Your borrower found the house. The price is right, the timing works, and they’re ready to move. There’s just one problem: their down payment is locked up in the equity of a home they haven’t sold yet. So they submit an offer contingent on that sale, and they lose the deal to a buyer who came in clean.
This is the scenario that kills more transactions than most brokers want to admit. According to the National Association of Realtors, 6% of all purchase contracts were terminated in February 2026. A contingent offer gives the seller a reason to keep looking. A non-contingent offer takes that off the table.
Our BOOST Bridge Loan was built to solve this specific problem. It gives your borrower access to their existing equity before the departing property sells, so they can make a non-contingent offer on the new purchase without carrying two mortgage payments. If you’ve got clients losing out because they need to sell before they can buy, submit your scenario and let’s walk through the structure.
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The Mechanics: One Refi, Two Problems Solved
BOOST stands for Bridge Option Offering Seamless Transition. The name is a mouthful, but the concept is clean.
We do a 75% cash-out refinance on the departing property. Those funds pay off the existing mortgage, and the remaining equity goes toward the down payment on the new purchase. We structure the bridge as a 12-month balloon note, due when the departing property sells. During that time, there are no monthly payments on the bridge. Interest accrues and gets paid off at sale.
Because we’re now in first lien position on the departing property and we’re also financing the new purchase, we don’t need to hit the borrower with a payment on the departing home when qualifying them for the new one. That means the departing property’s debt is excluded from the DTI calculation entirely. The borrower only qualifies on the new purchase payment.
That’s three problems solved in a single structure: down payment access, DTI relief, and the ability to make a non-contingent offer.
The Negotiating Power Brokers Should Be Selling
The obvious advantage is competitiveness. A non-contingent offer looks cleaner to a seller. But there are downstream benefits that brokers should be positioning with their realtor partners.
First, it gives the listing agent on the departing property time to do their job. When a borrower is under pressure to sell before they can buy, the departing home often goes up as a fire sale. Rushed listings, minimal staging, aggressive pricing cuts. That can mean $20,000 to $30,000 left on the table compared to a properly marketed property. BOOST eliminates that pressure. The borrower moves into the new home first and gives their agent up to 12 months to list, stage, and sell the departing property for full value.
Second, the non-contingent offer gives your borrower leverage when negotiating with the seller on the new purchase. They’re in a position to negotiate seller concessions. On owner-occupied transactions, we allow up to 6% in seller concessions. On non-owner-occupied, up to 3%. When you factor in the cost of the bridge loan against the concessions your borrower can negotiate with a clean offer, the math often works in their favor.
This is also a strong conversation to bring to realtor partners. The buy-before-you-sell problem is one of the most common frustrations in residential real estate, and a broker who can solve it becomes a referral source for the agent’s entire client base.
Running the Numbers on a Typical Deal
Here’s a simplified example. Your borrower owns a home worth $500,000 with a $200,000 remaining mortgage. They want to purchase a new home at $600,000.
We do a 75% cash-out refi on the departing property. That’s a $375,000 bridge loan. After paying off the $200,000 existing mortgage, the borrower has $175,000 in available equity for the down payment and closing costs on the new purchase.
The bridge has interest accrued and due when the property sells. No monthly payments. The new purchase loan is priced separately based on the borrower’s credit profile, LTV, and documentation type.
Recent deals have landed in the high sixes to low sevens for well-qualified borrowers with the new purchase at up to 80% LTV.
The bridge portion of the cost is a function of time. Most borrowers pay off the bridge well before the 12-month mark. But even at the full term, the interest cost is often offset by the combination of seller concessions on the new purchase and the higher sale price achieved by listing the departing home without time pressure.
Where BOOST Pulls Ahead of Other Bridge Structures
Not all bridge loans work the same way, and the differences matter when you’re structuring a deal.
Many bridge programs require the borrower to carry monthly payments on both properties during the bridge period. BOOST does not. Interest accrues and is deferred until the departing property sells. That’s the feature that makes the DTI exclusion possible and keeps the borrower from getting stretched thin during the transition.
Some competing programs also require the departing property to already be listed or under contract before they’ll fund the bridge. We don’t impose that requirement. The borrower has 12 months to sell, and they can list on their own timeline.
We also offer a standalone bridge option for situations where the borrower wants to take the purchase loan elsewhere or buy the new property in cash. The standalone bridge has a slightly higher rate and a lower max LTV (70% vs. 75%) on the departing property, but it provides the same no-payment, 12-month structure. This comes up frequently with retired couples downsizing into a smaller home they plan to buy outright with the bridge proceeds.
The Borrower Profiles That Fit Best
The typical BOOST borrower is someone with meaningful equity in their current home who needs to move before they can sell. The most common profiles include families relocating for work, empty nesters downsizing, borrowers trading up to a larger home, and investors executing a 1031 exchange who need to acquire the replacement property before the relinquished property sells.
On the investment side, BOOST pairs naturally with a reverse 1031 exchange. The borrower uses the bridge to fund the down payment on the replacement property, an Exchange Accommodation Titleholder holds title during the exchange period, and the original property sells within the 180-day window. The bridge proceeds pay off the balloon, and the remaining equity goes toward the new mortgage or another forward exchange. We’ve even seen borrowers bridge multiple properties simultaneously to step up into a single larger acquisition.
A Few Things to Flag Before You Bring the Deal
The departing property needs to have sufficient equity. At 75% LTV on a primary or 60% on an investment property, the borrower needs enough room after paying off the existing mortgage to generate a meaningful down payment for the new purchase.
If the departing property takes longer than 12 months to sell, the bridge defaults to a higher rate. That’s not common, but it’s worth setting expectations with the borrower upfront. Build a realistic sale timeline into the conversation early.
Some broker companies don’t allow the bridge product due to Section 32 considerations. Check with your compliance team before presenting the option to a client.
And finally, the strongest BOOST deals are the ones where the broker, the realtor, and the AE are aligned from the start. If you’re bringing a bridge deal to us, loop in your account executive early. These are structured transactions, and the upfront planning is what makes them close smoothly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can BOOST be used for investment properties, or is it only for primary residences?
Does the departing property need to be listed before the bridge loan closes?
What happens if the departing property doesn't sell within 12 months?
Can my borrower use BOOST alongside a 1031 exchange?
How does BOOST pricing compare to other bridge loan options?
Is there a minimum or maximum loan amount for the bridge?
Ready to Structure a BOOST Deal?
If you’ve got a client who needs to buy before they sell and you want to see how the numbers work on a specific scenario, submit it here and your account executive will get back to you, typically within a day or two.
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