Lucy Cohen Blatter

A $3,595 one-bedroom apartment is available without a broker's fee at The Murray Hill, on 34th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues.

The luxury building is 21 stories high, and features a 24-hour doorman, valet service and roof deck.

Noticing a lot of scaffolding around Manhattan--or, say, right outside your window? You're not alone.

Ahhhh. It's finally (officlally) spring, that season between winter (when, prior to the Great Thaw of 2012, you would be excused for cursing your choice to live in the Northeast) and summer, when you wish you lived anywhere but hot, humid and crowded New York City.

As even the most jaded New Yorker can admit, however, spring is a pretty nice time around these parts. Especially if you've got some outdoor space.  And since like everything else in the Big Apple, outdoor space is....complicated....we're rounding some of the best of our posts in the genre today.

Recently, we posed the question, "Can babies and walk-ups ever get along?"

Honestly, we thought that -- with the exception of some very rare cases -- the answer was basically "no."

Then Bronx mom Sally Dunford contacted us to say she'd raised four boys in a fourth floor walk-up, and lived to tell about it.

Naturally, we had to find out more.

A $4,800 two-bedroom, one-bath apartment is available at the Ohm, a newish 34-story luxury rental at 312 Eleventh Avenue known for its young and nightlife-loving demographic.

If the StreetEasy forums are any indication, the NYC real estate market is not only entering its springtime boom, but some sellers are said to be acting like they have the upper hand...so-called buyers' market be damned.