We are interested in hearing about your experiences with home inspectors so that we may better serve our clients in the future. This has the advantage that you know how high a price you can pay. It also is supposed to give you some assurance that your mortgage will be approved. This can shorten the time you will need after acceptance of the offer to arrange financing. Unfortunately, some lenders use the term interchangeably.
Mortgage rates change frequently.
Make sure you understand what the lender requires you to do in order to lock in the rate. If you discover at the closing that the rate is higher than you expected, it may be too late to do anything about it. Make sure you get a photocopy of your completed loan application. Current practice is that you will be asked to sign a re-typed copy of your application at the closing. Sometimes there are serious discrepancies between the re-typed version and your original application.