Virginia K. Smith

Ground-floor apartments are fairly well known for their pros and cons: in exchange for bars on your permanently-closed windows, dim lighting, and some added safety issues, you'll likely get a better price than your neighbors upstairs, and have far fewer headaches when you're moving in furniture or lugging heavy groceries.

Mulling renters' insurance for the first time? Even finding the right company can be an uphill battle. "I will start with the one name I know off the top of my head: Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there," writes an editor at the Billfold who's considering a policy for her Seattle micro-apartment. Jingle-based decisions aside, she looks into a few different options, and the cheapest seems to be a Geico policy for $6.59 a month, less than the cost of Netflix.

Easy decorating projects to tackle over the three-day weekend (Refinery 29)

10 Brooklyn townhouses you can still buy for under $2 million... (Curbed NY)

We often receive emails from readers asking for help in navigating their own real estate crises. In Realty Bites, we try to get them answers.

THE PROBLEM:

We've heard a lot of out-there landlord demands, but this one's a puzzler: a Brooklynite on the hunt for a new rental ran into a building owner who wanted to see her current digs before offering up a lease.

Good news for first-time buyers who don't happen to be billionaires: developers have woken up to the fact that not everyone wants a $10 million apartment, and are putting some affordable options on the market. Sort of.