By Jeff Lazerson | jlazerson@mortgagegrader.com | MortgageGrader.com | January 12, 2026

Article originally posted in Orange County Register on January 8, 2026

Many home sales are made “contingent” on one or multiple events coming to pass.

Buyers caught up in contingent sales sometimes miss out on opportunities, however. This is because they need to quickly sell their own home first before submitting an offer to buy a hot property already in the midst of a heated sales process.

What is a so-called contingent buyer to do when a screaming deal comes along?

A homeowner could arrange a home equity line-of-credit to be used as the down payment, but qualifying for both loans, let alone having to make payments on two properties, might not be in the cards.

A homeowner looking to sell quickly could accept a discount price on their own property from an iBuyer — or tech-driven company using algorithms to provide homeowners with an all-cash offer at a lowball price.

Often, a homeowner lines up bridge financing to tap an equity loan without the contingency of having to first sell their own property.

Another way forward is a novel approach, allowing the principal to sell his home to a program called Cash to Win in order to raise the proceeds for the purchase of another home.

In a nutshell, Cash to Win buys the home at a mutually agreed upon fair market price within 14 days. The transaction charge is 1.5% of the sale price. Much of the home equity tapped from the sold home is provided to the seller so that he or she can buy another property.

With a mutually agreed upon price agreement, Cash to Win lists the home through the home sellers’ real estate agent, ideally at fair market value.

While similar, there are major differences between the popular bridge financing approach and Cash to Win.

With a bridge loan, an appraisal is done on both the replacement property (home being purchased) and the departing residence. Bridge lenders generally loan from 60% to 75% of the combined property values as first mortgages. So, if there is a lien on the departing residence, then that must be refinanced into the bridge lenders’ loan.

For example, if the replacement property is purchased for $1.2 million and the departing residence is worth $800,000, the bridge lender parses out a maximum of say $1.5 million, perhaps $900,000 on the replacement home and $600,000 against the departing residence. In other words, the mortgages are cross-collateralized.

In most cases, the principal must have enough income to qualify for both mortgages.

Escrow closes on the purchased property and the refinancing escrow closes on the departing residence at the same roughly 8-11% interest rate.

The bridge lender charges about 2.75 points on the departing residence and 2 points on the replacement property. Most of the escrow and title insurance charges are the principal’s responsibility as well.

The home seller now has roughly six months to a year to sell the property they’re moving from, as bridge financing is generally for one year or less. If the property isn’t sold during that period, then foreclosure becomes a concern.

In my experience, the number one reason people back away from bridge financing is prohibitive expenses. That’s 4.75% of the loan amounts plus settlement charges, or $24,750 plus $12,000 for a total of $36,750. Later, the principal will refinance out of the high interest rate (8-11%) on the replacement home.

Comparably, Cash to Win is about one-third the cost of bridge financing. There is a 1.5% fee (of the list price) for the transaction. So, 1.5% of $800,000 is $12,000. The seller is responsible for all closing costs, property taxes and maintenance. The home seller also is responsible for the short-term insurance coverage that Cash to Win purchases.

Cash to Win requires a property review (what’s it likely to sell for) with input from the seller and real estate agent. An appraisal is not used.

Then comes the home inspection (principal pays for this), which the principal and real estate agent select.

Cash to Win purchases the departing residence for a mutually agreed upon price, then turns around and immediately lists it with the agent. The principal is only paying the agent’s commission once.

The principal immediately receives up to 70% of the equity, which can be used as a down payment for the purchase of the replacement property. The principal gets to pick the mortgage should one be needed.

Cash to Win holds back roughly 30% of the equity in the departing residence to cover realty commissions, 9% per diem on the funds advanced to the principal, settlement charges and any extension fees. When Cash to Win sells the departing residence, the remaining 30% holdback goes to the principal.

So, what’s the catch?

If the home is not sold and closed within 60 days, Cash to Win charges an additional 0.5% of the sales price for each 60-day extension, with a maximum of two extensions.

If the property is not sold within 180 days, then Cash to Win keeps the remaining 30% holdback. In other words, the principal is taking a 30% haircut from the originally agreed upon list price.

Cash to Win unilaterally decides the list price after the first 60 days, should it need to be lowered.

To illustrate, say Cash to Win paid $800,000 for the departing residence from the principal — but the property sold for $750,000 after it was re-listed (the open market always tells you the true price). Cash to Win will deduct $50,000 from the $800,000 price it paid.

As an aside, if the home sells for more than the original list price, the principal keeps all the upside. For example, if the property lists at $800,000, but a bidding war pushes the price to $850,000, only the principal receives the $50,000.

Bottom line: Home sellers must be realistic about the mutually agreed upon list price with Cash to Win.

Full Disclosure: I do business with Cash to Win.

Freddie Mac rate news: The 30-year fixed rate averaged 6.16%, one basis point higher than last week. The 15-year fixed rate averaged 5.46%, two basis points higher than last week.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported a 9.7% mortgage application decrease compared to two weeks ago.

Bottom line: Assuming a borrower gets an average 30-year fixed rate on a conforming $832,750 loan, last year’s payment was $422 more than this week’s payment of $5,079.

What I see: Locally, well-qualified borrowers can get the following fixed-rate mortgages with one point: A 30-year FHA at 5.375%, a 15-year conventional at 5.125%, a 30-year conventional at 5.75%, a 15-year high-balance conventional at 5.5% ($832,751 to $1,249,125 in Los Angeles and Orange County and $832,751 to $1,104,000 in San Diego), a 30-year high-balance conventional at 6.125% and a jumbo 30-year fixed at 5.99%.

 Eye catcher loan program of the week: A 30-year mortgage, fixed for the first five years at 5.25%, with 30% down payment and 1 point cost.

Jeff Lazerson, president of Mortgage Grader, can be reached at 949-322-8640 or jlazerson@mortgagegrader.com. His website is www.mortgagegrader.com.

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