Newspapers, the Internet, television and media sources are not the best places to research accurate mortgage interest rates.

Advertised mortgage rates are just that, they’re advertised.

Real mortgage rates are something else entirely and can change multiple times daily.

The reason why you need to be aware of advertised mortgage rates is because the information is outdated.

Advertised mortgage rates do not show current mortgage interest rate pricing. Let’s walk through how mortgage advertisements work. The advertiser creates the ad on a Monday submits it to publishing which has it approved by Wednesday, goes back to the advertiser for approval by Wednesday afternoon -Thursday the final ad is set for release.

Well guess what? Interest rates changed Wednesday, and on Friday since the ad went into production.

The Internet model works in the same fashion because advertisers need at least 24 hours to get the right interest rate ads online. There is not one internet advertising agency that can keep up with current rates being advertised in lock step with the actual bond market.

If you have real-time market information you win, pure and simple.

…Or if your loan officer does you can still have your cake and eat it too because your loan officer can watch the market and tell you what current real mortgage rates presently are.

Advertised mortgage rates are not real rates, all they are, is an indicator of where rates “were.”

You cannot lock in a mortgage interest rate based upon what rates were in the past. You can only lock rates in present real-time only.

What’s more, the advertisement you may have seen may not show the whole picture.

All an advertiser has to show in an ad is the loan amount, interest rate, the term of the mortgage and the APR. That means the advertisement that you’re looking at may not take into consideration all the other factors associated with financing.

Here of the other factors associated with mortgage rates not usually disclosed in advertising:

• Whether or not the loan is a purchase or refinance
• What state the mortgage rate is associated with
• What the loan program is ie FHA, conforming, VA, Home path, USDA etc.
• What property type the real estate is single-family residence, manufactured home, cond, pud
• What loan-to-value is based on

All of these factors represent the pricing of the “true mortgage interest rate” and ultimately what your interest rate lock-in will look like.

If you’re looking to get a mortgage loan, you need to consider all the parameters of the mortgage interest rate. You can click right here to get a free mortgage interest rate quote with all the factors being considered. When looking for mortgages, be aware of advertised mortgage rates.