JOURNAL

“What can I do to sell my house while interest rates are high?”

With 30-year mortgage rates floating above 7% as of September 2026, getting buyers off the fence takes a bit more than just putting a sign in the yard. But you don't necessarily have to slash your listing price.

Instead, we often recommend two powerful seller concessions that tend to win buyers over much faster:

Offer a 2-1 Rate Buydown

Instead of cutting your asking price, offer to cover a 2-1 buydown. On a $400,000 home at a 7.0% interest rate, dropping the rate to 5.0% in year one saves the buyer about $430 a month. In year two, a 6.0% rate still saves them roughly $220 a month.

The total cost to you as the seller is around $7,800. Compare that to a traditional $20,000 price cut, which only lowers the buyer's monthly payment by about $130 at today's rates. You spend less money out of pocket, and the buyer gets far more immediate payment relief.

Cover Their Closing Costs

Closing costs typically run between 2% and 4% of a home’s purchase price. That means a buyer purchasing a $400,000 home needs around $8,000 to $16,000 in cash just for fees, on top of their down payment.

Upfront cash is one of the biggest roadblocks for buyers, especially first-timers who have savings for a down payment but are light on extra cash. Offering a seller credit to cover those closing costs bridges that gap and helps close the deal, and you can often keep your purchase price slightly higher to offset the credit.

“I've watched three offers fall through and I still don't know what I did wrong. What do buyers who actually win in this market do differently?”

First make sure you are pre-approved and have proof of funds for your downpayment before offering. When submitting offers on homes with multiple offers it’s important to put yourself in the shoes of the home owner and offer accordingly. Have an agent and a lender who is willing to talk to the listing agent.

Good communication between the listing agent and buying agent gives you more clues about what to put in your offer and the more conversation between those parties the more the listing agent will trust your representation, making it easier to recommend them to their clients. With these tips you can quickly get an offer accepted.

When I hear someone say “I’m just looking,” it’s usually not casual.

Most of the time, it means they’re on guard. They’re worried about being sold to, or they don’t feel ready to make a decision that big yet. Sometimes it’s because they’re unsure they can actually get what they want. Other times it’s because the idea of owning a property feels intimidating, even if part of them genuinely wants it.

In those moments, my role isn’t to push things forward. It’s to help clarify what’s possible so they can decide for themselves whether it makes sense to move now, wait, or not move at all.