House museums are struggling in the face of dwindling interest, diminished staff and lack of endowment dollars.

New Yorkers have many reasons for choosing where they want to live, and the city's neighborhoods oblige with something for every taste.

The basic question of whether it?s better to rent or buy your second home is one whose answer can always prove elusive, even in a healthy market. And that?s because it?s never solely a financial decision, but an emotional one, too.

While property tax assessments across the city rose by more than 9 percent, the assessors reviewed 720 Park. The tax burden on it was cut by 12 percent.

If asked to name America's most important contribution to residential architecture, most people would probably suggest Abraham Lincoln's log cabin, a Southern plantation mansion like Scarlett O'Hara's Tara (even though it was only a movie set) or George Washington's Mount Vernon.

Q: DEAR BOB: I sold my principal residence in January with a capital gain of about $400,000. The same day, I bought another house using the profit as a down payment. I was single until April. Mine was the only name on the title to the house that was sold.

Major insurance companies are throwing cold water on America's new passion for living near the ocean and by the bay.

Enalee Bounds has filled 20 guest books with the names of national and international visitors to the antique and gift shop she has owned for 44 years in Ellicott City's historic district, defying predictions by local banks and area business owners that her country store would never last.

At the end of each year, some people look back, while others look to the future. There's nothing we can do to change 2006, so let's look forward.

In adverse market conditions it's better to trim your side of the tree to "balance" it rather than focusing on a squabble with a neighbors, advises Steve McLinden.

Year 2007 will be one of transition, bringing most U.S. markets one step closer to healthier home sales. In the meantime, take note of these home-buying and home-selling strategies in a down market, from Real Estate Adviser Steve McLinden.

This just in, from the New York Department of State: expanded definition of who must be loyal to whom in various real estate deals.

Until recently, homes on the United States Virgin Islands ? made up of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix ? were widely considered undervalued.

The courts have held that a satellite dish that protrudes into the airspace outside the window is not within the premises covered by the proprietary lease.