In the mythology of the American Dream, it’s the privacy of our sanctuaries that defines, comforts and nourishes us. Homes, we are told again and again, embody our innermost desires. But lately I’ve been feeling how other sorts of spaces — public, free and accessible to all — are emerging to show us what home really means. Perhaps home isn’t where we feather our nest with fancy things but the place that feeds the soul of a community.

 (01-14) 04:00 PST Washington — So, is it finally a farewell to ARMs, the once-ubiquitous adjustable-rate mortgages?

You might think so, with fixed-rate loans priced just slightly above one-year Treasury-indexed adjustables. After all, why bother with an ARM at 5.8 percent — the average contract rate at the end of December, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America — when you could get a 15-year fixed-rate loan at 5.9 percent or 30-year fixed-rate money at 6.2 percent, all with roughly the same origination fees?

 Cher is re-inventing herself again — this time as the flipper of a Palm Springs house she renovated and has listed at nearly $2.5 million.

“I’ve been coming to Palm Springs since I was a kid,” said Cher, 60. Her mother has lived in the area for 15 years.

“I’ve always loved the indoor-outdoor lifestyle you find there,” she said. “We designed this home to capture that feeling, and I’m very happy with the way it came out.”

The house, in the historic Las Palmas area of Palm Springs, was acquired in 2004 for $650,000, according to public records.