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Most Atlanta apartment deals come down to three questions: how many legal units the building has, how the income is documented, and what the county is going to do to the tax bill.
Atlanta multifamily & commercial financing
Atlanta Apartment
& Commercial Loans.
Atlanta apartment deals are rarely one kind of building. A 12 unit brick building off Memorial Drive and a newer community in Henry or Newton County qualify in different ways. Stabilized buildings are sized on the rent roll. A property still leasing up usually starts with a bridge loan, then moves to permanent debt once occupancy is in.
Talk through a property2
Inside the Perimeter, older buildings along Memorial Drive, Campbellton Road, and Buford Highway were often renovated in stages, so the unit count on the rent roll does not always match the county record. Five to ten units fit Apartment DSCR. Above that, the loan is sized on NOI and DSCR. Outside the Perimeter, newer communities in Gwinnett, Clayton, Henry, and Newton tend to have cleaner records but thinner operating history, because so much of that product was recently built or recently bought.
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Taxes catch investors off guard here more than almost anywhere else in the state. Georgia counties can reassess a property after it sells, so a building bought last year may be carrying a tax bill well above what the seller was paying. Lenders underwrite the tax bill the building will actually carry going forward, and on an apartment building that one line can move the loan amount by tens of thousands of dollars.
Property stock
What investors own here
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Brick garden apartments inside and near the Perimeter
1960s and 1970s buildings of 8 to 40 units along corridors like Memorial Drive, Campbellton Road, and Buford Highway. Five to ten units fit Apartment DSCR. Eleven and up route to Interest-Only Apartment Loans, or to a full-doc Georgia bank loan when the sponsor's financials are strong.
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Newer suburban communities
Recently built apartment communities across the outer counties. A permanent lender wants stabilized occupancy before it will size the loan on the rent roll. A building still leasing up usually starts with a bridge loan.
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Neighborhood retail and mixed use
Retail strips and apartments over storefronts along Atlanta's commercial corridors fit Commercial DSCR when the income is the leases, not a residential rent roll.
Bank terms
Georgia full-doc
financing
Capituro also closes full-documentation loans in Georgia on bank and credit union terms. They are underwritten on your full financials, and underwriters can add back depreciation when they look at your cash flow, including the large paper losses a cost segregation study creates. That matters for Atlanta investors whose tax returns show a loss only because of depreciation.
Typical structure is a 5 year fixed term on a 20 to 30 year amortization with a personal guaranty. The rates usually beat DSCR loans by a large margin. Prepayment terms vary: some Georgia bank loans carry none, others use a 5-4-3-2-1 step-down. Most ask for a deposit relationship, which can mean moving operating accounts or keeping a set balance at the bank. The tradeoff is more paperwork and a longer timeline, often 60 to 90 days from a complete application.
Programs that fit
Common Atlanta loan lanes
Apartment DSCR
Small brick apartment buildings inside and near the Perimeter.
Program detailsInterest-Only Apartment Loans
Garden apartments refinanced on rent roll and T-12.
Program detailsCash out refinance
Pull equity after a renovation or a completed lease-up.
Program detailsCommercial DSCR
Neighborhood retail strips and mixed use along Atlanta's commercial corridors.
Program detailsMedical office
Medical Office Building Loans
Medical office across Metro Atlanta, on 30 year amortizations, with a deposit relationship not usually required.
Program detailsBridge
Buildings bought vacant, under renovation, or still leasing up.
Program detailsLocal complications
What slows deals here
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The tax bill after a purchase
If you bought in the last year or two, the county may have already reassessed, or may be about to. Send the most recent tax bill and any reassessment notice up front so the numbers hold through underwriting.
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Legal unit count on conversions
Intown buildings converted over several owners often have one unit more on the rent roll than on the county record. Confirm what is legal before counting on that income.
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Lease-up timing on newer product
Many banks will not close a permanent loan until occupancy reaches a set level, often around 90%, and some will hold back part of the cash-out until occupancy is proven. The bank's own expense assumptions matter too: a few points of occupancy can be the difference between clearing its coverage minimum and missing it. Plan the bridge loan maturity around that.
Local example
Recent scenario
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An 18 unit building in southwest Atlanta was finishing a full gut renovation, with lease-up starting the following month and nothing leased yet.
The owner was carrying an interest-only bridge loan near 11% that did not mature for several more months, and all-in cost was well below the expected finished value, putting the new loan in the low 60s on loan to value. Rather than rush a refinance on an empty building, the approach was to line up bank terms now and have underwriting and funding follow once the certificate of occupancy was issued and the building reached 90% occupancy. The owner's strong personal income and credit made a full-doc bank loan the natural fit.
Further reading
Articles for Atlanta deals
Questions
Atlanta apartment and commercial loan FAQ
Will refinancing my Atlanta building trigger a property tax reassessment?+
A refinance is not a sale, so it does not create a new sale price for the county assessor to work from the way a purchase does. Lenders still underwrite the current tax bill, though, and if you bought recently, the value the county assigned after your purchase is the one they will use.
Can I refinance a new suburban community before it is fully leased?+
Sometimes. Some Georgia banks will issue terms ahead of time and close once occupancy hits their minimum. If the current bridge loan matures before that, a short extension may be needed to cover the gap.
My tax returns show a loss because of depreciation. Can I still qualify?+
On DSCR loans, your tax returns are not used at all. On Georgia full-doc bank loans, underwriters can add depreciation back, so a paper loss does not have to disqualify you.
What if I own an Atlanta duplex, triplex, or fourplex?+
Those stay on 1 to 4 Unit DSCR when the legal unit count matches the rent roll. This page is written for apartment buildings. If one unit was added without permits, expect it to be left out of the income.