DENVER -- Denver-area mortgage broker Lainey Hamrick has a stack of folders of clients who are refinancing their mortgages and another for people waiting to see how low interest rates may drop.

“It’s like going to Vegas or buying into the stock market,” Hamrick said from her office at Englewood Mortgage Monday, adding her workload increased as interest rates for 30-year-fixed mortgages started hovering around 5 percent in recent weeks.

“Of the people who were in the high fives and sixes, we’re doing loans for them below 5 percent right now,” Hamrick said.

Mortgage experts across the country have speculated the Federal Reserve might try to push the rate lower -- even below 4 percent.

“It could, it could go below (4 percent,)” Hamrick said with some hesitation, given what she called the “volatile market.”

Aurora resident Kendall Cotton told 7NEWS it’s something he’s considering.

“Last week my mother in-law mentioned she was refinancing her home,” Cotton said, adding he plans to research the potential savings to his family.

“We just want to see how much we could go down on the mortgage note,” Cotton said. Hamrick said she recommends homebuyers like Cotton look beyond the interest rate and closely investigate the costs associated with refinancing.

“I would try to make it so you’ll make up the cost you’re paying in a 24-month period; as long as you’re going to stay in that home for 24 months,” Hamrick said.

Hamrick acknowledged sagging home values have impeded some homeowners from having the equity needed to refinance, but that some FHA and VA “streamline” loans do not require an appraisal.

“People in the best shape have 10 percent equity in their home,” Hamrick said.

Home buyers are taking advantage of the lower interest rates, too.

“I never thought I’d get something brand new,” said April Schildmeyer, as she toured a townhome in southeast Aurora she contracted on over the weekend.

Schildmeyer hoped to finish the financing before Jan. 1, when FHA guidelines require 3.5 percent of the purchase price for a down payment, compared to 3 percent.

“The difference is a thousand dollars,” Schildmeyer said.

As for when Hamrick’s clients in that “waiting” pile will lock in, she said her only recommendation is to pick a number and go forward when the rates reach it.

Short of looking into a crystal ball, Hamrick said now is the time for homeowners to explore what's best for them.

“We always see (rates) go up faster than they go down,” Hamrick said.