According to industry experts, the formal living room is becoming a thing of the past as new-home buyers, always seeking more living space, are sacrificing it for additional square footage in the kitchen and family room.
      Gopal Ahluwalia, who is in charge of research for the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, said that more than one-third of 1,300 recent buyers responding to an NAHB survey in late 2001 reported that they were willing to buy a house without a living room.
      That is not the case in all markets, especially in older areas of the country where buyers are concerned about the effects on resale. In these areas, most new-home buyers prefer a living room and a family room of equal size.
      The size of a typical new house continues to increase even though other surveys and anecdotal evidence indicate that many Americans are looking for smaller, more manageable houses to accommodate more-active lifestyles, and that they want quality over quantity.

     With five-year home price appreciation gains in double-digits for all 50 states and interest rates at record lows, home owners wisely tapping equity need have little fear of a housing bubble.
      The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's Second Quarter House Price Index says the nation's housing market has enjoyed a nearly 39 percent rate of home price appreciation since 1997, with more the half the states and the District of Columbia enjoying a 5 percent growth in price appreciation during past year.
      The federal over seer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac says any housing market downturn isn't likely to fall as far as prices have risen and over time, banking on real estate is not a risky investment.
      "Even in these areas that sometimes demonstrate bubble type behavior, cumulative declines have almost always been much smaller in absolute magnitude than preceding increases during the upward portion of the cycle. Over a full cycle during a 12-year period in Boston (from the third quarter 1982 to the first quarter of 1995), for example, housing appreciated at a healthy annual average rate of more than 4 percent. In San Francisco and San Jose, yearly increases average between 2 and 3 percent annually during a complete up