CRE Bridge in Atlanta

A licensed Georgia attorney, in person, every time. The Supreme Court of Georgia held in In re UPL Advisory Opinion 2003-2 that preparing or facilitating execution of a deed is the practice of law, so there is no "our title company handles escrow" path here. The attorney has to be physically present; supervising a non-lawyer closer by phone is not enough. Conducting a closing and disbursing funds in violation is a misdemeanor and carries civil liability for damages. Practically, that means the closing attorney holds and disburses the escrow on your bridge deal, and their calendar is part of your timeline. Pick the firm early and tell us who it is when you start an application, because we work to their file, not around it.

Because Georgia is a security deed state, and the instrument conveys legal title to the lender. A deed to secure debt is not a lien in the way a mortgage is. You keep possession and the equitable interest, and title comes back to you when the note is paid. It is the same collateral position in economic terms, but the wording in the documents is different and it is worth knowing why before you sign. If your counsel is used to lien-theory states, flag it at the front of the file rather than at the closing table.

Georgia is non-judicial, sales run the first Tuesday of the month, and about 37 days is the practical minimum from first publication to auction. The secured creditor has to give the debtor notice of initiation of the power of sale no later than 30 days before the proposed sale date under O.C.G.A. section 44-14-162.2, and has to advertise once a week for four weeks in the county's official legal organ with at least 21 days between the first advertisement and the sale under O.C.G.A. section 44-14-162. Sales happen at the county courthouse between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. There is no statutory post-sale right of redemption on a non-judicial sale of a security deed; superior court confirmation is only required if the lender wants a deficiency judgment. Why it matters to you: a fast, certain remedy is priced into Georgia bridge terms rather than out of them, and it is the same first-Tuesday cadence we already work in Texas.

You may be exempt, but confirm it with your closing attorney before you budget the saving. Georgia's intangible recording tax under O.C.G.A. section 48-6-61 is $1.50 per $500 of the face amount of the note, about 0.30% of the loan, capped at $25,000 per note and due within 90 days of execution. Legally the holder of the note owes it; in practice the borrower pays it at closing. Short-term notes are exempt, and HB 586 is reported to have raised the short-term threshold from 36 months to 62 months effective July 1, 2025, which would put a 24 to 36 month bridge note on the exempt side of the line while a 30-year permanent note stays on the taxable side. The Department of Revenue page does not restate the 62-month rule, so treat this as a question for your attorney rather than a promise from us. One thing that is not in question: unpaid intangible recording tax bars collection by any action, foreclosure, or exercise of the power of sale until the tax, interest and a 50% penalty are paid. Get it right at closing.

It is, at the right basis, and the repricing is why bridge capital shows up. As of the first quarter of 2026, metro Atlanta office vacancy was 26.5%, down 50 basis points year over year, with net absorption of 487,222 square feet, the largest quarterly total since the third quarter of 2022, and 2.6M square feet of leasing, the strongest in five quarters. The pricing tells the rest: 13 office properties totaling $115.9M traded in the quarter, up 30.6% year over year by count, at an average $84.55 per square foot, down 9.3% year over year. Volume up and price per foot down is the recapitalization window. The construction pipeline is also nearly exhausted, at 332,000 square feet under construction, all speculative and all delivering in 2026. We underwrite your rent roll, your tenant credit and your lease-up budget, not a market average, and we size the term with room for the plan to land. See the CRE bridge program for structure.

The reassessed value, not the seller's bill. Georgia assesses at 40% of fair market value statewide, so your effective rate is the millage times 0.40, and every jurisdiction stacks its own levies on top. Fulton County held its general-fund millage at 8.87 mills for 2025, the fourth consecutive year, but that is the county general fund only. The school district and municipal levies are separate and are usually the larger share of the bill. HB 581 created a statewide floating homestead exemption capping annual taxable-value growth at CPI effective January 1, 2025, and it does nothing for you twice over: it is a homestead exemption, and investment property is not homesteaded, and Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb, DeKalb, their school districts and the City of Atlanta all opted out anyway. Assume a step-up to market on the first bill after purchase, especially on a repositioned asset, and have your CPA confirm the treatment for your entity.

No minimum score. A bridge loan is asset-based: we underwrite the property, the equity, and the exit. Credit gets run and it informs pricing, but on commercial bridge it is not the gate. With metro Atlanta office vacancy at 26.5% in the first quarter of 2026, the lease-up plan carries far more weight in the file than your score does. Subject to underwriting.

25%. We lend up to 75% LTV, up to $10M, interest-only, on terms up to 24 to 36 months. On a $4M Atlanta asset that is up to $3M from us (4,000,000 x 75% = 3,000,000). Size the term to the absorption rather than the best case: office pricing here averaged $84.55 per square foot in the first quarter of 2026, down 9.3% year over year, and a repositioning into that basis takes the longer end of the range. Subject to underwriting.

We write bridge up to $10M, as a purchase bridge or a cash-out. Cash-out on an Atlanta asset you already own is a common way to fund the equity on the next one. Two Georgia lines to price in before you count the proceeds: the closing attorney holds and disburses the escrow, and the intangible recording tax may or may not reach your note depending on its term. Subject to underwriting.