Advice for Locking-in an Interest Rate - New Construction

[Anonymous]

For about 4 months, I've been on a LONG road toward being prepared to apply for a mortgage to buy my first home. Ultimately I've refinanced my car for a much lower rate/payment, consolidated my CC debt with a personal loan and agressively paid it off to zero, gotten a second job and paid off a significant amount of student loan debt, graduated with my masters and earned a $6,000 raise and upped my credit score by ~70 points. All of this has resulted in me finally getting approved for a $240,000 USDA loan.

I looked for existing homes at my price point and lower to no avail, but finally landed on a new construction community with buildable floorplans within my budget. After adding the fewest upgrades that I could live with, I'm only $100 shy of my max price point. Closing is estimated around July, but with the potential hiccups of new construction, that could be later. I know that interest rates varying by even a little could land me in a spot where I no longer qualify for the loan and it's looking like theymay go up sooner than later.

Any advice on locking in a rate? Is this something that I should consider since I know it can be very expensive? Since the loan is assumed at a 0% down payment, I do plan on saving as much as I can for a potential DP so that I can maybe offset the cost of the higher rate. Anyone in a similar situation or have any advice?

Thanks!

[NC_Mtg_Loaner]

There's quite a bit of risk in locking a loan for > 90 days to a point that you're going to receive a higher rate/cost to lock for such a long period.

At this point in time, it's not likely that mortgage interest rates are going up either so it might really be worth waiting and rolling the dice but certainly you should talk with your LO about this----especially if you are stuck using the Builder's preferred lender.  They have the experience to pull you through and the last thing they can afford to tolerate is your deal falling through...