Lower Rates with Rate Lock Programs

When Joel and Emily Sanford decided to build with Allen Edwin Homes last summer, mortgage rates were near all-time lows. Then, while their new home was under construction, rates suddenly started rising. By the time the couple’s new build in Allen Edwin’s Pennridge Trail neighborhood near Kalamazoo was finished in June, some homebuyers were taking out mortgages with interest rates above 6%. But the Sanford family happily closed on their loan at 4%, thanks to a rate lock program that let them set the number in stone months earlier.

“I wasn’t really paying attention to interest rates because I knew we had that rate lock, but then everybody started talking about how interest rates were skyrocketing,” Emily Sanford said. “I felt very relieved knowing that we had the rate lock.”

Building a home has a lot of moving parts that come together over the course of nine to 12 months. For many homebuyers, a mortgage rate is one of the biggest pieces. And given the volatility of financial markets these days, watching that rate while your new home is being built can feel like a roller coaster ride that’s totally out of control.

Who knows how high mortgage rates might go in the next 12 months? Read more by clicking here .