Bridge financing.
The money that makes the dates work — buy before you sell, close the gap, keep the rate. BC and Alberta, on your timeline.
Real estate runs on dates that refuse to cooperate: the perfect house lists before yours sells, the purchase closes Tuesday and the sale funds Friday, the rate hold dies a week early. Bridge financing exists to make timing a solvable problem instead of a lost deal — short money, sized to equity you already own, structured to vanish the moment the permanent pieces land. The craft is all in the exit: a bridge without a certain way out is just an expensive loan with a nicer name.
Every gap the calendar creates.
Close the new home before the old one sells — no sale-contingent offers in a competitive market.
The purchase closes Tuesday, the sale closes Friday — the gap financed cleanly.
Funds tied up in another asset or a pending sale, advanced against equity you already hold.
A rate hold expiring before the new mortgage funds — bridged so the pricing survives.
The stretch between a final draw and the take-out mortgage — see also our construction pages.
Construction financing →Probate, buyouts, and settlements that must fund before the long-term financing can.
Three ways to bridge.
When the sale is firm and the dates simply don't line up, the new lender often bridges it as part of the main approval — cheap, clean, and invisible.
The workhorse when conditions can't be met on bank timelines. Priced for speed; structured open so it disappears the day your sale closes.
One loan, several properties: pulls the whole portfolio's equity into the purchase, then releases each title as it sells.
Rates and leverage are typical ranges for illustration — last reviewed July 2026. Estimate borrowing costs with the financing fee calculator.
Case Studies — files like this
Anonymized case studies from our files. Names and identifying details removed.
- Case study · Residential / PrivateSelling a Rental Condo on the Owner's Timetable, Not the Market's: A Private Open Mortgage Inter Alia With a Year of Payments Built InA rental condo the client wanted to sell on their own timetable, not the market's, on a part-time income no lender would qualify. In 2023, a private open mortgage of about $670,000 at about 9.5%, interest only, secured inter alia across the loft and a mortgage-free second condo at about 41% combined loan-to-value, with twelve months of payments, legal fees and a special levy funded from the proceeds, so the condo could be relisted in the spring.Read the file →
- Case study · Residential / PrivateA Presale Completing at the Wrong Time: An Open Private Mortgage at 75% Carried the Condo Until It Sold Three Months LaterA presale completing a month after the couple had bought a different home, with about $160,000 of deposits at stake and no room for a second mortgage at a lender. An open private mortgage at 75% of the price including GST, about $620,000 at a rate in the 10 to 11% range in 2024, carried the condo from completion to its sale three months later, paid out with no penalty.Read the file →
- Case study · Residential / PrivateBuying the Right Home Before the Presale Could Be Sold: An Open Private Mortgage at 75%, Secured Inter Alia With a Family HomeA couple found the right home weeks before a presale they no longer wanted was due to complete. An open private mortgage at 75% of the price, about $550,000 at about 10.5% in 2023, secured inter alia against a family home with its co-owner on the application, closed the purchase in December 2023 and left the exit open: sell the presale, pay the mortgage down, refinance with an alternative lender on stated income, no penalty.Read the file →
Common bridge questions.
How does buying before selling actually work?+
A bridge loan advances the equity trapped in your current home so the new purchase closes on time; when the old home sells, the proceeds pay the bridge out. With a firm sale, banks price it cheaply; without one, private capital does the same job with more flexibility and a defined exit window.
Do I need a firm sale to get a bridge?+
For a bank bridge, generally yes — the firm contract is the security. Private bridges don't require one: they lend on the equity and a realistic marketing plan, which is exactly what makes an unconditional offer possible in the first place.
How fast can a bridge close?+
Private bridges are the fastest instrument we place — days to a couple of weeks with an appraisal in hand, driven mostly by how quickly legal work and valuation come together. When a closing date is bearing down, tell us the date first and we work backwards.
What does a bridge cost?+
Institutional bridges run at prime-plus for their short life. Private bridges price like private mortgages — roughly 4.5%–10% on firsts and 8%–11% on seconds, interest-only, plus disclosed fees. On a 60-day gap, the absolute dollars are usually small next to the cost of losing the purchase.
What happens if my home doesn't sell in time?+
That's why every bridge we place is structured with runway: terms of 6–24 months rather than weeks, open prepayment so an early sale costs nothing, and a fallback exit (refinance or price adjustment) agreed before funding. The bridge that assumes a perfect sale is the one that becomes a problem.
Can a bridge cover the down payment on a pre-sale or assignment?+
Often, yes — equity in an existing property can be advanced to fund deposits or completions when cash is committed elsewhere. Pre-sale completions with changed qualifying are their own file; the bridge buys the time to place the permanent mortgage properly.
Racing a closing date? Have these ready.
- Purchase contract for the new property
- Listing or sale contract for the property being sold (firm or pending)
- Current mortgage statements on all properties involved
- Property tax bills and realistic values — we can order appraisals fast
- Proof of income — light-touch on equity-strong bridges
- The dates: when you must close, and when money actually arrives
- Lawyer's contact — bridges close through counsel quickly
Tell us the closing date. We work backwards.
The properties, the dates, and the equity — that's all a bridge needs to start. We'll tell you the same day whether the gap closes.