From Dan Green and TheMortgageReports.com:
Mortgage Rates Are “Good” For Less Than 4 Hours
In February, lenders issued 2.45 rate sheets per day. This means that mortgage rates changed every 3 hours, 16 minutes on average last month.
It also means that the rate quote you picked up by email yesterday isn’t worth the pixels it’s printed on today. More than 3 hours have passed and your quote has since expired; it’s a relic of some other day’s mortgage market conditions.
In a market that moves this fast, you not only lose the ability to “sleep on it” with respect to mortgage rate quotes, you also lose the ability to “think on it”.
The Internet has created an informational surplus, but some things aren’t well-suited for exhaustive research – like loans. That’s why working with an expert lender first, before you even start the home shopping process, to determine your loan parameters will help the process go much more smoothly. A quoted rate is nice, but if you can’t pull the trigger because your ducks aren’t in a row, then you’re gonna miss your shot.