The MOVE Act is a bill introduced in Congress by Representative Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey that would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy portable mortgages, meaning a homeowner could carry an existing interest rate, loan balance, and remaining term to a new property instead of surrendering the rate at closing.
It is introduced legislation, not law. Nothing about it changes what you can do this month. But if it moves, it targets the single biggest reason inventory has stayed thin nationally and here in Western North Dakota: people with cheap money on their current property cannot afford to give it up.
The mechanics
What is a portable mortgage, in plain terms?
Right now a mortgage is attached to the property, not to you. You sell, the loan is paid off and it disappears. Whatever you buy next gets financed at whatever the market is charging that week, which you can check any Thursday on Freddie Mac's weekly rate survey.
Portability flips that. The loan follows the borrower. Same rate, same balance, same remaining term, new address. If the next property costs more, the difference gets financed separately at current pricing. If it costs less, you are paying down a smaller balance at a rate you already like.
The reason the bill points at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is that lenders mostly do not keep the loans they write. They sell them. A lender will only offer a portable mortgage if there is a buyer for it on the back end, and those two, overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, are the buyers that matter for conforming residential loans.
Portability is not a new invention. Canada and the UK have had assumable and portable structures for years. What is new is a serious push to make the American secondary market accept it, which is the only part that was ever actually hard.
The problem it targets
Why has inventory stayed so tight, even in a market like the Bakken?
Everyone wants to blame demand, or builders, or the oil price. In my listing appointments the real answer has been simpler and it comes up almost every week: the seller runs the math on the next payment and stops the conversation.
A large share of owners here refinanced or bought in 2020 through 2022, when money was close to free. Today's going rate is meaningfully higher, and for many of those owners it is roughly double what they are paying now. That is not a rounding error on a monthly payment. It is the difference between a move that makes sense and a move that does not.
So the house that should be on the market is not on the market. The family that outgrew a three bedroom stays in it. The couple whose kids moved to Bismarck keeps heating a house they no longer need. Economists call it the lock-in effect. I call it the reason I have had good listings evaporate at the kitchen table.
What this means for you
If you have been told the market is short on inventory, understand what is actually causing it. Supply here is not missing because nobody wants to sell. It is missing because selling means repricing a loan.
Local impact
What would portable mortgages actually unlock in Williston and Watford City?
Our market moves on people relocating for work, growing families, and owners repositioning as the oil economy shifts. All three are exactly the movers who get frozen by a rate they cannot take with them. If portability became real, the first wave would not be investors. It would be ordinary owners:
- Move-up buyers sitting on equity and a low rate since 2022.
- Downsizers who would trade square footage for a smaller payment but not for a higher rate.
- Relocating workers moving between Williston, Watford City, Tioga, Ray, and Dickinson as assignments change.
- Owners who need a different property, closer to a school, closer to a jobsite, on acreage instead of a lot.
More of those owners selling means more listings, and more listings means first-time buyers finally get something to choose from. That is the part people miss. Portability gets pitched as a win for the owner with the cheap loan, but the bigger beneficiary is the buyer who currently has nothing to look at.
After more than 1,400 closings in this market I have learned to be careful about predicting policy. But I will say this without hedging: the fastest way to add inventory in Williams and McKenzie County is not to build it. It is to unfreeze the owners who already want to move.
What this means for you
Buyers, watch this bill as a supply story, not a rate story. Sellers, watch it as the thing that could remove the one objection keeping you in a property that no longer fits.
Scope and limits
Would this apply to commercial, industrial, or land deals too?
No, and this is where I want to be straight with our investor and operator clients. The bill is aimed at the conforming residential channel that Fannie and Freddie buy. Commercial buildings, industrial shops, and raw land are financed through banks, credit unions, and private capital that never touched those agencies to begin with.
The knock-on effect is still real. A shop owner in Williston who is stuck in his house is a person who is also not making a decision about his building. Residential paralysis slows down the rest of the board. But if you are underwriting a commercial or industrial asset here, price it on today's terms and today's lender, not on a bill that may never pass. My Crexi Platinum Broker work and Institutional Investment Services training both point the same direction on this: underwrite what exists.
What this means for you
Residential owners get a potential tool. Commercial, industrial, and land buyers get an indirect benefit at best. Do not build a deal model around it.
Honest caution
How likely is this to become law, and what could water it down?
Most bills introduced in Congress never get a vote. You can follow this one's actual status yourself on Congress.gov rather than trusting a headline. Portable mortgages have moved from a fringe idea to something discussed seriously at the federal level, which is genuine progress, but progress is not passage.
Even if it passes, the details will decide whether it matters:
- How the gap is financed. Buying up usually means a second loan at today's rate. The blended payment is what you actually pay, and it will not feel like your old payment.
- Qualifying again. Expect to re-underwrite. A portable rate is not a free pass on income, credit, or appraisal.
- Fees and pricing. If the agencies price portability as a risk, some of the savings gets taken back in cost.
- Timeline. Even a passed bill needs rulemaking, then lender systems, then products on the shelf. That is quarters, not weeks.
I have sold property here through the boom and through the slowdown, and the clients who got hurt were almost always the ones who waited on something that had not happened yet. Watch this closely. Do not plan your next twelve months around it.
What to do now
What should I do right now if I am sitting on a low rate?
Three things, and none of them require a bill to pass.
One, get a real number on your equity. Values here have not moved in a straight line, and the gap between what owners assume and what the market says is usually wide in one direction or the other.
Two, run the actual blended payment, not the rate. I have had clients find the move worked at today's rates because their equity was carrying more weight than they realized. I have had others find the honest answer was to stay put, and I told them so.
Three, know your options today. Assumable loans already exist here on certain government-backed financing, and we track those separately because they solve a version of the same problem right now. State programs through the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency are worth a look too.
What this means for you
The MOVE Act would be a good tool if it lands. Assumable financing and real equity math are tools you can use this week.
Questions I get
Common questions about the MOVE Act and portable mortgages
What is the MOVE Act?
It is a bill introduced by Representative Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey that would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase portable mortgages. That requirement is what would make lenders willing to offer them, since lenders generally sell the loans they originate.
Has the MOVE Act passed?
No. It has been introduced, which is the first step of many. Check its current status on Congress.gov before making any decision based on it.
Could I really keep my 3 percent rate when I move?
Under the concept in the bill, yes, on the existing balance and remaining term. Anything you borrow above that balance would be financed at current rates, so your total payment would sit somewhere between your old rate and today's.
Is a portable mortgage the same as an assumable mortgage?
No, and the difference matters. An assumable loan stays with the property and transfers to the buyer. A portable loan stays with the borrower and travels to the next property. Assumable loans already exist on certain government-backed financing. Portable ones do not exist in the United States yet.
Why is housing inventory so low in Western North Dakota?
The largest single factor I see at the kitchen table is rate lock-in. Owners who financed at historically low rates lose that rate the moment they sell, so they stay put even when the property no longer fits their life. Construction costs and labor matter too, but lock-in is what stops deals that were otherwise ready.
Would portable mortgages raise home prices?
Possibly, and that is the fair criticism. More willing buyers can push prices up. The counterweight is that portability frees sellers too, so it adds supply and demand at the same time. Which effect wins locally will depend on how many Williston and Watford City owners are lock-in bound, and there are a lot of them.
Would this apply to investment property or commercial buildings?
Not directly. The bill addresses loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy, which is conforming residential lending. Commercial, industrial, and land financing sits outside that system entirely.
Should I wait to sell until this passes?
I would not, and I say that as someone whose business benefits from more listings. Most introduced bills never become law, and even a successful one takes rulemaking and lender rollout before a product exists. Make the decision on today's numbers, and treat portability as upside if it arrives.
Washington is finally paying attention to the right problem. Inventory here has not been stuck because people stopped wanting to move, it has been stuck because moving meant repricing their loan, and this bill aims straight at that.
I will keep tracking it and tell our clients plainly if it turns into something you can actually use. Until then, the smart play has not changed: know your equity, run your real payment, and move when the math works for you rather than when a headline says it should.
EP
Proven Realty brokered by eXp
Wondering if your move works at today's rates?
We will run the honest numbers on your equity, your payment, and whether assumable financing already gets you most of the way there.
Legislative details described here are drawn from the bill as introduced and from public reporting on it. Rate context reflects published mortgage survey data at time of writing. Nothing here is legal, tax, or lending advice. Verify specifics before acting. Equal Housing Opportunity.
