COTTAGE-STYLE

Best buys for empty nesters who aren’t ready for the high rise thing: the M Streets and Devonshire area, west of University Park. Savvy real estate agents are showing these houses to boomers, touting a happily-ever after vibe in one-story cottages. Which I guess is agent-speak for dinky six-figure ranch houses. In any case, D.W. Skelton, a top local appraiser, predicts these neighborhoods will be hotspots in 2006, “real neighborhoods,” with young couples, elderly people and baby boomers. I like it.