Fast, short-term financing to purchase, refinance, stabilize, or solve a time-sensitive payoff — built for investors who need speed and flexibility now and a long-term takeout later.
A bridge loan is fast, short-term, business-purpose financing that "bridges" the gap between where a deal is today and where it's headed. Instead of qualifying you on personal income and tax returns, the deal is underwritten on the property and your exit — the value, the business plan, and how the loan gets paid off. Investors use a bridge loan to move quickly on a purchase, refinance a maturing or ballooning loan, or stabilize an asset before a longer-term takeout. When the property is ready, the bridge loan is typically retired by a sale or a permanent loan such as a DSCR or agency refinance.
CapitalBridge Lending helps real estate investors access private lending options for time-sensitive and transitional deals.
Non-owner-occupied residential, 2–4 unit and small multifamily, mixed-use, and select commercial — all held for investment or business purposes.
Illustrative scenario for education — not an actual client, quote, or commitment to lend.
An experienced investor went under contract on a 12-unit value-add apartment building priced at $1.4M. Occupancy was soft and several units needed cosmetic work, so rents sat well below market — exactly the kind of transitional story a bank's rental-income underwriting struggles to finance up front.
The seller demanded a hard, non-negotiable closing 21 days out, with a real risk of losing the earnest money if the buyer missed it. A conventional bank quoted a 45–60 day timeline it couldn't compress. Without a faster source of capital, the deal — and the deposit — was going to fall through.
A bridge loan was underwritten on the property and the business plan rather than tax returns, so it could close on the seller's timeline. Investor-friendly, short-term leverage covered the acquisition and left room to stabilize, with a clear exit already mapped out: refinance into a long-term loan once the building's income supported it.
The bridge loan closed in 18 days, saving the deal and the deposit. Over the following months the investor renovated units and pushed occupancy from roughly 70% to 95%, lifting net operating income. With the property stabilized, they refinanced into a 30-year DSCR loan as the take-out — paying off the bridge and locking in long-term financing on an asset that now qualified on its own cash flow.
Figures above are hypothetical and for illustration only. Actual terms, timelines, and outcomes vary and are subject to underwriting; this is not a commitment to lend.
General ranges — actual terms depend on the property, value, business plan, exit, borrower profile, market, and final underwriting.
| Item | General Range |
|---|---|
| Loan size | Program-dependent; typically mid-six-figures up to several million |
| Leverage | Investor-friendly leverage, based on value and business plan, subject to underwriting |
| Term | Short-term (often ~12–24 months) with extension options |
| Purpose | Purchase, refinance, stabilization, or time-sensitive payoff |
| Docs | No tax returns required on most programs |
| Exit | Sale or permanent takeout (e.g., DSCR or agency refinance) |
| Closing | Often achievable in ~1–2 weeks, subject to title & appraisal |
Pricing, leverage, fees, reserves, and closing timelines vary by program, borrower profile, collateral, market, property type, documentation, title, appraisal, and final underwriting. Any examples are for discussion only and are not a commitment to lend.
Often within about one to two weeks once title is clear and the appraisal is in — sometimes faster on a clean file. Speed is the whole point of a bridge loan.
Every bridge loan needs a clear payoff plan — usually a sale of the property or a refinance into a longer-term loan such as a DSCR or agency loan once the asset is stabilized.
Yes — refinancing a loan that's coming due or ballooning is a common bridge use, giving you time to arrange permanent financing or sell.
Yes — bridge financing is available on non-owner-occupied residential, multifamily, mixed-use, and select commercial collateral held for investment.
Most bridge programs are underwritten on the property and your exit rather than personal income, so tax returns are typically not required.
Yes — bridge loans are business-purpose and commonly close in an entity such as an LLC.
Send us the property, the timeline, and your exit — we'll tell you quickly whether a bridge loan fits and what the next steps are.
Get Bridge Terms Call (800) 555-0142