Sales of existing homes in April were up 9.7% over April 2012, but they would likely be higher if all the people who wanted to buy homes could find homes to buy and get mortgages to buy them.

April was the 22nd consecutive month to show a year-over-year increase in sales and the 14th consecutive month to show year-over-year price increases, according to new data from the National Association of Realtors.

The number of homes for sale rose 11.9% between March and April, to a 5.2-month supply at the current sales rate, but remained 13.6% below the level a year ago, when there was a 6.6-month supply. Inventory is even tighter in lower price ranges, the NAR noted.

Back in 1955, a devastating tornado swept through the area near where I grew up. A friend’s mother recalled crouching in her garage, trying to shelter her newborn daughter, because the homes in that area had no basements. We moved into a Kansas City, Mo., subdivision constructed shortly after that storm, and every house had a basement.

As a long-time denizen of Tornado Alley (and my childhood home’s basement), I was surprised to hear that few homes in Oklahoma have basements or storm shelters, despite the prevalence of tornadoes.

If your home is damaged by a tornado or other natural disaster, you may run into trouble paying your mortgage.

The government-supported​ entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reminded loan servicers that their policies allow some breaks for victims of natural disasters, such as the Oklahoma tornado. There is no guarantee that servicers will give borrowers the requested breaks, but those who need help should certainly ask.

What exactly constitutes a treehouse?

When does it become so elaborate it constitutes a structure and should be subject to more stringent building codes?

That’s the issue facing a couple in Holmes Beach, Fla., who built a $20,000 multistory structure in a giant Australian pine tree overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.

Looking at the pictures, it’s easy to fall in love with a home with an architectural pedigree. Who doesn’t want to say their home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright or another famous architect?

However, owners of historic Wright homes warn, bragging rights aren’t all that come with the homes. Many are in need of significant and costly improvements.

At least 20 homes designed by Wright, whose career lasted from 1888 until his death in 1959 at age 91, are for sale around the country, at prices ranging from $690,000 to $5.6 million when we last checked a few months ago. According to The Wall Street Journal, about 270 Wright-designed homes are still lived in today.

More than 2 million Americans have sold their homes in the past five years through what is called a short sale: getting the bank to agree to take less than the house is worth.

Many have thought that by doing a short sale, in which they negotiate with the lender for an orderly exit, they would do less damage to their credit than if they waited for the bank to foreclose. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has said they’d be eligible for mortgages to buy again much more quickly if they did short sales rather than foreclosures.

The latest calculator to help you decide whether to buy or rent your dwelling lets you drill down to the ZIP code level.

Zillow’s new analysis of data from the first quarter of 2013 found that buying a home is a better financial move in 64% of U.S. metro areas if you plan to stay in the home at least three years.

But even within those metro areas, the decision varies by exactly where you want to live. For the first time, Zillow did the calculations down to the ZIP code. You can use the drop-down section below the map to break down the metro by city and then by neighborhood and also download more specific data.

The only house in Delaware designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is for sale by the daughter of the original owners.

The Dudley Spencer house was built in 1956, three years before Wright died. He created the plans from a model of the topography drawn by Spencer, an engineer for DuPont. He and his wife, Dorothy, lived in the home until their deaths.

Asking price for the 2,538-square-foot home in Wilmington, with three bedrooms and two baths, is $1.35 million.