For anyone stuck in a 3% starter home
You locked in a 3% rate on your starter home.
Now it's the reason you can't leave.
If the house stopped fitting your life, but moving means giving up a rate you'll never see again, this page is for you. It walks through what moving actually costs and six realistic ways to handle it.
keep scrolling · takes about 3 minutes ↓
A few years ago
You did the smart thing. Rates were at a generational low and you locked one in. A starter house, a loan around $300,000, a payment that fit. The plan was five years, maybe less.
Then life happened
A partner moved in, a kid arrived, the office job came back. The house ran out of room about three years ahead of schedule.
Meanwhile
Rates more than doubled. Borrowing the same money now costs about twice what it did back then. This trap has a name: golden handcuffs. A rate so good it chains you to the house. It is the part people skip when they tell you to just move.
Your rate comparison
Here is the number that actually matters. Keep the same $300,000 loan and only swap the rate. The payment still jumps. That jump is the rate comparison. It has nothing to do with buying a bigger house.
Both costs together
A bigger place adds a second cost on top of that, shown here with a $450,000 loan on the next house. So the one scary payment in a lender quote is really two costs added together. Split them apart and the decision gets much easier to think about.
So now what
Feeling stuck usually means you have not seen your own numbers yet. Run yours below, it takes about thirty seconds. Then look at the six ways out, because selling is only one of them.
Run your own numbers
Compare your old rate to the rate you would get today.
Type in three numbers and you get your estimated old payment, new payment, and the difference between them. Thirty seconds. No email, no signup.
Your rate comparison
+$681/mo rate comparison
Your payment now
estimated, at your locked rate
$1,265/mo
Payment at the new rate
same balance, only the rate changes
$1,946/mo
Rate comparison
the difference, over a year
$8,172/yr
Estimates cover principal and interest only, on a 30 year loan. Property taxes, homeowners insurance, PMI (mortgage insurance), and HOA dues are not included, so your real bill runs higher. Educational estimate, not financial advice.
This is the quick version. The guide below comes with the full calculator, which puts your income, bills, accounts, and debts on one page next to these numbers.
See what comes with the guide ↓No black box
One formula does all of this: the standard mortgage payment calculation, run three times. Example you can check by hand: $300,000 at 3.0% is $1,265 a month. The same balance at 6.75% is $1,946, so giving up the rate costs $681. A $450,000 loan at 6.75% is $2,919, so the bigger place itself adds $973. Any mortgage calculator on the internet will give you the same three numbers.
See exactly how the math works →Just want to save money fast?
$19 $9 launch price · Save Money With AI
Your rate is locked, the rest of your bills are not.
68 short, ready to use instructions that turn the AI you already have into help with everyday money problems: confusing bills, quotes you cannot judge, renewals that crept up, refunds that stalled.
Delivered instantly. All sales are final.
Six ways out
Should you remodel or move? Rent it out or sell? Selling at today's rates is only one option. Each of these has real math behind it and a situation where it makes sense.
1.Stay and budget
Keep your home and payment, and plan your budget around them. Doing nothing is free, and big expenses like daycare end on a schedule.
2.Sell and move
Sometimes moving is still the right call, even at today’s rates. It just needs to be decided with the two costs separated.
3.Remodel and stay
Keep the rate and fix what is actually wrong with the house. Often the cheapest fix by a wide margin.
4.Recast or pay down
Use a lump sum to lower the payment without touching the rate. Most servicers offer this and almost never advertise it.
5.Rent it out, move anyway
At 3%, a tenant may cover your whole payment. Some simple landlord math tells you whether that works for your house.
6.In between options
A home equity line (a HELOC) for an addition, renting out a room, buying down the next rate. The options between staying put and selling.
The free kit below helps you figure out which one fits your situation.
Get the worksheets
Built on federal housing research and published market studies, then reduced to a guide, a calculator, a spreadsheet, and one decision.
1.33M
home sales the lock in effect prevented in under two years (FHFA, 2024)
52%
of mortgaged US homeowners hold a rate below 4% (Redfin, 2025)
18%
less likely to move for every 1 point between your locked rate and today’s rate (FHFA, 2024)
Free · Decision Worksheets
Figure out your best option in 10 minutes
- · Five questions on one page that point to your best option
- · The rate comparison worksheet, so your numbers are on paper
- · The three numbers to gather before you talk to anyone
$10 $5 launch price · Should I Give Up My 3% Rate?
Stay and budget, remodel, recast, rent it out, sell and move, or in between. With the spreadsheet that scores all six.
- · One chapter per option: the math, the breakeven, who it makes sense for
- · The full calculator: a private page that puts your income, bills, accounts, and debts on one screen and shows what a move would change. Works on your phone, nothing to install
- · The Decision Spreadsheet: it compares all six options and scores your leading option, and the calculator starts it for you with your loan numbers already typed in. Works in Excel and Google Sheets, yours to keep
- · The landlord test: would a tenant at your house cover the payment?
- · What to say on the recast call, and what to ask a lender for a quote
- · The warning signs to stop, whichever option you pick
Guide, calculator, and spreadsheet, delivered instantly. All sales are final. Every formula is visible, see how the math works.
Everything on this page is educational, not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Figures are estimates from general assumptions, principal and interest only. Talk to a qualified professional before acting on any of it.
Want to go deeper? Get the guide and the full calculator or read the articles.