Deciding what and where to buy

Living well, aging well

Can a building keep you healthy?

Building a better home: Behind the drywall

Homebuilders spend a bundle dressing their model homes so you are seduced by their sectionals and wowed by their wallpaper. What's behind the walls, though, is what determines if a house is best in show or just for show.

Design centers: Dizzying design options for custom home buyers

Kelly Litton hasn't met a large, purple dinosaur yet, but, like the folks at the paint desk in Lowe's "Can you match this? This? This?" commercial, she sees homebuyers' treasures of all sorts.

Penthouse buyers willing to pay more for views, refuge

Next time you spot a PH button in an elevator, give a nod to Elisha Otis, whose successor companies took his lift designs from the mid-1800s to rarified heights in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Two-flat comeback

Anup Bhattarai has been watching a lot of YouTube lately. Not that he has idle time on his hands -- quite the opposite, in fact.

Meet the modern rowhouse

First-time buyers David and Jennifer Waxberg considered a single-family house. After shopping different new-home developments and various housing styles, though, they bought a rowhouse at The Plaza on New York in Aurora for three reasons, says David.

BUYING TIPS

Is now the time to buy suburban dream castle?

They're spread across suburbia in every state of the union. They're whopper-sized houses—typically with 4,500 to 6,000 square feet of living space –– built in the last 10 years. Many in the real estate field call them "dream castles."

BUYING TIPS

Finding an area with appreciation potential

Real estate specialists who view the economy on a large screen are confident that those with the nerve to buy a home in the current market will one day be glad they did—particularly if they're now able to capture a quality property in a desirable neighborhood at a bargain price.

Finding a home in welcoming community

Many home buyers believe that moving to a suburban community with upscale houses will accordingly give them a warm, welcoming neighborhood.

INSIDE TECHNOLOGY

Computer dating principles applied to buying a home

Consumers soon may put the same kind of research and analysis into deciding where to buy or build a home as corporations do when looking for a site for a new store, predicts Jack Dangermond, president of the Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc.

55 PLUS

Getting to the heart of the downtown

With gas prices approaching $4 a gallon, it comes as little surprise that suburban homeowners who want a smaller place like the idea of walking to the store or the train station.

Lenders wary of risky loans throw out the lot

Critics call it the new redlining: Many of the country's largest mortgage lenders are restricting loan in counties or ZIP Codes that they rank as risky or "declining."

Alternate ZIPs

Some residential communities are so trendy their ZIP codes are well known and real estate agents are battle-scarred from bidding wars. Others, not so much. In the Chicago area, there are myriad neighborhoods, subdivisions and suburbs that are great places to live but don't have the cachet -- or price tags -- of their glitzier counterparts.

THE NATION

Beach homes not just for summertime fun

Sue and Joe Canale's new beach house in Ocean City, N.J., handsomely sided in gray shingles and just steps from the Boardwalk, rises four floors above sea level. The view, they say, is always changing. Sometimes, whitecaps churn. Sometimes, the ocean is a fuzzy pink blanket. Sometimes, lightning flashes above the sea and reflects on the water.

Branching out

When Judy and Larry Plegge were ready to downsize from their single-family home of 32 years, they were clear on what they didn't want. No stairs. No yard work. No buildings blocking their view.

No place like home

Silence is golden? Shannon and Steve Tauschman won't hear of it.

THE NATION

Historic district rules should give buyers pause

Georgetown and Capitol Hill are known for their lovely homes in some of the region's most popular historic districts. Such districts help protect the character of older neighborhoods, but living in them can pose special concerns.

Getting started

Look beyond home's price

Brooke Rinehart and her husband, John Bzdil, always talked about moving from their New York apartment to their home state of Pennsylvania -- someday. But after returning from their wedding this fall they made the decision sooner rather than later.

LEW SICHELMAN

Lot to weigh starting from scratch

In most new-home communities, buyers can select from not only several floor plans and exterior elevations, they also get to choose the lot to put it on.

Association life is not a piece of cake

Buying a home is already a complex endeavor. Add in the sometimes-unfathomable machinations of a homeowners association and you enter a realm filled with the potential for misunderstandings that may have legal and financial consequences.

A heavenly home

For more people, buying a home is becoming an act of faith.

SMART MOVES

Bright lights, big-city condo versus a suburban house

They're the new urbanites: age 26 to 34, often recently married. In the past they might have opted for a small house in the suburbs.

When picking a home is a family affair

Home buyers with school-age children face a greater challenge than ever as they search for a place that's both affordable and meets their family's aspirations.

HOMES ON THE WATER

View of the blue

As a longtime Naperville resident, Kelly Dichristofano regularly savored that community's Riverwalk.

OWNING AND RENTING

How to get a deal in a buyer's market

Are you planning to buy a home in an area that happens to have a glut of "For Sale" signs? If so, you may be in luck, says Sid Davis, author of "A Survival Guide for Buying a Home."

Think c-c-cold if buying a winter getaway

Maybe it was that ski trip in the mountains last year. Or maybe you re-read Thoreau and decided it was time to live in the woods for a while.

CANINE CLOUT

Kelly and Matt Elvin with Sammy (from left), Mandy and Boomer. The Elvins relocated to Oak Park partly so their golden retriever would have a yard. They have since added two Labradors. Now they have a farm in Michigan, where the dogs can really romp.