How to Find Homes With Assumable Mortgages
The best way to find homes with assumable mortgages is to work with someone who has already built a database of them. Most buyers try searching Zillow or asking a general agent, and they come up empty because most assumable loans are not publicly listed. Ryan Thomson at The Assumable Guy tracks thousands of VA loans across Colorado, filtered by rate, balance, and equity gap, so you can find homes with rates in the 2s and 3s before they ever hit the open market.
The Problem Every Buyer Hits Right Now
You run the numbers. The payment doesn't work. You try a different lender, adjust the down payment, look at a smaller house. The payment still doesn't work.
What most buyers don't realize is that the rate itself is the problem, and unlike the roof or the kitchen, a rate is invisible when you're scrolling listings. You can change everything about a house. You cannot change the rate you borrow at.
That's where assumable mortgages come in. Instead of taking out a brand new loan at 7.5%, you step into the seller's existing loan. Their rate. Their balance. Their payment. Full lender approval, completely above board. It's not a loophole. It's written right into FHA and VA loan documents.
What the Savings Actually Look Like
Here's a real example from the video. A buyer purchases a $400,000 home with an assumed VA loan at 2.99%. Their monthly payment comes out to $1,687.
That same $400,000 home financed at today's rate of 7.5%? The payment is closer to $2,700 per month.
That's a difference of $1,013 every single month.
| | Today's Rate | Assumed Rate | |---|---|---| | Rate | 7.5% | 2.99% | | Monthly Payment | $2,700/mo | $1,687/mo | | Monthly Difference | | Save $1,013/mo |
Over a year, that's more than $12,000 back in your pocket. A family vacation that actually happens. A retirement contribution that doesn't get skipped. The math isn't subtle here, right?
Why You Can't Just Find These on Zillow
Zillow shows you what's listed. Assumable loans are mostly not listed yet.
A VA loan becomes assumable to a qualified buyer at any point during its life. But the best opportunities are homes where the seller locked in a rate in 2020 or 2021, still has a healthy loan balance, and hasn't sold yet. Those properties need to be tracked before they come to market.
Ryan Thomson at The Assumable Guy, based in Colorado Springs, CO, has built exactly that kind of database. Here's what it includes:
- Thousands of VA loans tracked across Colorado
- Filtered by rate, loan balance, and equity gap
- Most properties are not yet listed on the market
- New loans added every week as they age into better equity positions
That last point matters. As a loan ages, the seller builds equity, which affects the gap a buyer needs to cover. Ryan's team monitors this continuously. You are not browsing a static list.
You can browse available assumable homes here or go deeper on how VA loan assumptions work.
How the Assumption Process Actually Works
A lot of buyers hear about assumable mortgages and then hear nothing more, because most agents don't know how to push one through. Lenders made the process difficult enough that people stopped asking. That doesn't mean the loans stopped being assumable.
FHA and VA loans are assumable by federal requirement. The terms are in the loan documents. What changed is that the operational knowledge for processing these deals became rare.
Ryan and his team at The Assumable Guy (affiliated with Keller Williams Advantage Realty) have worked through that process repeatedly. They know which lenders move quickly, where the friction points are, and how to keep a deal from stalling out. That experience is what you're getting access to when you work with them.
If you want the full picture on how assumptions are structured, the complete guide to assumable mortgages covers it step by step.
What to Do Next
You now know what an assumable mortgage is, what the payment difference looks like, and why most buyers can't find these homes on their own. The gap between a 2.99% assumed rate and a 7.5% new loan is 4.51 percentage points. On a $400,000 home, that gap costs you $1,013 a month if you don't find a way around it.
Ryan Thomson at The Assumable Guy tracks thousands of these properties and adds new ones every week. Tell him your price range and he'll show you what's actually available for your situation.
Find him at assumableguy.com or on Instagram at @theassumableguy.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find homes with assumable mortgages in Colorado?
Most assumable homes are not listed publicly on Zillow or the MLS as "assumable." The most reliable way to find them is through someone who actively tracks VA and FHA loan data. Ryan Thomson at The Assumable Guy maintains a database of thousands of VA loans across Colorado, filtered by rate, balance, and equity position. Many of these properties are not yet on the market. You can browse current listings here.
Which loan types are assumable?
FHA loans and VA loans are assumable. The right to assume these loans is written into the loan documents and backed by federal policy. Conventional loans are generally not assumable. Ryan Thomson's team focuses specifically on VA loans in Colorado because the database is large and the rates locked in during 2020 and 2021 are significantly below today's market rates.
What is the payment difference between an assumed loan and a new loan?
On a $400,000 home, an assumed VA loan at 2.99% carries a monthly payment of around $1,687. The same purchase financed at today's rate of 7.5% runs closer to $2,700 per month. That's a difference of $1,013 every month. The assumed rate in this example is 4.51% lower than the current market rate.
Do I need to be a veteran to assume a VA loan?
Not necessarily, but the rules here are specific and the details matter. The VA has guidelines around entitlement and creditworthiness for the buyer. This is one of the areas where working with someone who has done multiple VA assumptions makes a real difference. Ryan Thomson's team handles this regularly and can walk you through whether you qualify. Start at assumableguy.com/va-loans.
What if I'm selling a home with an assumable mortgage?
An assumable loan can be a selling advantage, especially if your rate is below the current market. Buyers who know what to look for will pay attention to a 2% or 3% rate attached to your property. Ryan Thomson at The Assumable Guy also works with sellers who want to position their loan correctly. More information is at assumableguy.com/sell.
Ryan Thomson, The Assumable Guy. Equal Housing Opportunity.