What a Below-Market Rate Is Actually Worth
Take a $250,000 balance at 3.25% with roughly 27 years left. The principal and interest payment is about $1,100. Replacing that same balance at today's rates costs several hundred dollars more every month. Over the remaining term, the difference runs well into six figures of interest.
That gap is the value of the financing itself, separate from the value of the house. In a conventional sale it goes to zero the day the loan is paid off. In a subject-to or wrap sale, it stays on the table — and a buyer will pay for it.
How Low-Interest Mortgage Buyers Price a Deal
A cash investor prices off condition and comps, then discounts for risk and profit. A low-interest mortgage buyer prices off the payment: what the loan costs monthly, what the property rents or resells for, and what the below-market rate saves over the hold.
In practice, offers on properties with attractive assumable-in-substance financing routinely land 5–15% above the cash number on the same house. That premium is the rate, not the roof.
The Two Structures That Preserve the Rate
**Subject-to.** The buyer takes title, your loan stays in place at the original rate, and payments continue. Fastest option — see sell house subject-to.
**Wrap / owner finance.** The buyer signs a new note to you at a higher rate; your low-rate loan keeps running underneath and you collect the spread as monthly income. Covered in the owner financing guide.
Either way the practical constraint is the due-on-sale clause — read it before you structure anything.
Who Should Consider This
Homeowners with a pre-2022 mortgage and limited equity, where a listing after commissions and repairs nets close to nothing. Landlords tired of managing a property but unwilling to torch a 3% loan. Relocating owners who need speed. And anyone who'd otherwise be looking at a foreclosure timeline on a loan worth preserving.