Could You Take Your 3% Mortgage Rate With You? What Homeowners Should Know About the MOVE Act

Quick answer: Not yet, and maybe not even under this bill. The MOVE Act is a proposed law in Congress that would eventually require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy "portable" mortgages, ones where you could take your rate, balance, and terms to your next house. It's not law. And even if it passes, it likely applies to new mortgages going forward, not the 3% loan you already have. If your rate is the only thing keeping you from moving, don't make that call yet. Run your numbers first.

Here's what's actually going on.

Why This Story Has Homeowners Talking

If you're sitting on a 3% mortgage, selling probably feels like financial self-sabotage. You want more space, a different neighborhood, maybe just a house that fits your life better. But trading a 3% rate for today's rate can wreck your monthly payment. So you stay put. A lot of people are staying put.

That's why a bill called the MOVE Act is getting attention. The pitch is simple: what if you could sell your house and take your mortgage with you?

That's a portable mortgage. And it could change the math for homeowners who feel stuck. But before you start browsing listings, there's a catch, and it's a big one. This bill hasn't passed, and your current 3% loan doesn't automatically qualify even if it does.

Let's break it down.

Can You Take Your Mortgage Rate With You When You Move?

Usually, no. Most conventional mortgages are tied to the house, not the person. Sell the house, pay off the loan, get a new mortgage for the next one. That's how it's worked for decades.

The Making Ownership Viable for Everyone Act, or MOVE Act, would change that for some future loans. It would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to start purchasing and securitizing conventional mortgages that let a borrower transfer their interest rate, terms, and remaining balance to a new property, as long as the move happens within 90 days of selling the original home.

That's the whole idea. Instead of starting from scratch, your mortgage could potentially follow you.

What Is a Portable Mortgage, Exactly?

Picture this. You've got:

• $400,000 left on your mortgage
• A 3% rate
• 25 years remaining

You sell your house and buy another one. Normally, that $400,000 loan gets paid off at closing, and you apply for a brand new mortgage at whatever rate is available that day.

With a portable mortgage, you could theoretically carry that same $400,000 balance, 3% rate, and remaining term over to the new house instead. No fresh loan, no new rate shock.

What Does the MOVE Act Actually Say?

Congressman Tom Kean Jr. introduced the MOVE Act in Congress on August 3, 2026. The goal is straightforward: require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to start buying and securitizing portable conventional mortgages.

Per the bill text, those mortgages would let a borrower transfer their interest rate, terms, and remaining balance to a new property, as long as the transfer happens within 90 days of selling the original home. If the bill becomes law, Fannie and Freddie would have 180 days to update their standards and start purchasing these loans.

Has the MOVE Act Passed?

No. As of today, it's a bill that's been introduced and referred to committee. Nothing more.

That distinction matters more than people realize. If you hear someone say "Congress is letting homeowners take their 3% mortgage with them," that's ahead of the actual story. The accurate version is this: Congress is considering a bill that would make portable mortgages available going forward. Considering is not the same as done.

Would Your Existing 3% Mortgage Actually Qualify?

Here's the part most people miss, and honestly, it's the most important part of this whole story.

Probably not, at least not under the bill as written.

The MOVE Act requires Fannie and Freddie to start purchasing portable loans. It doesn't say your existing mortgage, the one you already have, suddenly becomes portable. Those are two very different things.

Your current loan has already been sold and packaged into a mortgage-backed security under its original terms. The Bipartisan Policy Center points out that those terms generally can't be rewritten after the fact. The Urban Institute reached the same conclusion, and when it modeled how portability might actually work, it looked at new mortgages going forward, not converting the loans that already exist.

So if you're holding a 2.75%, 3%, or 3.5% rate right now, don't assume this bill covers you. It's built around future loans, not the one sitting in your file.

Why Is This Even Being Considered?

Because millions of homeowners have a very good reason to sit tight: their rate.

It's called the mortgage lock-in effect, and it's a real drag on the market. If you bought or refinanced around 3%, selling means trading that loan for one at today's rate, and that can add hundreds of dollars to your monthly payment before you even factor in a higher purchase price.

The numbers back this up. As of the third quarter of 2025, about 20% of all outstanding mortgages carried a rate below 3%, while new mortgages were running well above 6%. On a $400,000 loan, the gap between a 4.4% average rate and a 6%-plus new rate works out to roughly $350 a month, more than $125,000 over the life of the loan. That's not pocket change. That's the reason so many homeowners aren't listing.

What This Could Look Like for a Downey Homeowner

Let's run a simplified example close to home.

Say your Downey house is worth around $800,000. You owe $400,000 at 3%. You want to move up to a $1 million home.

Under a traditional sale, your $400,000 loan gets paid off, and (ignoring selling costs for simplicity) you walk away with roughly $400,000 in equity to put toward the next place, financing the rest at whatever rate is current.

If your mortgage were portable, you might instead carry that $400,000 balance at 3% straight over to the new house, then apply your equity on top. That changes the math significantly.

But here's where it gets complicated.

What If Your Next House Costs More?

This is the part nobody's fully answered yet.

Say you sell for $800,000 with a $400,000 portable mortgage. That leaves roughly $400,000 in equity. Now you're buying a $1.1 million home. Between the portable loan and your equity, you've covered about $800,000. You're still $300,000 short.

Where does that come from? Maybe a second mortgage. Maybe new financing at current rates for the difference. Maybe more cash from you. The bill doesn't spell any of this out yet. Researchers at the Urban Institute flag this exact gap as one of the biggest open questions: buyers moving up in price would likely still need additional financing to cover the difference between the portable balance and the new purchase price.

So portability doesn't mean your whole next house gets financed at 3%. It means part of it might. That's a meaningful difference, and it's one worth understanding before you get your hopes up.

Could This Actually Help Inventory in Downey and Beyond?

Maybe, at the margins. A big reason inventory has stayed tight is that homeowners don't want to give up a mortgage they'll never see again. Portable mortgages go straight at that problem. If people could move without automatically losing their financing, some of them would finally list.

The Urban Institute thinks portable mortgages could do more for market liquidity than assumable mortgages have managed so far. But let's be clear about what this doesn't fix: someone selling a house almost always needs to buy another one. Portability might make moving easier. It doesn't build a single new house. The actual housing shortage is a separate problem, and this bill doesn't touch it.

Portable vs. Assumable: They're Not the Same Thing

These two terms get mixed up constantly.

An assumable mortgage stays with the house. If you sell, your buyer might be able to take over your existing loan, rate and all, if they qualify.

A portable mortgage stays with you. You sell, and you take the loan to your next house.

Simple way to remember it: assumable means your buyer gets your mortgage. Portable means you keep it and bring it along.

Some FHA, VA, and USDA loans are already assumable under their program rules. Conventional Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans generally aren't set up to work that way today.

What Are the Downsides?

There's no free lunch here.

Researchers point to a few real tradeoffs. Portable loans would likely carry a slightly higher starting rate, since investors are taking on a loan that might stick around longer than a typical mortgage. The Urban Institute estimates that premium could run as high as 40 basis points. Buyers moving up in price would probably still need extra financing. And there's a real risk that portable rates encourage some buyers to stretch further on price, since they're not as worried about payment shock.

Portability isn't free. It just moves the cost somewhere else.

Should You Wait for the MOVE Act Before You Sell?

Probably not.

This is still a proposed bill. Even if some version eventually passes, we don't know the final rules, and as it stands now, it likely wouldn't touch the mortgage you already have.

If you're on the fence about moving, the better question isn't "what rate would I be giving up?" It's "what does the whole move actually cost me?" That means looking at your current balance, your equity, what your house would likely sell for, your target purchase price, your new down payment, your new monthly payment, and taxes and insurance on the new place.

Sometimes the equity you've built changes the math more than you'd expect. Sometimes staying put really is the better move. You won't know until you run the actual numbers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I transfer my current mortgage to another house?

Not under standard conventional mortgage rules today. The MOVE Act proposes creating mortgages designed to allow this, but it's not law yet, and it would likely apply to new loans, not existing ones.

Can I keep my 3% mortgage if I buy another house?

Not just because the MOVE Act was introduced. The bill doesn't say existing mortgages automatically become portable, so don't count on carrying your current rate over.

Has the MOVE Act passed?

No. As of today, it's proposed federal legislation, introduced in August 2026 and referred to committee.

Would I have to buy another house right away?

The bill describes a 90-day window to transfer the mortgage after selling the property that originally secured it.

What if my new house costs more than my old one?

You'd likely need enough equity, cash, or additional financing to cover the gap. Exactly how that would work in practice is still one of the biggest open questions.

Would portable mortgages fix the affordability problem?

Not on their own. They could ease the lock-in effect and get more homes listed, but they don't create new housing supply. That's a separate fight.

Bottom Line

The MOVE Act is worth keeping an eye on. It's aimed at a real problem: homeowners who want to move but feel trapped by a rate they'll never get again. A true portable mortgage could change that math.

But we're not there. This isn't law, and if you're holding a 2%, 3%, or 4% mortgage right now, don't assume it'll suddenly travel with you. The bill could also change quite a bit as it works through Congress.

If your rate is the only thing keeping you off the market, don't write off moving just yet. Run the numbers. Your equity, your sale price, your new financing, all of it matters more than the headline.

If you're thinking about selling in Downey or anywhere in the surrounding LA County area, I can walk you through what you'd actually walk away with and what your next move could realistically look like. Sometimes the numbers say stay. Sometimes they're better than you think.

Orlando Garcia, The GO Team | HomeSmart Realty Group. Serving Downey and the surrounding Los Angeles County communities.