Your 3% mortgage may rank among the best financial deals sitting in your life right now. With the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate reaching 6.65% on August 20, 2026, according to Freddie Mac, replacing a 3% loan with a new mortgage could make the monthly payment jump sharply.
That sounds like a fantastic reason to stay put, and sometimes it absolutely is. But a bargain can develop a funny little side effect: it can start making a home feel less like a place to live and more like a financial asset that nobody wants to disturb. Suddenly, the spare bedroom that has become a glorified storage closet seems permanent, the long commute feels tolerable, and the dream of moving somewhere smaller gets pushed into the “maybe someday” folder.
