Welcome to Real Estate Live, an online discussion of the Washington area housing market with Post Real Estate editor Maryann Haggerty.

Maryann has been with The Post for 18 years and has served as real estate editor for the last five years. She's been a business and real estate editor and reporter for about 25 years. In all that time, she still hasn't figured out where you can find a lovely but inexpensive house in a charming neighborhood.

She's online twice a month to answer your questions about the local housing market -- from condos and investment properties to contracts and mortgages.

As I sit here typing, a new office building is being constructed outside my window. Dozens of guys are scurrying around, doing all sorts of construction-y stuff. It's fascinating to watch. But I'll try to pay attention to residential real estate for an hour!

Can you tell me where I can find information about co-ops? Determined to make this my last year to rent, I got my credit scores and called to see what I could afford. It was $210,000. I have actually found a FEW things in Northern Virginia believe or not where I would not have to move into nowhere USA (like Stafford, Fredericksburg, etc), but I want to keep my options open. They just don't seem to be very popular in this area (they're big in New York and Boston). My lease is up in June but I want to start researching now. I just don't know where to start.

Thank you for your time and help.

Maryann Haggerty: There aren't a lot of co-ops in this area--for reasons having to do with laws and tradition, there are a lot more condos. Co-ops are really more a NY thing. Still, there are some here. (The Watergate perhaps being the most famous.)

You can find some basic info at the Web site of the National Cooperative Bank, www.ncb.coop.

But why restrict yourself to co-ops? I don't really get that. Yes, purchase prices in some buildings do tend to be lower than for comparable condos. But in those cases, the lower price can be balanced out by a much higher monthly fee, to cover the master mortgage.

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Arlington, Va.: Dear, Ms. Haggerty. My husband and I are retiring in 2009. My plan is to sell our house and buy one far from DC (maybe in Shenandoah). With no mortgage to pay we can just take it easy. However, he thinks paying 1/2 of our mortgage by using our 401K would be better since we will stay closer to our children, to our doctors, etc. I might have to work part-time though. What would you advise us to do? Thanks.

Maryann Haggerty: Whoa! You and your husband seem to have two very different ideas of retirement, and you need to talk them over in great detail. There are advantages to the simple life in the country, but also big advantages to being close to the kids and doctors. You may also want to call in a financial planner who can help you map out cash flow under these two scenarios so you can see what the long-term implications are. At first blush, it doesn't strike me as smart to use your retirement savings AND have to work part-time in order to stay. But is that in fact the only way you will be able to stay, for instance?

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Silver Spring, Md.: This Q on what is a proper way to finance our new home. Does it make sense financially to put 1/3 rd of our non-retirement savings as down-payment? How about 1/2 for a dream home? We are around fifty years old, and our kids are out of college and have no major financial commitments other than our mortgage.

Maryann Haggerty: Again, you need a comprehensive financial plan that maps out what you are saving for, what you can afford, etc. For instance, if you don't have a rainy day fund, it would be silly to put half your savings into a house. But if you have plenty for a cash cushion, that could make a lot of sense.

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Washington,D.-.Shaw: What is the RLA Revitalization Corp? And, when are they going to start revitalizing all the pieces of property they own in our neighborhoods? Also do you know what is happening with the historic O Street Market? There were plans to do something. Have they fallen victim to the slowing economy?...Thanks, love the chats

Maryann Haggerty: RLA, once the city office that managed DC's urban renewal properties (this goes back to before home rule) is now a portion of the National Capital Revitalization Corp. (www.ncrcdc.com). It's the city office that is overseeing Southwest Waterfront plans, the Skyland Shopping Center in Southeast, etc. It has been beset by internal problems ever since it was established maybe a half dozen years ago.

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Gaithersburg, Md.: How can our local governments be Anti-Growth, and still say honestly they want to build large amounts of affordable and workforce housing?

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