Innovation Group (EIG) and have contributed to working group conversations about the transition from OZ 1.0 to OZ 2.0. I have made multiple trips to Washington to meet with Treasury officials, White House staff working on OZ implementation, and Senate offices — including Senator Cornyn's office — on OZ 2.0 rulemaking priorities. When regulatory guidance is unsettled or under active debate, this site reflects that — including where my own positions diverge from common practitioner framings.
Education
- MBA, SMU Cox School of Business
- BBA, SMU Cox School of Business
- St. Mark's School of Texas, class of 2000
Public Writing
Outside of OZ HQ, I publish regularly on Opportunity Zones, apartment development, neighborhood redevelopment, and tax strategy:
I have also contributed to industry podcasts, webinars, and panels on OZ topics, including through CPAacademy.org and OpportunityZones.com.
Why This Site Exists
Most OZ information online is either too vague to be useful or too promotional to be trusted. OZ HQ is an attempt to build something in between — a reference that prioritizes accuracy and practical interpretation over marketing language.
Where a rule is settled, the site says so plainly. Where guidance is incomplete or interpretation matters, the site says that too. Where common practitioner framings are technically imprecise, the site corrects them and explains why.
Editorial Approach
OZ HQ draws primarily from:
- Statutory text (Section 1400Z-2 of the Internal Revenue Code)
- IRS guidance, including final and proposed regulations, Revenue Rulings, IRS Notices, and OBBBA implementation guidance
- Published research from the Economic Innovation Group and Novogradac
- Primary-source practitioner interpretation from tax attorneys and CPAs actively structuring OZ transactions
When the site interprets a rule rather than restates it, the interpretation is identified as such. When regulatory guidance is unsettled, the site says so rather than forcing a position.
This site is educational only. OZ HQ does not solicit investment, does not list fund offerings, and does not receive compensation from sponsors.
Disclosure
I am a Texas multifamily operator with capital deployed in OZ structures. I am not a disinterested academic, and I write from the operator side of the table. That perspective is disclosed here and informs the editorial approach of this site.
OZ HQ and Savoy Companies are separate. OZ HQ is maintained as an independent educational resource with no fund offerings, no investor solicitation, and no sponsor compensation. If you are interested in the investment activities I am involved with through Savoy, that information lives at savoytx.com — not here.
Contact
For media inquiries, speaking requests, or policy-related questions, reach me on X or LinkedIn. For OZ HQ content corrections or suggestions, the same channels work.