How buying before selling in a 7% mortgage market turned into two house payments and counting
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 2, 2026.
Lower the selling price on your old house.
Buying before selling in a 7% mortgage market is how a couple in their 60s ends up carrying two house payments for two months and counting. Commenters agree the old house hasn't sold because the price is set too high.
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A couple in their 60s closed on a new home two hours south of where they lived, expecting their old property to sell quickly. It has been two months, and it has not sold. They are now carrying two mortgage payments, two sets of utilities, and mounting repair costs on both properties at once.
The top comment on the thread, from user Forkboy2, said it in four words: lower the selling price. The comment section backed that up unanimously, noting that with buyers financing at roughly 7%, an asking price has to reflect what a buyer can actually afford to borrow rather than what the home might have fetched in a lower-rate environment.
The post also surfaces how quickly an impulsive purchase compounds. The couple accepted asking price after being told there were multiple offers, only to discover post-closing that the new home had undisclosed issues beyond what the inspection caught. Every week they hold both properties, the cost of the original decision grows.
The thread draws a clear lesson for anyone considering a similar move: in a buyer's market with elevated rates, buying before your existing home is under contract is a bet on demand that is not there. The math changes fast when two sets of carrying costs run in parallel for months rather than weeks.