Mortgage Rates Are At Record Lows

But can you qualify? That's the question. Do you have sterling credit scores? Do you have verifiable income? Do you have significant equity in your home (if you are looking to refinance)?

Despite these record low interest rates, mortgage activity is essentially flat the past few months.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

"The good news is that mortgage rates are so low. The bad news is that unemployment is high and rising, causing more homeowners to fall behind on their mortgage payments. As a result, it's harder to get a mortgage because lenders are tightening their underwriting standards — for example, requiring bigger down payments and scrutinizing borrowers' finances."

Another bad sign for housing in recent weeks has been dwindling applications for loans to purchase homes, perhaps because buyers thought an $8,000 federal tax credit program for first-time buyers would expire.

But with Congress having extended the tax credit and broadened it to include a $6,500 credit for trade-up buyers, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. said today that purchase applications rose 9.6% last week after accounting for seasonal factors. That reversed six straight weeks of purchase-loan declines in the association's weekly surveys.