Virginia K. Smith

News started making the rounds yesterday about an Upper West Side co-op that made the bold, bizarre move of demanding that the building's mutts be DNA tested to determine whether or not they're comprised of one of the numerous breeds banned in the building. Dogs with a mix of 50 percent or more of these breeds (which include dogs as disparate as St.

As expected, the city's rent regulation rules expired last night amid political gridlock in Albany, and while Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that the loss of these regulations would be worse for New Yorkers than any natural disaster, we're guessing your apartment situation didn't change overnight, right?

At long last, the blogger behind EV Grieve has revealed his identity (Village Voice)

Getting "snazzy" uniforms for your building's doormen is totally worth it (Habitat Magazine)

Q: I live in a 72-unit co-op building, and the board is considering a renovation of the lobby and upper hallways. They're consulting with a designer on a new paint scheme, but another option is a complete renovation of the upper halls from walls to ceiling, including new fixtures. Would this kind of renovation bring appreciable or equal value to our apartment, or is there a wiser capital improvement that would bring greater value to our apartments?

Landlease buildings have always been a bargain (with discounts of up to 30 percent compared to other buildings), but as we've written before, it's one that buyers enter into at their own risk. And with the cost of land in New York skyrocketing, the situation of landlease owners—who pay rent to a building owner based on the cost of the land it sits on—has become a whole lot more precarious in recent years. 

Why you should never, ever try to evict your neighborhood's bodega cat (Gothamist)

What to do about a dangerous neighbor (NYT, previously)

Mortgage rates have indeed been creeping up (WSJ)