“Hard to believe the owner thought going from a 5.14% interest rate to a 7.9% interest rate was a good idea.”
Maybe he had a variable rate loan. If prevailing interest rates went up, his rate would go up also.
Could be. There probably are a great many things about this situation which are unknown to us.
I find, when the details are looked at, decisions are easier to understand.
However, people also make a lot of stupid decisions based on emotion.