NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Housing experts are forecasting higher interest rates on home mortgages will stick around through the end of next year.
However, if you're looking to buy a home now, there are some ways to get around that.
Fannie Mae recently released their housing forecast predicting 7.5 percent home mortgage interest rates on 30-year loans for all of 2027.
Click here to look at the forecast: Housing Forecast - October 2026
Those extra percentage points can translate to hundreds of dollars a month for many borrowers.
“I think there’s been a lot of shock for people to see that rates have gone up so much because, if you just look at the nominal interest rate, it’s really changed affordability for most people,” said Christi Wedig, a loan originator with The Wedig Group - CMG Home Loans.
The good news is there are ways to help offset that cost. I caught up with Wedig at Greater Nashville Realtors Monday.
She shared a few of those options with me.
"With the right mortgage strategy in place you can actually achieve the rates we were seeing two or three months ago," Wedig said.
Wedig said asking for seller concessions can be one of the best ways to lower your monthly payment. That can come from a newly built home — she said some builders are advertising rates from 4.99% up to 5.25% — but you can also ask an existing homeowner to buy down your mortgage rate.
"Let's say a house is offered at $450,000; we can get a lot more leverage in your monthly payment by asking that seller for concessions instead of reducing the purchase price. It's a lot more effective on that monthly payment," Wedig said.
Wedig also said an adjustable-rate mortgage is another option to save money for the first 5 to 10 years, but every situation is different.
She said after the 2008 recession, adjustable-rate mortgages have received more regulation to avoid problems for borrowers.
"There were no guardrails back then, and since the financial crisis there's been a lot of guardrails put into place," Wedig said.
Wedig said part of figuring out the best options for many people means figuring out how long you plan to be in your home.
"If you're going to be in the home for 10 or 15 years, then that's a different mortgage strategy than someone that might only be there for 3 to 5 years," Wedig said.
When it comes to an assumable mortgage Wedig said it's a very specific situation that would make the dollars and cents work for that because it would likely only cover the part of the loan and then rest would have to be made up with extra cash or another loan.
Click here for more home buying advice from Wedig's blog: Christi Wedig's blog | CMG Financial
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
