Why a $10,000 price cut only saves your buyer about $50 a month — and what to do with that $10,000 instead. Written by a lender, for Texas sellers, in a market that currently leans toward buyers.
Let's skip the headlines and look at the ground truth in Texas right now. This isn't a crash — it's a payment market. Buyers aren't scared of your home. They're shopping the monthly payment, and there are more sellers competing for them than there used to be.
Translation: concessions are normal now, not desperate. And you're not just competing with the house down the street — you're competing with builders, who are advertising rate buydowns all over Texas. This playbook is how a resale seller fights back without giving the house away.
Every home has three prices: the one you hope for, the one the evidence supports, and the one that makes the phone ring. Your list price should be built from recent comparable sales — not an online estimate, and not what you need out of the deal.
If the evidence says your price is a stretch, it's cheaper to launch at the right number than to chase the market down. But if your price is right and the objection is the payment — keep reading. That's a different problem, with a better tool.
Here's the part almost no seller guide will show you, because almost no seller guide is written by a lender.
Buyers don't buy prices. They buy payments. And a price cut is a terribly inefficient way to lower one: spread $10,000 across 360 monthly payments and it moves the needle about $40–$63 a month at today's rates. The same $10,000, aimed at the interest rate instead, hits 3 to 10 times harder.
| How you spend it | Buyer's monthly payment | Monthly relief |
|---|---|---|
| $10,000 price cut (price drops to $490,000) | $2,609 | ~$52/mo, permanently |
| $10,000 as a rate buydown (points, rate to 6.375%) | $2,495 | ~$166/mo — more than 3× the relief |
You offer a seller concession — an amount deducted from your proceeds at closing, no check written upfront — and it's used to buy the buyer's payment down. Two flavors:
| Year | Monthly Payment* | Payment Rate Is Based Off | Monthly Savings | Annual Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,982 | 5.250% (7.707% APR) | $702 | $8,424 |
| 2 | $3,325 | 6.250% (7.707% APR) | $359 | $4,308 |
| 3–30 | $3,684 | 7.250% (7.707% APR) | $0 | $0 |
*The information here is provided as a general guide to help you determine if a property may be viable for you. Rates, APRs & programs are illustrations subject to change at any time. These do not constitute a Loan or Good Faith Estimate for payments and closing costs. Rates provided 9/25/2026. Payment example: If you bought a $600,000 home with a 10% down payment, for a loan amount of $540,000, with a 30 year term at a fixed rate of 7.250% (Annual Percentage Rate 7.707%), with a 2/1 temporary buydown, you would make 12 monthly payments of $2,982, 12 monthly payments of $3,325, & 336 monthly payments of $3,684. Payment stated does not include mortgage insurance, taxes, and homeowners insurance, which will result in a higher payment.
A buydown is not magic, and I'll tell you where it stops working. Buyers still have to qualify at the full note rate on a temporary buydown — it lowers payments, not the qualifying bar. Your home still has to appraise at the contract price; appraisers can see concessions and may adjust for them. And over a full 30-year hold with no refinance, a price cut can win for the buyer on total cost. The buydown wins when the buyer refinances or moves within the first several years — which, at today's rates, is most buyers.
Know the caps: seller concessions are limited by loan program — conventional loans allow 3% of price with less than 10% down, 6% with 10–25% down, and 9% with 25%+ down; FHA allows 6%; VA allows 4% in concessions (normal closing costs are separate). The credit can't exceed the buyer's actual costs.
Spend where buyers see it in the first ten photos and the first ten seconds inside the door. Typical cost ranges from published seller guides:
Texas note: fill out the Seller's Disclosure Notice honestly and completely. Surprises found later cost more than defects disclosed now — and in Texas, the option period gives buyers a short, defined window to walk, so clean disclosures keep deals together.
The highest offer is not always the best offer. When offers land, score them on the whole deal, not just the top line:
Now the other side of your move — the part nobody puts in a seller guide. Your equity is locked in the home you just listed. If you find the next place first, a sale contingency makes your offers lose to cleaner buyers. And selling first can mean moving twice: out, into a rental or a relative's spare room, then in again.
CMG Home Loans has two bridge paths built for exactly this. Both are CMG products — no third-party programs to sign up for.
0% interest. Zero payments for 6 months. Access the equity in your current home before it sells, and take up to 6 months to sell it.
What sellers use it for: up to $35,000 in eligible repairs to get the current home market-ready, up to $5,000 for moving expenses, a bigger down payment, buying down the rate on the new loan — including funding your own 2-1 or 1-0 buydown — paying off high-interest debt to improve DTI, covering closing costs, or simply keeping your cash reserves intact. And it lets you make a non-contingent offer.
A short-term bridge loan on your new home. Buy and move in first; sell the old place on your timeline.
| Path A: Equity first | Path B: Buy Before You Sell | |
|---|---|---|
| Loan sits on | Your current home's equity | Your new home |
| Payments | 0% interest, zero payments for 6 months | None — interest accrues, paid at payoff |
| Term | Up to 6 months to sell | 12 months |
| Credit score (TX) | 680 minimum | 640 minimum |
| Safety net | Departing payment out of DTI | Guaranteed backup buyer at day 180 |
When you buy your next home with me at CMG, you'll receive a lender credit of 1% of your loan amount — that's $4,000 on a $400,000 loan — to put toward your closing costs or a rate buydown on the new home. Your choice of use. It's paid by CMG as your lender, and it's simply how I keep both sides of your move on one plan, with one team that already knows your file.
1% lender credit offer: applies to purchase loans financed with CMG Home Loans that close on or before December 31, 2026. The credit equals 1% of the loan amount and is applied at closing toward eligible closing costs or a rate buydown, at the borrower's choice. The credit has no cash value and cannot be combined with any other lender credit or discount unless expressly stated. All loans are subject to credit qualification and approval. Terms are subject to change without notice. This is not a commitment to lend.
You can search homes for sale across Texas right on my site — every listing, updated daily, no sign-up wall. Set up a search for what you actually want next and let the right homes come to you while this one sells.
The honest alternatives: a HELOC is cheaper if you qualify — but many lenders won't open one once your home is listed, so apply before you list if that's your plan. And sometimes selling first with a leaseback genuinely is the right answer. That's the point of running your numbers before you decide, not after.
A temporary buydown, no — lenders qualify buyers at the full note rate. Permanent points can, because they lower the actual rate. What a temporary buydown does is lower the real payments in Years 1–2, which is what most buyers are actually stuck on.
Not automatically. Your recorded sale price stays at the full contract price, which protects your headline number and your street's comps. Appraisers can see concessions in the contract and may adjust for them, and your home still has to appraise at the contract price — that's why the price has to be evidence-based in the first place.
On Path A, the interest rate is 0% with zero payments for up to 6 months — time is not quietly billing you. On Path B, interest accrues during the bridge and is paid at payoff, so a longer sale costs more; the Guaranteed Backup Contract caps the downside at day 180. I'll run your exact scenario before you commit to either.
Generally yes — a concession from your seller and a credit from your lender are two different sources, subject to the loan program's concession caps and total-cost limits. We'll structure it so nothing gets left on the table or disallowed.
There's no "sale side" lender — your agent handles your listing, and I never want to get between you and your agent. I handle financing: the buydown math on your sale, and the bridge plus 1% credit on your purchase if you want them.
Bring me an offer — or a listing that's sitting — and I'll run the buydown-vs-price-cut math on it within one business day. Based in Austin, serving all of Texas.
This guide is educational only and is not lending, legal, or tax advice. All products are subject to credit qualification and approval. Terms are subject to change without notice. Market statistics are as published by the sources noted, fall 2026.