This company can help you get the low mortgage rates of years ago.
But the person who's selling the home likely has a monthly payment that's as much as $1,000 less, if they bought the home a few years ago at a rock-bottom low rate of 2-3% - or refinanced during that period.
Wouldn't it be nice to turn back time?
A new company offers to do just that. RetroRate offers a software tool that scans public real estate listings on websites like Zillow or Realtor.com to show which homes for sale have assumable mortgages – those that can be taken over by a home's new owner.
Most mortgages guaranteed by government agencies, like the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Federal Housing Agency, can be assumed, as can a very few guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Most agents and others in the real estate industry know such loans are out there, but they can be tricky to find. Most homeowners aren't accustomed to sharing details about their mortgages when they sell their home.
Across a sample of ten states, RetroRate estimates that more than 22% have an assumable loan, with an average interest rate of 4.42%, working out to average monthly savings of $1,037.
Drawbacks to assumable mortgages
There are some reasons why buyers and their agents may shy away from an assumable mortgage, however. The most critical is that they can take time to process. That's because the company responsible for transitioning the mortgage to the new buyer is not a lender, but the existing mortgage servicer.
Servicers are the companies that handle mortgage payments, making sure they're paid on time and that a borrower's insurance premiums and taxes are taken care of. Their business processes aren't set up to work with borrowers before they become owners, and they usually don't have many staff members dedicated to handling assumptions.
RetroRate makes its money by offering a concierge service. For a fee equal to 1% of the purchase price of the home, the company walks the buyer and the seller through the entire process, explained Andy Taylor, RetroRate's founder. Taylor is an industry veteran, having spent time at Redfin and CreditKarma.
The complaints about servicers get no argument from Courtney Thompson, executive vice president at CMG Servicing. She likens the current interest in assumable mortgages to the years after the financial crisis, when servicers had to help homeowners who could no longer afford their homes but wanted to avoid foreclosure: a new, time-intensive business process that they were simply ill-equipped to manage.
Still, Thompson said in an interview, 'Math is math. People should do (assumptions) if they can and it works for all sides.'
'Piggyback' mortgages for the 'equity gap'
Another key challenge is that mortgages that can be assumed are usually smaller than the purchase price of the home today. Consider a home purchased in 2022 for $500,000, using a $450,000 mortgage. There may be $400,000 left on that mortgage – but the home is probably now worth more like $600,000. The buyers will have to either cover the difference with money they pay out of pocket, or take out a small second mortgage or some other kind of loan.
That's the biggest concern for real estate agent Andi DeFelice, who works with lots of first-time buyers as the owner and broker of Exclusive Buyers Realty in Savannah, Georgia.
For the lower monthly payment alone, DeFelice said, she'd love to consider a tool like RetroRate. But if it comes to having to put down hundreds of thousands in equity, an assumable mortgage may simply be out of reach for many buyers. Yet 'it could definitely be something to put in our toolbox,' she told USA TODAY.
Evan Tando is a San Diego-based mortgage broker and real estate agent who firmly believes assumable mortgages help not only buyers, but sellers as well.
He was early to recognize the potential in assumptions, when interest rates first started spiking a few years ago. The process could take as much as six months, he said. Now it's a bit shorter – as little as 45 days in some cases – but a buyer should definitely be prepared for a longer process than with a new mortgage, he says.
More: Down payments are the biggest homeownership hurdle. Why is Washington making them scarcer?
Tando had a chance to see how RetroRate's concierge team worked when it assisted him on a listing with an assumable mortgage, and thinks the company has great promise. For buyers, he said, assumable mortgages are a 'game changer.' But they may also change the calculus for sellers.
'I think it is very, very important if you're selling a home to be sure that you have a listing agent that takes the time, takes advantage of really marketing that assumable loan,' Tando said. Even if a seller doesn't wind up making use of the fact that her existing mortgage is assumable, the increased interest it will likely spark should drive up the price of the home, he said.
'Knowing what's out there is really eye-opening especially if you're in the home search,' Taylor said. 'These things are out there and they're really a great deal. It's just about finding that gold.'
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New York Post
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- New York Post
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The Hill
40 minutes ago
- The Hill
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Miami Herald
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Progress in trade negotiations will take the S&P 500 to a third consecutive year of 20% gains, according to Oppenheimer Asset Management's John Stoltzfus, a feat unseen since the late 1990s. He raised his year-end target for the U.S. benchmark to 7,100. Some market forecasters including Morgan Stanley's Michael Wilson have turned more optimistic about the S&P 500 as they expect earnings to remain upbeat. The technical evidence suggests a broadening of participation in equities off the April low, according to Craig Johnson at Piper Sandler. "Despite a slight easing in momentum as investors await earnings, the combination of several major indices at all-time highs and improving market breadth continues to draw investors off the sidelines, offering opportunities to buy the dip," he said. At RBC Capital Markets, Lori Calvasina says it would be premature to write off the impact of tariffs on inflation and corporate earnings. "It also poses a risk to the path of stock prices if company outlooks for 2026 don't end up being as rosy as investors have been anticipating," she noted. The S&P 500 is trading around 22.5 times projected earnings, compared to a 10-year average of 18.6. That's sparked concerns that there may be little room for error. The stock market's stunning rebound and resilience have again emboldened equity investors, who have developed muscle memory around 'buying the dip'," according to Lisa Shalett at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. "With volatility having decoupled from stress indicators, passive indexes have ground to new highs, while the most speculative corners of the market have begun to lead," she said. "Complacency is elevated, and valuations are rich. In this environment, we want to be stock-pickers." To Mark Hackett at Nationwide, this may be the most compelling intersection of technical momentum and fundamental strength we've seen in a long time. "The S&P hasn't had a 1% move in over a month and yet bears have capitulated," he said. "No one's willing to short this market, and even typically skeptical investors are getting pulled in. While it's not a blow-off top yet, the odds of that happening are rising." If sentiment keeps shifting and dip buyers remain aggressive, we could see a classic melt-up – and any near-term weakness over the next several weeks is likely to be bought aggressively, he said. "However, for now, bears are hibernating through the summer," Hackett concluded. "We would lean toward being more bullish than bearish on U.S. stocks through year-end, but not outside of a balanced portfolio based on risk," said Anthony Saglimbene at Ameriprise. "However, that view is contingent on positive corporate profitability and economic growth this year, avoiding worst-case tariff scenarios, and investors remaining willing to 'buy the dip'." Markets have found reassurance in several developments, according to Invesco Global Market Strategy Office. "For one, the worst fears that manifested around trade in early April haven't materialized, and key trade agreements are being signed," the strategists said. "Tariff rates remain vastly elevated compared to last year, but they appear manageable. In our view, it's likely that the cost can be shared between businesses and consumers without a meaningful impact on growth or inflation." Invesco strategists also noted that what should really matter for stocks in the medium and long-term is earnings. "After a strong market rally, investors should prepare for renewed volatility in the near term," said Mark Haefele at UBS Global Wealth Management. "Potential market dips could offer an opportunity for investors to build long-term exposure to stocks." Corporate Highlights: -Samsung Electronics Co. will produce AI semiconductors for Tesla Inc. in a new $16.5 billion pact that marks a win for its underperforming foundry division. -Texas Instruments Inc. was upgraded to outperform at Wolfe Research, which said the chipmaker is "near the end" of a spending cycle. -Cisco Systems Inc. was downgraded to inline at Evercore, which mentioned valuation following recent gains. -Nike Inc. was raised to overweight at JPMorgan Chase & Co., which cited the earnings impact of the sportswear maker's five-pronged multi-year recovery plan. -Albertsons Cos. demanded that Kroger Co. provide details on personal conduct that led the company to replace its chief executive officer, who shepherded the failed $24.6 billion takeover that's now the focus of litigation between the two companies. -PayPal Holdings Inc. will soon allow businesses to accept more than one hundred cryptocurrencies at checkout. -Roche Holding AG plans to test whether an experimental medicine can prevent Alzheimer's disease symptoms in high-risk people, its latest investment in one of the most failure-prone areas of drugmaking. -Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday that it's owed a $100 million milestone payment from Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. within the next two months, pressuring the beleaguered biotech company just days after it stopped selling its biggest drug due to safety concerns. -EssilorLuxottica SA posted better-than-expected revenue in the second quarter, as the world's biggest eyewear maker showed strong gains in Europe and pressed ahead with its smart-glasses initiative. -Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. announced the names of the two companies resulting from a planned separation of the streaming and studios business from its cable-TV networks. Some of the main moves in markets: Stocks -The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4 p.m. New York time -The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.4% -The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% -The MSCI World Index fell 0.3% -Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index rose 0.8% -The Russell 2000 Index fell 0.2% Currencies -The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.8% -The euro fell 1.3% to $1.1592 -The British pound fell 0.6% to $1.3355 -The Japanese yen fell 0.6% to 148.56 per dollar Cryptocurrencies -Bitcoin fell 0.6% to $118,128.17 -Ether fell 0.6% to $3,802.22 Bonds -The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.41% -Germany's 10-year yield declined three basis points to 2.69% -Britain's 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.65% Commodities -West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3% to $67.10 a barrel -Spot gold fell 0.6% to $3,317.25 an ounce Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
