In any industry things can move quickly, commercial real estate or investment properties are no different. Sometimes, it is your best interest to move quickly with a purchase. For instance, say you are interested in a foreclosed property time is usually of the essence i.e. you need to move quickly in order to purchase said property before someone else does. This particular scenario is when most commercial buyers consider applying for a commercial bridge loan.  Other instances where many companies looking into bridge financing is when their current mortgage is due and they have yet to find or rather secure a replacement mortgage or if a company needs to cover shortfalls in regards to general capital say for an upcoming balloon payment.

If you are not quite sure what a bridge loan is? There’s no need to panic, as you will become very familiar with this kind of commercial loan, especially if you are interested in moving fast on future investment property. Thus, without further ado, a bridge loan, as suggested is a quick fix to financing. In essence, this particular type o f loan is a short-term loan (can over a period as short as two weeks or up to three years) and it essentially gets its name from bridging the gap between until long-term financing is secured.

Generally, a commercial bridge loan is not overly complicated or difficult to apply for.  Nevertheless, the real issue with this particular kind of commercial loan is that for all its advantages such as a possible lack of prepayment penalty, there are definitely some setbacks to this kind of financing options. Thus, it is important that you manage your expectations when looking for short-term financing.

Of course, managing your expectations may sound daunting, but what this really means knowing what you are getting out a  commercial bridge loan.  In other words, you are getting short-term solutions at a higher and more expensive interest rate. Moreover, as previously mentioned, understand your definition of short-term financing. If you need short-term financing but do not fall within the standard timeframe, then it’s probably time to get creative versus applying for a bridge loan for your commercial property or business. Lastly, it is common practice to pay off or repay your short-term financing in full upon receiving your replacement loan-term capital (new mortgage loan, new tenants, refinancing or selling and purchasing) and by time the necessary improvements have been made. Clearly, this common practice of repayment in full as soon as possible makes perfect sense due to the higher interest rates and overall costs of utilizing a non-residential bridge loan.

Ultimately, if you still have questions or think that a bridge loan i.e. short-term financing will work for your commercial needs then it never hurts to do your own research in addition to speaking with a lender that has experience with non-residential bridge loans for more details.

Dennis Dahlberg Broker/RI/CEO/MLO

Level 4 Funding LLC
Arizona Tel:  (623) 582-4444 
Texas Tel:      (512) 516-1177 
Dennis@level4funding.com
www.Level4Funding.com

111 Congress Ave |Austin | Texas | 78701