I Shop Rates So You Don't Have To
Weekly Realtor Update | August 21, 2026
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Your buyer found a rate online that looks better than mine. It happens every week. Here's the thing though. That rate almost never matches the deal they're actually in. Most online rates assume 25% down or more. Your buyer putting 5% or 10% down is looking at a completely different number. That's not apples to apples. Let me show you how to compare rates the right way, and how I cut real money out of the deal before we even get to the rate.
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Compare Rates Apples to Apples
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Here's the deal. A rate by itself tells you almost nothing. Two lenders can quote the same 6.5% and the buyer walks away with two totally different deals. The rate is only real once you know what's baked into it.
When your buyer sees a low rate online, ask these three questions. It usually falls apart fast.
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| How much down? Most advertised rates assume 25% down or more. Your buyer at 5% or 10% down is a different risk tier and a different rate. Not even close to the same deal.
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| How many points? A teaser rate usually means the buyer is paying to buy it down. Sometimes thousands in points buried in the fine print. Take those off and the rate jumps.
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| What are the fees? This is where it really shows. A rate can look great and still cost more once the junk fees pile on. More on that in a second.
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| Here's my edge: I shop your buyer across 100+ wholesale lenders on a single credit pull. One inquiry, not six. The lenders compete for the loan, I compare the real all-in cost, and your buyer sees a true apples-to-apples number. That's something a single bank quoting its one rate sheet can't do.
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Think Long Game: The Permanent Buydown
Everybody's waiting to refinance when rates drop. I get it. But a permanent buydown is a move your buyer can make today that pays them back every single month for the life of the loan.
And here's what people miss about "just refinance later." Refinancing isn't free.
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⚠️ The "Refi Later" Trap
| You pay closing costs again. A refinance is a whole new loan. New title, new fees, new appraisal. Thousands out of pocket a second time.
The clock resets. Most people refi back into a fresh 30-year loan. So five years into paying down the house, they start the 30-year clock all over again. That's decades of extra interest.
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| ✅ The Permanent Buydown
| Lower rate for the whole loan. Buy the rate down once, up front, and it stays down. No expiration, no gimmick. Often a great use of seller concessions.
Locked in no matter what. If rates never drop, your buyer still wins. They're not sitting around hoping for a refi that may never come.
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| Bonus most people don't know: on a conventional loan, your buyer doesn't have to take a 30 or a 15. We can set a custom term. Some of my lenders will write odd years like 28, 27, even a 19-year loan. Want to knock a few years off without jumping all the way to a 15-year payment? We can build the exact term that fits the budget. Try getting that from the bank's rate sheet.
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💡 TIP OF THE WEEK
| Next time a buyer waves an online rate at you, ask them one question: "Is that with 25% down?" Watch their face. Almost every advertised rate assumes a big down payment and perfect credit, and it leaves out the fees. Have them send it to me. I'll break down the real all-in cost side by side with what I can actually get them. Nine times out of ten, my number wins once the junk fees come off.
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🌴 This Month in SW Florida History
On August 18, 1970, Cape Coral officially became a city. Before that it was raw Gulf Coast scrubland the Rosen brothers bought in the '50s and carved into one of the biggest master-planned communities in the country, dredging out that famous canal network as they went. Cape Coral now has more than 400 miles of canals, more than any city on earth. Every one of those waterfront lots your buyers love started as a sales pitch and a dredge line. Not bad for a spot that was mostly palmetto 70 years ago.
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💡 Worth Knowing
We're in the heart of hurricane season, and this is the stretch where insurance underwriting gets tight. Carriers put up "binding suspensions" the moment a storm enters the box, which means no new policies and no changes until it passes. If your buyer is closing during a named storm watch, they may not be able to bind homeowners insurance, and no insurance means no closing.
| The play: get insurance bound early, well before the closing date, especially August through October. If a storm is already named and heading our way, that window may already be closed. Tell your buyers to lock the policy in the moment they're under contract, not the week of closing. It's a five-minute conversation that saves a blown closing date.
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THE LOAN MENU
◆ VA & Luxury VA
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Access to 100+ wholesale lenders. One credit pull. One point of contact.
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Got a buyer chasing an online rate?
Send it my way. I'll show you the real number side by side, fees and all. Fast closings, multiple lenders, and your buyer works directly with me start to finish. You know I pick up, weekends included.
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Talk soon,
Mike
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Mike Steele Loans
Mike Steele NMLS #241787 | Edge Home Finance LLC, NMLS #891464
Equal Housing Lender. Proudly serving Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples, Punta Gorda & Lehigh Acres.
This email is for general educational and marketing purposes only and is not a commitment to lend, financial advice, or a guarantee of loan approval. Rate figures are illustrative national ranges, are subject to change without notice, and depend on credit, down payment, loan amount, and property. Buydown and custom-term availability vary by loan program and lender.
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