For a limited time, South Carolina home buyers can lock in a full 1 percentage point lower mortgage rate for year one — with no cost to the buyer, the seller, or anyone else.
If your normal rate would be 6.5%, your year-one rate is 5.5%. Year two onward, you're back at 6.5%. Same loan, same closing process, just a softer landing for the first 12 months of homeownership — the months most SC buyers tell us are the toughest cash-flow stretch.
On a typical SC purchase, the year-one savings are real: roughly $200 per month or about $2,500 over the first 12 months, depending on your loan size. That's an emergency fund. Or a year of appliances and paint.
This is a lender-funded credit. In a normal year, somebody has to pay for the buydown — typically the seller. Right now the lender is funding it for free on eligible purchase loans. That window closes June 30, 2026, with no signal it will extend. Loans need to be locked by that date.
The offer applies statewide — Greenville, Charleston, Columbia, Mount Pleasant, Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, Rock Hill, Greer, Spartanburg, Simpsonville, and every Upstate, Midlands, and coastal SC submarket in between. We've placed loans with this buydown in every major SC metro and you should expect it to be available on your file too.
For the full mechanics, real-number examples, and how to use this as a negotiating angle on an offer, read our full blog post: The Free 1-0 Buydown Through June 30, 2026.
Call or text Samantha Payne at (864) 387-8964, email Samantha@openkeymortgage.com. Eligibility on most conventional, FHA, and VA fixed-rate purchase loans. You still qualify at the full note rate — no payment shock in year two.
OpenKey Mortgage Advisors LLC. NMLS Company ID 2812158. Samantha Payne, NMLS #2743877. Licensed in South Carolina and North Carolina. Equal Housing Opportunity.
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