Bridge Mortgages Help With Home Sale Timing
One of the toughest aspects of moving is trying to sell one house while buying another. A bridge mortgage is designed to help you coordinate between these two transactions.
If you buy a new house before your old one is sold, you may well be stretched to come up with the ready cash for a down payment and closing costs. On the other hand, if you sell first and then look to buy, you may be left without a residence in between -- thus incurring the added upheaval and expense of finding temporary housing.
How Bridge Loans Work
As the name suggests, a residential bridge loan is designed to get the borrower across a specific gap in time--i.e., the gap between when one expense is due, and another source of capital is received. Bridge loan financing is common in business, but a mortgage bridge loan makes perfect sense to anyone who has tried to sell one house while buying another.
In the case of a bridge loan, you would use the home equity in your current house as collateral for a bridge loan. This bridge loan could then be applied to the down payment and closing costs on your new home. The bridge loan would typically be for a term of a year or less, giving you extra time to sell your existing home.
Bridge Loan Pros and Cons
Mortgage bridge loans are often the only solution to a timing problem, but it is not a cost-free solution. This additional loan means another set of interest and closing costs, and bridge loan rates are relatively high for short-term loans. Even so, if a bridge mortgage is the only way to facilitate your move, you may deem these costs well worth it.
California Bridge Loan Rates & Lenders
California bridge loans will typically carry higher interest rates and up front points than most bank loans. Oftentimes, a bridge mortgage lender is a private lender who can supply a loan quickly; the major concern of a borrower in need of a bridge loan. Due to this fact, private California bridge lenders can charge higher loan rates and points. Bridge loan terms can be set up to pay off a home or other project's existing debt, while other deal add the new debt obligation to the previous California mortgage loan.
