Interest only can certainly help the cash-on-cash returns on your investment. If you are purchasing a broken property- deferred maintenance, bad management, bad occupancy; you need some type of payment relief during times of weak cash flow. Having an interest only period during the renovation is certainly typical for a BRIDGE type of loan. Banks typically don’t like to do lots of interest only…because the bank regulators don't like interest only. Most community banks on bridge loans will only do 6-18 months of interest only during the rehab…then it will modify into a principal and interest payment.