When your deal has a short window and the wrong lender means losing it, you need more than a rate quote. At Axios, your interest is escrowed — $0 per month during repositioning — and we close in 3-4 weeks while banks are still running title. Starting at 8.5%.
Get Your Free Term Sheet Same-day term sheets • Rates from 8.5% • $5M to $30M • Close in 3-4 weeksA bridge loan is a short-term real estate loan — typically 6 to 24 months — used to finance the acquisition or repositioning of a property until a permanent financing solution or sale is executed. The loan "bridges" the gap between where the asset is today and where it needs to be: stabilized, leased up, renovated, or sold.
Bridge loans are the backbone of value-add investing. When you identify a 24-unit apartment building with below-market rents, a distressed mixed-use property, or an office building ripe for conversion, a bridge loan lets you move fast on the acquisition while you execute the business plan. The asset's future value — not its current performance — is what matters.
In the $5M to $30M deal range, bridge financing is where most commercial real estate transactions live. It's where Axios dominates: complex enough that commodity lenders struggle, but not so large that execution certainty becomes a problem. This is our market.
Most bridge lenders require monthly interest payments during the repositioning period. At Axios, interest is escrowed into the loan at closing. You pay $0 per month while you're renovating, leasing up, and executing your value-add plan. When you pay off the loan, any unused interest reserve is credited back to you. This is the single most important structural advantage in bridge lending — and almost no competitor offers it at our rate levels.
The bridge lending market has a gap that most investors don't fully appreciate. Below $5M, hard money shops are fast but expensive. Above $30M, you're dealing with institutional lenders who take 90+ days and have deal committees. In the middle — the $5M to $30M range — most lenders are too slow, too rigid, or too expensive.
Too large for hard money: A $10M multifamily repositioning needs sophisticated underwriting, flexible structures, and a lender who understands complex business plans. Hard money shops at this size often struggle with execution certainty.
Too complex for banks: Value-add deals with below-stabilized occupancy, renovation risk, or conversion plans don't fit bank credit boxes. They move in 60-90 days anyway — the deal is gone.
Axios's target zone: We've built our entire credit process around this deal type. Multifamily value-add, mixed-use repositioning, office-to-residential conversions, retail redevelopment — $5M to $30M, complex business plan, needs to close in weeks. That's us.
Competitive intelligence confirms this: RCN Capital is the only competitor with meaningful bridge content in this range, but they don't offer escrowed interest and their rates start at 9%+. Axios's 8.5% starting rate with escrowed interest and 3-4 week closings makes us the clear value proposition in this segment.
Not all bridge financing is equal. Here's how Axios compares to the four main bridge lending alternatives on the metrics that actually determine whether your deal works:
| Lender Type | Rate Range | Closing Time | Max Leverage | Interest Structure | Deal Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ★ Axios Bridge | 8.5%–10.5% | 3-4 weeks | Up to 80% LTV | Escrowed ($0/mo) | $5M–$30M |
| Bank Bridge Loan | 7%–9% | 60-90 days | 65-70% LTV | Monthly payments | $2M–$20M |
| Hard Money Bridge | 10%–13% | 1-2 weeks | 65-70% LTV | Monthly payments | $500K–$5M |
| CMBS Bridge | 8%–11% | 60-90 days | 70-75% LTV | Monthly payments | $5M–$50M+ |
The key insight: banks have the best rates but are too slow and don't finance distressed or transitional assets. Hard money is fast but expensive and limited to smaller deals. CMBS takes 60-90 days and has rigid structures. Axios gives you the speed of hard money, the deal size of CMBS, rates that beat both, and the escrowed interest that neither offers.
Get a same-day term sheet. We'll tell you exactly what we can do for your deal — rate, leverage, and structure — before you commit to anything.
Get Your Same-Day Term SheetAxios finances bridge loans across a wide range of property types and investment strategies. Here's where we're most active:
The most common bridge loan use case. You acquire a 20-100 unit apartment building with below-market rents, deferred maintenance, or operational inefficiencies. The bridge loan finances the acquisition plus the renovation budget — new kitchens, bathrooms, common areas — and the escrowed interest structure means you pay $0 per month while units are offline for renovation. Once rents are pushed to market and occupancy is stabilized, you refinance into a DSCR or agency loan based on the improved NOI.
Ground-floor retail with apartments above. Former office space converting to residential. Underperforming retail centers being repurposed. These deals are too complex for banks but too large for hard money. Axios underwrites the business plan — not just the current income — and structures the bridge loan around your repositioning timeline.
One of the most active deal categories in 2026. Distressed office buildings in suburban and urban markets converting to multifamily or mixed-use. These conversions require bridge financing that accounts for construction risk, regulatory approval timelines, and a longer repositioning runway. Axios structures bridge loans for conversions with extended terms and renovation budget holdbacks.
Sometimes the strategy is simple: acquire a stabilized asset quickly, secure long-term financing, and close. When an opportunity arises and permanent financing would take too long to arrange, a bridge loan lets you close in weeks and refinance on your timeline. No renovation, no repositioning — just speed to close.
Entitled land parcels awaiting construction financing. You've identified a development site, have or are pursuing entitlements, and need to secure the land before it's gone. A land bridge loan from Axios covers the acquisition while you finalize permits and construction plans, then converts to a construction loan at groundbreaking.
Foreclosure purchases, note acquisitions, receivership sales. Distressed transactions move on compressed timelines that banks can't accommodate. Axios has the experience and appetite to close complex distressed deals in 3-4 weeks when other lenders are still trying to understand the situation.
From first call to funded, here's exactly how Axios moves from term sheet to closing in 3-4 weeks.
Submit your deal details — property, purchase price, business plan, and exit strategy. We review the deal and issue a term sheet the same day. You'll see the rate, leverage, escrowed interest structure, origination fee, and term before you spend a dollar. No committee. No waiting a week for a preliminary response.
We underwrite the deal based on the as-complete value and your business plan — not just the current NOI. For value-add deals, we model the renovation budget, rent trajectory, and stabilization timeline. We stress-test the exit to make sure the numbers work even in a conservative scenario.
We order the appraisal and run title, environmental, and entity documentation in parallel. On most deals, due diligence completes in 2 weeks. We don't use this phase as a negotiation tool — if we issued a term sheet, we intend to close.
Loan docs execute, interest is escrowed into the loan at closing, and funds are wired. Total time from first call to funded: typically 3-4 weeks. Your seller has their money, you have your asset, and you're paying $0 per month while you execute the business plan.
During the loan term, you have direct access to the Axios team — the people who approved your loan, not a servicing department. Questions get answered fast. Draw requests for renovation budgets are approved quickly. Extensions are discussed proactively, not reactively, if your timeline shifts.
When you're ready to exit — through a sale or refinance into permanent financing — payoff is straightforward. Any unused escrowed interest is credited back to you at closing. Axios helps you coordinate the timing of your permanent financing so there are no gaps or double-carry periods.
Here's a real-world example (details anonymized) of how an Axios bridge loan financed a successful multifamily value-add in a high-growth secondary market:
An experienced multifamily investor identified a 32-unit apartment complex with 1970s-era finishes, below-market rents averaging $850/month against a market of $1,150/month, and 78% occupancy. The seller was motivated and the deal needed to close in under 30 days to avoid a competing offer.
The investor came to Axios with the acquisition under contract, a detailed renovation scope ($4,200/unit for kitchen and bathroom updates), and a clear path to market rents within 14 months. Banks quoted 75-day timelines. Axios issued a term sheet the same day.
The execution: Renovations completed over 14 months with a phased unit-turn strategy. The investor never paid a dollar of interest out of pocket during the repositioning. Occupancy reached 94% at market rents of $1,120/month. The property appraised at $11.4M at stabilization.
The exit: Refinanced into a 10-year DSCR loan at stabilization. The escrowed interest credit at payoff returned $67,000 to the investor — 3 months of unused reserve from finishing the renovation ahead of schedule. Total equity multiple: 2.1x in under 18 months.
Send us the deal. We'll tell you what we can do the same day — no commitment, no hard credit pull.
Submit Your DealEvery bridge loan needs a clear exit strategy before it closes. The exit determines the loan term, leverage ratio, and how Axios structures the interest reserve. Here are the three most common bridge loan exits and how Axios structures around each:
Acquire and reposition the property on the bridge loan, then refinance into a long-term DSCR (Debt Service Coverage Ratio) loan once stabilized. DSCR loans are qualified on the property's income — not personal income — and are the most common permanent financing vehicle for real estate investors. Axios structures your bridge loan term to allow enough time for stabilization plus a 60-90 day refinance runway at the end.
For multifamily acquisitions that will qualify for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or FHA financing at stabilization, we structure the bridge to meet agency requirements at exit: occupancy thresholds, DSCR minimums, and property condition. Agency financing offers the lowest permanent rates and longest amortization periods — the ideal long-term hold structure.
Complete the repositioning, stabilize the asset, and sell to a long-term holder or institutional buyer. Common with mixed-use conversions, condo developments, and opportunistic acquisitions in high-liquidity markets. The escrowed interest structure on the bridge loan keeps your monthly carrying costs at $0 during the value-add period, maximizing your net proceeds at sale.
Before we fund your bridge loan, we stress-test your exit against conservative market scenarios. What if the refinance appraises 10% below expectations? What if stabilization takes 3 months longer than planned? We build extension options and conservative timelines into your loan structure so that a delayed exit doesn't become a default. Capital certainty means planning for scenarios that don't go according to plan.
You have options. Why Axios?
Our competitors in the institutional bridge space start at 9-11%. We start at 8.5%. On a $10M bridge loan held for 18 months, that's a $75,000-$150,000 difference in effective cost. Combined with escrowed interest, the total cash-on-cash advantage of financing with Axios versus a competitor is material to deal returns.
No other institutional bridge lender in the $5M-$30M range offers escrowed interest at Axios's rate levels. This is our signature differentiator. During value-add repositioning, your cash flow is constrained — you're renovating units, dealing with below-market occupancy, and absorbing operating costs. Not having a monthly interest obligation during this period fundamentally changes your business plan math.
When you call Axios, you talk to the people who approved your loan. Not a loan officer who has to "check with underwriting," not a servicing agent reading from a script. Direct access to decision-makers means questions get answered in hours and problems get solved before they become crises. In bridge lending, that matters.
The best deals don't wait for committee reviews. Our entire process is built around the reality that $5M-$30M deals in competitive markets move fast. Same-day term sheets. Closings in 3-4 weeks. If you've lost deals because your lender took 60 days to say yes, that's not a risk you take with Axios.
We underwrite the deal you're trying to create, not just the deal as it exists today. A 32-unit apartment building at 60% occupancy with below-market rents is a bad asset today and an excellent asset at stabilization. Axios sees what the asset can become — and we lend against that vision, not just the current rent roll.
Not every deal fits a standard box. Partial renovation with phased occupancy. Mixed-use with ground-floor vacancy. Note purchase with unclear title. Axios has the credit flexibility to structure non-standard situations where rigid lenders pass. If the deal makes sense on paper and you have the track record to execute, we'll find a structure that works.
Bridge lending is asset-based. We underwrite the deal first, the borrower second. Here's what matters:
Axios focuses on asset quality, market fundamentals, and your ability to execute the business plan. Personal credit scores matter less than track record. If you've been a successful real estate operator — even with imperfect personal credit from an earlier business setback — your deal history speaks louder than a FICO score. Tell us about the deals you've done. That's what we want to hear.
A bridge loan is a short-term real estate loan — typically 6 to 24 months — used to finance the acquisition or repositioning of a property until a permanent financing solution or sale is executed. Bridge loans are common in commercial real estate, multifamily, and value-add investment strategies where speed of closing matters more than long-term rate. The loan "bridges" the gap between acquisition and stabilization or permanent financing.
In 2026, private bridge loan rates range from 8.5% to 12% depending on loan size, leverage, property type, and borrower experience. Axios starts at 8.5% — among the lowest in the private lending market — with escrowed interest so you make no monthly payments during the hold period. Bank bridge loans may quote lower rates but typically require 60-90 days to close and extensive qualification. Hard money bridge lenders often charge 10-13% with high origination fees.
At Axios, we issue same-day term sheets and typically close bridge loans in 3-4 weeks. Traditional banks take 60-90 days. The deals that Axios is best suited for — $5M to $30M acquisition and repositioning plays — often require speed to win the deal. We've built our entire process to move at the pace of competitive real estate markets.
With escrowed interest, your interest payments are built into the loan at closing instead of being due monthly. During a value-add repositioning, you typically have below-market occupancy and reduced cash flow — yet traditional lenders expect monthly interest payments anyway. With Axios's escrowed structure, you pay $0 per month during the repositioning period. If you exit ahead of schedule, the unused interest reserve is credited back to you at payoff. This is a critical cash flow advantage during turnaround projects.
Bridge loans and hard money loans are both short-term, asset-based financing, but they differ in size, sophistication, and cost. Hard money lenders typically handle smaller deals ($500K–$3M), charge higher rates (10-14%), and have lower leverage caps. Bridge loan lenders like Axios operate in the institutional middle market ($5M–$30M+), offer more flexible structures, lower rates (starting at 8.5%), higher leverage, and more sophisticated deal underwriting — including escrowed interest and custom exit strategies.
Axios finances bridge loans across a wide range of commercial and residential property types: multifamily (5+ units), mixed-use, office-to-residential conversions, retail repositioning, industrial, self-storage, hospitality, and single-tenant net lease. We also finance land bridge loans for entitled parcels awaiting construction. Our focus is the $5M–$30M deal range where we can be a decisive capital partner.
A bridge-to-permanent loan is a two-phase financing strategy: first, a short-term bridge loan finances the acquisition and repositioning; then, once the property is stabilized and cash-flowing, you refinance into a long-term permanent loan (DSCR loan, agency financing, or conventional mortgage). Axios structures bridge loans with the permanent exit in mind — matching the term, leverage, and prepayment structure to facilitate a smooth transition to permanent financing at stabilization.
Axios bridge loans range from $5M to $30M, with leverage up to 75-80% of the as-is purchase price and up to 85% of total capitalization (acquisition + renovation budget) depending on the deal structure. Our sweet spot is the $5M–$30M range where most institutional bridge lenders are too slow or inflexible, and traditional hard money shops are too small or unsophisticated. Above $30M, we provide mezzanine debt and JV equity structures.
Typical bridge loan fees include an origination fee (1-2% of the loan amount), appraisal, title, and closing costs. At Axios, all fees appear on your term sheet before you commit to anything. For most $5M–$15M deals, total transaction costs run 2-3% of the loan amount including all third-party costs. No hidden fees. No surprises at closing.
A value-add bridge loan finances the acquisition of an underperforming asset — typically a multifamily building, mixed-use property, or commercial building — along with the capital needed to renovate and reposition it at higher rents or occupancy. The loan covers both the purchase price and the renovation budget, with interest escrowed so there are no monthly payments during the renovation period. Once stabilized, the property refinances into permanent financing based on the improved NOI.
Submit your deal and get a term sheet within 24 hours — rate, leverage, and structure. No commitment, no hard credit pull, no waiting.
Skip the form. Connect with a decision-maker about your bridge loan today.