`BOOMLET' OF REFINANCING LIKELY AT A MORTGAGE LENDER NEAR YOU

No one is calling it a sequel to the mortgage refinancing boom of 1993 - yet.

But with interest rates for home loans at their lowest levels since early last year, a refinancing boomlet may be playing at a mortgage lender near you this summer."A lot of people missed the boat in 1993 and won't want to miss it this time around," said Rick Cossano, executive vice president for Countrywide Funding Corp., the largest mortgage banker in the country.

"What we're seeing now is buyers locking in their loans more quickly," said Seth Werner, president of First Mortgage Network in Plantation, Fla.

This past week, home owners and new buyers have been calling mortgage lenders in droves, as a slowing national economy and a rallying bond market have sent mortgage rates downward. Interest rates for fixed, 30-year home loans have plummeted to between 7 percent and 7.5 percent. That's nearly two points below what mortgage rates were just six months ago.

Lenders say mortgage refinancing is worth considering when interest rates fall two percentage points below a homeowner's original fixed-rate loan.

A decline of 1 percentage point represents an annual interest savings of about $850 on a 30-year, fixed-rate loan of $100,000.

Marisell Aleman, a bank auditor who bought a new home in South Dade County, Fla., last December, knows firsthand what kind of potential savings are at stake for her family.

Aleman and her husband, Robert, bought their four-bedroom home in the Riverbend community for $145,000. After making a 20 percent down payment, they secured a 30-year, fixed-rate loan at 9.375 percent for the remaining $115,000. Now the couple, parents of three young boys, say they're hoping to refinance their mortgage in the 7 percent to 7.5 percent range for 30 years or 15 years.

"As fast as rates went up, they're going right back down," Marisell Aleman, 32, said. "If they keep going down, we'll hurry up and refinance."

Mortgage lenders, bankers and brokers alike say the potential interest savings over the life of a long-term, fixed-rate loan can amount to tens of thousands of dollars.

"We're talking about a great savings for any homeowners who can get a one-and-half to two-point decrease in their mortgage rates," said Bruce Tuttle, president of Palm Beach Funding Corp., a Boca Raton, Fla., mortgage broker.