{"id":55948,"date":"2025-03-21T08:45:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T15:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=55948"},"modified":"2025-03-21T08:45:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T15:45:06","slug":"what-happens-to-old-home-loans-when-selling-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/what-happens-to-old-home-loans-when-selling-house\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens to Old Home Loans When Selling a House?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re a first-time homeowner who is now becoming a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/tips-for-selling-your-home\/\">first-time home seller<\/a>, you may have a question you hadn\u2019t considered too deeply before: What happens to old home loans when selling a house?<\/p>\n<p>What if you have more than one loan attached to the property, like a home equity loan or HELOC? Who handles the logistics and timing of getting these loans sorted before your home sale closes?<\/p>\n<p>In this post, we\u2019ll show you how selling a house with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-what-is-a-mortgage\/\">mortgage<\/a> and other loans typically plays out so you know what to expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--dark widget-cta--dark-blue-gradient\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">The Top 5% of Agents Sell Homes for Up to 10% More<\/h3>\n                        <p>HomeLight analyzes over 27 million transactions and thousands of reviews to determine which agent is best for you based on your needs. Connect with your top agent matches today at no cost.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/find-agent\/quiz\/seller?#\/qaas=0\/\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Get Started<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"section--1\" data-toc-header=\"What happens to old home loans when selling a house?\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div>\n<h2>What happens to old home loans when selling a house?<\/h2>\n<p>When you sell your home, any remaining loan balances must be paid off at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-long-does-closing-take\/\">closing<\/a>. Typically, your mortgage, home equity loan, or any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/selling-a-house-with-a-lien\/\">liens against the property<\/a> are settled using the proceeds from the sale.<\/p>\n<p>If the home sells for more than what you owe, you\u2019ll receive the difference. If you owe more than the home is worth, you may need to bring cash to the table or explore options like a <a href=\"https:\/\/myhome.freddiemac.com\/blog\/selling\/what-is-a-short-sale-and-how-does-it-work\">short sale<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To illustrate how this all works, we\u2019ll present four real-world examples based on a median-priced home of $415,000.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/selling-a-house-with-a-mortgage-3.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"775\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/selling-a-house-with-a-mortgage-3-775x349.jpg\" class=\"attachment-content size-content\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/selling-a-house-with-a-mortgage-3-775x349.jpg 775w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/selling-a-house-with-a-mortgage-3-768x345.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/selling-a-house-with-a-mortgage-3-64x29.jpg 64w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/selling-a-house-with-a-mortgage-3-128x58.jpg 128w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/selling-a-house-with-a-mortgage-3-192x86.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/selling-a-house-with-a-mortgage-3-432x194.jpg 432w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/selling-a-house-with-a-mortgage-3-500x225.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/selling-a-house-with-a-mortgage-3-800x360.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/selling-a-house-with-a-mortgage-3.jpg 1476w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 775px) 100vw, 775px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"section--2\" data-toc-header=\"Example 1: Selling a house with a mortgage\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div>\n<h2>Example 1: Selling a house with a mortgage<\/h2>\n<p>Most homeowners sell their house before their mortgage is fully paid off. In this case, your lender will be paid directly from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-much-will-i-make-selling-my-house\/\">sale proceeds<\/a>. Here\u2019s how that might look:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Home sale price: <\/strong>$415,000<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Remaining mortgage balance: <\/strong>$252,505 (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.experian.com\/blogs\/ask-experian\/how-much-americans-owe-on-their-mortgages-in-every-state\">average mortgage debt<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Estimated closing costs: <\/strong>$25,000 (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/what-are-closing-costs\/\">estimating 6% of the sale price<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Net proceeds after mortgage payoff and closing costs:<\/strong> $137,495<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In this scenario, after paying off the mortgage and covering closing costs, the seller walks away with about $137,495 in profit. These proceeds are often used as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-what-is-a-down-payment\/\">down payment<\/a> on a new home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Selling your home with a mortgage? Learn what happens to old home loans when selling a house, including payoffs, equity loans, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":55957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[343,322],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finances","category-logistics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Happens to Old Home Loans When Selling a House?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Selling your home with a mortgage? 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Learn what happens to old home loans when selling a house, including payoffs, equity loans, and more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/what-happens-to-old-home-loans-when-selling-house\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-21T15:45:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hl-blog.homelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/HomeLight-Header-Image-1000-\u00d7-563-px-11-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"563\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Haddad\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Haddad\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Happens to Old Home Loans When Selling a House?","description":"Selling your home with a mortgage? 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He works with an experienced content team that oversees the company\u2019s blog featuring in-depth articles about the home buying and selling process, homeownership news, home care and design tips, and related real estate trends. Previously, he served as an editor and content producer for World Company, Gannett, and Western News &amp; Info, where he also served as news director and director of internet operations.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.homelight.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/richard-w-haddad"],"url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/author\/richardhaddad\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}