Monday, 09 November 2026 12:25 PM
Company Update
With the 30-year rate at 7.24%, Adirondack homes near $300,000 are drawing bidding wars, while overpriced listings sit 100 days or more.
LAKE PLACID, NY / ACCESS Newswire / November 9, 2026 / Mortgage rates above 7% are not pushing financed buyers out of the Adirondack High Peaks market. They are pushing them into a narrower price range, where competition for entry-level homes has grown sharper.
Freddie Mac's weekly survey put the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.24% as of Oct. 29, down from 7.40% in mid-October but more than a full point above the 6.17% recorded a year earlier.
In Lake Placid and Saranac Lake, a starter home now costs about $300,000, typically two bedrooms with one or one and a half baths. Many first homes in those villages sell between $300,000 and $400,000, while Tupper Lake still offers options in the low $200,000s.
"The financed buyers are not disappearing. They're getting squeezed into a narrower range, and they're competing hard for it," said Chase Jermano, the broker of Tina Leonard Real Estate. "First-time buyers are feeling it the most. You need a substantial income or a large down payment to buy your first house and still afford the monthly payment."
Jermano saw both sides of that pressure in a single week. One second home buyer stopped searching in Lake Placid altogether and turned to less expensive mountain towns in New Hampshire. Days later, another buyer joined a bidding war on a home that started near $300,000.
Buyers paying with proceeds from a home they have sold are largely sheltered from the rate climb, Jermano said.
When a cash offer and a financed offer compete for the same home, cash usually wins on speed and certainty, with fewer contingencies and a faster closing. It has not won a discount. Over the past two years, cash and financed buyers in the local MLS paid about the same price relative to list.
Financed buyers can stay in the running with a larger down payment or a bigger escrow deposit. Jermano said he has seen a financed buyer beat a cash offer by paying $10,000 more and skipping the inspection, though he cautions buyers against waiving one without an experienced builder or contractor walking the house first.
On the other side of the table, sellers are adjusting. Price reductions are more common, and some sellers are offering concessions such as help with closing costs or a rate buydown. Homes priced above the market are sitting for 100 days or more.
"A lot of sellers still remember the market where you throw a price out there and people show up with offers," Jermano said. "The longer a house sits, the more likely the seller ends up with less than if they had priced it right at the start."
For buyers waiting on rates, Jermano advises against the "marry the house, date the rate" approach. "Buy a home where the payment works at today's rate," he said. "If the rate goes down later, that's a bonus. It should never be the plan."
The buyers still active heading into November tend to be serious. Many have searched for years, and about 40% of buyers in the area are local, according to Jermano.
About Chase Jermano
Chase Jermano is the broker of Tina Leonard Real Estate, serving buyers and sellers in Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Keene, Tupper Lake and the surrounding Adirondack region of New York. More information is available at tinaleonardrealestate.com.
Media Contact:
Heather Hook
KeyCrew Media
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SOURCE: Newsworthy.ai