A straight answer
Bridge loan or cash-offer program: which one fits when I buy before I sell?
The direct answer
A bridge loan fits when you need the equity in your current home to close on the next one first. The cash-offer program fits when your offers keep losing to buyers who do not have to sell. I place both. I'm Zach von der Linden (NMLS 1652805), a mortgage broker with West Capital Lending, based in San Clemente.
Both are short-term loans against the home you are leaving. A plain bridge loan lets you close first and repay it when the current home sells. The cash-offer program adds structure to the bridge: you buy in your own name with no home sale contingency and no financing contingency, you stay in your current home until the new one closes, and you sell inside a published window with a backup arrangement if the home has not sold.
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.
Side by side
| A bridge loan | The cash-offer program | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A short-term loan secured by the equity in the home you are leaving, repaid when that home sells | A bridge loan wrapped in a program: the purchase in your own name, no home sale or financing contingency, and a published sale window with a backup arrangement |
| What the seller reads | Depends on how the offer is written and what the lender allows | A contract with no home sale contingency and no financing contingency |
| Do you move first | Depends on the loan and the timeline | No. You stay until the new home closes and move once |
| If the old home does not sell quickly | The loan stays outstanding and its costs continue | The same, plus the program’s backup arrangement for the departing home after its published window of months, with its own fee and terms |
| Federal rules | A bridge loan of twelve months or less is outside the ability-to-repay rule, and the lender still underwrites it; the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure still apply | The same rules apply to the loan inside the program |
| Fits when | You need the equity to close first and the offer itself is not the problem | The offer is the problem: you keep losing to buyers who do not have to sell |
The table describes the two in words. Rates, payments and fees for either one appear in your loan terms before you commit, and nowhere on this page.
The four ways to buy a house before you sell
These two are half of the list. The four ways are 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.
The bridge loan on its own
You have equity in the current home, the bridge loan is secured by it, and it is repaid from the sale. Federal rules describe the loan 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.”
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. On a closed-end bridge loan secured by your home, the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure rules still apply, so the costs reach you in writing before you sign.
The bridge loan page covers what has to be true, what the lender checks and the limits.
The cash-offer program
Under the program I place, you buy the new home in your own name, funded by a short-term loan secured against your current home and the new one. No company buys the home and resells it to you.
Because the purchase is funded by that loan rather than by your sale, the offer can be written without a home sale contingency and without a financing contingency.
You stay in your current home until the new one closes, you move once, and then the old home is listed. The program’s published terms describe closings in as few as ten days when the file is complete, which is the program’s condition and not a promise I make.
You sell inside the program’s published window, a matter of months from the closing on the new home, and the program’s published terms include a backup arrangement for the departing home if it has not sold inside that window, with its own fee and terms. Interest accrues until the loan is paid off, and the program charges its own fees, all disclosed before you commit.
When each fits
The bridge loan fits when you need the equity in the current home to close on the next one and the seller is not demanding a non-contingent offer. It is the simpler tool when the offer itself is not what is losing you houses.
The program fits when you keep losing to buyers who do not have to sell first, and you want to stay in your home until the new one closes rather than sell, rent and move twice.
Both give way to a home equity line on the current home when the real need is the down payment or the money for the move rather than winning a bidding war. The program I place accepts a home that is already listed for sale, and the listed-home page covers the rule.
Why Zach
I am a broker. I put the financing together: I place the bridge loan and the program and arrange the rest of the financing.
I have clients using the program right now. That is my own statement about my pipeline, not a promise about anyone’s file.
Related pages: my offer keeps losing because it is contingent, a contingent offer against a cash offer, the cash offer page, and selling and buying in San Clemente. I work with homeowners in California, Utah, Oregon and Arizona.
Questions people ask next
Is the cash-offer program a bridge loan?
Yes. The purchase is funded by a short-term loan secured by your current home and the new one, and the program adds the structure: no home sale or financing contingency, staying put until closing, a published window to sell and a backup arrangement.
Which one costs less?
Both carry interest until the loan is paid off, and the program charges its own fees on top of the loan. Neither figure is on this page. What either costs depends on your loan amount and on how long your old home takes to sell, so it is worked out on your own file.
Can I write a non-contingent offer with a plain bridge loan?
Sometimes, depending on the lender and how the loan is structured. The program is built so the offer reads that way every time, which is the reason to use it when the offer is what keeps losing.
Do I have to move out first with either one?
With the program, no. You stay in your current home until the new one closes and move once. With a plain bridge loan it depends on the loan and your timeline, and I tell you before anything is submitted.
Does the ability-to-repay rule apply?
Federal law exempts a bridge loan with a term of twelve months or less from that rule, and the lender still underwrites the loan. The Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure rules still apply to a closed-end bridge loan secured by your home.
What is the alternative to both?
A home equity line on the current home, drawn for the down payment and paid off at the sale, when the offer itself is not the problem. Or selling first with a rent-back from your buyer, which costs nothing extra if your buyer will agree to it.
What are the four ways to buy a house before selling mine?
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. The cash offer page compares all four in one table.
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) · 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) · Partner lender’s published program page (name withheld on public pages by site rule; URL in the internal research file dated 2026-09-12) (checked 2026-09-12) · Zach, September 12, 2026 (checked 2026-09-12) · Confirmed by Zach, September 2026 (checked 2026-09-10) · 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 (11)
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Under the bridge program Zach places, the borrower buys the new home in their own name, funded by a short-term loan secured against the current home and the new one. No company buys the home and resells it to the borrower. | Partner lender’s published program page (name withheld on public pages by site rule; URL in the internal research file dated 2026-09-12) | 2026-09-12 |
| Because the purchase is funded by that loan rather than by the sale of the departing home, the offer can be written without a home sale contingency and without a financing contingency. | Partner lender’s published program page (name withheld on public pages by site rule; URL in the internal research file dated 2026-09-12) | 2026-09-12 |
| The program’s published terms describe closings in as few as ten days when the file is complete. | Partner lender’s published program page (name withheld on public pages by site rule; URL in the internal research file dated 2026-09-12) | 2026-09-12 |
| The program’s published terms give the borrower a set window of months from the closing on the new home to sell the departing home, and include a backup arrangement covering that home if it has not sold inside that window. | Partner lender’s published program page (name withheld on public pages by site rule; URL in the internal research file dated 2026-09-12) | 2026-09-12 |
| The bridge loan is interest-bearing debt. Interest accrues until the loan is paid off, and the program charges its own fees, all of which are disclosed in the loan terms before the borrower commits. | Partner lender’s published program page (name withheld on public pages by site rule; URL in the internal research file dated 2026-09-12) | 2026-09-12 |
| Zach says he has clients using this bridge program right now. | Zach, September 12, 2026 | 2026-09-12 |
| 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 |
| 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.