The Blog: plain-English answers to real questions
Written from Ashley's recordings and real client conversations, not content-farm filler. Every post answers a question someone actually asked us.
This is the bridging loan blog we wish had existed when we started out: no filler, no hedging, and a straight answer to the question in the title. Every post below began as a real conversation, either a client question on the phone or a recorded take from Ashley, which is why they read like a broker talking rather than a brochure.
Latest posts
What happens if your buyer pulls out before completion?
Nothing is binding until exchange, so a buyer can walk away after four months and owe you nothing. What happens to your own purchase, and how to keep it alive.
Read the post → THE HONEST ANSWERAre bridging loans a good idea?
Higher rates, real fees and a hard deadline. All true. Two deals where a bridge made the client money, one where we said no, and how to tell them apart.
Read the post → AUCTIONSThe modern method isn't the easy option
The reservation fee sits on top of the price, not off it. Why the gentler-sounding option is harder than it looks, and when you can still be gazumped.
Read the post → TIMESCALESHow long does a bridging loan take?
Stage by stage. The lender is the fast part, the valuation decides it, and the legals are the slow one.
Read the post → AUCTIONSThe 28 day auction clock
Everyone worries about day twenty-eight. The deal is won or lost in week one, and here is what those seven days have to look like.
Read the post → ALTERNATIVESAlternatives to a bridging loan
Further advance, remortgage, second charge term, asset finance, a JV partner, or simply selling first. A bridging broker on when you do not need one.
Read the post → AUCTIONSBridging loans for property auctions
What lenders look for, what it costs, and how to complete inside the 28 day deadline.
Read the post → REFURBISHMENT75% of the purchase, 100% of the refurb
A £475,000 buy with a £120,000 build budget. What the lender funds, what you put in, and what you owe against an £800,000 finished value.
Read the post → COSTSGross vs net: why 75% isn't 75%
A real term sheet, line by line. Where £21,403 went between the headline and the bank transfer, and every fee explained.
Read the post → 80% LTV80% LTV: what you actually put in
A client was quoted 80% and budgeted £100,000. The deposit was nearer £160,000. Why, and how to check before you offer.
Read the post → BAD CREDITBridging with bad credit
Adverse doesn't close the door, it moves the question to the exit. How to evidence one, and a case at the end of a term.
Read the post → LANDBridging on land, before and after planning
A plot at £75,000 with no consent and £200,000 with it. What a lender does before it will touch land.
Read the post → COMMERCIALCommercial bridging: empty units
One unit and a flat at £415,000, turned into four flats worth about £700,000. Plus the tip worth the whole article.
Read the post → SECOND CHARGESecond charge: keeping your rate
Raising money without losing a rate you'd never get again. Consent, equity, exit, and a kitchen that paid for itself.
Read the post →How long does a bridging loan take, really? The honest timeline step by step, where deals actually stall, and a four-working-day regulated bridge as the proof story. Being written from Ashley's recording. In the meantime, the full bridging guide covers the same ground.
Looking for something specific?
Most questions we get are already answered in full on a page rather than a post. If you know roughly what you need, start here:
Why we write these
Most bridging content online is written to rank, not to help. It hedges, repeats itself, and never gives you a number. Ours starts the other way round: someone asks a question on the phone, the answer turns out to be useful, and it becomes a post.
That means the posts are uneven in length, occasionally blunt, and sometimes tell you not to do the deal. It also means they're accurate, because the person answering places these loans for a living rather than researching them for an afternoon.
You'll also notice we link out constantly, usually to a page that answers the question more fully than a post can. That's deliberate. A blog post is a good place to answer one question well; it's a poor place to explain an entire product. The pages do the heavy lifting and the posts fill the gaps between them.
If a question you've isn't answered anywhere on this site, ask it. There's a good chance it becomes the next post, and you get the answer immediately either way.
Question we haven't answered?
Ask it. There's a good chance it becomes the next post.
Prefer to put it in writing? Email support@bridgingfinancebroker.co.uk