In a world where the mortgage payment’s interest gets as high as it can be, the refinancing is… Have interest rates fallen? Do you expect them to go up? Has your credit score improved enough so that you might be eligible for a lower-rate mortgage? Would you like to switch into a different type of mortgage? The answers to these questions will influence your decision to refinance your mortgage. But before deciding you need to understand all that refinancing involves.

If we talk about economic theory and predictions, those factors should be resulting in a boom in mortgage refinancing. But locking in a deal is proving to be a challenge these days — even for well-heeled homeowners.

The reason for this is that low appraisals and tight lending standards are making it hard for many borrowers to refinance, even if they have good credit rate and substantial assets. Even those who meet these hurdles can face frustrating waits.

The good news is that borrowers still have something they can do.

By switching assets to your mortgage Borrower, cleaning up your credit and havign a better understanding of how the new government programs work, you can improve your chances of scoring a good refinance deal.

“The reward in the end is substantial, provided you can survive the process,” says a vice president at mortgage-data provider our experts.