Buying A House And Locking Interest Rates

by Home Buyer Locking At Five Percent

Regarding Buying A House And Locking Interest Rates: Recently we were buying a house. About a month ago, we met with our mortgage broker and had the opportunity to lock our interest rate at 4.875 percent by buying one point.

Our broker informed us that it was the position of her company to encourage people NOT to lock rates since they predicted rates would continue their downward slide. Considering our buyer had not yet received his commitment letter, we were afraid to lock and then have it fall through and have to pay a fee for not taking out a mortgage.

So, we waited. Our broker was constantly e-mailing us rates back and forth. They definitely didn't continue their downward slide.

At one point, we thought we'd have to get 5.5% and buy 2 points. We were not happy because it meant needing an extra $4000 at closing and our monthly payment was nearly $200 more.

The waiting paid off for us, however. We were fortunate enough to lock at 5% and buy 1 point.

This was the last day we had available to lock since we were closing just two days later. Now that we have just closed on our house, I don't plan on looking at interest rates any more. I don't want to know if they went any lower.

Kate Answers: Buying A House And Locking Interest Rates

Dear Home Buyer Locking at 5%, I can't say I heard of a company wide policy that encourages home buyers to NOT lock. I am glad in your case delaying your mortgage rate lock turned out okay although it sounds like you might of experienced a few weeks of volatile rates while buying the house.

I hope you'll come back to my website again in the future. Of course, all of my information is free.

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Best Wishes,




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Finding The Help You Need For Locking Rates

My Interest Rate Lock Guarantee - Help for timing your rate lock.

The best solution to avoiding hidden fees is to ask the right questions before you lock mortgage rates.

All about getting mortgage broker fees in writing - Otherwise your rate lock is meaningless!

How good is a mortgage interest rate lock guarantee? In the end, you have to read your lender's paperwork.

Because Yield Spread Premium is a common reason for losing your rate lock, here is the insider scoop on this odd sounding term.

Questions to Ask BEFORE You Lock

Ask Kate about locking - Ask a question and get an answer from Kate.

Search Readers' questions and Kate's answers at Mortgage Rate Lock Center

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