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Bridge, Rental and Build

What Is a Bridge Loan?

Short-term capital is a timing tool. This guide covers one of the timings.

Bridge, Rental and Build

The short version, then the substance.

Key Takeaways

  • The concept
  • The anatomy
  • When the math works

The concept. A bridge loan is short-term financing that carries you from one side of a transaction to the other: buying before selling, closing before refinancing, or capturing a deal before permanent money is arranged. It buys time, and time is usually the whole problem.

The anatomy. Secured by real estate, sized to the equity, 12 months or less, interest-only. The exit is defined going in: a sale, a refinance, or another liquidity event with a date on it.

When the math works. Bridge debt costs more than permanent debt, so it pencils when the opportunity it captures is worth more than the carry. A discounted building bought today at bridge pricing beats a fairly priced building lost while the bank deliberated.

The South Texas angle. Averlend underwrites this every week in San Antonio and across Bexar County. If you are working a deal in Alamo Heights or anywhere else in the metro, the theory above comes with a local desk attached: see our San Antonio lending page or send the deal directly.

Keep learning

Related reading and next steps.

Bridge loans in San Antonio

Close now, refinance later, in Bexar County.

Read more

Rental property loans

BRRRR-ready acquisition and reposition capital.

Read more

New construction financing

Lot plus vertical on a local draw schedule.

Read more

Questions

Quick answers from the Averlend desk.

Up to 90% of value on 12 month interest-only structures, with draws for rehab and construction projects. The exit, a sale or refinance, retires the note.
Days on a clean file. We control our own capital and inspect locally, so nothing waits in a committee or a mailroom.

The Averlend Promise

Reading is free. So is a deal analysis.

Send the collateral, the numbers, and the exit. An Averlend rep will reach out ASAP, same business day.