Latest news with #RetroRate
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
This company can help you get the low mortgage rates of years ago.
Consider a typical home in a typical American community that sells to a new owner who takes out a typical mortgage. The monthly payment will be about $2,700, according to a recent analysis from Redfin. 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. Shop Top Mortgage Rates Your Path to Homeownership A quicker path to financial freedom Personalized rates in minutes 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 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.' This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: This company lets you find homes with low mortgage rates Sign in to access your portfolio
USA Today
7 days ago
- Business
- USA Today
This company can help you get the low mortgage rates of years ago.
Consider a typical home in a typical American community that sells to a new owner who takes out a typical mortgage. The monthly payment will be about $2,700, according to a recent analysis from Redfin. 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 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.'
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Redfin Veteran Launches Startup To Unlock Thousands In Monthly Savings Saying The Goal Is 'To Make Assumable Loans Just Another Financing Type'
A former Redfin (NASDAQ:RDFN) management lead and founder of a Credit Karma-acquired startup has launched RetroRate, a California-based proptech company aiming to bring assumable mortgages into the mainstream. On June 9, RetroRate announced both its official launch and a $2.2 million seed round led by Swift Ventures, with additional backing from Eniac, Cooley Ventures, Keshif Ventures, Interlock Capital, Launch Factory, and Arkus Nexus. Andy Taylor, who previously led product at Redfin and founded the mortgage startup Approved before its 2018 acquisition by Credit Karma, told Real Estate News that RetroRate was inspired by mortgage trend data he analyzed while overseeing rate tables during his time at Credit Karma. Don't Miss: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — Peter Thiel turned $1,700 into $5 billion—now accredited investors are eyeing this software company with similar breakout potential. Learn how you can Real Estate News says that while analyzing rate data in 2020 and 2021, Taylor discovered assumable loans, an option that allows buyers to take over a seller's mortgage rate and balance, which he had never encountered despite working in the industry since 2009. 'I've been in the business since 2009, and I had never heard about assumable loans,' Taylor told Real Estate News. 'It was almost shocking.' Assumable mortgages are typically linked to government-backed loans such as the Federal Housing Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the U.S. Department of Agriculture programs and can save buyers hundreds or thousands of dollars monthly compared to new loans at current interest rates, Real Estate News says. According to Taylor, RetroRate's analysis of multiple listing service and property data suggests that between 20% and 25% of homes listed for sale today may have an assumable mortgage attached. Despite the prevalence, Real Estate News says that buyers and agents rarely pursue these deals due to outdated, paper-based processes and the lack of centralized digital tools. Trending: Maximize saving for your retirement and cut down on taxes: . RetroRate provides a proprietary, searchable database of homes with assumable mortgages, both on and off market, and ranks them by financial appeal. Buyers pay a 1% fee at closing to access the service, which Taylor described as a "supercharged rate buy-down" with a much shorter payback period. "Our goal is to make assumable loans just another financing type, like a 30-year fixed or a 5/1 [adjustable-rate mortgage]," Taylor told Real Estate News. "We don't want agents to become experts in this process—we want to be the ones that make it easy for them." RetroRate concluded its beta phase in June after working with agents across 10 states including California, Florida, Texas, and North Carolina. The company launched its assumable loan platform in those same markets, which were chosen based on the volume of assumable mortgage inventory and affordability challenges, Real Estate News the benefits are clear, the process remains cumbersome. Taylor told Real Estate News that some deals require buyers to make large cash payments to cover the gap between home value and mortgage balance, and lender reviews can extend timelines beyond that of conventional financing. Taylor acknowledged these issues but sees them as indicators of a system overdue for modernization, Real Estate News says, believing that automation and digital tools can reduce friction significantly. Taylor emphasized that RetroRate is built to thrive regardless of interest rate movement. With the majority of U.S. homeowners still holding mortgages below current market rates, he expects older loans to remain attractive for years, Real Estate News reports. "There is always going to be someone out there who's got that better rate," Taylor told Real Estate News. "RetroRate is not about one narrow trend. It's about restoring affordability and creating liquidity. That's a mission we can build on no matter what rates do." Read Next: Many are using retirement income calculators to check if they're on pace — Image: Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? This article Redfin Veteran Launches Startup To Unlock Thousands In Monthly Savings Saying The Goal Is 'To Make Assumable Loans Just Another Financing Type' originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
