Q. I currently own a home the mortgage rate is 5.65% the amount owed is $120,000. The home's value is $145,000 or more. The current payment is $900. I am divorced and wanted to sell the house to buy something cheaper to get my payment in the $600 range where I can afford it. Given the rise in mortgage rates the last few months would I be better off to take the house off the market for now and hope the rates go back down some time next year and then sell or just stay put? It has been on the market for eight months and although it has been shown many times I have not received any offers. 

A. Assuming that you are paying 5.65% on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, your current $900 monthly payment probably breaks down something like this -- $700 in principal and interest, and $200 in taxes and insurance.

To lower that payment to $600 a month – about $450 in principal and interest, and $150 in taxes and insurance -- at today’s average mortgage rate of 6.7%, you’d be able to borrow about $70,000.

Subtracting the amount you owe on your current house from the conservative value of your house, you have about $25,000 in equity. If you received that much from the sale of your house and used it on a down payment for a new home, and borrowed $70,000, you’d be able to afford a $95,000 home.

Can you buy a home you would enjoy for $95,000? In some parts of the country you could get a lovely three-bedroom house. In others you couldn’t get a decent studio condo. (You didn’t tell us where you live.) But if the answer is “yes,” then moving would still make financial sense, even though interest rates have gone up.

There’s another serious issue here, however. You can’t get rid of your $900 a month mortgage until you sell your existing house.

Since the house has been shown many times over the past eight months, you need to ask your real estate agent why you haven’t received any offers. Are you asking too much? Do you need new carpet or paint to make the interior more attractive?

A good agent should have talked to the potential buyers and their agents to find out what they’re saying about your house – and why they aren’t buying it.

Moving is moot until that problem is solved.

Have a question about your finances? Ask us at editors@interest.com.

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