When it comes to financing options, real estate investors often weigh the pros and cons of bridge loans vs. mortgages and other traditional financing options. As a third-party originator (TPO), understanding the differences between each is essential to choosing the best choice for your investor clients.
Below, we’ll discuss the differences between bridge lending and traditional bank financing as well as the advantages bridge loans can create for investors in a highly competitive real estate market.
What is a Bridge Loan: Defining Bridge Loans vs. Mortgages & Other Traditional Loans
What is a Traditional Loan?
Traditional loans are loans offered through banks and credit unions–like consumer mortgages. These loans come with long terms (often 15- or 30 years) and are designed for borrowers to purchase a home they intend to live in.
Traditional mortgage loans are highly regulated with strict guidelines and oversight by the government and institutions like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The bureaucracy and requirements that come with traditional loans make for long application processes and low approval rates–especially for investors.
What are Bridge Loans?
Bridge loans, on the other hand, are short-term loans that help “bridge” the gap between the time you purchase a property and your ability to sell or secure long-term financing. Bridge loans, offered through private lenders, can be used by both owners and non-owner borrowers–making them easier for investors to acquire.
Bridge loans offer quick access to capital, making them an ideal financial vehicle for time-sensitive real estate investment opportunities like:
- Home flipping
- New constructions
- Purchasing and renovating rental properties
The Benefits of Bridge Loans vs. Conventional Mortgages For Investor Clients
For investor clients looking to outpace the competition and grow their business, bridge loans offer three significant benefits to traditional loans: speed, flexibility, and accessibility.
Speed
Unlike traditional loans with application processes that can take weeks or even months, private bridge lenders can deliver funds in as little as 10 days from the application date. This makes bridge loans the ideal financing option for investors looking to quickly secure a property in a competitive market or acquire the necessary funds to complete final renovations to a long-term investment property.
Flexibility
Another significant benefit of bridge financing for real estate loans is their flexibility. Bridge loans can be used to fund the acquisition, renovations, or operational expenses of an investment project. This enables private lenders and their investors to strategically design and tailor loan packages to meet the unique needs of an investment project.
For investors deciding between bridge loans vs traditional mortgages, flexibility is a massive selling point, with the latter being far less adaptable. In most cases, conventional mortgages are only used to purchase a primary residence.
Accessibility
As mentioned, traditional lenders are highly regulated and subject to strict approval guidelines. This muddies the approval process, making it extremely time-consuming and difficult for investors, like home flippers, to get approved for a conventional loan.
It’s important to note that there are other traditional loan options, like HELOCs (home equity lines of credit), with less stringent approval timelines and processes. However, when comparing bridge loans vs. HELOCs, HELOCs come with a lot more requirements. For starters, a HELOC requires you to own property with equity already built into it. And, if you run into an unexpected roadblock (common in real estate investing), this might leave you and your property vulnerable to significant losses and foreclosure.
Bridge loans, on the contrary, are extremely accessible because private lenders design approval processes based on property instead of the individual and their income. Rather than obsessing over credit scores, down payments, or owned equity, bridge lenders take Loan-to-Value (LTV), Loan-to-Cost (LTC), and After-Repair-Value (ARV) into consideration when determining eligibility.
If investor clients are concerned about how to qualify for a bridge loan, the answer is simply to have a worthwhile investment property and business strategy. Using a bridge loan calculator that computes and considers a property’s LTV, LTC, and ARV offers additional funding avenues. This means private lenders have more opportunities to say “yes” than traditional lenders.
The Power of Bridge Loans for Private Lenders
Bridge financing loans give private lenders a sizable advantage over traditional mortgage providers. These short-term financing options provide investor clients with:
Flexible Terms
Unlike strict and heavily regulated consumer mortgages, bridge loans through private lenders provide the necessary capital needed to achieve any project goals throughout the purchasing, building, rehabbing, and selling of an investment property–even for investors with low credit.
Fast Approval
Bridge loans can be approved and money can be released to clients in as little as 10 days–helping investors capitalize on evolving opportunities quickly.
Competitive Rates
Bridge loans through private lenders finance the construction, repair, and purchase of a property at lower competitive rates.
Types of Properties That Are Loan Eligible
Unlike traditional loans, several types of properties qualify for bridge loan financing, including:
- Non-owner occupied
- Attached or detached Short Family Rentals (SFR)
- 2 – 4 unit properties
- Townhomes
- Warrantable condos
No Pre-payment Penalties
While traditional lenders penalize borrowers for paying off a loan before it matures, private lenders encourage quick repayment and eliminate pre-payment penalties for bridge loans.
Eligible for Lower Credit Borrowers
As mentioned, private brokers consider the investment over the investor, creating financing approval avenues for borrowers with low credit or little money down.
When it comes to bridge loans vs mortgages, private lenders providing bridge financing have the speed, flexibility, and accessibility investors need to outpace the competition and succeed in today’s real estate market.
Roc Capital: Your Bridge Loan Capital Partner
If you’re a TPO looking to elevate your mortgage brokerage business with top-of-the-market bridge loan packages, Roc Capital is the capital partner that can help you succeed. Our team of industry and financial experts provides the reliability, structure, and knowledge necessary to outpace the competition and scale your business.
Roc Capital provides several flexible bridge loan financing options to meet your client’s unique business needs, including:
Best of all, Roc Capital offers TPOs White Label Table Funding which allows you to focus on what you do best–originating–while maintaining the authority and professionalism necessary to grow profitable relationships with investor clients.
If you want to learn more about Roc’s bridge financing loan packages or White Label Table Funding, speak to an expert today! CLICK HERE to schedule a FREE consultation.
