Introduction
I get this question all the time. A family in Markham is ready to move up. Bigger yard. Better schools nearby. Room for the kids to actually breathe. Everything makes sense. Then someone says, “Let’s just wait until rates come down a little more.”
And I get it. I really do. Rates are higher than they were a few years ago and that feels like a reason to pause. But here’s what nobody is telling you about what waiting actually costs.
Let me walk you through the math.
When Rates Drop, Prices Rise
This is the part most people don’t think about. Interest rates and home prices move in opposite directions. When rates drop, more buyers come off the sidelines. More buyers competing for the same homes means prices go up.
So you wait for a rate drop, and you get one. But the home you were looking at in September is now $80,000 to $120,000 more expensive in February. The lower rate feels like a win. But you’re paying more for the house. Often more, not less, when you run the actual monthly numbers.
In a buyer’s market like we have right now in Markham, you have something rare. Negotiating power. Financing conditions. Inspection clauses. Time to think. That’s not a consolation prize. That’s a significant advantage that disappears the moment competition heats up.
The Math Nobody Runs
Let’s say you’re selling at $900,000 and buying at $1,300,000. Your net cost to move up is $400,000.
Now imagine rates drop six months from now and the market heats up. Your home might sell for $980,000. Sounds great. But the home you want is now $1,480,000. Your net cost to move up is still $500,000. You’re paying $100,000 more to move up in a hot market than you would have paid today.
That’s what I mean when I say the math looks different when you focus on the net cost to move up rather than the sale price or purchase price in isolation. The number that matters is the gap between what you sell for and what you pay. In a buyer’s market, that gap is often smaller than people expect.
You can refinance a mortgage rate. You cannot refinance a purchase price.
Marry the House, Date the Rate
One of the most important things I tell move-up buyers is this: you can always refinance your rate. You cannot refinance your purchase price.
If you buy today at a higher rate and rates drop in 18 months, you refinance. Your payment goes down. You keep the house you bought at today’s price with today’s negotiating power.
If you wait and buy at a lower rate but higher price, you’re locked into that price permanently. There is no refinancing a purchase price.
The Cost Nobody Puts a Number On
Here’s the cost the spreadsheet doesn’t capture. Every month you wait, your kids are still sharing a room. The drive to hockey practice is still 40 minutes. The kitchen table is still too small for homework and dinner at the same time.
That time doesn’t come back. Your kids are growing up right now. The quality of life you’re delaying for a rate that may or may not move, on a timeline nobody can predict, is real. It has a cost. It just doesn’t show up on a mortgage calculator.
After 18 years doing this in Markham, I’ve never had a family tell me they wished they had waited longer. I’ve had plenty tell me they wish they had moved sooner.
DM me the word NUMBERS and let's run your actual numbers together. No cost, no pressure, no obligation. Just the real picture.
DM me the word NUMBERS and let’s run the numbers together.
