A "Bungalows By Bus" tour on Sunday will wind through South Side neighborhoods McKinley Park, Gage Park, Chatham and the South Park Manor Historic District. The energy-efficient Green Bungalows in the Chicago Lawn and Auburn Gresham neighborhoods will be highlighted, too.

Crystal asked me what's wrong with the roses at her new home. It's a wonderful old place with extensive gardens where two plants have her baffled. The roses aren't blooming, she says, and they don't make hips, either. She wondered if perhaps they had grown too old to bloom, and should she replace them.

Homebuyers are looking for a steal; home sellers are looking for an out, and homebuilders and banks are selling homes at cut-rate prices. Combined, these conditions have triggered a wave of lowball offers to buy homes in distressed U.S. housing markets.

Two celebrated North Shore suburbs, Evanston and Winnetka, are hosting upcoming housewalks.

Q. We have a wood floor in our home that repeatedly has termite mud holes and piles of sawdust showing up. The contractor has replaced some of the wood, but the problem continues. Is there any treatment that will work completely? Or does the entire wood floor need to be replaced?

Q. My old tub and shower valve needs to be replaced. To make matters worse, the pipe inside the wall that goes up to my shower head is broken and also has to be replaced.