Virginia K. Smith

If you can get past the "666" street address, $1,900 a month for this Bed-Stuy 1.5-bedroom seems like a pretty good deal (Brownstoner)

Renting in NYC for the first time? Brush up on the basics of what should (and shouldn't) be in your lease (Refinery29)

To call Craigslist a minefield is to put it mildly, but then, there's a reason the oft sketchy site has stuck around: you can get some serious deals there, particularly when it comes to furnishing your apartment on the cheap. For the uninitiated, though, jumping in can be daunting, and as such, Apartment Therapy has a rundown of tips for getting started, whether you're interested in buying, selling, or a little bit of both. 

A few key takeaways we learned from the whole thing:

Exactly how loud are all those planes flying over your neighborhood? Now you know, in decibels (Gothamist)

Kitchen decor ideas for those of us who aren't into the whole "cooking" thing (Houzz)

Bay Ridge may be in the outer reaches of Brooklyn, but it's beloved by its fiercely loyal locals, and just about the only waterfront neighborhood in NYC where you could conceivably score a deal like this one: a spacious two-bedroom (with a real kitchen and lots of natural light) for just $1,500 a month. Of course, no good deal is without its tradeoffs, and in addition to the long commute, this apartment happens to be right above a local watering hole,

Talking your board into solar energy just got a whole lot easier: Governor Cuomo yesterday signed into law a bill passed earlier this summer extending until 2017—and doubling—the current tax abatement for buildings that install solar panels.