With interest rates and home prices looking extremely attractive, many people in Inland Southern California are thinking about buying or refinancing a family home.

Calif. median home price - June 09: $274,740 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region June 09: Santa Barbara So. Coast

Applications for refinancings were up 7.2 percent while demand for purchase loans was essentially flat, rising 0.9 percnet for the week ending July 31, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in releasing the results of its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.

The number of homes listed for sale declined again in many U.S. cities last month as bargain hunters continued to search for foreclosed properties.

Jonathan HoSee, 39, a Marine master sergeant whose 20-year military career includes wartime duty in Iraq and Somalia, is fighting tenaciously for a chance to use his veteran benefits to buy a larger house for his family.

After a decades-long renovation, a historic home in Laguna Beach hits the market

In 1973, Roger Jones convinced his landlord to sell him the guest house he lived in and the accompanying beachfront home for $420,000—a hefty sum for a 33-year-old electronic-parts salesman making $35,000 a year. “I was as scared as hell,” says Mr. Jones.

Coldwell Banker scored highest on the customer-service rankings among home sellers, and Keller Williams ranked first among home buyers in the annual J.D Power and Associates 2009 Home Buyer/Seller study.

NAR’s seventh pulse survey reveals that despite improved affordability conditions, eight in 10 Americans still consider having enough money for downpayment and closing costs to be the biggest obstacle to buying a home.