Lender · Houston, TX · Member since 2026 · 120 posts · 22 votes
If you bought or repositioned a 5+ unit or mixed-use property on bridge debt, the usual exit is a 30-year fixed loan with no balloon. Programs I'm seeing go from about $100,000, up to 75% LTV on purchases (70% for first-time investors), and some have no minimum credit score.
The piece that slows most refis down isn't the rate. It's the paper. The long-term lender wants a clean rent roll and real occupancy history before the appraisal is ordered. If you start documenting the day the building stabilizes, the refi goes faster.
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For those who've refinanced out of bridge debt on a small multifamily: how many months of stabilized occupancy did your lender ask for?
That’s a good point about documenting occupancy from the beginning. Having a clean rent roll and a consistent occupancy history seems just as important as securing the right financing. Do lenders generally prefer 3–6 months of stabilised occupancy before considering a permanent loan?
Scarlett, thanks, and sorry for the slow reply. Three months is roughly where most long-term lenders start, and plenty want six, or a trailing twelve on the operating statement, especially on mixed-use where a commercial tenant is part of the income.
What matters more than the count is what's inside those months. Leases signed at market rent, rent actually collected and deposited, and no free months propping up the number. A building that hit 95% occupied last month on two months of free rent still reads as unstabilized to an underwriter, because the appraiser and the lender both size off income that has already shown up in the bank.
What kind of building are you working on, straight residential or mixed-use?