For anyone stuck in a 3% starter home
You got 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 five realistic ways to handle it.
keep scrolling · takes about 3 minutes ↓
2021
You did the smart thing. Rates were at a generational low and you locked one in. A starter house with a starter payment. The plan was five years, maybe less.
A few years later
Then life happened. A partner moved in, a kid arrived, the office job came back. The house got small about three years ahead of schedule.
Meanwhile
Rates more than doubled. Borrowing the same money now costs over twice what it did in 2021. This is the part people skip when they tell you to just move.
The rate tax
Here is the number that actually matters. Even if you kept the same $300,000 balance and only swapped the rate, the payment still jumps. We call that jump the rate tax. It has nothing to do with buying a bigger house.
The full picture
A bigger place adds a second cost on top of that. So the one scary payment in a lender quote is really two costs added together. Once you split them apart, the decision gets much easier to think about.
So now what
A lot of the stuck feeling is just not having the numbers. Run yours below, it takes about thirty seconds. Then look at the five ways out, because selling is only one of them.
Run your own numbers
Takes about thirty seconds. No email, no signup.
Your number
+$681/mo rate tax
Rate tax
same balance, new rate
$8,172/yr
Principal and interest only, 30 year amortization. Educational estimate, not financial advice.
Run your whole picture in Eclipse, our free tool →The five ways out
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 reshape it
Keep the rate and fix what is actually wrong with the house. Often the cheapest option by a wide margin.
2.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.
3.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.
4.The eyes-open move
Sometimes moving is still the right call, even at today’s rates. It just needs to be decided with the two costs separated.
5.The in-between plays
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.
The worksheets
Free · The Unlock Kit
Figure out your best option in 10 minutes
- · A one page decision map: five questions that point to your best option
- · The rate tax worksheet, so your numbers are on paper
- · The three numbers to gather before you talk to anyone
$4 · The Locked-In Playbook
All five options, worked through
- · One chapter per option: the math, the break-even, who it makes sense for
- · 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
- · A checklist for making the current house work two more years
- · The warning signs to stop, whichever option you pick
Setup note: checkout is not connected. Set NEXT_PUBLIC_PLAYBOOK_CHECKOUT_URL to your payment link and redeploy to start selling.
PDF, instant download. If it does not make your decision clearer, reply to the receipt and get your $4 back.
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? Run your full picture in Eclipse or read the articles.