More homeowners giving up ultra-low mortgage rates and entering housing market

Added: 2026-04-28

[00:00:00]For the past several years, homeowners have held onto those historically low three and four percent mortgage rates.

[00:00:06]Now area realtors say there are signs more people are willing to walk away from them because of life changes. 90's real estate expert Lane Lyons joins us to talk about this. Lane is a realtor and managing broker at Coldwell Banker.

[00:00:18]Thanks for coming in.

[00:00:18]>> morning. Thanks for having me on.

[00:00:20]>> So what's behind the change?

[00:00:21]>> Well, I tell you what, real life really is really sometimes outweighing that financial benefit of holding onto that ultra low interest rate. You know, I was telling you during the break there that when people go to sell, if they have the low rates, we almost have to grieve just a few minutes because it was great when I had that 3% and now times are starting to change. For a long time I heard from people who would say, "I'm never selling this house because of the low rate."

[00:00:46]>> Show you a graph that I brought here of just how many Americans have very low rates right now and a good number of them still do. In fact, 20% of all mortgages are under 3%.

[00:00:56]>> Lucky.

[00:00:57]>> If you go on down there, you can see that almost 70% of mortgages are under 5%. That is right now. There is some data that times might be changing just a little bit. In fact, MarketWatch just came out with a stat, Corey, that says more than one in three of those low mortgage holders is considering selling that property this year. Oh, it hurts so much.

[00:01:19]>> You've been there? Yes. I had like 3%, you know, right after COVID we refinanced and it was like, "Oh my gosh, this is amazing." But life changes. We needed more space and so we we gave it up, but it was hard.

[00:01:31]>> And you're not alone. This is a conversation I have with almost everyone selling is that yes, we're changing, but there's other opportunities out there.

[00:01:38]>> Yes. All right, so you have it's called the five D's of real estate. It makes me think of dodgeball.

[00:01:44]>> [laughter] >> You know, this is a little different.

[00:01:46]>> Exactly.

[00:01:46]>> five D's?

[00:01:47]>> Well, five D's, these are the D's. This is what I call job security for realtors. These are the reasons that people move and real estate transactions happen that have nothing to do with real estate interest rate, I should say. For example, death, you know, mom or dad has passed away, we need to sell the family home. Divorce, Corey, I've actually had couples say we tried to stay together because we had a really low interest rate, but eventually no, that's we have to that's going to change. Diamonds, people are getting married, people are having babies also and changing for jobs.

[00:02:21]So this is exactly why a lot of people are getting into different interest rates. It just happens, life happens and those are the five D's.

[00:02:28]>> diapers. I love that, the five D's.

[00:02:31]>> You've been there, too. I have. Exactly.

[00:02:32]That's why we had to get rid of our 3%.

[00:02:34]It was amazing. All right, so what should buyers and sellers keep in mind right now?

[00:02:38]>> Well, buyers, number one, remember there are still opportunities out there. If you're looking for a home, there are great prices. Sellers are still helping with concessions help you get down some of those interest rates, probably not to the 3%, but fours and fives, I'm seeing them out there. Sellers, it's all about a pricing game. Coming out of the market with the out of the gate with the right interest Wait, what? Is my I It's a Monday. Totally. 100%.

[00:03:03]>> want to say makes all the difference in the world because I like to tell sellers it's the difference between being on the market for two weekends or two months. So just understand that pricing is where it's at and there are still some great opportunities. And yes, we grieve those low interest rates, but maybe someday we will we will see a refinancing opportunity out there.

[00:03:23]>> I sure hope so. Yeah, no one wants to sit on the market that long and have your house show ready the whole time.

[00:03:28]It's so long.

[00:03:29]>> your realtor. We can help with that.

[00:03:31]>> Yes. Lane, thank you so much.

[00:03:32]>> week.