Are you enticed by the mortgage interest lowest rates in decades? If so you’re not alone, but they are often out of borrowers’ reach. Lenders base their rates on perceived risk. Only if you can show you’re low-risk would you qualify for a rate that matches those seen in headlines.

If you’re looking for the lowest available rates consider these basic factors:

• Credit Score: The ideal FICO score is around 740 or higher. This will put you in the best place for pricing.
• Points: 1% of the loan amount is a point, and by paying points you can reduce your mortgage rate. Be sure to ask for a zero point quote as well to compare the two rates.
• Property Types: Such property types as duplexes, condominiums in newer buildings or with lower down payments, commercial properties or non-owner occupied properties come with higher rates.
• Down Payment: Experts say putting down at least 25% could lead to more attractive pricing. Lenders offer different breaks on rates if equity is higher.
• Loan Length: ARM and 15-year loans are often lower than those on the 30-year loan. Consider how long you plan to live in the property and weigh your options.
• Other considerations:
• Lock-in: You may receive a lower rate for a shorter lock period 30-45 days rather than the usual 60 days
• Additional ownership costs, taxes, insurance and maintenance.

 Inspired by New York Times Article by Vickie Elmer published January 12, 201

“Tight mortgage credit conditions continued to drive rental prices and activity higher.”

• The median net effective rent (face rent less landlord concessions) jumped 9.5% from $2,950 to $3,121 in the same period last year. The year-over-year-gains were consistent across all rental price indicators.
• The 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom markets outpaced their smaller counterparts,increasing 14% and 18.1% respectively over the same period.
• New rental activity (excluding lease renewals) was up 10% from 7,217 to 7,942 in the same quarter last year.
• About 7.4% of new leases had some form of landlord concession compared to the 40.5% in the prior year quarter. For those leases with concessions, the average amount was the equivalent of 1.2 months of free rent.
• Days on market—the number of days from original list date to lease signing—was at its second fastest pace of 37 days in 15 years, which is when we began tracking this metric.

• Median rent with concessions (net effective monthly median rent), increased 4.9% to $2,970 from $2,831 in the prior year quarter.
• The number of listings on the market slipped 1.9% to 4,605 in the third quarter from 4,693 in the prior year quarter. Number of new rentals declined 6.9% to 7.998 from 8,593 over the same period last year, as more tenants likely opted for renewals.
• Approximately 8.6% of new leases had some form of landlord concession, compared to 45% in the prior year quarter.
• Of the leases with concessions, the average amount was the equivalent of 1.2 months.
• Days on market—the number of days from original list date to lease signing—was 58 days, nearly 3 weeks slower than the 38 day average of the prior year quarter.
• The absorption rate for new rentals was 1.7 months, essentially unchanged from 1.6 month in the prior year quarter but down sharply from 7.7 months in the same period two years ago.

• There was an 11% decline in the number of rental listings available, as new rental activity expanded 51.5% from the second quarter last year to the same period this year.
• A nominal 3.4% of new rental transactions received landlord concessions, averaging an equivalent of 1.2 months of free rent, compared to 60% of new rentals receiving an equivalent of 2 months free in the same period last year.
• Tenants paid a median net rental price of $2,888 per month this quarter, as compared to $2,700 in the same quarter last year, also marking a 2.8% increase from $2,808 last quarter.
• The average number of days from original list date to lease signing, or days on market,was 33 days, nearly 3 weeks faster than the 53 day average in this quarter last year.

• Average rental price was $3,812, down 8% from $4,142 in the prior year quarter, but up 0.6% from $3,789 in the prior quarter.
• Listing inventory fell 30.8% to 5,204 units in the first quarter from 7,522 in the prior year quarter, but was essentially unchanged from the 5,225 units in the prior quarter.
• Lease renewals and rising rental activity has kept inventory stable year to date.
• There were 2,663 new rentals, up 16.3% from 2,290 in the same period last year and up 8.4% from 2,456 rentals in the prior quarter.
• The average rental listing took 86 days to lease, one day longer than the 87 days seen in the in same period last year, but was 10 days slower than the 76 days on market in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Miller Samuel, an independent appraisal firm,  and Prudential Douglas Elliman real estate today released the Manhattan Rental Market Overview.

The report tracks the 2549  apartment rentals in the third quarter of 2009 and compares the data to second quarter sales of this year as well as the same quarter sales of 2008 thus adjusting for seasonality.

Continued declines in rents may remove potential buyers who feel they are safer renting for a year or two while they wait for the bottom to occur in the residential sales market.

Highlights of the report include:

• The average rental per square foot was $47.84, down 9.4% from $52.80 in the prior year quarter, but an increase of 8.3% from the prior quarter result of $44.16. This suggests some easing in the rate of decline since the same metric in the prior quarter fell 17.5% year over year.
• There were 6,527 listings available at the end of the third quarter, 5.4% above the 6,191 listings in the same period last year, but 10.5 below the prior quarter total of 7,290 listings.
• Downtown had the highest rental price per square foot of the four regions and saw a modest increase over the summer, averaging $45.87 per square foot, up 2.9% from the prior quarter.
• One-bedroom apartments showed the largest gains over the summer, rising 6.3% to $46.62 per square foot from the prior quarter. Other than 2-bedroom apartments, which saw a 1% increase over the same period, all other types posted declines.

The market report shows that rental inventory year-over year was up 28.8% , there was a 17.5% year over year decline in rental price per square foot and a 58.3% decline in the number of new rentals. Interestingly, the average rental price in Q2 09 vs. Q2 08 shows a decrease of only .9%,

At the end of a very interesting article written by Jonathan Miller for the Huffington Post,  he confirms what I’ve seen is that there are a large number of first time buyers out there, and contracts are being written (and signed).

“One of the key culprits for the rental price and activity drop was the record low mortgage rates in the spring, which pulled many first time buyers out of the rental market (if they could qualify under the banks newly-found underwriting conservatism). Combine that shift with rising unemployment and there is less activity and downward pressure on rental prices.

One could therefore argue that the rental market is a leading indicator for the purchase market, at least in Manhattan. When the economy improves and the pace of unemployment begins to ease, the number of rentals should begin to rise, eventually followed by sales activity.”