A straight answer
Can I get a bridge loan to buy a house before I sell mine?
The direct answer
Yes. I place bridge loans so you can buy a house before you sell yours. The loan uses the equity in the home you are leaving, and the sale repays it. I'm Zach von der Linden (NMLS 1652805), a mortgage broker with West Capital Lending, based in San Clemente. Eligibility depends on your equity, credit and income.
A bridge loan is a short-term loan that uses the equity in the home you are leaving, so you can close on the next one first and repay the bridge when the current home sells.
I work with homeowners in California, Utah, Oregon and Arizona.
Zach von der Linden, mortgage broker and Branch Manager, West Capital Lending · NMLS 1652805
Wholesale pricing · California, Utah, Oregon and Arizona
5.0 across 66 reviews on Experience.com (read on 2026-09-24) · Text reaches Zach directly · Last updated 2026-10-26
This situation is worked out in a short conversation. No credit pull happens from a conversation. The options check is a soft credit pull with no impact on your credit score for the first look. Texts go to Zach's cell.
What has to be true
You have equity in the current home, because the bridge loan is secured by it and repaid from its sale.
You can carry the payments on both homes for the months in between, or the program you use accounts for that overlap. Zach asks about this first.
You intend to sell the current home. A bridge loan is a loan with a planned exit, and the exit is the sale. Federal rules describe it the same way: “a loan to finance the purchase of a new dwelling where the consumer plans to sell a current dwelling within 12 months.”
What the lender checks
The value and equity of the home you are selling, using the lender’s valuation, and whether it is listed or about to be.
Your credit and your ability to carry both homes during the overlap, or the program’s own approach to that overlap. Federal law exempts a bridge loan with a term of twelve months or less from the ability-to-repay rule that governs ordinary mortgages, but the lender still underwrites the loan; the exemption changes which federal test applies, not whether you are reviewed.
The purchase itself: the contract, the timeline and the closing date on the new home.
Limits
A bridge loan is a loan. It carries interest and costs for as long as it is outstanding. On a closed-end bridge loan secured by your home, the federal Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure rules still apply, so the costs reach you in writing before you sign.
Not every home or every timeline fits. Eligibility depends on your equity, credit and income, and Zach will say plainly when a line on the current home or a sale-first plan fits better.
Nothing here is an approval. The cash-offer page linked below explains how the sequence works and what a seller means by a cash offer.
Why a bank may say no
You cannot carry the payments on both homes during the overlap, and the program does not account for the sale as the exit. Some programs count all three payments against your income.
The equity in the home you are selling does not support the bridge loan, or the home is not yet listed and the program wants a listing plan.
The bank does not offer a bridge loan at all, and its line does not accept a home that is already listed for sale.
What I would check first
The value and equity of the home you are selling, and whether it is listed or about to be.
The purchase contract, the timeline and the closing date on the new home.
Your local market and your listing plan, because the bridge loan stays outstanding until the sale closes.
Whether a line on the current home, drawn for the down payment and paid off at the sale, fits better than a bridge loan.
Example
Say you found the next house before this one sold, and the seller will not take an offer that depends on your sale. A bridge loan secured by the equity in your current home funds the purchase, so the offer reads without a sale contingency. During the overlap you carry the current mortgage, the new mortgage and the bridge loan, or the program treats the sale as the exit. When the current home sells, the bridge loan is repaid from the proceeds.
Bridge loan or HELOC?
A home equity line on the current home is the other common route. The program Zach places accepts a home that is already listed for sale. Most lenders will not do this. The answer page on that question covers the rule.
The practical difference: a line is separate from your current mortgage, which stays in place, and you draw on the line and pay it off at the sale, while a bridge loan is built around the purchase and the sale as one sequence. Which one fits depends on timing, equity and how the offer needs to read to the seller.
Zach places both. Tell him the dates and he will tell you which one to check first.
Two pages lay the choices out in words: a bridge loan against the cash-offer program, and a contingent offer against a cash offer. If your offers keep losing, start with what to do when your offer keeps losing because it is contingent, and if the move is within San Clemente, selling and buying in San Clemente.
The four ways to buy a house before you sell
A bridge loan is one of four ways: a HELOC on the home while it is listed, a bridge loan, the cash-offer program, or a contingent offer. The first three use the equity in your current home before it sells, and the program is the one built so the offer reads with no home sale contingency. A contingent offer costs nothing extra and asks the seller to wait on your sale.
The cash offer page compares all four in one table: what each is, what the seller reads, whether you move first, what the old home needs to do, and when each fits.
Questions people ask next
Can I get a bridge loan if I own my current home outright?
That is the simplest version of the file: the equity is all yours, and the bridge loan is secured by it and repaid at the sale. Eligibility still depends on your credit and income, and Zach asks the same questions about the purchase contract and the listing plan.
Can we qualify for the new home before selling our current house?
That is what the bridge loan is for. It funds the purchase before the sale so the offer does not depend on your current home closing first. Whether your file supports it comes down to the equity in the current home, your credit and the two payments during the overlap.
Will lenders let me carry two mortgages for a while?
During the overlap you carry the current mortgage, the new mortgage and the bridge loan. Some programs count all three against your income; others are built around the sale as the exit. Which applies depends on the program, and Zach tells you before anything is submitted.
Can I open a HELOC on my house after it is listed for sale?
Most lenders will not do this. The program Zach places accepts a home that is already listed for sale, and the listed-home answer page explains the rule and what happens at closing. It is often the alternative to a bridge loan worth checking first.
What are the alternatives to a bridge loan?
A home equity line on the current home, drawn for the down payment and paid off at the sale. A sale-first plan with a rent-back or a longer close on the new home. Or a purchase contingent on your sale, which is the offer a bridge loan is designed to avoid. Zach lays the three side by side.
Is a recast after the sale a good way to handle bridge financing?
A recast applies your sale proceeds to the new mortgage after closing and lowers its payment without a refinance. Whether the new loan allows it is a program question, and it does not change the bridge loan itself, which is repaid at the sale. Ask about it up front if that is the plan.
What happens if my old house does not sell before the bridge loan is due?
The repayment deadline in your loan agreement still applies if the house has not sold. Before that date, we would need to look at a sale, an approved extension or a refinance; an extension is not automatic, and its terms are the lender's to set. The loan's costs continue for as long as it is outstanding, which is why Zach asks about your local market and your listing plan before anything is submitted. No timeline is promised here.
What clients say
Zach was great. Easy process and he took care of the little things that needed to be done to close the loan and offered up sound advice throughout the process.
Word for word from Experience.com. Read all reviews.
Which page is this?
Cash offer, no sale first. In a competitive market a contingent offer loses to cash. A bridge program Zach places lets you write the non-contingent kind, stay in your home until the new one closes, and sell afterward.
How do I buy a house before selling mine with a cash offer?
That page has the worked example with the numbers, the tradeoffs, and the same next step: a text to Zach, or the options check with no impact on your credit score for the initial check.
Sources and checked dates
Sources: Confirmed by Zach, Sept 2026 (checked 2026-09-26) · Confirmed by Zach, September 2026 (checked 2026-09-10) · 12 CFR 1026.43(a), Regulation Z, ability-to-repay scope (checked 2026-09-26) · 12 CFR 1026.19(e), Regulation Z, mortgage loan disclosures (checked 2026-09-26) · CFPB, What is a HELOC? (checked 2026-09-27).
Show each claim on this page, what it depends on, and the date it was checked (5)
| What we say, and what it depends on | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Zach places bridge loans for homeowners buying the next home before selling the current one. | Confirmed by Zach, Sept 2026 | 2026-09-26 |
| Zach confirms that he places HELOC financing for eligible homeowners whose homes are already listed for sale. | Confirmed by Zach, September 2026 | 2026-09-10 |
| 12 CFR 1026.43(a)(3)(ii) and (iii): the federal ability-to-repay and qualified-mortgage provisions do not apply to “a temporary or ‘bridge’ loan with a term of 12 months or less, such as a loan to finance the purchase of a new dwelling where the consumer plans to sell a current dwelling within 12 months or a loan to finance the initial construction of a dwelling,” or to “a construction phase of 12 months or less of a construction-to-permanent loan.” | 12 CFR 1026.43(a), Regulation Z, ability-to-repay scope | 2026-09-26 |
| 12 CFR 1026.19(e)(1)(i): “In a closed-end consumer credit transaction secured by real property or a cooperative unit, other than a reverse mortgage subject to § 1026.33, the creditor shall provide the consumer with good faith estimates of the disclosures in § 1026.37.” | 12 CFR 1026.19(e), Regulation Z, mortgage loan disclosures | 2026-09-26 |
| The CFPB describes a HELOC as an open-end line of credit for borrowing repeatedly against home equity, says draw and repayment periods vary, and warns that falling behind could cost you your home. | CFPB, What is a HELOC? | 2026-09-27 |
Written for and accountable to: Zach von der Linden, Mortgage broker and Branch Manager, West Capital Lending.
Last updated 2026-10-26.
Verify him: NMLS Consumer Access, ID 1652805 · 66 reviews on Experience.com.
Sources for product claims are listed on this page, with the date each was checked.
Two ways to take the next step
No credit pull happens from a conversation. The options check is a soft credit pull with no impact on your credit score for the first look. Text Zach first so he can review your situation. The online check covers one HELOC program, not every option he may be able to arrange. Texts go to Zach's cell.