I Have a 3% Mortgage on My Franklin Home. Does Moving Still Make Sense?

I hear this one a lot.

“Rich, I’d like to move, but I have a 3% mortgage. Why in the world would I give that up?”

I get it. If you own a home in Franklin with a mortgage around 3%, that loan is pretty hard to walk away from.

So yes, giving up 3% matters.

But I think there’s a bigger question we need to ask:

Does your Franklin home still work for your life?

Maybe you bought your Franklin home when the kids were still living at home. Now you've got bedrooms you rarely use, a big yard to maintain and more house than you really need.

Or maybe it's the opposite. Your family has grown, you're running out of space and that 3% mortgage is keeping you in a house you've outgrown.

I've also talked with homeowners who are thinking about retirement, want fewer stairs, would rather have a condo, or simply don't want to spend another Wisconsin winter shoveling snow.

In those situations, I wouldn't automatically say, “Keep the 3% mortgage.”

And I certainly wouldn't automatically say, “Sell.”

I'd run the numbers.

Here's something that's easy to overlook.

While you've been enjoying that low mortgage rate, your Franklin home may also have gained considerable value.

Every property is different.

But it does mean it's worth finding out what your Franklin home could realistically sell for and, more importantly, how much money you'd have left after the sale.

This is where I think homeowners sometimes get stuck.

They compare their current interest rate with today's rate and the conversation ends.

I'd rather compare the whole picture.

What do you owe on your Franklin home? What could it sell for? How much equity do you have? What would you buy next? Would you be buying something less expensive? How much would you put down? What would the new payment actually be?

A Franklin WI Realtor should be helping you answer those questions before asking you to sign a listing contract.

Then stay.

Seriously.

If we sit down, run the numbers and discover that moving doesn't make financial or personal sense right now, there's nothing wrong with waiting.

I'd rather have someone call me six months or two years from now because I gave them good advice than convince them to make a move they regret.

That's what I think working with a Local Realtor Franklin WI should look like.

Your 3% mortgage has real value. I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

But your house is also where you live your life.

If you've been thinking about leaving Franklin, downsizing within Franklin, moving closer to family or finding a home that simply fits you better, let's figure out what the move would actually look like.

You may decide to stay.

You may discover that your equity makes moving more realistic than you thought.

Either answer is okay.

Before you give up a great mortgage, or stay in the wrong house just to keep it, let's run the numbers.

See how I sell homes in Franklin and how I help buyers in Franklin. I'm Rich Barnes with Realty Experts, and I answer the phone: 414-899-8146.