If you want lower interest rates, there's a little-known way to get them — if you qualify

• Homeowners with certain loans can sell their low-interest-rate mortgages to qualified buyers.
• The transaction is called an assumable mortgage, which has grown in popularity as rates have risen.
• Assumable mortgages are hard to find, take long to process, and are only good for certain buyers.

Earlier this year, Felix Claudio struggled to buy a home in Atlanta for his family.

Mortgage interest rates reached almost 8% in October — the highest in over 20 years — leaving homebuyers like Claudio, a 55-year-old senior logistics manager for a transportation company, worried about affording monthly payments.