The rate-lock decision, briefed to yourself

1 · Learn the move · Flipped interaction

When you are the borrower, 'should I lock?' has nobody on the other side of the desk to brief you, and the chat will happily take the chair and guess where rates are going. That guess is the one thing it must never make. The flipped move puts the model to work on the part it can do: interview you first - how long you will hold, whether you expect to extend, what the lock deposit does to your cash, what gives in your plan if the rate at closing is higher, whether a sale pays the loan down early - and only then lay out the decision from the lender's quote. Every rate component is quoted, the all-in rate is a formula for a calculator, every date goes to a calendar, and the brief ends with the decision in your hands, because it is. The questions it asks you are the value. A forecast would be noise with a number on it.

Before you brief me on whether to lock, interview me: one question at a time, no more than six, about my hold period, my cash, my extension odds, what a higher rate does to my plan, and early paydowns. Then lay out the decision from the pasted quote only: rate components quoted, all-in rate as a formula for a calculator, dates for a calendar. No rate forecast. The decision is mine. [lender quote]