Interest Rates Are Still High. Here's How Buyers Are Getting Into Homes Anyway.

By Geoff Zahler | Zahler Properties

A lot of buyers have been sitting on the sidelines for two years waiting for mortgage rates to drop back to where they were.

That's understandable. Rates near 3% spoiled a generation of buyers, and the jump to the mid-6% range we're living in now is a real affordability shift. On a $600,000 home, the difference between a 3% rate and a 6.5% rate is roughly $1,200 a month. That's not nothing.

But here's what I'm watching in this market: the buyers who are closing right now aren't waiting for a rescue. They're using tools and strategies that most people on the sidelines either don't know about or haven't fully thought through. And in a number of cases, they're getting into homes on better terms than a passive wait would have produced.

Here's what's actually working.

Rate Buydowns: Temporary and Permanent

A rate buydown reduces your interest rate, either for a defined period or for the life of the loan, in exchange for money paid upfront. That money can come from you, from the seller, or from a builder.

The most common structure right now is the 2-1 temporary buydown. In year one, your rate is reduced by two percentage points. In year two, it's reduced by one point. Starting in year three, you're at the full note rate for the remainder of the loan. On a 6.5% note rate, that means paying 4.5% in year one and 5.5% in year two before settling at 6.5% going forward.

According to current Las Vegas market data, seller concessions are appearing in roughly 31% of closings across the valley in Q1 2026, up significantly from the 12% rate at the peak seller's market in 2022. The median concession is running around $7,800, and the 2-1 buydown is the most common structure being used. On a $498,000 home, a seller credit of roughly $11,000 to $13,000 funds the full buydown. That's a meaningful affordability lift in years one and two, giving buyers time to either adjust their cash flow or wait for a refinance opportunity.

Permanent buydowns work differently. Builders in particular are offering these right now, paying discount points upfront to reduce a buyer's rate for the full loan term. Some builders in the Las Vegas Valley are currently advertising effective rates in the 4% to 5% range through their preferred lenders on select inventory. That math is worth running seriously before dismissing it.

Assumable Loans: The Strategy Most Buyers Don't Ask About

Between roughly 2019 and 2022, a large volume of homes were purchased with FHA and VA loans at rates in the 2.5% to 3.5% range. Those loans are assumable, meaning a qualified buyer can take over the seller's existing mortgage and inherit that rate rather than securing a new one at today's market rate.

The savings are significant. Assuming a $300,000 balance at 3% versus originating at 6.5% is a difference of close to $700 per month in principal and interest. Over the life of the loan, that's a substantial number.

The process isn't effortless. The main challenge is the assumption gap, which is the difference between the remaining loan balance and the purchase price. A home selling for $550,000 with a $300,000 assumable balance requires the buyer to cover the $250,000 gap through a second lien, cash, or a combination. That limits the universe of buyers who can make it work. But for buyers with the right financial profile and patience for a longer approval timeline, the savings can far exceed any additional complexity.

VA loans can be assumed by non-veterans, which opens the pool more than most buyers realize. FHA assumptions run through the existing servicer and require full credit and income qualification. Neither is a quick process, but neither is prohibitively difficult with the right lender and guidance.

Worth asking about on any listing where the seller bought before 2023.

ARM Strategy: When Adjustable Rates Actually Make Sense

Adjustable-rate mortgages have a complicated reputation, and not without reason. The 2008 financial crisis was heavily tied to ARM products that adjusted into payments borrowers couldn't sustain. The products available today are structurally different and more tightly regulated, but the reputation lingers.

Here's the rational case for a 7/1 ARM in the current environment: you get a fixed rate for the first seven years, after which the loan adjusts annually within defined caps. As of mid-May 2026, the 7-year ARM rate in Nevada is sitting around 6.625% per Zillow, modestly above the 30-year fixed. In a normal rate environment that spread would be larger, providing more of an incentive to take the ARM. Right now the math is tighter.

Where an ARM makes sense is in a specific situation: you are highly confident rates will be lower within five to seven years, you have the financial flexibility to absorb modest payment adjustments if they don't, and you do not plan to hold the property past the initial fixed period. That's a narrower profile than ARM advocates sometimes acknowledge.

Where an ARM does not make sense is as a tool to get into a payment you can only sustain if rates drop. That's the scenario that ends badly. Budget to the full note rate, not the teaser.

The Real Math on Waiting

The most important question for buyers on the sidelines isn't "when will rates drop." It's "what does waiting actually cost me."

On a $600,000 home with Summerlin appreciating in the 4% to 6% range annually, waiting one year to buy means that home is worth $624,000 to $636,000 by the time you purchase. You also paid rent during that year. You did not build any equity. And if rates haven't moved meaningfully, you're financing a higher price at the same rate.

The National Association of Realtors projects mortgage rates to average around 6% through 2026. Most forecasters are not projecting a return to the 5% range until late 2026 at the earliest, and several have pushed that estimate further out. The Federal Reserve cut rates three times in 2025, and mortgage rates barely moved in response. That's because the 30-year fixed tracks the 10-year Treasury, not the Fed Funds rate, and the two can diverge significantly.

Refinancing is a legitimate strategy, and the math can work. But financial experts generally put the useful threshold at a rate drop of 0.75% or more to justify closing costs on a refinance, and most frame it as a realistic opportunity rather than a guaranteed one. Build it into your thinking as a possibility, not a plan.

For the Homeowners Locked Into a Low Rate

One version of this conversation isn't about buying at all. It's about the homeowners sitting on 3% rates who feel completely stuck.

This is the "golden handcuff" problem, and it's real. Leaving a 3% mortgage to take a 6.5% mortgage on a larger loan is a meaningful financial step backward on paper, at least in the short term.

But paper math doesn't account for everything. Life circumstances change. Families grow. Jobs relocate. Equity builds. And in some cases, the right move on a 10-year horizon still makes financial sense even if the monthly payment comparison looks unfavorable today.

The homeowners I've seen navigate this well are the ones who run the full analysis rather than anchoring on the rate alone. What equity have you built? What does the move-up home trajectory look like over the next five to ten years? What does staying cost you in ways that don't show up in a rate comparison?

That's a conversation worth having with someone who knows this market, not a number you should be solving in isolation.

The Bottom Line

Rates in the mid-6% range are not the 3% era, and nobody should pretend otherwise. But they're also not a reason to stand still indefinitely. The buyers doing well right now are the ones asking better questions, using available tools, and understanding that the cost of waiting isn't zero just because it's less visible.

If you've been on the fence, let's talk through your actual situation. Not a general case, yours specifically. The answer might be to wait. It might not be. Either way it should be a decision, not a default.

Geoff Zahler is the Broker/Owner of Zahler Properties, a Las Vegas-area real estate brokerage with deep roots in the Summerlin market. He has been serving buyers and sellers in the Las Vegas Valley for over a decade.