08/06/2026
In the housing market, the best deal doesn’t always come with the lowest price.
Price vs. Payments – If you’re financing your purchase, you’ll probably never come close to paying the actual price. You’re making a comparatively small down payment and then paying interest on the loan until you refinance or sell. Yes, you will have a higher payment if you pay more for the home, but an extra $10,000 of mortgage money can add less than $75 per month on a fixed-rate, 30-year loan financed at 6.25%/6.950% APR.*
Relative Prices – Our natural tendency to pay as little as possible is not as meaningful for an investment, such as a home, as it is for a consumable. In this case, what you pay now can affect your sales price later. There may be little difference in total earnings if you pay less and sell for less or pay more and sell
for more.
Influencing Value – For appraisers, the last sale or “comp” in an area sets the value for similar homes. Whatever you pay helps to establish what your home and comparable properties are considered to be worth.
Setting the Trend – If you pay less for your home than was paid for the last similar home, you may be contributing to a downward price trend, which can be difficult to reverse. Conversely, helping to maintain a trend of price appreciation can end up paying you back many times over.
One Chance – No two homes are ever exactly the same. Even when structure matches, your land, your view, your address, and your immediate neighbors will always be different. You truly may have only one chance at just the right house. Industry professionals have all seen buyers lose out on what they really wanted. We don’t want that to happen to you. Nor do we want you to pay more tomorrow for something less than what you could have had today as a result of increasing prices and rates.
*For example, on a $500,000 purchase with 25% down payment at 6.25%/6.950 APR, the monthly payment would be $2,308.94 for 360 months. Increasing the loan amount by $10,000 would result in monthly payment of $2,370.51 for 360 months.
