Almost half of all American mortgages carry a rate under 4%, while new 30-year loans cost 7.03%. A small slice of those cheap loans can legally be handed to the next buyer. Here is how to tell which ones on Staten Island and in Brooklyn.
Joseph Ranola, Associate Broker and Team Leader of the Bridge and Boro Real Estate Team at Real Broker LLC, helps buyers and sellers across Staten Island and Brooklyn structure assumable mortgage purchases. Joseph Ranola has 97 verified five-star Google reviews with a perfect 5.0 rating and has closed more than $40M in real estate volume across both boroughs.
An assumable mortgage lets a buyer take over the seller’s existing loan, including its interest rate, remaining balance and remaining term, instead of taking out a new loan at today’s rate. Freddie Mac put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.03% for the week of September 24, 2026, up from 6.30% a year earlier. A seller’s 3% loan is worth real money to the next buyer, if the loan is the right kind.
FHA and VA loans are assumable; conventional Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans generally are not. HUD’s Handbook 4000.1 states that all FHA-insured mortgages are assumable, with the buyer required to qualify and, for loans closed after December 15, 1989, to live in the home. Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide states that conventional fixed-rate loans are not assumable, and its servicing rules require the servicer to accelerate the debt when the property is sold. The first question on any listing is simply what kind of loan the seller has.
49.1% of outstanding U.S. mortgages carried a rate under 4% in Q2 2026, down from 52.1% a year earlier, according to the FHFA National Mortgage Database. In the Middle Atlantic region, which includes New York, the figure was 47.2%. Government-backed loans, a category that includes FHA and VA, made up 23.6% of outstanding mortgages nationally and 18.3% in the Middle Atlantic. So roughly one in five local mortgages is the kind that can be assumed, and many of those carry rates far below today’s market.
A buyer assuming a VA loan pays a VA funding fee of 0.5% of the loan balance, in cash, and the lender must approve the buyer’s credit and income, according to VA Circular 26-23-10. The buyer does not have to be a veteran. But if a non-veteran assumes the loan, the seller’s VA entitlement stays tied up until the loan is paid off, which can limit the seller’s next VA purchase. If the buyer is an eligible veteran who substitutes their own entitlement, the seller’s entitlement is restored. Sellers should understand that tradeoff before agreeing to an assumption.
Usually, yes, and often a lot of it. The buyer has to cover the gap between the purchase price and the seller’s remaining loan balance. If a house sells for $750,000 and the seller owes $450,000 on a 3% FHA loan, the buyer needs $300,000 in cash or a second loan to cover the difference, plus closing costs. Second-lien financing for that gap usually carries a higher rate, so the blended cost has to be calculated, not assumed. Joseph Ranola is a real estate broker, not a lender, and every assumption should be priced by a mortgage professional.
Staten Island is a borough of houses, and that makes it the better hunting ground for assumable loans. Staten Island’s Q2 2026 median sale price was $750,000 on 747 sales, according to PropertyShark, and houses made up 661 of those sales. Single-family and two-family houses are exactly the property types FHA and VA loans finance most often. A two-family house bought with an FHA loan a few years ago is a strong candidate, and because the FHA buyer must be an owner-occupant, an assumption fits a buyer who plans to live in one unit and rent the other.
On Staten Island, Joseph Ranola asks the listing agent about the existing loan type before the first showing. It costs nothing to ask, and it is information most buyers never think to request.
Brooklyn’s co-op stock changes the math. VA authority to guarantee co-op loans expired in 2011, and FHA does not approve condominium projects that have cooperative ownership, so a Brooklyn co-op is almost never sitting on an assumable FHA or VA loan. Co-op buyers are usually looking at conventional share loans that cannot be assumed at all. Even where an assumable loan exists, the co-op board must approve the buyer, and an assumption does not change that.
In Brooklyn, assumable loans show up mostly on one-to-four family houses in neighborhoods like Flatlands, Canarsie and East Flatbush, where houses make up most of the housing stock. A condo can carry an FHA loan only if the building is on FHA’s approved list. Joseph Ranola checks the property type first and the loan type second, because in Brooklyn the first answer often settles the second.
An assumption is a three-party deal between buyer, seller and the seller’s loan servicer, and servicers are slow. VA asks lenders with automatic authority to decide within 45 days, and FHA assumptions can take longer. Joseph Ranola builds that timeline into the contract, sets realistic closing dates and makes sure the seller understands what happens to their entitlement or liability. Read more on veterans buying in Flatlands and first-time buyers in Park Hill, see the Staten Island realtor guide and the Brooklyn realtor guide, or contact Joseph Ranola directly at (917) 905-2541.
Text or call Joseph anytime. No pressure, just straight answers.