April 19, 1981

PEOPLE who have been putting money into their homes for years can now get some of it out without having to sell, under the new ''home equity'' mortgages offered by several Westchester banks. Westchester is the testing ground for Citibank's new policy, and an officer at Westchester Federal Savings Bank said, ''The phone rings all day'' with inquiries since the bank began advertising the loans seven weeks ago. Chemical Bank has run an advertisement urging people to ''send your kid to college on the house,'' and a bank officer said the bank has had ''a very good response.'' The new loans, more commonly known as second mortgages, were not allowed to be made by banks until Federal laws changed in November and a new state regulation went into effect on March 1, under a state Omnibus Banking Law that was passed last November. Second mortgages used to have a stigma attached to them when borrowers got them from private loan companies or other non-banking sources, according to Esther O'Brien, assistant treasurer of the Westchester Federal Savings Bank, who said borrowing against one's home used to be ''the last straw.''

President Reagan has increased his workload to four or five hours a day and is essentially able to do the same amount of paperwork he did before he was shot in the chest March 30, White House officials say. But Mr. Reagan has only now begun to resume the one activity his aides said consumed most of his time before the assassination attempt: lobbying for his economic program. The President made his first telephone calls to Congressmen to push for the program yesterday afternoon. A week ago, when Mr. Reagan was released from George Washington University Hospital, his doctors said he would probably be well enough to return to his desk at the Oval Office Monday, but now Mr. Reagan's aides say the President has found that it is perfectly comfortable, and less of a bother than he originally thought, to receive visitors and hold meetings in the residential part of the White House, which is a few hundred feet away from the Oval Office.

Steve Comer, a 27-year-old right-hander whose pitching career last year was believed ended because of a chronic sore arm, weaved some unexpected magic for the Texas Rangers today. Appearing in the fifth inning shortly after a two-hour rain delay, Comer allowed only one scratch hit during his five-inning stint as the Rangers defeated the Yankees, 6-4. Comer's showing was unexpected particularly since he was the victim of Bobby Murcer's bases-loaded homer in the Yankees' home opener April 9. In that game he allowed five hits in one inning.

The Mets got their first look of the year at the Montreal Expos yesterday, and saw little to dispel the notion that the Expos could bring Canada its first baseball championship. On an afternoon spiced by disputed plays, the Expos scored three unearned runs in the first inning at Shea Stadium, and went on to defeat the Mets, 5-3. They did it with the same mixture of speed, hitting and pitching that carried them within one game of the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East last year and within two games of the Pittsburgh Pirates the year before. The hitting was supplied by Gary Carter and Andre Dawson, who hit the team's first home runs of the season. But the main asset on this sunny and mild spring afternoon was the starting pitching, and that was supplied by Bill Gullickson, who struck out 10 Mets in eight innings.

YEARS ago, when County Attorney Samuel S. Yasgur was working for Frank Hogan, the legendary Manhattan District Attorney, he took a few days off and grew a beard. ''Not bad, but no trials,'' Mr. Hogan told the young lawyer. ''He was worried about the effect on juries,'' the County Attorney said the other day. ''I think he had a point.'' The 39-year-old Mr. Yasgur, a resident of Mamaroneck, runs his own office these days and, although nobody chides him for his beard, he is still conscious about his public image. In the midst of the continuing public controversy over the County Executive's suspension of Thomas J. Delaney as Commissioner/Sheriff of the Department of Public Safety Services, Mr. Yasgur has what many might regard as the unenviable task of giving legal advice to both the Democratic County Executive, Alfred B. DelBello, and the Republican-dominated Board of Legislators. The inherent conflict bubbled again this week as the Board voted to pay as much as $25,000 to help Mr. Delaney finance his legal defense, and Mr. DelBello asked Mr. Yasgur's office for a legal opinion on the issue.