When you're promised a "rate lock" from your lender, it means that you are guaranteed to keep a specific interest rate for a certain number of days for your application process. This protects you from working through your entire application process and learning at the end that the interest rate has gone up.
While there are several lengths of rate lock periods (from 15 to 60 days), the longer spans are usually more expensive. You can get a longer period for your lock, but in doing so, will probably have a higher interest rate than you would with a shorter period
In addition to choosing the shorter lock period, there are other ways you can attain the lowest rate. A larger down payment will get you a better interest rate, since you'll be starting out with more equity. You can pay points to bring down your rate for the life of the loan, meaning you pay more initially. To a lot of people, this is a good option..
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