Home

Kenna Real Estate Group · Colorado buyers and sellers

Who Is Buying a Home at 7% in Colorado: Seven Situations Where the Math Still Works

Homes close every week at 7 percent. The buyers are not waiting for a rate; something in their life outranks it. Seven situations, the math for each, and the pages that answer them.

A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree.

The short answer

The question that decides it is not "what is the rate?" but "what matters more than the rate?" For seven kinds of buyer the answer is clear, and the numbers below show why moving still wins. Every one of them has a page on this site with the searches, the math and a guide.

Colorado, this month

63%

of sales include a seller credit

Averaging about $10,000. The credit funds a buydown that cuts the year-one payment by hundreds.

Rates

6.5% to 7%

30-year fixed

Half a point moves a $480,000 loan about $155 a month. The down payment and the credit move it more.

Supply

4.8 months

statewide

Above 4 months buyers set the price. Homes past 30 days are the ones that negotiate.

The rule

Marry the house

date the rate

Rates can be refinanced later; the purchase price and the home cannot.

The seven situations, and what to do in each

1. You need more room

A second office, a room for a parent who is moving in, one more bedroom than the house has. Space is not a rate decision; it is a calendar decision. The move: price the payment on the bigger home with a seller credit funding a 2-1 buydown, and sell the small one while inventory is thin. Buying a bigger home in Colorado at 7%.

2. You are relocating for work

A start date does not wait for a rate cut. Get fully underwritten before you fly in, tour in a two-day window, and let the Colorado contract deadlines protect you after you are under contract. Close two weeks after the first paycheck if the lender needs a stub. Relocating to Colorado and what the payment really is.

3. You want one level before the stairs get harder

Only one in three Colorado homes has a step-free entry, and the supply sits in 1960s ranches, patio homes and 55+ communities. The rate is the same either way; the stairs are not. Zero-step and one-level homes, 55+ communities on the map.

4. You are moving closer to a parent, or moving a parent closer to you

Care decisions have their own clock. The house that is fifteen minutes away instead of two hours is worth more than a point of rate, and the parent's home is what funds the move for most of them. Selling a home to pay for care, selling a parent's house, multigenerational homes.

5. You are starting over after a divorce

If you only owned jointly with a former spouse, most programs treat you as a first-time buyer again. Child support and maintenance count as income with the right lender and paperwork. Real estate and divorce in Colorado, Denver divorce agents, and the divorce workshops.

6. You are moving up with equity

You are selling and buying in the same market. The rate you give up on the old loan is real; the equity you carry over is bigger, and the thin buyer pool cools the competition on the home you want. The move-up math at 7% and what to give the buyer of your old home.

7. You have the cash and would rather keep some of it

Cash closes fast and wins offers. A mortgage on part of the price keeps the reserve liquid, and the rate on a smaller loan matters less than the liquidity. Cash or finance: keep the cash and Colorado luxury homes.

For sellers: the same seven buyers are looking at your home

A home that is sitting is not missing a buyer; it is missing the buyer's payment. A rate-buydown credit offered before a price cut fixes that for six of the seven. The Listing Buydown Strategy and why is my house not selling.

kennarealestate.com · free guide

The Colorado
Payment Worksheet

Price any home the way we price the Parker example: rate, down payment, taxes, insurance, HOA, metro district, mortgage insurance and the income you need

The simple answer

At 7 percent, a $600,000 Colorado home with 20 percent down costs about $3,800 a month all in. Half a point moves it $155. The bigger levers are the down payment, the seller, the builder and the loan type.

Prepared by
KENNA REAL ESTATE GROUP
Call or text 303-955-4220 · A live person answers.

Kenna Real Estate GroupPage 1 of 8

Sample from page 3: The real monthly number: the Parker example

  • The home: 12772 Henson Creek St, Parker. $600,000, 4 bed, 4 bath, 1,982 sq ft, no HOA.
  • Principal and interest at 7%, 20% down: $3,193.
  • Property tax: $3,130 a year, $261 a month.
  • Insurance: Colorado average $4,164 a year, $347 a month. Total: $3,801.
The rest arrives by email
What is inside (9 sections)
  • 1The real monthly number
  • 2What a half point does
  • 3Property taxes and the metro district
  • 4Insurance in Colorado
  • 5Mortgage insurance and the HOA
  • 6The income test
  • 7The four levers
  • 8The home you are looking at
  • 9The checklist, and who to call

Get the payment worksheet

8 pages · PDF · free · emailed the same day · in your inbox within a minute

Name, email, phone, and the PDF is in your inbox within a minute. A live person follows up once. Want to see more first? Open the guide page, or call or text 303-955-4220.

Searches that fit each situation

Which one are you?

Text the situation to 303-955-4220. A live person runs the payment on real homes the same day, with the credit and the buydown priced in.

Call or text 303-955-4220Search all Colorado homes

Questions people ask

Is it a bad time to buy a house in Colorado at 7%?

It is a bad time to buy a house you cannot afford at 7%, and a normal time to buy one you can. Buyers have 4.8 months of supply, 63% of sales include a seller credit, and prices are flat. Waiting for a lower rate means competing with everyone else who waited.

What matters more than the mortgage rate?

Space, a job start date, stairs, a parent's care, a fresh start after divorce, equity that is ready to move, and liquidity. Each has a page on this site with the math.

Can the seller lower my rate?

Yes. A seller credit can fund a 2-1 buydown or permanent points. On a $480,000 loan a $10,000 credit as a 2-1 buydown saves $616 a month in year one.

Should I wait for rates to drop?

Rates can be refinanced later; the purchase price cannot. When rates fall, seller credits and price cuts shrink and competition returns. Buy the payment you can carry now and refinance the rate later.