When you are offered a "rate lock" from your lender, it means that you are guaranteed to keep a specific interest rate over a certain number of days while you work on your application process. This protects you from going through your entire application process and finding out at the end that the interest rate has risen higher.
While there are several lengths of rate lock periods (from 15 to 60 days), the extended spans are usually more expensive. You can get a longer period for your lock, but in doing so, will likely have a higher rate than you would with a shorter span of time
There are other ways to get a low rate, in addition to going with a shorter rate lock period. The larger down payment you can pay, the lower your rate will be, because you will have more equity from the beginning. You may choose to pay points to reduce your interest rate for the loan term, meaning you pay more initially. To a lot of people, this is a good option..
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