A new bill in Congress would let you take your mortgage rate with you when you move. Here’s what it would change, why it’s not law yet — and the moves rate-locked homeowners can make today.
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In August 2026, Congressman Tom Kean Jr. introduced the MOVE Act (Making Ownership Viable for Everyone) — a bill that would make portable mortgages a real thing in America. The mechanics: it would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the entities that buy most mortgages from lenders, to start purchasing portable loans — which means lenders could finally offer them.
Translation for humans: you could sell your home and carry your existing rate, term, and balance to the next one. The 3% you locked in 2021? It moves when you move.
Why Congress suddenly cares: millions of homeowners are frozen in place — they want to move, but moving means trading a pandemic-era rate for today’s. So nobody sells, inventory stays starved, and prices stay stubborn. Portability is an attempt to unfreeze the board.
Wants the bigger house → today that means giving up the 3% → turns around and stays put. Multiply by millions of homeowners = frozen market.
Rate, term, and balance travel like luggage — old house hits the market, family gets the right home, inventory unfreezes. That’s the pitch.
(no Congress required)
This one needs zero new laws: keep the 3% house and let the rental income help carry that mortgage while equity keeps compounding — then finance the next home on its own merits. Investors call it escaping the golden handcuffs. I set these up all the time.
The MOVE Act is an introduced bill — not a law. It has to survive committees, votes in both chambers, and then actual implementation by Fannie, Freddie, and lenders. That could take years, change shape completely, or never happen at all. Planning your next move around it is like planning dinner around a fish you haven’t caught. 🎣 Watch it, root for it — but make decisions on what exists today.
If you bought in 2020–2021, your equity has likely grown massively. A bigger down payment on the next home = a smaller loan — which can shrink the sting of today’s rate more than you’d guess.
Nobody says you have to sell. Keep the low-rate home as a rental — the rent helps carry your 3% mortgage — and finance the next home on its own merits. Investors call this the golden handcuffs escape.
Buy the right home now; if rates drop later, refinance. The house you settled for waiting on perfect rates is the real cost nobody calculates.
The “I can’t move, I’d lose my rate” math is almost never done with real numbers. Fifteen minutes with me and you’ll know exactly what a move costs — or saves — in your situation.
Free 15-minute session: your equity, your rate, your options — the real spreadsheet, not the fear. No documents needed, no pressure, just clarity.
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A portable mortgage lets you transfer your existing mortgage — the rate, the term, and the balance — from your current home to a new one when you move. Common in Canada and the UK, but essentially nonexistent in the U.S. today because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don't purchase them.
The MOVE Act, introduced by Congressman Tom Kean Jr. in August 2026, would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to begin purchasing portable mortgages — which would push lenders to start offering them. The goal is to unfreeze the housing market: millions of homeowners aren't selling because moving means giving up their low pandemic-era rate.
Not yet — and maybe not for a while. This is an introduced bill, not a law. It has to survive committees, votes, and implementation before any lender offers a portable loan. Smart money plans around what exists today, not what might exist someday.
More than you think: your equity has likely grown substantially since 2020–2021, which shrinks the loan you'd need on the next home; you can keep the low-rate home as a rental and finance the next one on its own merits; and if rates drop later, refinancing is always on the table. The right move is running YOUR actual numbers — that's a 15-minute conversation.
Under proposals like this, the ported portion would cover your existing balance — the gap between that and the new purchase price would still need new financing at current rates (a blended situation). Another reason the 'my rate is sacred' math is more nuanced than it looks.