Bridge Loans From 9.5% IO — Close in 7 Days, Any of 20 States

A bridge loan is short-term, interest-only financing secured by real estate, designed to give an investor time and flexibility to move between two positions — buying a new property before an existing one sells, acquiring and stabilizing an asset before refinancing into long-term financing, or closing quickly on a time-sensitive deal that a bank could never fund fast enough to win. Because the loan is underwritten primarily on the value of the property and the strength of the exit strategy, bridge loans close far faster than conventional financing.

Sab Tera Lending funds bridge loans from its own capital, which means there is no committee, no institutional pipeline, and no waiting on a bank's loan officer. We issue a same-day commitment letter for complete submissions and typically close within 7 days of receiving the appraisal or BPO — across all 20 states we serve and Long Island. Whether you're an experienced investor managing a multi-property portfolio or closing your first transition deal, our bridge loan program is structured to move at the speed your deal requires.

Bridge loans are most commonly used for: purchasing a new investment property before the sale of a current property closes; acquiring a value-add or distressed property that needs stabilization before it qualifies for a DSCR rental loan; refinancing out of an existing hard money or bridge loan that is approaching maturity; and funding time-sensitive auction or off-market purchases where speed determines whether the deal happens at all.

Unlike a fix and flip loan, which is built around a renovation draw schedule, a bridge loan is designed for situations where the property doesn't need a heavy construction budget — it needs speed, flexibility, and certainty of execution. That's why bridge financing is the default choice for investors navigating overlapping closings, competitive bidding wars against cash buyers, and short-fuse auction or off-market opportunities where a traditional 45-90 day bank timeline simply isn't an option.

Final pricing depends on the specific property, exit strategy, and loan amount. Rates shown are indicative starting points and are quoted individually on a same-day commitment letter — never based on credit score or income documentation.

Competitor terms reflect publicly available program information as of 2026 and are subject to change. Confirm current terms directly with each lender.

The single biggest structural difference between Sab Tera Lending and the lenders above is the credit score gate. Lima One, Kiavi, RCN Capital, and LendingOne all publish or commonly enforce a FICO floor in the 640-700 range on short-term bridge products, which screens out investors with limited credit history, recent credit events, or a heavy debt load carried across a growing rental portfolio. Sab Tera Lending underwrites the deal, not the borrower's credit file, which means a strong property and a credible exit strategy can qualify even when a competing lender's automated credit gate would decline the file outright.

Leverage tells a similar story. Most bridge lenders in this comparison cap out at 75-80% LTV, meaning a borrower needs 20-25% of the purchase price in cash or existing equity before a competing lender will even quote the deal. Sab Tera Lending's 90% LTV ceiling lowers that cash requirement meaningfully, which matters most for investors scaling a portfolio across several of our 20 states at once rather than concentrating all their liquidity into a single acquisition.

This bridge-to-DSCR approach is one of the most common strategies active investors use in 2026 to scale rental portfolios — particularly in high cash-flow markets like Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, as well as appreciation-driven markets across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Long Island. Because both the bridge loan and the takeout DSCR loan are underwritten by Sab Tera Lending, the transition between phases is faster and more predictable than coordinating two unrelated lenders.

New York & Long Island

Across New York — Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, Westchester, the Hudson Valley, Buffalo, and Albany — and on Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk Counties, the Hamptons), bridge loans are most often used to win competitive bidding situations where cash buyers dominate, to acquire a property before a current sale closes, and to bridge a value-add multifamily or mixed-use acquisition into permanent financing. With property values among the highest in our footprint, the 90% LTV ceiling and 9.5% IO rate give Long Island and NYC investors leverage that local banks rarely match on short timelines. Multi-unit and mixed-use acquisitions in Brooklyn and Queens in particular benefit from a lender that underwrites the deal rather than requiring years of tax returns on a complex ownership structure.

New Jersey & Connecticut

In New Jersey — Bergen County, Essex County, Middlesex County, and Jersey City — and Connecticut — Fairfield County, Greenwich, New Haven, and Hartford — bridge loans are commonly used by investors transitioning between fix-and-flip exits and new acquisitions, and by out-of-state buyers moving quickly on properties near the New York metro commuter corridor. No income verification and no credit minimum make Sab Tera Lending bridge loans accessible to self-employed investors and LLC buyers active in these high-demand suburban markets, where competing offers routinely include financing contingencies that a bridge loan removes entirely.

Florida & Texas

In Florida — Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Fort Lauderdale — and Texas — Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Austin — bridge loans are widely used for fast acquisitions in markets with high investor competition, short-term holds during entitlement or permitting on small infill development, and bridge-to-DSCR refinances on short-term and mid-term rental conversions. Foreign national eligibility is especially valuable in these two markets, which attract significant out-of-country investor capital drawn to no state income tax and strong population growth.

Pennsylvania & Ohio

In Pennsylvania — Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Harrisburg — and Ohio — Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Akron — bridge loans are a core part of the BRRRR pipeline: investors use a bridge loan to acquire and lightly stabilize a value-add property, then refinance into a Sab Tera Lending DSCR rental loan once leased. Lower entry prices combined with up to 90% LTV mean less cash out of pocket on each deal, which is critical for investors scaling a rental portfolio in these high cash-flow markets.

Virginia, Indiana & Michigan

In Virginia — Northern Virginia/DC, Richmond, and Hampton Roads — Indiana — Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend, and Evansville — and Michigan — Detroit Metro, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, and Lansing — bridge loans are frequently used for distressed and auction acquisitions where speed and no-income-verification underwriting are decisive, and for transitional financing on small multifamily properties being repositioned for permanent DSCR financing.

Massachusetts, Kentucky & Tennessee

In Massachusetts — Greater Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Cape Cod — Kentucky — Louisville, Lexington, and Bowling Green — and Tennessee — Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga — bridge loans support both high-value coastal acquisitions in Massachusetts and the rapid acquisition-to-rental pipeline that defines investor activity in Nashville and Louisville, two of the most active migration-driven rental markets in our footprint.

Mississippi, Louisiana & the Carolinas

In Mississippi — Jackson, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Hattiesburg — Louisiana — New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Shreveport — North Carolina — Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, and Greensboro — and South Carolina — Charleston, Greenville, and Myrtle Beach — bridge loans are heavily used for acquiring undervalued single-family and small multifamily properties ahead of renovation and rental conversion, where low entry costs combined with 90% LTV bridge financing make portfolio scaling especially efficient.

Georgia & Alabama

In Georgia — Atlanta, Savannah, and Augusta — and Alabama — Birmingham, Huntsville, and Mobile — bridge loans are commonly used for fast closings on auction and wholesale acquisitions in fast-growing Sun Belt markets, where Atlanta's continued population growth and Alabama's 8-12% rental yields make a quick bridge-to-DSCR pipeline especially profitable for out-of-state and local investors alike.

When a deal comes in, Sab Tera Lending's underwriting starts with the property, not a credit report. We review the purchase price or as-is value, the scope of any planned work, comparable sales or rents in the immediate market, and the borrower's stated exit strategy. Because this information is usually available the same day a deal is submitted, we can issue a term sheet outlining rate, LTV, and term before a competing lender has finished pulling a credit report and verifying two years of tax returns.

Once the commitment letter is issued, we order an appraisal or a Broker Price Opinion — typically completed within 24-48 hours across all 20 states and Long Island — to confirm the property's value and support the final loan amount. If the deal includes an LLC, corporation, or foreign national borrower, we collect entity formation documents and identification in parallel with the valuation, rather than sequencing these steps, which is one of the main reasons Sab Tera Lending consistently closes bridge loans within 7 days of the appraisal being completed.

The final step is closing at a title company, where loan documents are signed and funds wire the same day. Because Sab Tera Lending funds every bridge loan from its own capital, there's no secondary sign-off required after the appraisal comes back clean — the underwriting decision made on day one carries through to the closing table, which is what allows a same-day commitment letter to translate into a real 7-day close rather than an optimistic estimate.

Investors who scale beyond a single market quickly discover that most bridge lenders don't operate uniformly across state lines — licensing gaps, regional pricing adjustments, and inconsistent underwriting standards mean the same investor can get very different terms in New York versus Ohio versus Georgia from the same national lender. Sab Tera Lending offers identical program terms — 9.5% IO, up to 90% LTV, no income verification, no credit minimum, zero upfront fees — in every one of its 20 states and on Long Island, which removes that inconsistency entirely.

This matters most for portfolio investors juggling several deals at once across different markets — for example, closing a bridge loan on a Long Island duplex while simultaneously refinancing a stabilized Columbus fourplex into a DSCR rental loan. Because both transactions run through the same underwriting team and the same direct capital source, timelines are predictable and terms don't shift based on which state the property happens to be in.

For investors specifically building a bridge-to-DSCR pipeline across multiple states, this consistency also simplifies portfolio-level planning: the same 90% LTV bridge ceiling and 6.5% DSCR takeout rate apply whether the next acquisition is in high cash-flow markets like Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, and Alabama, or higher-appreciation markets like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts — letting an investor model returns on a like-for-like basis before ever picking up the phone.

Investors sometimes assume "no credit score minimum" means a lender is simply less careful. It's the opposite: Sab Tera Lending shifts the underwriting focus from a borrower's personal credit history to the two things that actually determine whether a bridge loan gets repaid — the value of the collateral property and the credibility of the exit strategy. A property with strong as-is value, a realistic ARV, and a clear path to sale, refinance, or stabilization is a sound loan regardless of whether the borrower's FICO score is 550 or 800.

This matters most for three groups of investors who are frequently declined or re-priced by competing lenders' automated credit gates: self-employed and 1099 investors whose credit utilization looks high because their business, not their spending, drives the balance; portfolio investors carrying several mortgages who trip debt-to-income triggers at conventional and even some private lenders despite strong cash flow; and newer investors or foreign nationals with thin U.S. credit files who haven't had time to build a long credit history but bring a solid deal and real capital to the table.

In practice, this means the questions Sab Tera Lending asks are about the property and the plan — what is it worth today, what will it be worth after stabilization, and how does the loan get repaid — rather than about the borrower's personal financial history. That underwriting approach, combined with same-day commitments and a 7-day close, is why bridge loans are one of the most requested products across all 20 states and Long Island.

Most "hard money lenders" are actually loan originators or brokers who package a loan and sell it to an institutional buyer or warehouse line before funding. That structure adds underwriting layers, conditions, and timeline risk — the broker's commitment is only as solid as their institutional partner's appetite on any given week. When market conditions tighten, those institutional buyers can pull back, and deals that were "approved" stall or get re-priced at the worst possible moment for the borrower.

Sab Tera Lending funds every bridge loan from its own capital. There is no warehouse line to draw on, no institutional credit committee, and no secondary buyer whose guidelines can change mid-transaction. When we issue a same-day commitment, that commitment reflects our own underwriting decision — not a preliminary approval contingent on someone else's sign-off. This is why we can consistently close bridge loans within 7 days of receiving the appraisal, in every one of our 20 service states and on Long Island, regardless of broader credit market conditions.

For investors, this distinction matters most when a deal is time-sensitive — an auction purchase, a seller who needs to close within days, or a transition where your current property sale and new acquisition need to align within a narrow window. A broker-sourced bridge loan that takes 2-3 weeks to fund can cost you the deal entirely. A direct private lender that closes in 7 days lets you compete with cash buyers.

The total cost of a bridge loan is driven by four factors: the interest rate, origination points, third-party costs like appraisal or BPO fees, and any prepayment penalty. Sab Tera Lending bridge loans start at 9.5% interest-only with zero upfront fees and no prepayment penalty, which means the rate you're quoted on your commitment letter is close to the true cost of the loan — there's no origination fee eroding your proceeds at closing and no penalty if you exit early through a sale or DSCR refinance.

Many competing bridge lenders advertise a lower headline rate but add 1.5-4 points in origination fees, a separate underwriting fee, and in some cases a non-refundable deposit collected before the appraisal is even ordered. On a $400,000 bridge loan, 2 points alone adds $8,000 to your cost of capital — often more than the difference in interest rate over a 6-12 month hold. When comparing lenders, always ask for the all-in cost, not just the advertised starting rate.

Because Sab Tera Lending funds every bridge loan from its own capital and doesn't sell loans to a warehouse buyer, there's no incentive to layer in extra fees to compensate a third party. What you see on your term sheet — rate, LTV, and term — is what you pay, in every one of our 20 states and Long Island.

A Note on Extensions

Some bridge lenders charge 0.5-1% of the loan amount per month for any extension beyond the original term — a cost that can add up quickly if a sale or refinance slips by a few weeks. Because Sab Tera Lending underwrites the exit strategy realistically at the outset and builds flexible 6-24 month terms into every bridge loan, most borrowers close within their original term. When a short extension is needed, our in-house servicing means it's a conversation with the same team that issued the original commitment — not a request routed through a warehouse lender's servicing department.

Because the underwriting focus is on the property and the exit strategy rather than the borrower's personal financial history, Sab Tera Lending can typically issue a same-day commitment letter once the basic deal information is received — often before a traditional lender would have finished reviewing a borrower's application file. This streamlined approach is available identically across all 20 states and Long Island, whether the borrower is a first-time investor, an experienced portfolio operator, an LLC, or a foreign national. For guidance on preparing proof of funds and reserve documentation ahead of your application, see our Proof of Funds page.

Whether you're comparing us against Lima One, Kiavi, Easy Street Capital, RCN Capital, or LendingOne, or simply trying to understand how a bridge loan fits into your acquisition or BRRRR strategy, the answers below cover the questions we hear most often from investors across all 20 states and Long Island. If your question isn't answered here, call (516) 336-9293 for a same-day answer directly from our underwriting team.

The Bottom Line on Bridge Loans With Sab Tera Lending

A bridge loan is a tool for speed and certainty — closing a purchase before another sale finalizes, stabilizing a property ahead of a DSCR refinance, or winning a time-sensitive deal a bank could never fund in time. Sab Tera Lending's version of that tool starts at 9.5% interest-only, goes up to 90% LTV, carries zero upfront fees and no prepayment penalty, and is underwritten with no income verification and no credit score minimum — identically across all 20 states we serve and Long Island. Combined with a same-day commitment letter and a close in as fast as 7 days, it's designed to let investors move as quickly as the deal requires, whether that deal is a first acquisition or the fortieth property in a growing rental portfolio.