Loans will be made or arranged pursuant to California Financing Law.
Rubicon Mortgage Fund, LLC. CFL 6053884
Rubicon Realty Advisors, Inc. CFL 6053885. NMLS ID: 2257291
Private money financing for California gas stations, underwritten on the real estate and the operating business together.
Most lenders will not touch a gas station.
The environmental exposure, the fuel supply agreements, the fact that much of the value sits in the operation rather than the dirt — it falls outside what a conventional credit box knows how to price. So the file gets declined, or it sits for ninety days while the escrow clock runs out.
Rubicon Mortgage Fund has been lending on California gas stations for years. We underwrite the real estate and the business together, because that is what the asset actually is.
Institutional lenders struggle with this asset class outside of SBA programs, and the reasons are structural rather than stubborn.
Every fuelling site carries some contamination risk. Underground storage tanks leak, older single-wall tanks leak more, and remediation is expensive and slow. A bank underwriter with no way to assess that risk will price it at infinity, which means declining the loan.
We look at tank age and construction, any known contamination history, and what the monitoring records actually say. A modern double-walled system on a clean site is a very different risk from a 1980s single-wall tank, and we underwrite the difference.
A gas station is not a building with a tenant. It is an operating business — fuel margins, in-store sales, car wash and food revenue — attached to a piece of real estate. Value one without the other and you get the wrong number.
Most commercial lenders are set up to underwrite leases. There is no lease here. That is why so many station deals end up in SBA programs, and why they stall when SBA does not fit.
Station sales move fast, and sellers are rarely patient. A conventional process that needs an appraisal, an environmental report, a credit committee and a ninety-day timeline is not a process most station buyers can use.
We lend our own capital and make every decision in-house. There is no syndication, no outside credit committee, and no appraisal requirement. Most borrowers have a quote within 24 hours of getting in touch.
What we actually look at:
Someone from Rubicon physically visits every property we lend on. For a station, that means standing on the corner and watching the traffic, not reading a broker package.
Rubicon funded a $3,500,000 acquisition in Fremont for a seasoned gas station operator. The loan was secured by both the real estate and the operating business.
The site sat on a hard corner near a major freeway on-ramp with high traffic volume. The pumps had already been modernised, and the tanks were double-walled rather than older single-wall construction, a material reduction in contamination risk. The borrower contributed substantial equity.
The plan from the start was to build two years of clean operating financials and then refinance into a community bank. That is a good use of private money: it is the bridge between buying the business and being bankable on it.
A conventional lender could not evaluate the real estate and the operations as one thing. That is precisely what we do.
Rubicon has also funded gas station acquisitions in Berkeley, a refinance in San Leandro, a service station acquisition in Ripon, and ground-up station construction in Indio.
Branded and unbranded stations, single sites and small portfolios:
Both. Our Fremont loan was secured by the real estate and the operating gas station business together. Underwriting them as one asset is the point.
Yes. Branded and unbranded both.
No. We do not require appraisals on any loan. Someone from Rubicon inspects the property in person instead.
No. We underwrite the property and the operation. Operator experience matters a great deal; a credit score does not.
Tell us early. We look at tank age and construction, any known history, and the monitoring record, and we underwrite the specific situation. Known issues are not automatically disqualifying, but they need to be on the table from the start.
That is one of the more common reasons operators call us. Private money is often the cleanest way to save the escrow and refinance into permanent debt later.
Most borrowers have a quote within 24 hours. Closings frequently happen inside 30 days.
Statewide California, 1st position only, business purpose only.
Rubicon Mortgage Fund, LLC is a direct private money lender that has financed commercial real estate across California since 2008, with more than $650 million funded. If you are buying, refinancing or building a station, call (925) 283-8919 or send the deal to info@rubiconfund.net.
See our borrowers and lending criteria and our funded loan portfolio.
Rubicon Mortgage Fund, LLC is California's premier direct private money lender for commercial real estate. In-house underwriting. No appraisals. Initial response typically within 24 hours.
(925) 283-8919