If he had the money in his budget, Joseph Culver, vice president & NYS sales manager for Evergreen Bank/Banknorth Mortgage, said he would hire a skywriter to get the word out. Analysts say that now is a great time to refinance an existing morgage. Capital Region mortgage lenders such as Culver said that while the cooling economy is making some home buyers more cautious, the lower rates are enticing them,too. "The psychological barrier that always has been our barometer in the marketplace is when we can crash through that 7 percent interest rate, and that's finally happened," Culver said. Glens Falls-based Evergreen this week was offering 6.99 percent on a 15 year fixed-rate mortgage with no points. Evergreen's 30 year, zero point fixed-rate mortgage was 7.25 - a mark that could dip even lower, depending on what the economy and the Federal Reserve do. Those rates are as low as they have been in a year and a half, he said. Robert Van Order, chief economist at U.S. mortgage gian Freddie Mac, said early indications are that mortgage rates could continue to go down in early 2001,based on a slowing economy and signals by the Fed that it may move to push interest rates lower. According to Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage rate survey, the national average for a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage was 7.13 percent, with an average of 1 point. That is down from last weeks 7.17 and 8.06 percent a year ago. Similarly, the national 15 year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.79 percent, with an average .9 point down from last years 7.66 percent. Both rates are the lowest since the week ending May 14, 1999 according to the survey. Robert L. Meyer from Charter One Bank says "I'm sitting here at the end of December feeling really good on the mortgage situation going into next year" From the standpoint of home buying, the difference between a little above 7 or a little below is a big deal and for refinancing it may get people interested. To read more on from this article you can find it located in the Saturday Dec. 30, 2000 Times Union.