On Tuesday, a real estate agent asked me to prepare a Good Faith Estimate for his client.  The quote that day was 5.75% for a 30 year fixed.  Very competitive.

When I followed up the next day, the client said I was being compared to another large retail bank, that also handles his family's checking and savings.   I assured him I would beat their quote.

I advised him, "in today's market of extreme volatility you want to make sure you compare good faith estimates within hours of each other.  Rates can change daily, sometimes a few times in a day, and there have been big swings lately in the very same day."   He said he understood.

The agent emailed me late yesterday (Friday) that they had chosen the competitor, their personal bank.  Even though we had the same rate on our Tuesday GFE, supposedly their fees were $301 less than ours.   

I asked what rate they locked at yesterday.  He said "5.750%, like you both quoted on Tuesday."

We would have done it at 5.500%.   He was bummed for his client.

By not getting an up-to-the minute GFE before making their decision, the client, a lower-income, first-time home-buyer, will now spend $50 more per month than they should have and potentially $18,000+ over the life of the loan because they didn't have it re-priced after three days.

Understand that there are rate changes through each business day.  The rate on your GFE is only good for that moment in time.  Or if you have a very generous lender, that entire day.

Before you pull the trigger today, get up-to-the minute pricing quotes from all of the parties you are considering.  The markets are volatile and you could be rewarded.