The LOGAN List October 27 2026: 5 Realtor Strategies
The LOGAN List October 27 2026 delivers five practical strategies for Raleigh and North Carolina Realtors who want to help more buyers become homeowners, strengthen their listing conversations, and uncover opportunities they may already be overlooking.
Published weekly by Logan Martini of Martini Mortgage Group at Rate, The LOGAN List brings together mortgage intelligence, market insights, and actionable conversations Realtors can use immediately.
Logan Martini believes better real estate outcomes begin with better financing conversations.
The LOGAN List is a weekly Raleigh Realtor newsletter delivering practical mortgage strategies, market insights, and actionable advice to help North Carolina real estate agents know Exactly What to Say in Today’s Market.
This Week’s The LOGAN List October 27 2026: The Quick Summary
L — LEVERAGE
What If You Preserved the Price Instead of Cutting It?
Your listing has been sitting.
The seller is frustrated.
And here comes the inevitable conversation.
“Maybe we should lower the price.”
Maybe.
But before recommending another reduction, what if you explored a strategy that addresses the buyer’s monthly payment instead?
A seller-funded 2-1 temporary mortgage buydown can reduce the buyer’s effective principal-and-interest payment during the first two years of a fixed-rate mortgage.
The seller contributes funds at closing to cover the temporary payment difference.
The mortgage note rate itself does not change.
That creates a different marketing conversation.
Instead of promoting only a $450,000 asking price, you may be able to show qualified buyers an illustrated first-year payment alongside the full payment they’ll eventually owe.
The strategy doesn’t eliminate the property’s asking price, and it doesn’t guarantee a sale. But it may address an obstacle a price reduction alone does not solve.
Exactly what to say to your seller:
“Before we lower the asking price again, would you be open to seeing whether the same dollars could create a more attractive monthly payment for buyers?”
What to do this week
Identify one listing where a price reduction is being considered. Ask your mortgage partner to calculate a seller-funded 2-1 buydown and compare its cost and payment impact with a price reduction.
Any advertised payment illustration should receive lender and compliance review and disclose the applicable assumptions and future payment.
The Logan Take
A price reduction changes what buyers see. A payment strategy may change what they believe they can afford.
O — OPTIONS
Three Years of Relief. Without the ARM Risk
“I want a lower mortgage payment.”
Of course you do.
But here’s the question.
How much future uncertainty are you willing to accept to get it?
That’s one of the considerations with an adjustable-rate mortgage.
An ARM typically offers an initial fixed-rate period. After that, the rate can adjust.
It could go down.
It could go up.
And no one knows exactly where rates will be when that adjustment arrives.
But there’s another option worth considering.
A seller-funded 1-1-1 temporary buydown on an eligible fixed-rate mortgage.
Imagine the note rate is 7%.
For the first three years, the buyer makes a principal-and-interest payment
calculated using 6%.
Beginning in year four, the payment returns to the amount calculated at the
original 7% note rate.
Here’s the important distinction.
The mortgage rate never adjusts.
It’s a fixed-rate mortgage from day one.
The seller-funded subsidy temporarily reduces the buyer’s payment, not the
contractual interest rate.
That means the buyer knows what the principal-and-interest payment will be
after the assistance ends.
No guessing about future rate adjustments.
What to do
When a buyer asks about an ARM, don’t assume it’s the only way to get a lower initial payment.
Ask your lending partner to compare an ARM against a fixed-rate mortgage with a seller-funded 1-1-1 buydown.
Look at the initial payment, the payment after the subsidy ends, the costs, and
the long-term risks.
The Logan Take
You shouldn’t have to trade tomorrow’s certainty for today’s payment relief
without exploring your options
G — GUIDANCE
Is That Lower Rate Really a Better Deal?
Here’s something worth thinking about.
An adjustable-rate mortgage isn’t automatically a bad mortgage.
For some buyers, it can be an excellent option.
But an ARM should offer enough financial benefit to justify the uncertainty the
borrower accepts.
And that’s where the conversation gets interesting.
The appeal of an ARM has traditionally been a lower starting interest rate
compared with a fixed-rate mortgage.
But that advantage isn’t always as compelling as buyers expect.
ARM pricing depends on the lender, product, market conditions, and loan
structure.
Sometimes the discount is meaningful.
Sometimes it isn’t.
And sometimes the difference in monthly payment simply isn’t enough to justify
the future rate-adjustment risk.
So here’s the question.
Why accept uncertainty if you’re not being adequately compensated for it?
Now imagine a seller is willing to contribute toward a 1-1-1 temporary buydown.
The buyer may receive lower payments for the first three years while keeping a
fixed note rate.
That doesn’t automatically make the buydown better than an ARM.
An ARM might provide a lower initial rate for five, seven, or ten years.
The point is to understand the value of each option.
Not just the advertised rate.
Not just the initial payment.
The value.
What to do
When discussing financing options with a buyer, ask your lending partner:
“How much is the ARM actually saving this buyer compared with a fixed-rate
mortgage?”
Then ask:
“What would the numbers look like if the seller funded a 1-1-1 buydown
instead?”
Compare actual rates, points, payments, adjustment terms, and costs.
The Logan Take
A lower starting rate isn’t automatically the lowest cost of borrowing. Value is
what you receive compared with what you risk
A — ALERTS
Your Buyer’s Refinance Plan Has One Big Problem.
“I’ll just refinance when rates come down.”
You’ve heard it.
Maybe you’ve even said it.
And perhaps refinancing will make sense in the future.
But here’s the problem.
A future refinance is never guaranteed.
What happens if interest rates don’t fall?
What happens if the property value declines?
What if the buyer changes jobs?
Or their income or credit situation changes?
Refinancing requires a new mortgage approval.
And nobody can promise what the lending environment will look like three, five,
or seven years from now.
That’s especially important when someone chooses an ARM primarily because
they expect to refinance before the rate adjusts.
Now consider a fixed-rate mortgage with a 1-1-1 temporary buydown.
Yes, the buyer’s payment increases when the three-year subsidy ends.
But that increase is known from the beginning.
The note rate doesn’t change.
And for eligible fixed-rate buydowns, the borrower must qualify using the full
note-rate payment.
The strategy doesn’t require rates to fall for the original mortgage terms to
remain predictable.
What to do
Before a buyer commits to an ARM, ask:
“If refinancing isn’t an option when the initial fixed period ends, will you still be
comfortable with this mortgage?”
Then have the lender explain the adjustment caps and potential future
payments.
The Logan Take
A refinance should be an opportunity, not the foundation of your buyer’s
financial plan.
N — NUMBERS
$9,468 in Payment Relief. Or $63 a Month?
Let’s do the math.
Imagine a $400,000 mortgage.
Thirty-year fixed.
7% note rate.
The regular principal-and-interest payment is approximately:
$2,661 per month.
Now imagine the seller funds a 1-1-1 temporary buydown.
For the first three years, the buyer makes a payment calculated using 6%.
That payment is approximately:
$2,398 per month.
That’s about $263 in monthly payment relief.
For 36 months.
Or approximately $9,468 in total assistance.
Now consider what happens if the same $9,468 is used to reduce the mortgage principal instead.
At 7% over 30 years, that principal reduction would lower the monthly principal and interest payment by approximately:
$63 per month.
Read that again.
$263 in monthly relief for the first three years.
Versus $63 in monthly savings over the life of the mortgage.
Now, that doesn’t mean the temporary buydown always wins.
The $63 reduction lasts for the life of the loan.
The $263 subsidy ends after 36 months.
And an actual purchase-price reduction affects the mortgage amount differently
depending on the down payment.
But here’s what matters.
The same amount of money can create very different benefits.
For a buyer trying to manage the first few years of homeownership, that
difference may be significant.
For a seller trying to make a listing more competitive, it may create an
opportunity worth exploring.
What to do
Find one listing where the seller is considering a price reduction.
Ask your lending partner to compare the actual numbers for a price reduction
and a seller-funded 1-1-1 buydown.
Then present the trade-offs to your seller.
The Logan Take
Don’t measure a seller concession only by what it costs. Measure the value it
creates for the buyer—and what it means for the seller’s bottom line.
