Question 1

Why do Florida bridge terms price differently than Texas terms on the same asset?

Accepted Answer

Because Florida is a judicial foreclosure state and the lender's remedy runs through the circuit court. Every Florida foreclosure, commercial included, is a court proceeding. ATTOM put the national average time from foreclosure start to completion at 563 days in the second quarter of 2026, the lowest since 2013, with Texas, a non-judicial state, fastest in the country at 165 days. There is no published Florida-specific average we will quote you, but the process is materially slower than Texas, and that gap is priced into Florida bridge and hard money terms rather than hidden in them. State-level distress is also running hot: Florida had 27,494 properties with foreclosure filings in the first half of 2026, a rate of 0.27% of housing units, the worst in the nation and up 32.65% year over year. If you want the trade-off stated plainly, that is it. See the CRE bridge program for structure.

Question 2

What are Florida doc stamps going to cost me on a commercial bridge closing?

Accepted Answer

Two separate taxes: 70 cents per $100 on the deed and 35 cents per $100 on the note, plus the mortgage recording. Documentary stamp tax on deeds runs 70 cents per $100 of consideration in every county except Miami-Dade, and under Florida Statutes section 201.02 consideration expressly includes the amount of any mortgage or other encumbrance, whether or not the underlying debt is assumed. The statute puts payment on the purchaser, though in most Florida counties the seller customarily pays deed stamps by contract, so read your allocation rather than the statute. The tax on notes and written obligations to pay money is 35 cents per $100. The Department of Revenue states that tax is capped at $2,450 and that there is no cap on the mortgage or lien tax, but how the cap applies turns on whether the note is secured by Florida real property, so confirm the number with closing counsel before you put it in a budget. Florida also imposes a nonrecurring intangible tax on mortgages, and you should expect it as a line item.

Question 3

How much does my property tax bill change after I buy a Tampa commercial property?

Accepted Answer

Underwrite to a market-value assessment, not to the seller's bill. Florida caps the annual assessment increase on non-homestead property at 10%, from the constitutional amendment approved in January 2008, with a 2008 base year and no application required. The trap is that the cap resets on a change of ownership, so your first full tax year after purchase is typically assessed at market value with none of the seller's carryover benefit. On a repositioned asset that gap can be large, and it shows up in the same year your rent roll is still ramping. We have not published a metro millage rate here because the secondary figures floating around do not hold up. Pull the parcel-level number from the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's estimator at hcpafl.org, or the Pinellas or Pasco appraiser for those counties, and have your CPA confirm the treatment.

Question 4

How long will permitting hold up a Tampa repositioning?

Accepted Answer

Florida gives you a statutory clock with real teeth, and 60 business days is the commercial number. Under Florida Statutes section 553.792, a local government has to approve, approve with conditions, or deny a complete and sufficient application within 60 business days for commercial under 25,000 square feet and for site plans, and within 12 business days for a master building permit. The jurisdiction must tell you in writing what is missing within 5 business days of receiving the application. Miss the deadline and the permit fee drops 10% for each business day of delay, and 20% per business day after a resubmitted revision. Separately, section 553.79 requires a 10% refund of permit and inspection fees if an inspection fails and the agency does not state the reason within 5 business days. Observed review times in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco are not something we will quote you, so build the schedule off the statutory backstop and your own contractor's history, then size the term with room on top. Our bridge runs up to 24 to 36 months for that reason.

Question 5

Is the Tampa apartment market soft enough to sink a lease-up pro forma?

Accepted Answer

Multifamily is softer than the housing headlines suggest, and concessions are what set your effective rent. The clearest read available is the split in Zillow's rent indices for the Tampa metro as of June 2026: single-family rent was up 1.1% year over year at $2,426 a month while the all-property-types index was down 0.7% at $2,020, and that gap is apartment softening showing up. Elevated apartment vacancy and common concessions are consistent with it. We are not going to hand you a metro vacancy or absorption figure for Tampa commercial, because we do not have one we can stand behind, and neither should the pro forma you bring us. Underwrite effective rent net of concessions, give the lease-up an honest number of months, and we will underwrite your rent roll, your tenant credit and your leasing budget rather than a market average.

Question 6

How much does insurance move a Tampa Bay commercial deal?

Accepted Answer

Enough that geography inside the metro matters more than a few basis points on the note, and the direction is finally improving. The regulator's own county data is residential, so treat it as a read on wind exposure rather than a commercial quote: as of March 2026 the average homeowners premium including wind was $4,063 in Pinellas, $3,525 in Hillsborough and $2,756 in Pasco. Pinellas is a coastal peninsula and Pasco is not, and that roughly $1,300 residential gap is the same exposure your commercial carrier is pricing. Flood is a separate policy from wind, and much of coastal Pinellas sits in a Special Flood Hazard Area where a lender will require it. The market is moving your way: the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported the average homeowners premium including wind fell in 51 of 67 counties between its January and July 2026 reports, 21 new companies have been approved to write residential property since the 2022 and 2023 reforms, and preliminary 2026 data shows at least a 10% decrease in risk-adjusted reinsurance costs across most layers. Get a bindable quote on the actual parcel before you size the loan. Talk to us or start an application.

Question 7

What can a commercial bridge loan be used for?

Accepted Answer

Bridge capital is for repositioning or stabilizing a commercial property before permanent financing: value-add, lease-up, a partner buyout, or pulling equity out through a cash-out. We lend across property types on terms up to 24 to 36 months, with loans up to $10M.

Question 8

What rates, leverage, and terms should I expect?

Accepted Answer

Our commercial bridge pricing starts around 9%, interest-only, up to roughly 75% loan-to-value, on terms up to 24 to 36 months. Published bridge pricing generally runs 8% to 12% with 1 to 3 points. Final terms depend on the asset, the business plan, and sponsor strength.

Question 9

How fast can a commercial bridge loan close?

Accepted Answer

Commercial deals usually close in 2 to 4 weeks. They take a little longer than residential because of the appraisal, the rent roll and operating-statement review, and any third-party reports. We move as fast as the diligence allows and keep one point of contact on your file.

Question 10

Do I need positive cash flow (DSCR) to qualify?

Accepted Answer

Not necessarily at closing. Bridge loans are often underwritten interest-only to the as-stabilized business plan rather than a minimum in-place DSCR, since the property is being repositioned. We do want to see a credible path to stabilization and enough in-place income or reserves to carry the loan.

Question 11

What documents do you need for a commercial bridge request?

Accepted Answer

Typically the purchase contract or current debt, a rent roll and trailing-12-month operating statement, your business plan and renovation budget, and sponsor financials. Larger assets may also need a property condition report and an environmental review. We will give you a clear checklist up front.

Question 12

Is the loan recourse, and is cash-out available?

Accepted Answer

Most bridge loans are recourse with a personal guarantee, while lower-leverage non-recourse can be possible on stronger assets. Cash-out is available when there is equity to support it. We structure recourse and leverage around the specific deal.

CRE Bridge in Tampa

How it works

Run your CRE Bridge numbers.

CRE Bridge in Tampa: local questions

CRE Bridge questions, answered.

Guides for CRE Bridge

CRE Bridge vs. other options

Other programs in Tampa

Funding Tampa deals fast.