{"id":19328,"date":"2023-02-22T00:37:20","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T00:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=19328"},"modified":"2023-02-23T23:39:39","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T23:39:39","slug":"when-do-you-lock-your-mortgage-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/22\/when-do-you-lock-your-mortgage-rate\/","title":{"rendered":"When do you lock your mortgage rate?"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY ANNA & MICHELLE<\/p>\n

Locking your interest rate protects you from increases due to market conditions.\u00a0Locking early safeguards your budgeted payment.\u00a0By locking the rate, if the market goes up, you get the lower rate; if it goes down after the lock, you may be able to pay a fee and lower the rate.
\nKnowing when to take the lock is determined by which direction you think the market is going.\u00a0If you think rates are going up, lock in early.\u00a0If you think rates are going down, ride the rate to within a few days of closing.
\nSome lenders may allow a borrower to lock a rate after pre-approval but it is more common to not offer a lock until there is a signed contract on a home.\u00a0Even with a pre-approval, it could easily take 30 days or more to close a transaction and the rates can move a lot in that period.
\nThere may be a fee charged to lock a rate, which is determined by the lender.\u00a0Generally, the longer the time for the rate lock, the higher the fee.
\nThere is a lock period established by the lender that guarantees the rate, if the loan is closed by the expiration date.\u00a0Normal lock periods can be between 30 to 60 days.\u00a0Longer periods may be available but will probably require higher fees.
\nThings that could affect your rate lock are:
\n\u2981 The appraised value comes in lower than what was expected in the sales contract.
\n\u2981 The borrowers’ credit changes considerably before the closing.
\n\u2981 The loan amount changes after the rate lock.
\n\u2981 The loan type changes.
\n\u2981 The down payment decreases before the closing.
\n\u2981 Some income, like bonuses or overtime, could not be verified.
\nIf a higher rate at closing means that you will no longer be able to qualify for the mortgage, it may be more important to lock in early.\u00a0Looking at what the rates have done for the preceding weeks may indicate a trend but, at the same time, markets have turned overnight and started moving in the opposite direction.
\nA trusted mortgage professional can give you good advice and why they feel you should either lock the rate or let it ride.\u00a0Your real estate agent can help also but, ultimately, the decision is yours.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ANNA & MICHELLE Locking your interest rate protects you from increases due to market conditions.\u00a0Locking early safeguards your budgeted payment.\u00a0By locking the rate, if the market goes up, you get the lower rate; if it goes down after the lock, you may be able to pay a fee and lower the rate. Knowing when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-better-homeowners-news","category-sponsored"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19330,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19328\/revisions\/19330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}