As financial regulators and Congress probe more deeply into delinquencies and foreclosures in the subprime home loan market, one contributing factor is receiving increased attention: the lack of mandatory escrow accounts.

Forget the harsh world of modern reality television. "It's like 'Leave It to Beaver,' " Roxanne Sweeney said about her Montgomery County neighborhood.

HUNTINGTON STATION, N.Y. -- About two years ago, when Kevin White and his wife, Tricia, were searching for a new home, the last thing on their minds was energy efficiency. Like most new-home buyers, their interest was more in aesthetics.

Q: DEAR TIM: My kitchen pantry has traditional 24-inch-deep shelves. I think a pantry drawer or set of pantry drawers would make finding things easier. Pantry organization is in my top 10 things to do this spring, so tell me what you think is the best way to incorporate storage drawers in my existing kitchen pantry closet. What do I need?

For the past few weeks, I have been examining in this column the issues surrounding whether there should be a suitability standard for mortgage loans -- that is, whether lenders should be held liable if they allow borrowers to take home mortgages that aren't suitable for them.

Occasionally a work of architecture is so compelling, so well crafted, so imaginatively conceived both aesthetically and functionally, that it makes me wish I had designed it.

Q: We have been reading that a lot of homeowners are in financial trouble and that their homes are going into foreclosure. We would like to buy a home at a foreclosure sale and need guidance as to how to go about this.

Q: DEAR BOB: I live in a condominium complex where one resident has a pit bull, a breed of dog considered by many to be dangerous. He allows it to run loose.

Here are some events that builders and developers have scheduled locally for would-be home buyers in the coming weeks. All are free and open to the public.

The mortgage industry is going through a rough time with sub-prime mortgages being constricted. Rates have not gone up, but they could at any time. Is this the right time to refinance your adjustable rate mortgage?

Home monitoring systems are useful only if someone is there to hear them.

A plan for one of the prime development sites in Suffolk County proposes a $1 billion entertainment and hotel project and 688 residential ?fractionally owned? homes.

One of the hottest new amenities being offered in upscale urban condominium developments doesn?t have anything to do with granite in the kitchen or simulator golf. It?s school.

For a 76-acre site in the Delaware River Valley, Hall Smyth has proposed a subdivision of 15 antique barns, reclaimed from sites throughout New York, New Jersey and New England.