You're under contract on a rental, the close lands across a Fed meeting, and your rate lock is ticking. Lock now, or float and hope? Host Martin Maxwell makes the case that it's the wrong question — the Fed doesn't set your mortgage rate, so the real move is matching a rate-execution lever to where your close date actually falls.

This episode walks the three levers: the lock (and why to match its window to your real close date, not a maybe), the float-down (and why it's lender-by-lender on investment paper — ask by name before Wednesday), and the seller-funded buydown (the 2%-concession cap on an investment loan and the permanent-vs-2-1 trap) — Tuesday's post walks both paths side by side, with the breakeven math. Then the harder truth: when no rate you can get will make the deal, it was never a rate problem. Run the deal the way Martin does — in the cash flow calculator — and put it through the +5 Rule before you lock anything.

Watching a lock expire mid-close this week? We break the exact decision down as a scenario — see all three options and decide for yourself.

Full write-up, sources, and the glossary terms are on the episode page.

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