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Monday, June 4, 2012

To Lock, or Not to Lock?

Has anyone locked their interest rate with NVR before the 60 day pre-settlement period?  We are considering it.  Actually, I wanted to lock today but my husband talked me out of it... something about the government doing or announcing something on Thursday that could cause rates to drop even more... I hope he's right :/.  Mortgage rates are currently the lowest they have EVER been and we could have locked in today at 3.75% at no cost or paid 1.125 points to lock in at 3.5%!!  Is it just me, or is that really low?!?! 
 
We are supposed to settle in September.  Our pre-construction meeting is next week and construction is supposed to start the week of the 18th.  If we locked now at those rates, it would take us to the end of October so we'd have at least a month of flex in case things get delayed.  Our NVR rep is trying to talk us out of locking so far ahead, but my feeling is that no matter how long we wait there's a very slim chance of rates going lower than they are now, and given my tendency for stress and anxiety it would likely save me a lot of sleepless nights this summer if we just locked and got it over with.  Our original estimate was quoted at 3.875% and for all of my personal budget calculations I have been using 4.0%, so we're improving either way.  And what if we waited and wound up with something significantly higher? 
 
Ahhh... there's so many decisions involved with building a house!
 
What do you think... would you lock or wait?

7 comments:

  1. To be honest anything under 4% and you are in good shape. We locked at 120 Days out, in April, at 3.875% and they actually paid us .25 of a point. Not too bad. We could have locked at 3.75 and paid .25 points, but the difference of 1/8 of a point didn't matter to me, and I didnt want to pay. I am in the banking industry and I knew rates would probably go down after I locked. I really just wanted the peace of mind of having it locked, because you never know, they could shoot up faster than you think.

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  2. We don't even have the option to lock in any earlier. Our NVR rep said the earliest is 60 days from closing. I would wait until the announcement on Thursday. I hear that rates are supposed to drop even lower. You can make it two more days!

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  3. Same here on only being able to lock in at less than 60 days. I am starting to drool over the rate trends I am seeing on bankrate.com

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  4. We were given the option of 60 or 90 day. The rates are so low this week I am thinking we should lock. What's happening Thurs?

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    1. The government is supposed to be making some kind of announcement about mortgage rates and they will supposedly be dropping even lower.

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  5. I just talked to a real estate person yesterday and she indicated that the rates are going to drop even more too.

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  6. I'm going to roll the dice and wait....I have been watching them since FEB and they pretty much have not moved much from 3.5 to 3.875....I dont think there going to raise much if anything that may go lower because of all the economic turmoil in Europe which causes investors to purchase US bonds and Treasury notes

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