Every structure in this market runs the same direction. A buyer makes an offer, the parties negotiate a concession, a lender applies it to a buydown, and the buyer gets a payment they did not know was available when they were deciding whether to tour the house.
List & Lock runs it backwards, and the difference is larger than it sounds.
The sequence
Before the listing goes live, the seller and the lender set a rate and lock it to the property address. Not to a buyer. To the house.
The listing advertises that rate, because it exists. The number in the remarks and on the flyer is a locked rate rather than an estimate, a hope, or a figure somebody calculated on the assumption that pricing holds.
Buyers who write on the house inherit it. They qualify for financing on that rate, subject to their own credit approval and underwriting.
The seller funds it from proceeds at closing, the same way any concession is funded.
The change in order is the whole product. Marketing happens with a real number instead of a maybe.
The part that matters most: qualifying
On a standard temporary buydown, the underwriter almost always tests the buyer against the note rate, not the subsidized rate. The payment relief is real. The qualifying relief is not. A buyer who is over on debt-to-income at seven percent is still over at seven percent, no matter how generous the first year looks.
| Standard temporary buydown | List & Lock | |
|---|---|---|
| When the rate is set | After an offer is negotiated | Before the property is listed |
| What the marketing can claim | An estimate | A locked rate tied to the address |
| Buyer qualifies at | Generally the note rate | The List & Lock rate |
| Who it widens the pool for | Buyers who like the payment | Buyers who can get approved |
That third row is the one to read twice. Lowering the rate a buyer qualifies on does not just improve the payment for buyers who were already approved. It makes buyers approvable who were not. On a listing that has had traffic but no offers, that can be the entire problem.
Why a locked rate changes the marketing
There is a practical, unglamorous reason this matters: compliance.
An agent who advertises a payment calculated off an assumed rate is advertising a figure that may not be available by the time a buyer calls. That is a real exposure and it is why most listing agents stay away from payment marketing entirely, which is why most listings compete on price alone against builders who do not.
A rate locked to the address is a different situation. The number is defensible because it exists. See Advertising a Payment Without Creating a Compliance Problem for how to present it.
The piece for sellers who are also buying
Sellers who use List & Lock are eligible to receive up to $5,000 back toward closing costs on their next purchase loan with EPiQ, subject to program terms. If you are moving up, moving down, or moving across town, that is real money on the other side of your own transaction, and most sellers evaluating a concession never factor it in.
The honest limits
It is tied to the address. The lock follows the property, not a buyer, and it cannot be transferred to a different house. That is what makes the marketing claim work and it is also a constraint.
The buyer still has to qualify. A lower qualifying rate widens the pool. It does not eliminate underwriting, credit approval, or property eligibility.
It is funded by the seller. This is a concession, not free money, and it is subject to the same contribution limits as any other.
It is a program with terms. Eligibility, timing and conditions apply, and they are worth reading rather than summarizing.
Who should be asking about it
Listing agents with a stale listing who have already taken the seller through two or three reductions and do not want to ask for a fourth. See Six Price Reductions Later.
Listing agents competing directly with new construction. If a builder community is pulling your buyers, you are losing a payment argument, not a price argument. See Builders Are Buying Rates Down.
Sellers who need to protect the comparable sales in their own subdivision, including for their own next purchase.
Any seller about to reduce. Have the comparison run first. The reduction may be the right move. It is frequently not, and it is always worth ten minutes to find out.
Why bring this to us
- We run the numbers before the listing goes live, so the figure in your marketing is a real locked rate rather than a hope.
- Broker model. Multiple investors, which matters when one lender's buydown terms do not fit the file.
- We will sit in the listing appointment with you and explain the structure to the seller directly.
- You talk to the principal. Ricky Khamis is President of EPiQ Lending, NMLS #173141, lending in Arizona since 1999 and a 2025 Presidents Club Winner at CMG Home Loans. Direct line: (480) 999-9842.
EPiQ Lending is NMLS #1936984, at 7975 N. Hayden Road, Suite A-101 in Scottsdale. Verify all of it before you trust any of it: Ricky's EPiQ Lending profile, the Scottsdale branch, and the license itself at NMLS Consumer Access. Hold every lender to that standard, including us.
Send me the address and the price before the next reduction, and I will show you what a concession pointed at the payment does instead.
Equal Housing Opportunity. This is general information, not a commitment to lend or an offer to extend credit. Buydown structures and any figures shown are illustrative, derived from a structure applied to an assumed note rate, and are not an offer or a quote. Actual rates depend on credit approval, loan program, occupancy, loan amount, down payment, property type and market pricing at lock. Seller contribution limits vary by loan type, occupancy and loan-to-value and change over time; confirm current limits against the buyer's specific loan. Rates, terms and program guidelines change and depend on credit approval, property appraisal and other qualifying factors. Not all applicants will qualify.
Looking at a specific home? Send me the address and I will run the numbers: rickykhamis.com/analyze
