Multifamily Loans From 9.5% — Bridge & Permanent Financing, Any of 20 States

A multifamily loan is financing secured by a residential property with 5 or more units. At 5+ units, a property is classified as commercial real estate, which means different underwriting standards, loan products, and lender pools than 1-4 unit residential mortgages. This single threshold determines which financing options are even available — banks, agency lenders (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD), and private lenders all approach 5+ unit properties differently than they approach single-family or small residential deals.

Sab Tera Lending provides direct private bridge and permanent financing for multifamily properties from 9.5%, up to 75% LTV, across all 20 states and Long Island. We fund from our own capital — no brokers, no institutional pipeline, no agency pre-approval process. This means we can underwrite and commit to deals that conventional and agency lenders decline outright: vacant buildings, properties with deferred maintenance, partial occupancy, or a business plan that requires repositioning before the asset is "bankable."

Our sweet spot is small balance multifamily — apartment buildings typically in the $500,000 to $3,000,000 range, roughly 5 to 30 units. This segment is structurally underserved: it's too large for residential lenders who stop at 1-4 units, but too small for the large institutional multifamily funds and CMBS conduits that focus on $10 million-plus loans. Sab Tera Lending built its multifamily program specifically for this gap — which is exactly where most real estate investors across our 20-state footprint operate.

Many national hard money lenders that advertise "multifamily" financing are actually residential lenders whose core underwriting stops at 2-4 units, with 5+ unit deals treated as an exception rather than a dedicated program. That distinction matters: a lender whose systems, appraisal panel, and underwriters are built around a fourplex will often struggle — or simply decline — when the deal is a 24-unit garden complex with a rent roll, common-area maintenance, and a commercial appraisal requirement. Sab Tera Lending's multifamily program is purpose-built for 5+ unit commercial underwriting from day one, which is why we can move as fast on a 40-unit acquisition as we do on an 8-unit value-add deal.

Apartment buildings remain one of the most consistently sought-after asset classes among real estate investors across our 20-state footprint, for a simple reason: rental housing demand is broad-based and recurring in a way that few other property types can match. Multiple income streams from a single asset reduce vacancy risk relative to a single-family rental, and value-add repositioning — buying an underperforming building, improving it, and raising rents to market — offers a repeatable playbook for building equity faster than buy-and-hold appreciation alone. The obstacle for most investors isn't finding multifamily deals; it's finding a lender who will move at the speed those deals require, on the terms the property actually supports rather than a borrower's personal financial profile. That is the specific problem Sab Tera Lending's multifamily program was built to solve.

Loan sizing on a multifamily deal is driven primarily by the property's as-is or as-stabilized value and your requested leverage, rather than a fixed schedule of loan tiers. Sab Tera Lending sizes each request individually within our $100,000 to $10,000,000+ range, using the lower of purchase price or appraised value for acquisitions, and current appraised value for refinances. The three bands below reflect where most of our multifamily volume falls across the 20 states and Long Island.

Figures are illustrative and based on typical per-unit valuations across our 20 states; actual loan sizing is determined individually for each property and business plan.

Comparison figures reflect publicly available lender program information gathered in 2026 and are subject to change without notice. Rates, credit minimums, and leverage vary by borrower profile and property. Confirm current terms directly with each lender before applying.

A recurring content gap across all five named competitors is state- and market-specific multifamily guidance — most publish a single national landing page with generic rate ranges, rather than dedicated content for each of the 20 markets we serve. None of the five appear to publish explicit, same-day-decision multifamily programs that combine zero credit minimum, zero income verification, and full vacant/distressed acceptance in one place — which is precisely the position Sab Tera Lending occupies. See our full side-by-side breakdown, including fix-and-flip and DSCR comparisons, on the Sab Tera vs. Competitors page.

The line between residential and commercial financing in the U.S. is drawn at 5 units. A duplex, triplex, or fourplex — 1 to 4 units — is financed as residential real estate, even when purchased purely as an investment; it can qualify for a 30-year conventional mortgage or a residential DSCR loan, and appraisals rely on comparable single-family and small-multi sales. The moment a property has 5 or more units, it is legally and financially treated as commercial real estate. Financing shifts to commercial underwriting standards, appraisals incorporate the income approach, and residential mortgage products — along with agencies like Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's residential arms — are no longer available.

This threshold explains why so many "multifamily" lenders in the private lending space are, in practice, residential lenders with a narrow extension into 5-8 unit properties. Their appraisal panels, loan documents, and underwriting checklists are built around comparable-sales analysis rather than income capitalization, which is why deals above roughly 8-10 units — or deals with significant vacancy that requires an as-stabilized appraisal — often get bounced back or declined late in the process. A true commercial multifamily program, like Sab Tera Lending's, is built from the ground up around income-approach appraisals, rent rolls, and business-plan underwriting, which is what allows us to finance both a 6-unit building and a 60-unit complex with the same process and the same 14-21 day close.

It also explains the financing gap once a property gets larger. Beyond roughly $10 million in loan size, deals move into the territory of institutional multifamily lenders, CMBS conduits, and large agency shops that focus on stabilized, professionally-managed assets with extensive reporting requirements. That leaves the $100,000 to $10 million range — the vast majority of individually-owned apartment buildings in our 20 service states — as the space where a direct private lender with genuine commercial multifamily underwriting, like Sab Tera Lending, is often the only fast, flexible option.

Because Sab Tera Lending does not require income verification, our underwriting is built around three pillars: the property, the business plan, and the borrower's ability to execute. The property review starts with a commercial appraisal, which for multifamily assets typically blends the income approach (capitalizing net operating income) with comparable sales of similar unit-count buildings in the same submarket. For vacant or partially vacant buildings, the appraiser will typically provide both an as-is value and an as-stabilized value, which helps size the loan appropriately against the business plan rather than penalizing the deal for its current, temporary condition.

The business plan review looks at the specifics of your renovation scope, unit turn budget, projected lease-up timeline, and target rents relative to the current rent roll and market comparables. A well-documented plan — with contractor bids, a realistic timeline, and rent comps pulled from similar recently-renovated units nearby — moves through underwriting faster than a plan that simply states an intention to "renovate and rent." This is the single biggest lever investors control to speed up their own closing.

Finally, borrower review focuses on experience and exit clarity rather than credit score or personal income. First-time multifamily investors are not automatically disqualified, but pairing with an experienced property manager or general contractor, and presenting a credible exit strategy (refinance, sale, or long-term hold), strengthens the file. Entity documentation — articles of organization, operating agreement, and EIN — is required for any LLC or corporate borrower, which is standard across nearly every private multifamily lender, including the named competitors above.

Once underwriting is complete, closing is coordinated through a title company or closing attorney, consistent with standard commercial real estate practice in each of our 20 states. Funds wire directly at closing, and for value-add deals with a renovation budget included in the loan, draws are typically released against completed work milestones — an arrangement we structure up front so investors know exactly when renovation funds become available rather than discovering draw requirements mid-project.

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

Vacant and distressed multifamily buildings are often the best value-add opportunities precisely because they can't attract conventional financing — other buyers walk away, which is where the pricing opportunity exists. If a building has solid bones, a credible market-rent thesis, and a borrower with a clear business plan, Sab Tera Lending can lend on it, regardless of current occupancy, across all 20 states and Long Island.

New York & Long Island

Across New York — all five NYC boroughs, Westchester County, the Hudson Valley, Buffalo, and Albany — and on Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk Counties), multifamily investors target everything from pre-war walk-up buildings to garden apartment complexes. High acquisition costs make 75% LTV bridge financing critical for value-add deals, and our acceptance of vacant and partially occupied buildings opens up properties that institutional buyers and agency lenders pass on. Investors in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx frequently use our program to close on estate sales and auction properties where speed of commitment decides the winning bid.

New Jersey & Connecticut

New Jersey multifamily investors — particularly those targeting Essex County apartment loans, Hudson County apartment financing, and Middlesex County multifamily deals — consistently run into the same problem: local banks move slowly, carry high occupancy requirements, and often won't touch buildings with deferred maintenance. Sab Tera Lending fills that gap, financing apartment building acquisitions in Newark, Irvington, Jersey City, New Brunswick, and across the Garden State's urban core. In Connecticut — Fairfield County, New Haven, and Hartford — similar dynamics apply to older multifamily stock near transit corridors, where our no-income-verification underwriting removes a common bottleneck for self-employed investors.

Florida & Texas

In Florida — Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Fort Lauderdale — and Texas — Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Austin — multifamily investors are active in both acquisition of existing garden-style complexes for repositioning and bridge-to-agency-refinance strategies on properties needing renovation before they qualify for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac permanent financing. Foreign national eligibility is particularly valuable in these markets given the volume of out-of-country investor capital, and our zero-credit-minimum underwriting helps investors who bank primarily overseas.

Pennsylvania & Ohio

In Pennsylvania — Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Harrisburg — and Ohio — Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Akron — small balance multifamily (5-30 units) is widely available at relatively low entry prices, making this our sweet spot for value-add acquisitions. Investors commonly use a 12-24 month bridge loan to stabilize occupancy and renovate units, then refinance into permanent financing at a lower rate once the property cash-flows.

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 — multifamily acquisitions frequently involve distressed or partially vacant buildings acquired below replacement cost, where Sab Tera Lending's acceptance of current occupancy status (rather than requiring stabilization first) is the deciding factor in winning the deal.

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 — multifamily demand is driven by strong rental absorption in migration-heavy markets like Nashville, while higher-value Boston-area properties benefit from the higher loan amounts our program supports ($100,000 to $10,000,000+).

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 — small apartment complexes (8-24 units) trade at price points well within our $500,000-$3,000,000 sweet spot, and high rental yields make bridge-to-permanent strategies especially attractive for portfolio-building investors.

Georgia & Alabama

In Georgia — Atlanta, Savannah, and Augusta — and Alabama — Birmingham, Huntsville, and Mobile — continued Sun Belt population growth supports strong absorption for repositioned multifamily product. Investors commonly acquire underperforming garden-style complexes, fund renovation through a Sab Tera Lending bridge loan, and either sell to an institutional buyer or refinance into long-term financing once occupancy and rents are stabilized.

Confirm exactly what documentation your specific deal needs, and how quickly we can issue proof of available funds for your offer, on our Proof of Funds page.