Virginia K. Smith

We've been hearing reports for months now that deed theft scams are a growing problem in the city, and after a New York Times report on the issue over the weekend, it seems the situation is worse than anyone knew. "Victims are left groping for redress, unable to identify their predators or even, in some cases, to prove a crime has been committed," writes the paper.

Q: I live out of state, and own a townhouse I rent out to tenants at little to no profit (their rent covers the mortgage and property maintenance, and not much else). The tenants say they're interested in renting to own, but only if a high percentage of their monthly payments go towards purchase price, after they pay a lump sum down payment. How do I determine an appropriate price, as well as a reasonable percentage of the monthly payments to put towards the purchase price?

Cruel new chart shows how much more square footage your money buys in L.A. versus NYC (Gothamist)

Not all Airbnb rentals are safe, and people have died as a result (Medium)

How to deal with your neighbor's cooking stenches (NYT)

In case there was any doubt, the South Street Seaport has gotten a whole lot fancier (NYP)

Take a photographic trip back to 1940s New York (Business Insider)

This might be our favorite development so far in the city's ongoing cab wars: Gett is rolling out a new promotion in New York that'll reimburse you for Lyft and Uber surge price charges, in the form of ride credits on their own app. The program is aptly titled "Surge Sucks," per a press release that went out last week.