It’s a buyers’ real estate market, and sellers are hurting, right? Not most sellers in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County. From Palo Alto to Cupertino, houses are selling faster this month than they were in March 2006. In some places, the sales pace is faster than in 2005.

But in East San Jose and in Gilroy and Morgan Hill, for example, the story is different. So far this year, observing Silicon Valley real estate is like reading a tale of two markets: Homes in some areas are drawing multiple purchase offers and selling quickly, while other neighborhoods are dotted with “for sale” signs that have been in place for months.

PHILADELPHIA - Here’s something almost everyone knew before today, but let’s make it official: The majority of condo buyers are looking not just for a home, but for a lifestyle.

It’s not that lifestyle doesn’t play a role in other kinds of housing. The very fact that families have gotten smaller over the past 30 years but the number of bathrooms per house has increased is proof of that.

Yet a National Association of Home Builders survey shows that nearly half of all condo buyers make their choices without considering any other style of housing.

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

According to some industry estimates, a majority of subprime mortgages closed during the housing boom years carried no escrows for property taxes and hazard insurance. That is in stark contrast to the prime mortgage market for consumers with good credit, where mandatory escrow accounts are routine.