When you are promised a "rate lock" from the lender, it means that you are guaranteed to get a specific interest rate over a certain number of days for your application process. This ensures that your interest rate can't grow during the application process.
Although there may be a choice of rate lock periods (from 15 to 60 days), the extended ones are usually more expensive. You can get a longer period for your lock, but in doing so, will probably have a higher rate than you would with a shorter span of time
There are other ways to get a lower rate, in addition to going with a shorter rate lock period. A bigger down payment will get you a lower interest rate, since you will have a good deal of equity from the beginning. You may opt to pay points to reduce your rate over the loan term, meaning you pay more initially. For many people, this makes financial sense..
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