These 5 Homeowners Gave Up Record-Low Mortgage Rates. Their Advice Might Surprise You.

According to federal housing data, the average contract interest rate for outstanding residential mortgages hit a record low of 3.8% in the first quarter of 2022 as homebuyers were graced with record-low rates and homeowners took advantage of the refinance boom. By the first quarter of 2026, the average rate among homeowners had risen to 4.4%, reflecting the rising rates observed during that time – and suggesting that while many are holding onto their rates from a different era, others have given up those low-rate mortgages.

U.S. News spoke with five homeowners who gave up record-low mortgage rates to find out what drove their decisions. Some respondents provided their first name only as a condition to speak on financially sensitive matters.

Here’s the advice they shared for homeowners considering letting go of their low-rate mortgages in today’s high-rate environment.

Eric, a product manager in Southern California, bought a small one-bedroom home in 2019 and refinanced to a 2.875% mortgage rate in 2021. Eric and his husband planned to renovate in the future so they would have room for a family, but rapidly rising construction costs and new permitting hurdles led them to reconsider.

So they sat down and talked it out. Eric’s husband works in change management and assigned them an extensive pros and cons exercise to plan their next move. He set a timer for an uninterrupted two minutes, and they wrote down “every possible future scenario that we could ever dream of,” like renting out the house to buy a different one, moving back to the Midwest to be closer to family, even renting out the house and living in a van.

Putting their thoughts to paper gave Eric and his husband clarity. They didn’t want to be landlords, but they wanted to stay local. They decided to list their home for sale and buy again, trading in their sub-3% rate for one at 5.875% in the process.

“The interest rate was nice while it lasted, but it didn’t hold us back from doing the things we needed to do to move forward in our lives.”

In giving up their low mortgage rate, they moved to a bigger home in a family-friendly neighborhood. They hosted a housewarming party with everyone on their block. As for growing their family: They began the adoption process shortly after their October 2024 move, and their baby is now a little over a year old.

Eric’s larger home does come with larger monthly payments given the higher interest rate, but he and his husband were restrained with their budget: “With the move, we had ensured our new expenses were still a comfortable percentage of our take-home income, and that we still had enough savings.” They were even able to weather a layoff shortly after the move thanks to their careful financial planning.

Although Eric sometimes finds himself wishing that they had just bought a larger house in the first place, he doesn’t regret the decision. He says he lived a fulfilling five years in his one-bedroom house – including getting married in his own backyard.

While Eric realizes everyone’s situation is nuanced, one piece of advice is universally true: Do your research. He sometimes wonders if he did the right thing by selling, but in those moments, he pulls out the pros and cons list “to remind myself that we made the best possible decision based on what we knew at the time.”

“Weigh all the options like we did with the pros (and) cons exercise, and identify what it is you are trying to accomplish. Lean on others for advice that have done the same to understand how they made it happen. You’ll likely find that there is a path forward, and you can determine if the trade-offs are worth it to you.”

Alex, a technical recruiter in the Chicago area, traded in a 2.8% mortgage rate for a 6.8% one this year.

“We knew we had an incredible deal from the moment we signed the mortgage paperwork,” he says, adding that he and his wife “will mourn our 2.8% 30-year fixed knowing it will likely never be available to us again in our lifetime.”

It wasn’t just the mortgage rate that Alex was leaving behind. He loved his previous home, and he also moved farther away from family when relocating to Chicago.

“Truthfully, there is nothing we would have preferred more than to take our previous home and move it to where we currently live,” he says. “We downsized and we’re paying more for it.”

Despite having a higher interest rate and more expensive housing payments, Alex and his wife have “zero regrets” about moving their family to Illinois for a better quality of life. His children have access to much better-resourced public schools compared with their old district, and the decision to move was easy when it came to providing his kids with the best education possible.

Importantly, switching to a 6.8% rate didn’t put Alex in a precarious financial situation. He was able to shed some costs, such as child care, to offset the higher monthly mortgage payments. And since Alex and his wife started planning in fall 2024 for a spring 2025 move, they had extra time to save while they still had their low interest rate. They ended up moving in 2026.

Upon sharing his experience, Alex recommends introspection to consumers who are considering moving but are wary of giving up their low mortgage rate:

“Consider the opportunity cost of retaining a low mortgage rate but living in a community you constantly want to leave. Would you be interested in building friendships or putting down roots when you’re mentally one foot out the door? We never took our low mortgage rate for granted, but it wasn’t worth building our lives somewhere we didn’t want to live.”

When Kevin, a software engineer in the Philadelphia area, bought his first home in 2021, he knew it was a starter home that he would upgrade after five or 10 years, “and rates going up didn’t change that plan.” His 1,400-square-foot house met his needs at the time, when it was just him and his dog.

Eventually, though, Kevin and his partner decided they needed more room to grow. They went from a 3.25% rate to a 6.75% rate on a house that was more than double the price of his previous one. Fortunately, the increase in housing payments was offset by an increase in income, and their new 2,500-square-foot house on two acres has “plenty of space for us, our dogs and future children if we decide to have any.”

When asked if he regrets giving up his low-rate mortgage, Kevin says, “Not at all.” His new place feels like much more of a long-term investment. “I don’t complain every time I fix something or improve something because I know I’ll be here for a long time.”

Additionally, Kevin points out that his 6.75% rate is pretty typical from a historical perspective. “Rates historically have been much higher, but when they were higher, you could afford a house because prices were more in line with wages.”

Even though he makes the case that housing isn’t as affordable as it once was, Kevin doesn’t recommend trying to time the market, waiting for prices or rates to fall.

“I don’t think rates will drop back down to 2%-3% anytime soon, if ever, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to stay where they are now. Buy the house you can see yourself living in long term (and the one you can afford today). You can always refinance in the future if the opportunity presents itself … If you have a need or desire to move, I don’t really see the benefit in waiting. Either rates continue to go up or rates go down and housing prices climb. You’re paying one way or another.”

Working in the banking industry, Alyssa Patzius is familiar with the financial advantages of having a mortgage rate in the 2% range. She’s the vice president of marketing at Neighbors Bank, which is a leading lender for U.S. Department of Agriculture mortgages. So Patzius and her husband, who is a loan officer, knew firsthand that if they bought, then eventually “refinancing opportunities would come.”

Like Kevin, Patzius knew her previous home was just a starter home. She and her husband lived there for seven years before discovering they were pregnant with baby No. 2, and that meant they’d need more space “sooner rather than later.” They had already purchased land to build a home, and they decided to begin construction on their home despite rates being in the 6% to 7% range.

While it was still an adjustment seeing her mortgage payments jump, Patzius had been living below her means for years. The sacrifices she and her husband made living in their starter home afforded them the opportunity to live comfortably when it was time to move into their forever home.

Patzius doesn’t regret giving up her low mortgage rate. “Not for a second,” she says. “Life moves on and we were ready for our next stage of life.” She advises homeowners to look beyond their mortgage rate and make the move that suits their own life stages, with a caveat.

“If you have budgeted and planned for your life to grow and evolve, you can’t stop living and moving forward because of a rate. If you are just feeling restless in your home, but don’t really need to move – maybe go on a vacation or do a house project. It will be cheaper and scratch the itch.”

Lauren, who works in marketing, moved to Boise, Idaho, in 2018 to chase a job offer she couldn’t refuse. It was there that she and her husband bought a “beautiful new construction” at a 3% mortgage rate with affordable monthly payments.

But the COVID-19 pandemic began shortly after the move to Idaho, and they decided to leave the state in search of better health care to manage her husband’s disability. They held out for several years to save up but eventually left behind their low housing payments and relocated to southeast Washington, about three hours from Lauren’s hometown of Seattle.

They bought again, this time at a 6.85% mortgage rate, essentially doubling their monthly housing payments. At the same time, Lauren took a much lower-paying job, so her income went down by 40%.

“We’ve had to adjust our lifestyle quite a bit, but we don’t regret it in the slightest,” Lauren says.

Although she doesn’t regret her decision to leave Boise, her family still occasionally gives her grief about giving up her once-in-a-lifetime mortgage rate. To Lauren and her husband, though, moving was a matter of life and death, and giving up a cheap mortgage seemed trivial in comparison.

“My advice is that life is short. My spouse almost passed away recently from a health scare, and it put into perspective for us why we’re happy to be out of Idaho, in a state with better health care, and in an area where we enjoy our lives and have state government protections that help us with their disability.”