Deb Jerikovsky spends time on the patio of her new home with her grandchildren in Coon Rapids on June 6. Last year, after Deb Jerikovsky’s husband died, she decided to swap the lake home where they planned to spend retirement for a house in the metro that’s closer to family.
“Most agents aren’t even aware of what it entails and what to look for,” said Tyler Miller, a local broker who has been involved with several sales involving assumable mortgages with astoundingly low rates. While some agents will include an assumable mortgage in the listing details, many homeowners don’t even know they have one — the details are buried in the fine print of their contract, which many buyers don’t carefully read. In Minnesota, just shy of 5% of the more than 30,000 houses listed on website, which is dedicated to assumable mortgages, after Carrillo discovered the 2.75% FHA mortgage on his own house was assumable.
Roam, which doesn’t yet post listings in the Twin Cities, is another new website focused solely on assumable mortgages. It charges buyers 1% of the purchase price to help navigate the process. On average, the company claims, buyers who use the site save $15,000 in mortgage payments annually. Chris Birk — vice president of Veterans United Home Loans, which has a national network of agents who specialize in working with military buyers — said there’s been a 600% increase in the number of VA mortgage assumptions from 2022 to 2023.
“It was a little tricky,” he said. “I had to call every other day to check on things. … It takes a team to make it happen.”