The average cost of a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 5.06% in Bankrate’s latest weekly survey of major lenders.

That’s the lowest average since the survey began in 1985, whacking seven-hundredths-of-a-point off the previous record of 5.13% set in April.

A look through the databases at Bankrate.com and Interest.com found lenders in every market we checked offering 30-year, fixed-rate loans for 4.75%, with no points and fees of $2,000 or less.

That means your principal and interest payments will be just $522 a month for every $100,000 you borrow.

Pay a point or two, and you’ll be able to cut that to 4.375% and lower your payments to $500 a month for every $100,000 you borrow.

The average cost of a 15-year mortgage also fell to a record low 4.48% in the new survey.

Until the past couple of weeks, the average had never fallen below 4.72%, which it reached in April and September 2003.

Even jumbo loans — 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages for more than $417,000 to $729,500, depending on the market — are cheaper than they’ve been in years.

The average rate has fallen below 6% for the first time since September 2005, reaching 5.95% in the new survey.

Qualify for one of these loans and you’ll never have to refinance or worry about your mortgage again.

They’re safe, totally predictable loans that carry none of the risks associated with interest-only or adjustable-rate mortgages.

You’ll never have to fret about interest rates going up, principal payments kicking in or any other nasty surprises driving up your housing costs a few years down the road.

Check back Sunday for our latest look at the best mortgage rates.

One of the advantages of working with a buyer’s agent is that you’re less likely to have conflicts of interest.

Unlike agents who represent buyers and sellers, buyer’s agents won’t steer you toward a home that one of their clients has listed or that’s being represented by an agent they’re working with on another deal.

When brokers are trying to buy and sell homes, it’s hard to know what all of the connections might be and feel confident that your best interests are being represented.

You should never have to wonder: “Is my agent pushing me to buy this home because he wants to curry favor with the selling agent? Are they working on another deal together where their roles are reversed?”

Start by looking for what’s called an exclusive buyer’s agent, which means he or she works for a real estate office that only represents buyers.

You’ll never have to wonder if you’re being shown homes that other agents in the office are selling so that the brokerage will earn all of the commission from the deal.

Be sure and ask if they’re a Certified Exclusive Buyer Agent (CEBA) by the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents.

Although that doesn’t guarantee you’ve found a great agent, it means they’ve received additional training on buyer-based negotiations and have closed a minimum of 12 transactions as an exclusive buyer’s agent.

If you can’t find an exclusive buyer’s agent in your area, go for a buyer’s agent at a traditional real estate office.

In this instance, ask if they’ve been certified as an Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR) by the National Association of Realtors.

An ABR also has special training on how to negotiate on a buyer’s behalf and must have completed at least five transactions as a buyer’s agent.

You should wonder about any agent who claims extensive experience as a buyer’s agent but hasn’t become an ABR or CEBA.

The lowest rates for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage ranged from 5.125% to 4.875% in the 10 cities we surveyed this month, almost identical to the 5.125% to 4.625% range we found in September.

That definitely beats the best deals we were seeing over the summer with one caveat. Although interest rates are lower, the fees lenders are charging to arrange home loans are a little higher this fall.

We think a traditional 30-year, fixed-rate loan with no points and fees of $2,000 or less is the best mortgage for the majority of purchases and refinancings.

To find the best rates in each market we searched the extensive databases at Bankrate.com and Interest.com.

The least expensive rates in the cities we surveyed were:

Boston: 4.99% from Total Mortgage Services.

Chicago: 4.875% from InterBank Lending.

Cincinnati: 4.85% from ThirdFederal Savings & Loan.

Houston: 5.125% from D&H Lending.

Los Angeles: 4.875% from Nations Choice Mortgage.

New York: 4.875% from The Money Store.

Philadelphia: 5.00% from TD Bank, NA.

Phoenix: 5.0% from Mortgage Capital Associates.

Tampa: 5.065% from Bank Atlantic.

Washington, D.C.: 5.0% from BB&T.

The fine print: These mortgage rates are for conforming loans (less than $417,000), and for borrowers with credit scores of at least 700. For scores from 680 to 699, you’ll usually pay higher fees, up to 1% of the loan value, or a higher rate.

Back in June, a number of lenders were offering HELOCs for less than 4%. Now only a couple have deals that good, and most borrowers will pay 4.25% or more.

You also need to remember that these are variable-rate loans, based on the prime rate — the interest rate banks charge the best commercial customers.

Most of the best home equity lines of credit are priced as prime plus 1% (although we did find one charging the prime plus 0%.)

Anyone with a HELOC should be prepared for the prime rate, which is a very low 3.25% right now, to go up sometime next year when the Federal Reserve starts boosting short-term interest rates.

But if you have enough equity in your home to get a HELOC, they remain the cheapest type of consumer loan. Here are some of the best deals around:

Third Federal Savings & Loan is charging 3.25% for homeowners in 18 states from Oregon to Florida for loans up to $49,999. For loans of $50,000 – $150,000, you pay only 2.99%. There’s no annual fee.

BB&T Company, headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C. with 1,500 financial centers in 11 southeastern states and Washington, D.C., charges 4.25% with no fee and a $5,000 minimum.

Nationwide Bank, owned by Nationwide Insurance, is charging 4.50% with no annual fee.

Viewpoint Bank based in Plano, Texas, with 39 branches serving the north part of the state, offers 4.5% with no annual fee and a $4,000 minimum.

First Tennessee Bank, owned by First Horizon National Company, with branches in Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia and Tennessee, charges 4.25% with a $5,000 minimum and a $50 annual fee.

US Bank, which serves 24 states nationwide, has rates as low as 3.99% and as high as 9.25% in parts of California, Nevada and Arizona –- states that have suffered steep declines in home prices. You’re also tagged with a $90 yearly fee.

To qualify for one of these HELOCs you need:

• A credit score of at least 660, with the exception of Nationwide Bank and Third Federal Savings, which require a minimum score of 720.
• To retain 20% equity in your home after the line of credit is added on to the balance of your primary mortgage.

The lowest interest rates for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan in the 10 cities we just surveyed range from 5.125% to 4.625%.

That’s a little better than in August, when the range was 5.125% to 4.875%, and a noticeable improvement over July when the best deals ranged from 5.25% and 5.0%.

But the real difference comes in comparing our new results to our June survey — every rate was lower this week.

We look at what we think is the best mortgage for most purchases and refinancings: A 30-year, fixed-rate loan with no points and fees of less than $1,500.

To find the best rates in each market we search the extensive databases at Bankrate.com and Interest.com.

The least expensive rates in the cities we surveyed were:

Atlanta: 5.0% from Hometown Lenders.

Chicago: 4.875% from Sterling Home Mortgage.

Dallas: 5.0% from ACH Lending.

Denver: 5.125% from Gold Star Financial.

Kansas City, Mo.: 5.125% from Cap West Mortgage.

Los Angeles: 4.875% from The Money Store.

Miami: 4.65% from United Mutual Funding Corp..

New York: 5.0% from HSBC Bank USA, N.A.

Pittsburgh: 5.125% from Credence Mortgage.

Seattle: 5.0% from Sammamish Mortgage.

The fine print: These mortgage rates are for conforming loans (less than $417,000), and for borrowers with credit scores of at least 700. For scores from 680 to 699, you’ll usually pay higher fees, up to 1% of the loan value, or a higher rate.

To qualify you must close on your purchase before Dec. 1.

If you don’t have a sales contract in hand, and mortgage application in the works, by mid-October you’ll be racing to meet that deadline.

The homebuyer’s tax credit has been a popular part of the economic stimulus bill Congress passed last winter — the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

It allows most buyers who haven’t owned a house in at least three years to claim a credit of 10% of a home’s purchase price, up to $8,000.

You can apply the credit to your 2009 return, or an amended 2008 return, even if you don’t itemize deductions.

Unlike a deduction, which reduces the gross income used to calculate how much you owe, a credit comes right off the bottom line of your tax bill.

So while a $1 deduction might cut your taxes by 25 or 30 cents, depending on your tax bracket, a $1 credit will reduce what you owe the government by a full $1.

If you don’t owe any tax or if the credit comes out to be more than the tax you owe, you’ll be paid the difference.

Unlike the previous, $7,500 first-time buyers tax credit created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, none of this money must be paid back.

Nearly 315,000 homebuyers have already claimed the tax credit using an amended 2008 tax return, according to a recent Treasury Department report.

More than 42,000 of those claims came from California. Another 29,000 were from Florida and Texas.

Two government programs can help you make a minimal down payment.

You can still get 100% financing if you can qualify for a VA loan.

Veterans, including members of the National Guard and reserve units, soldiers on active duty, and widows whose spouses’ deaths were war-related are all eligible for these government-guaranteed mortgages.

The Department of Veterans Affairs repays the bank if borrowers default, making these loans cheaper and easier to obtain.

VA loans also have the most lenient requirements for income and credit score of almost any type of mortgage. The government doesn’t set minimums, but lenders could accept credit scores as low as 580 and debt-to-income ratios as high as 41% of pretax income.

Can’t qualify for a VA loan?

An FHA loan is your next best bet. Obtain one of those and you’ll only need 3.5% of the purchase price.

In this case the Federal Housing Administration guarantees the mortgage will be repaid, so the lender won’t lose money if you default on your loan.

As with VA loans, that makes lenders willing to take on borrowers they might have rejected, or charged a higher interest rate.

Even a bankruptcy won’t disqualify you from VA or FHA loans as long as it occurred at least two years ago and you’ve been paying on time ever since.

Most lenders participate in the VA and FHA programs. They know what to do.

But the best deals in the 10 cities we surveyed this month range from 5.125% to 4.875% for a traditional home loan.

The results are just a little bit better than our July mortgage rate survey, which found the best deals were from 5% to 5.25%.

We were looking for what we consider to be the best mortgage for most purchases and refinancings: A 30-year, fixed-rate loan with no points and fees of less than $1,500.

We searched the extensive databases at Bankrate.com and Interest.com to compare offers.

The best rates in the cities we surveyed were:

Charlotte, N.C.: 5.125% from CarolinaEquityServices.

Chicago, Ill.: 5.125% from First Savings Bank of Hegewisch.

Jacksonville, Fla.: 4.875% from Capital Discount Mortgage Group.

Joplin, Mo.: 5.00% from American Home Lending Group.

Los Angeles: 5.125% from EverBank.

Memphis, Tenn.: 5.00% from First Tennessee.

New York: 5.125% from Mortgage Capital Associates.

Phoenix, Ariz.: 5.00% from De Anza Capital, Inc.

San Francisco, Calif.: 5.00% from National Mortgage Alliance.

Seattle, Wash.: 5.125% from Sammamish Mortgage.

The fine print: These mortgage rates are for conforming loans (less than $417,000), and for borrowers with credit scores of at least 700. For scores from 680 to 699 you’ll usually pay higher fees, up to 1% of the loan value, or a higher rate.

Some programs don’t have as much money as they did before the mortgage crisis hit.

A few states — notably Alabama, Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin — have had to suspend some loan programs temporarily because of the difficulty of selling revenue bonds to pay for them. (They say they hope to restart the programs once the markets rebound.)

But some states are offering new programs, including short-term, interest-free loans so borrowers can tap in advance the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time buyers.

A few also have interest-free loans for buying or repairing foreclosed properties.

These programs usually have restrictions, such as limits on how much money you can make or the price of the home you want to buy. Good credit helps. Steady work is a must. Some require that you take a homeownership course.

Applying isn’t any more difficult or time-consuming than applying for a conventional mortgage, but the potential benefits are appealing enough that all first-time buyers should find out what’s available.

Here’s where to find links to each state’s first-time buyers programs.

Remember that these programs can change, so it’s wise to check the Web sites periodically for updates.

These are the kind of mortgages that were for small business owners and self-employed professionals who can’t document their income with W-2 forms as most types of mortgages require.

Problems arose during the real estate boom when lenders started pushing no-doc loans with consumer-pleasing features such as no down payments, and big fees for mortgage brokers.

The number of applications for stated-income loans soared as brokers began signing clients up for no-doc loans even if they had regular jobs and could fully document their income with W-2 forms.

Why?

It allowed them to inflate their client’s income, and that was the only way those clients could qualify for a loan that was big enough to buy the house they wanted.

When hundreds of thousands of these “liar loans” began to default in 2007, lenders discontinued their stated-income mortgage programs.

Two years later some small to medium-sized banks are tiptoeing back into the market.

Not everywhere. Mortgage brokers tell us that stated-income loans are still virtually impossible to find in California, where much of the abuse occurred.

Some of the stated-income loans we’re hearing about are pretty awful.

One Michigan bank is offering a five-year balloon mortgage at interest rates from 8.95% to 14.95% depending on your credit score, with a 25% down payment (or 25% equity for a refinancing).

But brokers on the East Coast told us about stated-income loans with much better terms:

• Emigrant Savings Bank of New York is charging an initial rate of about 8% for a 3/1 adjustable-rate mortgage and 9% for a 30-year fixed rate loan. Borrowers must have credit scores of 700 or above and 30% down payments for a purchase and 35% equity for a refinancing.
• Investors Savings Bank based in Short Hills, N.J., is charging just a quarter-point above the interest rate for fully-documented loans for borrowers with a minimum credit score of 700, a 40% down payment, four months of cash reserves and proof of assets.
• Hudson City Savings Bank, based in Paramus, N.J., is charging three-quarters of a point above the full-doc loan rate for borrowers with a well-established credit history and a down payment (or equity) of at least 40%.