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Trophy homes are losing their luster

The prices of luxury houses have started to drop in many parts of the country, says a survey by the Wall Street Journal. Prices of houses with more than 4,000 square feet have declined in almost half of the 50 major counties included in the survey.

Source: The Wall Street Journal and Fidelity National Information Solutions.

Devices can shrink blind spots

Rear-mounted video cameras are better protection against accidentally backing over a child than sensors, says Consumer Reports. But the cameras, which let drivers see much of the blind area behind their vehicles, are expensive ($400 to $900) and need to be installed professionally. Sensors, which detect objects behind a vehicle and alert the driver by beeping or lighting a display panel, run between $130 and $500. But they cannot reliably detect a small moving object, such as a young child.

If you drive an SUV, minivan, or wagon with a vertical (rather than slanted) rear window, you might get just as much help from a $20 plastic wide-angle lens that sticks to the rear window, such as the Rear View Safety Lens sold by Elite Enterprises (www.rearlens.com or call 800-354-2548).

Yvonne Wollenberg. Online UPDATES.

Medical Economics

Nov. 7, 2003;80.