Howard "Hoddy" Hanna III has never seen a real estate market like this -- and he has been keeping an eye on real estate for the past 40 years.

Falling interest rates and generally low unemployment typically prompt home owners to expand their homes or trade up.

But Mr. Hanna, the CEO of Howard Hanna Real Estate, said things are different this time.

"I've never seen so many houses for sale."

Still, he said, it's easier for homeowners in the Pittsburgh area who are struggling to pay their mortgage to bail themselves out by refinancing -- as long as their credit histories are good.

In the past, someone could get a sizable loan with a credit score of 450, but now they need a score of about 575 or above to refinance.

And refinancing -- mortgage rates are around 6 percent on a 30-year fixed loan -- could be important to people who obtained adjustable rate mortgages that are triggered to go up.

Mr. Hanna said many of those adjustable rate loans were sold on the notion that property values would continue their exponential rise, but instead, values stalled, and in places such as Cleveland, people were left with properties that were worth less than their debt on them.

Housing in the Pittsburgh region, which never experienced a housing bubble, has remained solid. Mr. Hanna said a home that sold in 2005 in Pittsburgh for $150,000 is most likely worth $160,000 in the current market.

In Western Pennsylvania, he said, "contrary to popular opinion, there is plenty of mortgage money available."

The money that is available is not only for the wealthy.

Dollar Bank has been running its Mortgages for Mothers program for nine years now. The program helps women who are heads of households buy homes, sending many of them through the bank's credit enhancement program.

Jim Carroll, the bank's spokesman, said that as far as repaying loans, "people who go through the credit enhancement program -- they're more prepared for the downtimes."

He said they understand what is needed to bolster their credit scores and rarely take out loans that they will not be able to afford later on because they have planned for the contingencies through the bank's classes.

"They're better prepared sometimes than some of the very wealthy folks," he said.

Dollar Bank also did not get into subprime lending and because of that, Mr. Carroll said, the refinance applications and first mortgage applications have stayed fairly steady.

Much of the economic trouble and the bailout being considered by Congress is because of the mortgage market that melted down due to crashing real estate prices and high interest loans.

The $700 million bailout that the Bush administration has asked Congress to approve would allow the government to buy mortgages that are or are about to go into default. The money would also buy other bad loans from financial institutions, which would get them off the balance sheets of banks and other financial institutions, giving them the capital they lost in making the bad loans.