The MOVE Act and Portable Mortgages: What It Would Mean for LA Buyers and Sellers
Rep. Tom Kean Jr.'s MOVE Act would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy portable mortgages, letting homeowners carry their low rate to a new home. Here is what the bill actually does, the math, and what it would change at the closing table.
Short answer
The MOVE Act (Making Ownership Viable for Everyone Act), introduced by U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr., would push Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy portable mortgages — loans a homeowner could carry to a new property at the same rate, remaining balance, and remaining term. It is a proposed bill, not law, and portable mortgages are not available today.
If you are an agent or homeowner in the South Bay or on the Westside trying to figure out what this means for a real transaction, call Matt Goeglein (310-293-0784) or Xavier "Xavi" de la Piedra IV (562-217-9933) at Fidelity National Title. We will walk the title and closing side of any scenario with you before you commit to a strategy.
What is a portable mortgage?
A portable mortgage lets a borrower detach an existing loan from the house being sold and reattach it to the house being bought. Three things travel with the borrower:
| What moves | What it means |
|---|---|
| Interest rate | A 3% note stays 3% on the next property |
| Remaining principal balance | Only the balance still owed moves — it does not grow |
| Remaining term | 22 years left stays 22 years, not a fresh 30 |
What does not move is the collateral. The new home has to be underwritten, appraised, insured, and — critically for our side of the deal — vested and cleared through a new title order and a new policy.
What the MOVE Act actually proposes
Rep. Kean's bill would direct the government-sponsored enterprises to begin purchasing portable mortgages. That matters because Fannie and Freddie set the practical boundaries of the conventional market: if the GSEs will not buy a loan product, most lenders will not originate it at scale. Requiring them to purchase portable loans is the mechanism that would take portability from a niche offering to something a normal buyer could ask for.
The bill has been introduced. It has not passed either chamber, has no effective date, and no GSE guideline exists yet. Treat it as a policy signal, not a financing plan.
The math, and the catch
Say you owe $500,000 at 3% and you want to move up.
- Your $500,000 balance and 3% rate follow you.
- Your next home costs $1,200,000.
- The portable loan does not stretch to cover the gap. You would bring $700,000 from equity, cash, or a second layer of financing at today's rates.
That second layer is where the real cost lives. A blended structure — a low-rate ported first plus a market-rate second — is far better than refinancing the whole purchase at current pricing, but it is not free money. Run the blended rate before you assume the move pencils.
Why this bill exists: rate lock-in
Roughly 78% of outstanding U.S. mortgages carry a rate below 6%, according to Calculated Risk's analysis of GSE and servicer data. That is the entire lock-in problem in one number. Millions of owners who would otherwise trade up, downsize, or relocate are staying put because moving means giving up a rate they will never see again.
In our markets — Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, El Segundo, Playa Vista, Mar Vista, Culver City — lock-in shows up as thin resale inventory in exactly the price bands where move-up buyers used to churn. Portability would not add new housing supply, but it would unlock existing owners, which is the closest thing to a supply fix available through the mortgage market.
What portability would change at the closing table
This is the part most coverage skips. Porting a loan does not simplify a closing; it reshuffles it.
- New title order, new policy. A ported note is still secured by a new deed of trust on a new parcel. You order title on the purchase exactly as you do today, and the lender still requires an ALTA loan policy and endorsements.
- Payoff and reconveyance on the departing property. The old lien has to be released from the home being sold. Whether that happens through a payoff or a substitution-of-collateral mechanism will be decided by GSE guidelines, and it directly affects whether the seller side closes clean.
- Simultaneous or near-simultaneous closings. Portability pushes buyers toward same-day sell-and-buy structures. Those are timing-sensitive title files: two prelims, two sets of demands, coordinated recordings.
- Vesting has to match. If the departing property is held in a living trust and the new one is taken in individual names — or vice versa — the loan documentation and the vesting need to line up before signing, not at the table.
- Second-position financing. Any gap loan records behind the ported first. Lien priority, subordination, and endorsement requirements become part of the title work.
If the MOVE Act ever becomes law, the transactions it enables will be more title-dependent, not less. That is worth knowing now.
What agents should do today
- Do not market portability as available. It is a bill. Telling a client they can port their 3% loan right now creates a liability you do not want.
- Know who is locked in. Owners with sub-4% notes purchased or refinanced in 2020–2021 are the population this bill targets. They are also your best future listing pipeline regardless of whether it passes.
- Model the blended rate. For any move-up client, run the ported-first-plus-second scenario alongside a full refinance so you can show the delta when the product exists.
- Get the title picture early. Trust vestings, unreleased deeds of trust from old refinances, and HOA issues are the things that blow up simultaneous closings. Pull a property profile before the listing appointment.
Where Team Goeglein fits
We are not lenders and we will not pretend to price your loan. What we do is make the closing side predictable: prelims in 2–4 business days, property profiles and vesting checks before you list, payoff and reconveyance chasing that starts early instead of at signing, and net sheets that reflect the actual city transfer tax and Measure ULA exposure on the property in question.
If a portable-mortgage market ever arrives, the deals will be sell-and-buy files with two title orders and tight timing. That is the work we already do every week.
Matt Goeglein — 310-293-0784 · Xavier "Xavi" de la Piedra IV — 562-217-9933 · Fidelity National Title, South Bay & Westside Los Angeles.
FAQ
Are portable mortgages available in California right now?
No. The MOVE Act is a bill introduced in the U.S. House. It has not become law, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have not issued guidelines for purchasing portable mortgages, and no conventional lender is offering rate portability as a standard product today.
What is the MOVE Act?
The MOVE Act — Making Ownership Viable for Everyone Act — is legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. that would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase portable mortgages, allowing homeowners to transfer an existing loan's rate, remaining balance, and remaining term to a new property.
Can I keep my low mortgage rate if I move?
Not under current conventional rules. Assumable financing exists on some FHA, VA, and USDA loans, where a qualified buyer takes over the seller's loan on the same property. That is different from portability, which would let the borrower carry the loan to a different property. The MOVE Act would create the second option; it does not exist yet.
What happens if the new house costs more than my loan balance?
The ported balance does not increase. You would cover the difference with equity, cash, or additional financing at current market rates, which produces a blended cost of borrowing across the two loans.
How would a portable mortgage affect the title and escrow process?
The new property still requires a full title order, a preliminary report, and a new lender's title policy, and the lien on the departing property still has to be released. Sell-and-buy timing and any second-position financing add lien-priority and coordination work, which is why opening title early matters on these files.
Who should I call about title on a move-up purchase in the South Bay or Westside?
Matt Goeglein (310-293-0784) and Xavier "Xavi" de la Piedra IV (562-217-9933) at Fidelity National Title handle title orders, property profiles, vesting review, and net sheets across Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, El Segundo, Playa Vista, Mar Vista, Culver City, and the surrounding Westside and South Bay markets.
Sources
Call your title team.
We answer the phone — South Bay and Westside LA, every day.