Mortgage rates have become volatile in recent days, adding another element of uncertainty for buyers already in battle with rising home prices and tight-as-a-drum inventories of available homes. No one -- not even Nobel Prize-winning economists -- can know for certain the future trajectory of rates. But most wannabe homeowners have no intention of retreat.

“The small increase in mortgage rates has had zero impact on buyers so far. Rates are still historically low, and they’re still keeping buyers in the market,” says Ben Stanfield, a real estate agent for Redfin.

To date, would-be buyers have been much more focused on the severe scarcity of available property in popular neighborhoods than on mortgage rate ups and downs.

“It’s true that rates have come off the pandemic period lows they hit this winter, when they were absolutely rock bottom. Since then, rates did firm up a little bit. But the change has been nothing spectacular,” says Keith Gumbinger, a mortgage industry analyst for HSH Associates since 1984.

A recent pickup in rates caused many planning to refinance their mortgages to back off. But those in the millennial age group -- born between 1981 and 1996 -- remain highly motivated.

Granted, higher home financing costs mean that purchasers must raise more money to cover down payment and closing costs. But, so far, that’s affected relatively few buyers.

“It’s only people close to the margin who must go back to the drawing board when mortgage rates rise slightly. Most purchasers are not that close to the line,” Gumbinger says.

As a consumer advocate for homebuyers, he urges them to shop carefully for the type of mortgage that most closely fits their future housing plans.

“The vast majority of buyers will jump in and grab a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. But if you’re absolutely sure your tenure in the house will be only a few years, you might consider one of the new adjustable mortgages that guarantee low rates for five years or longer before they adjust,” Gumbinger says.

Here are a few other pointers for buyers:

-- Seek a lender willing to get you started with tutorials.

Gerri Detweiler, a consumer credit expert and author of “The Ultimate Credit Handbook” and several other books on debt issues, encourages first-time buyers to seek out a mortgage lender who will instruct them on the intricacies of home loans.

“A good lender won’t think it unreasonable to spend a couple of hours teaching you the basics and helping you deal with potential flaws on your credit reports,” says Detweiler, who offers free credit pointers on her website: gerridetweiler.com.

But how do you find a sympathetic lender willing to tutor you through your first or second attempt at home finance?

Gumbinger says real estate agents are usually a good bet for sound advice on finding a qualified lender. But he says you should look well beyond the suggestions of agents.

“For referrals, I recommend you use what I call the 'Satisfied Customer Index,’ also known as friends and family,” he says.

-- Arrive at your lender’s office fully prepared.

To maximize the use of your time and that of the lender you’ve chosen for your preliminary tutorials, there’s no substitute for gathering key documents in advance of your meeting. Ideally, these should include recent pay stubs, your latest W-2, a couple of years’ worth of federal tax returns, and bank account statements.

“Anything germane to your financial situation can help the lender help you,” according to Gumbinger.

By providing these documents at the front end of the process, your lender should be able to quickly calculate your top borrowing limit and also assess your eligibility for various lending programs.

“Well before you’re ready to apply for a loan, you can bring the whole mortgage picture into much clearer focus by supplying basic documents related to your financial life,” Gumbinger says.

-- Research your credit standing to ensure you get the best possible rate.

Under federal law, you're entitled to one free credit report each year from the three largest credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can easily request these online, at annualcreditreport.com.

Besides your credit reports, you'll want to access your "credit scores." Such scores, which draw on data from the credit bureaus, seek to provide lenders with a quantitative measure of a person's credit risk. Most lenders still use FICO scores, pioneered by the Fair Isaac Corp.

In most cases, you'll need to pay a fee to obtain your credit scores. One way to get them is through the Fair Isaac website: myfico.com. You can also receive credit scores through the three large credit bureaus. FICO scores range from 300 to 850, and the higher the score, the more likely you are to get the best available rate on your mortgage.

Once you’ve chosen a property you want to buy, it’s time to get serious about making your mortgage application. And with your credit scores in hand, you can readily begin the process of comparison shopping on rates.

You may wish to start the rate-shopping process with the lender who tutored you in the basics of home finance. But Gumbinger strongly suggests you extend your rate hunt well beyond the first lender you consulted. And he recommends you include community banks and credit unions in your search.

“It sounds like overkill. But it’s smart to take the time to make enough extra phone calls to collect at least a dozen rate quotes before going forward with a formal mortgage application,” he says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

To the great frustration of would-be homebuyers, popular neighborhoods everywhere are now extremely short of available properties.

“This constitutes a significant housing crisis,” says Merrill Ottwein, a realty company owner who’s long focused his business on buyers.

Through much of 2020, one major factor constraining inventories was that many potential sellers were sitting on the sidelines, fearing COVID exposure during public showings of their homes.

But as the nation starts to enter the post-COVID period, housing analysts foresee gradual improvement on the supply side.

“We expect that the vaccine rollout will likely boost inventory as sellers become increasingly willing to move despite COVID-19, resulting in greater numbers of new listings beginning this spring,” says Chris Glynn, the principal economist at Zillow, the national real estate firm.

Yet many owners who’ve long resided in their property face a daunting challenge to prep their place for sale.

Joan Doyle, a real estate agent for Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, has worked with numerous sellers making major housing transitions. And she’s consulted with many relatives who want to pitch in.

“The most important thing relatives can do for the sale is to help clear the house of clutter,” Doyle says.

Granted, in inventory-tight markets many buyers continue to face multiple bidding situations. Yet they’ll still pay less for a property that’s crowded with accumulations, or they’ll rule it out altogether.

“If your stuff is everywhere, some buyers will never be interested. When they walk in and see all that clutter, they’ll just turn around and walk out immediately,” Doyle says.

The problem is that buyers who see a home in chaotic shape can’t picture themselves living there. Also, they assume the untidy owners have neglected upkeep and that the place is in bad condition.

“Today’s buyers are more sensitive to everything. They’re hesitant about the economy and their financial situation,” Doyle says.

For sellers who’ve long struggled with organizational challenges, the prospect of getting their property cleared out and ready for sale can seem overwhelming.

“I’ve worked with people who are crying and shaking when I come in,” says Susan Pinsky, a professional organizer who specializes in helping disorganized people get through difficult transitions, like the involuntary sale of their property.

Pinsky, author of “The Fast and Furious 5 Step Organizing Solution,” says that when a financial or medical problem necessitates a home sale, owners often need relatives to help them mobilize.

Here are a few tips for family members who wish to assist:

-- Consider hiring a professional organizer.

Many longtime owners resist the notion of paying for help from an organizer, believing it’s a waste of money for work that shouldn’t require outside assistance. But Pinsky says a professional can sometimes mean the difference between success and failure in the residential decluttering process.

“Too often, family members are very subjective about all the stuff in the house and fail to see the big picture the way a professional can,” she says.

Of course, not everyone can afford a professional to slog step-by-step through decluttering. If funds are limited, one possibility is to pay solely for the organizer’s services at the front end in order to create a roadmap that relatives can then follow.

To locate a professional organizer in your local area, Pinsky cites the website of the National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals (napo.net) as one source of names. Or sellers can ask trusted friends, neighbors or colleagues for this type of help. Alternatively, real estate agents can be a good source of referrals.

-- Break up the tasks among several family members.

What if no funds are available to pay a professional organizer? In that case, Pinsky recommends the relatives choose a project manager within the family who can then delegate tasks on a room-by-room basis.

“Divvy up the activities. One family member could help the homeowner go through all the dishware and china in the kitchen. Another could help with clothes in the bedrooms. And a third could tackle tools in the garage,” she says.

However, Pinsky cautions that no purging project goes forward smoothly unless the homeowners are consulted when decisions are made about which items will be kept, sold, thrown out or donated.

“If the owners aren’t the decision-makers, you’re just wasting your time trying to help. You can’t make decisions about other people’s things without meeting major resistance,” Pinsky says.

-- Ease your way through the disposal process.

All too often, Pinsky arrives at the home of clients who want organizational help but aren’t set up to make the process flow efficiently.

“The pathways in and out of the house are crowded, and there are just a few tiny wastebaskets for the collection of discards,” she says.

Pinsky arranges for the use of large trash bins, along with trash bags of different colors to make sure, for example, that items for charity don’t mingle with those destined for the landfill. Then she clears pathways to the doors to make sure it’s easy to remove anything that won’t be kept.

“The idea is to make the removal system as streamlined as possible,” Pinsky says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

A retired federal employee in his 70s was highly motivated to sell the brick ranch house he’d inherited from his parents. By quickly downsizing to a small condo, he could liberate himself from nagging money problems. Hence, a few days ago he called his friend Sid Davis to list his place for sale.

Davis, a veteran real estate broker, told the owner that to maximize his proceeds, he’d need to update the house. Cosmetic improvements alone could net him an extra $20,000.

“Walking into this house was like going into a time warp. This was a true ‘fixer-upper.’ The kitchen had old linoleum countertops in sick gray. The badly worn carpets were original to the 1960s, as was the dated wallpaper throughout,” Davis says.

In a typical real estate market, the owner’s "fixer" would have languished unsold for a lengthy time, attracting only deeply discounted offers. But Davis told the owner that the current market -- with a severe shortage of available homes -- was far from typical.

“Sellers today are in the catbird seat. For the time being, Lady Luck is smiling down on them. Almost any decent house, so long as it has a roof and four walls, is very marketable,” Davis says.

Short on cash and in a hurry to liquidate, the retiree opted against upgrades that would have yielded him a higher price. Even so, the same day his place hit the market, it produced 20 showings and sold for the full asking price within hours. It was purchased by a couple in their 20s who vowed to renovate it themselves.

What’s the moral of this true tale? Davis, who’s sold homes since 1984, says this is one of the rare periods when housing demand so greatly exceeds supply that even fixer-uppers are attracting multiple offers.

“In my experience this has only happened a few times in recent decades. There are several reasons why it’s happening now. One is that mortgage rates are rock bottom. Another is that COVID is causing countless folks to seek better dwellings,” says Davis, the author of “A Survival Guide to Selling a Home.”

Of course, many sellers are willing to spend the energy and money needed to maximize their profits, assuming they can afford to do so.

Here are a few pointers:

-- Choose an experienced agent who offers sage guidance.

Eric Tyson, a personal finance expert and co-author of “House Selling for Dummies,” says agents vary widely in their skills and abilities.

“You want someone who will help you develop a strategic, step-by-step plan that works within your budget, however limited. Then you have to be open-minded about the necessary changes,” Tyson says.

Some agents will even step into the role of project manager, helping you find contractors willing to take on small jobs for reasonable prices.

“It could be a waste to pour your limited funds into a full kitchen renovation, including expensive new cabinets. But it might be worth the cash to paint your cabinets high-gloss white,” Tyson says.

As the first step in the agent-selection process, interview three candidates, asking each to critique your home and itemize cost-effective steps to make it more saleable, says Ashley Richardson, a long-time agent for the Long & Foster realty company.

“Find an experienced person who is personable and knows your neighborhood backwards and forwards,” she says.

-- Go on a junk-busting mission.

Many sellers feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the tasks facing them. Richardson says those who can't handle all the projects can ask family members and friends to assist. If no volunteers step forward, she suggests they hire students or others looking for part-time work.

Delegate to the person you hire a series of manageable tasks.

“Tell them, for instance, to pack up the contents of your kitchen cabinets, a heavily loaded bookshelf or your bathroom countertops. All the items, most of which you won’t miss, can be packed in boxes and placed in neat stacks in your garage,” Richardson says.

Some people think it’s pointless for the owners of a home that’s sold “as is” to bother with the removal of clutter. But Richardson strongly disagrees.

“People simply can’t see how large your rooms are if they’re crowded with junk,” she says.

-- Give buyers a vision of your home’s potential.

If the house you’re selling is run-down, the odds are you don’t have enough money for major improvements. Even so, it’s important to make your place as attractive as possible.

“You won’t get buyers out to see your home in person unless it can pass the ‘online photo test.’ Everyone is now pre-screening property on their smartphone or computer,” Richardson says.

In addition to packing away clutter, you’ll want to cart out any furnishings or window coverings that seem drab or tired. These could be replaced with items borrowed from your agent.

“Realtors sometimes keep a stock of a few good furnishings -- including lamps, area rugs and paintings --that you can use during the showing period,” Richardson says.

In addition, the owners of an “as is” home should give visitors contractors’ estimates for necessary fixes -- like the replacement of a worn-out deck or the renovation of tile work in your master bath.

“Buyers routinely overestimate the cost of home improvement projects. You can help them to calculate the likely costs they’d face if they bought your fixer-upper,” Richardson says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)