Buy first, sell after
Every move-up buyer hits the same wall. Your down payment is sitting in the house you currently live in, and no seller wants an offer that depends on you selling it first.
A bridge loan solves the sequencing. It pulls equity out of your current home so you can close on the new one, then it gets paid off when the old house sells. You move once instead of twice, and your offer competes on its own terms.
I spent 14 years on the real estate side watching contingent offers lose to clean ones. Knowing when a bridge is genuinely worth the cost, and when you are better off with a different structure, is the kind of call I would rather make with you before you are already under contract.
Quick facts
- Down payment
- Based on the equity in your current home
- Credit guidelines
- Generally 680+
- Typical timeline
- Can move quickly once equity is verified
- Occupancy
- Transitional, current home to next home
What it usually takes
- Real equity in the home you currently own
- The ability to carry both payments briefly, or a structure that defers that
- A realistic plan and timeline for selling the current home
- A conversation early, ideally before you are writing offers
Guidelines vary by lender, and I shop across more than 40 of them. Missing one of these is a reason to talk, not a reason to assume the answer is no.
See the estimated mathThis is not a commitment to lend. All loans are subject to credit approval, income and property verification. Rates, terms, and programs are subject to change without notice. Nook Lending is powered by MPA Home Loans. Jennifer Ferrara, Loan Officer, NMLS #2781982. MPA Home Loans NMLS #2778343. Equal Housing Opportunity.