The “Marry the house, date the rate” Fallacy
I think homebuyers should be careful with common phrase uttered by realtors and lenders alike...
It sounds clever/catchy but it can easily become a sales pitch for buying a house today with the hope that you’ll refinance later down the road.
The problem is, you can sell a house. You can’t change the interest rate market into cooperating with you. None of us can.
And refinancing later is not guaranteed. Rates might not fall. You might not qualify. Your home value could change. Or the refinance simply might not save you enough money to make sense.
Buy the house because you can comfortably afford the house and payment today.
If rates fall later and refinancing makes sense, great! If not.....?
But don't buy a house you can barely afford today because someone tells you to “date the rate.”
A refinance is a possibility, not a plan.