How to Choose a Bridge Loan Lender in California
The right bridge lender for a home you actually live in is a direct lender who can tell you, before you commit, exactly what the fee is and what it is charged on. Most of the trouble starts with that second part.
People find us when they are already somewhere in the process. They have an offer in mind, a house they want, and a lender who has gone quiet. By the time they call, the question is no longer which lender is best in the abstract. It is whether the one they picked is going to close.
So here is what I would check, in the order I would check it, including the questions I think most borrowers never think to ask.
What should you ask a bridge lender before you sign?
Six questions. Any lender worth using can answer all six in one conversation, in writing.
- Are you a direct lender, or are you placing my file with someone else?
- Do you lend on owner occupied property, or only on investment property?
- What is your origination fee, and is it charged on my loan amount or on what my house sells for?
- What is the term, and is there a prepayment penalty?
- Will you order an appraisal?
- What is the realistic closing date, not the best case one?
If any answer is vague, that is the answer.
Is the lender a direct lender, or are they brokering your file?
This is first because everything else depends on it.
A direct lender underwrites, funds and services the loan. When you ask whether something will work, they can tell you, because the decision is theirs. A broker places your file with someone else, which means the person you are talking to is not the person deciding, and every answer has a delay built into it.
We are a direct lender. Underwriting, processing, funding and servicing all happen in house. That is the reason we can answer most questions the same day, and it is the single biggest difference between a file that closes in two weeks and one that drifts.
Ask the question directly. A broker will usually tell you if you ask plainly.
Does the lender actually lend on the home you live in?
This one catches people out, and it is worth understanding why.
Lending against a home someone lives in is consumer purpose lending. Lending against a rental or a flip is business purpose lending. Those are different regulatory categories, with different licensing and different disclosure obligations, and a firm set up for one is not automatically set up for the other.
Most private lenders in California built their business around investment property, because it is the simpler side to operate on. That is a reasonable business decision. It just means that when a homeowner calls them, the answer is often no, and the reason has nothing to do with the borrower.
Owner occupied bridge loans are what we do. We write them from $1M to $15M, secured against the home you are leaving and the one you are buying.
Is the fee charged on your loan or on your sale price?
This is the question I most wish people asked earlier, because the difference is not small.
Some programs charge their fee as a percentage of what your departing home sells for. Others charge it on the loan you actually take. Those sound similar and they are not. If you borrow $600,000 against a house that sells for $2.4M, a fee quoted on the sale price is being charged on four times the money you borrowed.
Our origination fee is a flat 2 percent of the loan amount. That is a cap rather than a starting point, and it is charged on what you borrow rather than on what the house sells for.
If you are being quoted more than 2 percent for a bridge loan, text us before you sign. Not as a sales line. I would genuinely rather you got a second opinion than found out at closing.
What is the term, and what happens if the sale takes longer?
Ours is twelve months, interest only, repaid when your existing home sells. Most run sixty to ninety days.
There is no prepayment penalty, which matters more than it sounds. It means a fast sale costs you nothing extra, and it means the lender has no reason to want your loan outstanding longer than it needs to be. Ask whoever you are speaking to whether that is true of their product, because it is not true of all of them.
Sizing is typically 65 to 70 percent, measured across both properties rather than one, so an existing mortgage reduces the figure rather than ruling you out.
How fast can they really close?
We approve in under 24 hours and close in as few as 10 to 14 days, and in most cases we need no appraisal.
The speed is not a trick. It comes from what we look at. The decision rests on the real estate and the exit, not on how your last two tax returns read. We still confirm you can carry the payments, because it is a consumer loan on a home you live in and we are held to those rules. But the two slowest parts of a conventional mortgage, the appraisal and the income file, are usually not in the way.
When you ask another lender about timing, ask what could extend it. The honest answer is more useful than the fast one.
Eight signs your bridge loan is going wrong
Watching files arrive late and already in trouble taught us what this looks like. Any one of these is worth a second opinion before you sign.
- Approval is taking longer than 24 hours
- You are not getting straight answers
- The document list keeps growing
- They have ordered an appraisal
- Closing has drifted past 14 days
- Your offer still is not as strong as cash
- The origination fee is more than 2 percent
- The fee is being charged on the sale price rather than the loan amount
How to compare bridge lenders side by side
| A bank or credit union | A private lender built for investment property | A buy before you sell program | Golden Gate Lending Group | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lends on the home you live in | Sometimes, as a HELOC or second | Usually not | Yes | Yes, it is the specialism |
| Who makes the decision | A committee, often off site | The lender, if they do consumer loans | Varies, often a partner lender | Us, in house |
| What the decision rests on | Income documents and credit | The property | Varies, ask | The real estate and the exit |
| Appraisal | Almost always | Often | Varies | In most cases, no |
| Typical speed | Thirty days or more | Varies widely | Varies, ask | Under 24 hours to approve, 10 to 14 days to close |
| Fee basis | Points on the loan | Points on the loan | Often a percentage of the sale price | 2 percent of the loan amount, capped |
| Prepayment penalty | Sometimes | Sometimes | Varies, ask | None |
| Who you talk to | Whoever picks up | Varies | A coordinator | Sofia or Emma |
The first three columns describe what we typically see, not a promise about any particular firm. Ask each lender these questions directly and get the answers in writing. If one of them beats us on something that matters to you, take it.
What our own track record says
I would rather you checked this than took my word for it.
- Rated 5.0 on Google. I am not going to quote you a review count, because the one that matters is whatever the listing says the day you look. Read them here and count them yourself.
- Scotsman Guide 2026 ranks us the #1 bridge lender in California and a Top 30 private originator nationwide.
- More than $1B closed and 500+ clients and families into their next home.
- More than 25 years in Bay Area residential lending.
- A direct lender, with underwriting, processing, funding and servicing all in house.
The reviews are the part I would look at hardest if I were you. Rankings and totals are ours to claim. Reviews are other people's.
If you are deciding right now
Send over the address, what is owed, and the house you are trying to buy. I will tell you the same day whether it works, what it would cost, and if we are not the right people for it, who is. You can also see your buying power first.
No cost, and no commitment either way.
Questions people ask
How do I choose a bridge loan lender in California?
Ask six things: whether they are a direct lender or a broker, whether they lend on owner occupied property, what the origination fee is and whether it is charged on the loan or the sale price, the term and any prepayment penalty, whether they will order an appraisal, and the realistic closing date. Any lender worth using can answer all six in writing in one conversation.
Is a bridge loan origination fee charged on the loan or the sale price?
It depends on the lender, and the difference is large. A fee quoted against what your home sells for is charged on far more money than one quoted against what you actually borrow. Golden Gate Lending Group charges a flat 2 percent of the loan amount, as a cap rather than a starting point.
What is the difference between a direct lender and a broker?
A direct lender underwrites, funds and services the loan itself, so the person you speak to is the person deciding. A broker places your file with another lender, which adds a step to every answer and every change.
Why will most private lenders not lend on my primary residence?
Lending on a home someone occupies is consumer purpose lending, a different regulatory category from business purpose investor lending, with different licensing and disclosure obligations. Most private lenders are built for the investor side and have chosen not to take on the consumer side.
How fast can a bridge loan close in California?
Approval under 24 hours and closing in as few as 10 to 14 days, with no appraisal in most cases. Ask any lender what could extend their timeline, because the honest answer tells you more than the fast one.
