Barbara Russell, the village's Columbia Association board member, said two-thirds of the county has no subsidized housing, while Oakland Mills has more than its share. What Oakland Mills needs, she said, is more high-end housing.

Russell is advocating what until now has been political heresy in Howard: allowing public water and sewer lines west of the current boundary to permit more townhouses and apartments to be built farther west. The ban on public utilities in the western county was meant to preserve farmland, she said, but instead of doing that, it has merely allowed hundreds of large homes on 3-acre lots.

HOME SALES: The Arizona Republic reports that more than half the ZIP codes in the Phoenix metro area have seen a drop in median home prices:

Several of the newer suburbs farther out such as Queen Creek, Surprise and Avondale posted double-digit drops in median home prices. Central Valley ZIP codes in west Phoenix and Glendale with more-affordable homes and established neighborhoods fared better, largely a result of little room for new building and shorter commutes.

FORECLOSURE: The New York Times has a short piece on avoiding foreclosure. It notes:

The interest rates on some two million adjustable-rate mortgages will be reset over the next two years, according to an estimate from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and of them, about 500,000 are expected to go into default.

GREEN HOMES: In The Sun's real estate section today, Andrea Siegel has a story about real estate agents who specialize in environmentally friendly homes. That part of the market is growing large enough that the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors "recently began talking with the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. about adding a green heading to home listings, similar to what is available for listings in Oregon."

RENTERS: I missed this until just now, but The Wall Street Journal said in a story last week that renters are now feeling the effects of mortgage problems, never mind that they don't have mortgages:

Across the country, a rising number of landlords are falling behind on mortgage payments, sending their properties into foreclosure, according to legal-services attorneys, local officials and financial experts -- and in many cases, their tenants are being forced out of their homes. Often, the tenants' first inkling of trouble occurs when they get a letter from the bank directing them to leave the premises.