KNOWWHEN TO LOCK IN A RATE
How do you know exactly when to lock in a mortgage rate? First, you can’t lock in a mortgage rate until after you’ve been approved for a loan. This is another reason that getting pre-approved for a loan is so important. As many home buyers do, you might decide to wait to lock in a rate until you’ve found a home you’d like to purchase and put in an offer. This is often recommended: Wait until you’ve found a home that interests you, and that meets all of your needs and most of your wants. This is because you won’t know how long it will take, after home loan approval, to not only find a suitable and desirable home and make an offer, but also to have the offer accepted. Some buyers are lucky and find — and land — the home of their dreams, but others take longer, and this is more typical for the average home buyer. Plan and prepare for the process to take some time, and accordingly, wait to lock in your rate. If you lock in the mortgage rate too early, before you’ve found the right home, and the process takes longer than you planned for, you might miss out on the opportunity for a better rate that could come along before you complete the purchase, or get stuck paying more in order to extend the mortgage rate lock once it expires. The longer you hold a rate lock, the more expensive it becomes. For example, according to Bankrate.com, “a borrower who chooses a 30-day lock on a loan may pay a 4.875% rate and zero points, while a 60-day lock might cost 1 point (equal to 1% of the loan) or a slightly higher rate with a half-point.” However, this doesn’t paint the whole story. Sometimes waiting is not the name of the game. As some buyers do, you might also consider “jumping” on a low rate as soon as you find one and as soon as possible (after home loan approval). Yes, you risk having to pay more in order to extend the mortgage rate lock in case you
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