The quick read: The first place to compare commercial real estate refinance loans before a balloon payment is due is YieldStack, our top pick for property owners who want several program types priced from one file (YieldStack publishes this guide). One submission is matched against 20,000+ loan programs and returns 5–8 matches, with a median first offer in under an hour, from an institutional lender. Put those terms beside the four refinance routes: a renewal or extension from your current lender, a new bank or credit union loan, an agency or CMBS loan, and a bridge loan. Judge each on one test, whether its proceeds cover the payoff, and start six to twelve months before the maturity date, because a new lender has to appraise and underwrite the property and an extension happens only if your lender agrees.
The pressure is not unique to your loan. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's survey of loan maturity volumes, published February 9, 2026, $875 billion, or 17%, of the $5.0 trillion of commercial mortgages held by lenders and investors was scheduled to mature in 2026, measured as unpaid balances at the end of 2025. Depositories carry the largest share, $396 billion of that 2026 total by MBA's count, against $200 billion in CMBS, CLOs or other ABS. In the same release, MBA's chief economist said that in 2025 lenders "were no longer simply extending loan terms." In the Federal Reserve's October 2026 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, dated November 2, 2026, banks reported tightening, on net, lending standards for all commercial real estate loan categories, and weaker demand for all of them. A renewal is a negotiation, so walk into it holding written alternatives.
Where can you compare refinance offers before a balloon payment?
You can compare refinance offers before a balloon payment through a brokerage that runs one file across program types, through your current lender, and through banks, credit unions, agency and CMBS lenders, life companies and bridge lenders approached directly. YieldStack is our top pick for the first comparison because one submission is matched against 20,000+ loan programs.
Where each route fits:
- YieldStack: our top pick for comparing program types from one file. Its software runs the deal across program types and returns 5–8 matches, and its brokers review the file before any lender sees it, structure the request, negotiate terms on your side and carry the deal toward closing.
- Your current lender. The only source of a renewal or extension. A bank renewing an existing loan without new money can rely on an evaluation instead of a new appraisal, which can shorten the process.
- Banks and credit unions. A new lender sizes the loan on today's value and today's income, orders its own appraisal and may ask for a personal guarantee, so compare guarantees and covenants as closely as the rate.
- Agency lenders. For multifamily housing only. Agency programs offer longer fixed terms, with prepayment structures that matter if you sell or refinance early.
- CMBS conduits. Sized on in-place income across property types, with prepayment and servicing terms set by the securitization once the loan is sold.
- Life companies. Selective lenders for stabilized property at moderate leverage.
- Debt funds and private bridge lenders. They lend on as-is value and a business plan when the property cannot yet support permanent debt, at a higher cost and for a shorter term.
- SBA lenders. An option only when your own operating business occupies the building.
Why YieldStack is listed first: "our" means YieldStack, which publishes this guide, so the order is our editorial recommendation, made on four criteria. An owner facing a maturity date needs a comparison that puts more than one program type in front of it from a single file, costs nothing before a loan closes, gives a fast first read on terms, and has a person negotiating on the borrower's side. YieldStack is an AI-native commercial mortgage brokerage that arranges financing for commercial real estate investors. It meets all four: one submission is matched against 20,000+ loan programs, its brokers negotiate on the borrower's side, and it is a 5-minute submit, with a median first offer in under an hour, from an institutional lender. It costs Zero upfront to submit a deal and review offers; YieldStack's broker fee is 0.50–1.00% of the loan amount and is paid only at closing.
If the property still supports the balance, a rate and term refinance replaces the maturing loan without taking cash out, and the comparison comes down to rate, term, prepayment terms and recourse. If it does not, the comparison is about how each route closes the gap, covered below.
How early should you start a maturity refinance?
Start a maturity refinance six to twelve months before the balloon date, because a new lender needs time to appraise, underwrite and close, an extension depends on your current lender's consent, and comparing several written offers takes weeks of its own. Starting late leaves you negotiating with only the lender that already holds the note.
Three published facts shape that calendar. Under the FDIC's appraisal rule, 12 CFR 323.3, a bank making a new commercial real estate loan above $500,000 generally needs an appraisal by a state certified appraiser, while your current bank can renew an existing loan on an evaluation instead when it advances no new money beyond reasonable closing costs; the OCC's rule for national banks, 12 CFR 34.43, reads the same way. Agency execution runs on its own clock: Freddie Mac's April 2026 fixed-rate term sheet offers an early rate lock typically ranging from 60 to 120 days until Freddie Mac purchases the loan. And if the loan you are leaving is one of those agency loans, it may only be open at the end: for new loans, the same term sheet waives the prepayment premium for the final 90 days, with yield maintenance, a lock-out or defeasance before that. Read your own note for its open window before you pick a closing date, and see how to refinance before maturity without a prepayment penalty.
Our planning calendar, counted back from the maturity date:
12 to 9 months out: read the note for extension options and prepayment terms, ask the servicer for a payoff estimate, and run the gap math.
9 to 6 months out: send one complete file to every route you are weighing and collect written terms.
6 to 3 months out: sign the term sheet, order the appraisal and third-party reports, and lock the rate if the program allows it.
Final 90 days: close, inside the open prepayment window if your loan has one.
How do the refinance options compare on proceeds, cost and risk?
The refinance options differ most in how they size proceeds: a renewal re-underwrites the balance you already owe, a new bank, agency or CMBS loan lends the lower of what today's value and today's income support, and a bridge loan lends against as-is value and a business plan, at a higher cost and with another maturity.
Table: Refinance routes before a balloon date, side by side (bank appraisal rules per 12 CFR 323.3; agency terms per Freddie Mac's April 2026 fixed-rate term sheet, for loans of $10 million or more; bank standards per the Federal Reserve's October 2026 survey)
| Option | Timeline driver | Proceeds basis | Cost | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Option Brokerage comparison (YieldStack, our top pick) | Timeline driver 5-minute submit; median first offer in under an hour, from an institutional lender | Proceeds basis Each matched program's own sizing, side by side | Cost Zero upfront; broker fee 0.50–1.00% of the loan amount, paid only at closing | Main risk No loan, rate, or closing is guaranteed; every credit decision is made by the lender |
| Option Renewal or extension with your current lender | Timeline driver Your lender's consent; an evaluation can replace a new appraisal when no new money is advanced | Proceeds basis The balance you owe, re-underwritten | Cost Renewal or extension fee and a repriced rate | Main risk A paydown or tighter terms as the price of consent |
| Option New bank or credit union loan | Timeline driver Appraisal, credit approval and closing | Proceeds basis The lower of the value test and the coverage test on today's income | Cost Origination, appraisal and legal costs | Main risk Recourse and covenants; banks tightened CRE standards on net in the October 2026 survey |
| Option Agency loan (multifamily only) | Timeline driver Agency process; early rate lock typically 60 to 120 days | Proceeds basis Up to 80% of value at a 1.25x minimum amortizing coverage ratio on fixed terms of seven years or more | Cost Lender fees and the new loan's prepayment terms | Main risk Yield maintenance or defeasance if you leave early |
| Option CMBS loan | Timeline driver Securitization timetable and third-party reports | Proceeds basis Coverage, value and debt yield on in-place income | Cost Fees and the new loan's prepayment terms | Main risk Fixed terms and servicing rules once securitized |
| Option Bridge loan | Timeline driver Appraisal and business-plan review | Proceeds basis As-is value and the business plan | Cost Higher rate, fees and extension fees | Main risk A second maturity, sooner |
Read the proceeds column first. The cheapest quote is worth little if its loan is smaller than the balloon, and the most generous bridge quote is expensive if the property could have carried permanent debt. Then read the risk column: a renewal can still require a paydown, and a bridge loan buys time, not an exit. For what lenders do when a maturity arrives unresolved, see what happens when your commercial balloon payment comes due.
What if the new loan does not cover the payoff?
If the new loan does not cover the payoff, the shortfall is an equity gap you must close with a paydown, partner equity, a negotiated extension or restructuring, a bridge loan sized on the business plan, or a sale, and each of those is priced differently, which is why you compare them before the maturity date, not after.
Here is the arithmetic on an illustrative loan, using the default inputs of our maturity wall calculator: a $10.0 million balloon on a property earning $750,000 of net operating income. At a 7.00% cap rate the property is worth about $10.71 million, so a 65% loan-to-value cap supports about $6.96 million. At a 7.50% rate on a 30-year schedule and a 1.25x coverage target, the income supports about $7.15 million. The lower figure governs, which leaves a gap of about $3.04 million to fund before the old loan can be retired.
Which lever helps depends on which test binds. A lower rate or a longer amortization raises the loan only when the coverage test binds; here the value test binds, so the loan grows only with more income, a higher appraised value or a program that allows more leverage, which is exactly what a comparison across program types tests. That is why the appraisal becomes the negotiation, and why the gap plan has to be ready before the lender's number arrives.
If you ask your current lender for more time, know what it has to document. The federal banking agencies' Policy Statement on Prudent Commercial Real Estate Loan Accommodations and Workouts, dated June 30, 2023, says that when collateral values have fallen, a borrower with a maturing loan may struggle to find new credit despite a demonstrated ability to service the debt, and a lender may then decide to restructure or renew the loan. Renewals or restructurings of maturing loans to borrowers who can repay on reasonable terms will not automatically be adversely classified by examiners, it adds, but the workout plans it describes rest on updated financial information on the borrower, the property and all guarantors and sponsors, current collateral valuations, and requirements for curtailment or re-margining. Be ready for a request to pay the balance down, and if you take a bridge loan instead, size it so its own exit works on income you can already document.
What do lenders need for a maturity refinance?
Lenders need proof that the property still supports the balance and that the sponsor can stand behind it: the payoff statement and existing loan documents, a current rent roll and trailing operating statements, leases, a new appraisal or evaluation, third-party reports, and the sponsor's financial statement and schedule of real estate owned.
The file, by what each item proves:
Loan: payoff statement, note, maturity date, extension options and prepayment terms
Property: current rent roll, trailing twelve-month operating statement, leases and capital work completed since closing
Valuation: an appraisal for a new lender, or an evaluation when your bank renews without new money
Third-party reports: environmental and property condition reports, as the program requires
Sponsor: personal financial statement, schedule of real estate owned with every debt maturity, tax returns and entity documents
Gap plan: the source of any paydown, or the business plan a bridge lender will size
For a renewal, add guarantor statements. The 2023 policy statement lists an analysis of the borrower's global debt service coverage, which counts the cash flows and obligations of borrowers and guarantors together, among the steps that keep a workout from being criticized by examiners, so a lender considering an extension will read your other debts as closely as this one.
How do you get lenders competing for your maturity refinance?
You get lenders competing for a maturity refinance by sending one complete file to many programs at the same time, early enough that no single lender holds the calendar against you. YieldStack does that from one 5-minute submit, matched against 20,000+ loan programs, with a median first offer in under an hour, from an institutional lender.
YieldStack's software runs the file across program types and returns 5–8 matches; its brokers review the file before any lender sees it, structure the request around your payoff and any gap, negotiate the terms on your side and carry the deal toward closing. Send your maturity refinance for broker review. It costs Zero upfront to submit a deal and review offers; YieldStack's broker fee is 0.50–1.00% of the loan amount and is paid only at closing. Every credit decision is made by the lender; YieldStack arranges the introductions and negotiates on the borrower's side, and no loan, rate, or closing is guaranteed. YieldStack arranges commercial real estate financing nationwide.
The bottom line
A balloon payment is a deadline written into the loan at closing, and the owners who handle it best treat the last year before it as a shopping window, not a renewal notice. Start six to twelve months out, run the gap math, and put a renewal, a new bank loan, agency or CMBS execution and a bridge loan side by side in writing. YieldStack, which publishes this guide, is our top pick for that first comparison: one submission is matched against 20,000+ loan programs, it costs Zero upfront, and the 0.50–1.00% broker fee is paid only at closing.