For a long time, Paul and Amy Woodhull’s house on Capitol Hill was a honey pot. Through multiple refinancings over nearly a decade, they pulled out money to fix it up, buy a car, pay down credit cards, buy three other properties and improve them, too.

Now the pot is dry. The Woodhulls are feeling squeezed by bills, but with interest rates up and home prices down, they’re reluctant to touch their home equity again. They called their six children into a family meeting recently, and Amy laid down new rules: No more impulse purchases or frivolous shopping trips. “We’re going to have to save our pennies,” she declared.

With more credit-stressed mortgage borrowers falling behind on their payments, will Congress step in and throw them a lifeline?

Will legislators transform the most consumer-friendly home mortgage program for moderate-income buyers into a serious alternative for refinancers heading for default and foreclosure in high-cost communities?

From high in the trees, the chickadees sing their chick-a-dee-dee-dee, while the red-bellied woodpeckers trill a raspy kwirr. In Rachel Carson’s old neighborhood, Quaint Acres in Silver Spring, spring is anything but silent.

Carson lived in a custom-built brick rambler in the neighborhood from 1957 to 1964, when she died of breast cancer at age 56. That’s where she wrote “Silent Spring,” a carefully researched call to ban pesticides such as DDT that were killing birds and wildlife along with insects. She was born 100 years ago tomorrow.

Whenever anyone suggests revisiting the District’s building height limits, the almost universal response is that heights permitted by zoning laws are both sufficient and sacred.

Although the District’s building height regulations are expressed quantitatively, they in fact reflect value judgments enacted into law almost a century ago. Today, aspects of those judgments deserve reconsideration.

Q: DEAR TIM: Drilling into ceramic tile has become a priority. My wife wants me to install several towel bars and other accessories in an older bathroom. I also need to install anchors for a new shower door. I tried drilling into the tile but got nowhere. The drill bit smoked and turned cherry red. I need to get this job done before my wife comes back from her business trip. — Jonathon O.

A: DEAR JONATHON: I am going to make you look like a home-improvement superhero, but you might have to buy a new drill and a few special drill bits.

New-home sales nationwide increased in April by the biggest margin in 14 years, but industry experts remained skeptical about the health of the real estate market, citing a record decline in prices and nagging uncertainty among builders.

“In terms of the home builder industry, the bad times are not over,” said Gregory E. Gieber, vice president of research at A.G. Edwards, a brokerage firm. “This is probably one of the worst recessions I’ve ever seen for housing.”

The Cape Cod may be an icon of post-World War II American suburban development, but the style’s history reaches back to the nation’s beginnings.

The term “Cape Cod” was coined by the Rev. Timothy Dwight, a president of Yale University, who is credited with recognizing the modest houses dotting the New England coast as a class in 1800. A century and a half later, developers scrambling to house returning GIs and their growing families found inspiration again in those simple, economical dwellings. The first houses in Levittown, N.Y., for example, were Cape Cods.

Is it possible to get a rebate on something you didn’t pay for in the first place? Not really. And that’s something home buyers should keep in mind when looking for a real estate agent.

The services of a buyer’s broker don’t come free, even though buyers aren’t asked to take pen to checkbook to pay for them. The good news is there are a growing number of local real estate agents offering to work with buyers for less in the form of rebates.

Real estate editor Maryann Haggerty and columnist Elizabeth Razzi expand on a question submitted to a recent online chat.

Q Frederick: I recently shopped for a mortgage refinance. I was a little surprised at how different the costs were compared with those advertised. How much does it really cost a lender to do a refi? I know some of the fees are direct costs, like appraisal, closing agent, credit report, flood certificate, etc. But how much do loan origination, processing, underwriting and document prep really cost?

Q I am looking at buying a condo in a complex that is under construction. Are there any particular considerations that I should keep in mind since I can’t look at the actual unit, which is nowhere near finished yet? I am renting nearby and see the construction progress, so at least I know the neighborhood well.

A Eric Finke, customer service manager for Metropole, a new condominium in the District: Work only with an experienced, reputable developer. Look at its other projects as an example of what to expect and for assurance it will finish the project with the quality promised. In today’s real estate market people want to see and experience a property before they make a final purchase decision. Buyers should always visit a model unit to sample room layouts, amenities and finishes.