Pathfinder Partners LLC, which specializes in distressed real estate assets and defaulted loans, has entered a joint venture with Raintree Residential LLC, a real estate investment firm, to acquire single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums through short sales. The new joint venture — Pathfinder Raintree Residential LLC — has initially committed more than $ 5 million of capital to purchase and renovate 50 single-family homes in Chula Vista and other areas of San Diego County that have been hit hard by foreclosures.

Pathfinder Raintree will lease the properties, and is upgrading them to add value and ultimately stabilize the communities. Mitch Siegler, senior managing director of Pathfinder Partners, said the equity capital was provided by various Pathfinder Partners Opportunity Funds and the principals of Raintree. Since Pathfinder’s inception in 2006, it has acquired more than $250 million in defaulted commercial real estate loans and REO properties and currently owns and operates more than 1,500 units in California, Florida, Texas, Colorado, Oregon and Oklahoma.