Leigh Kamping-Carder

Q. We want to buy a beautifully renovated, below-grade co-op in Carnegie Hill, and we're planning to get a mortgage with a 30 percent down payment (at least until we sell our single-family house out of state). The first lender we approached denied our mortgage because a doctor's office shares the lobby of the building; they were willing to lend to us in that building, just not for the first-floor apartment. We're now starting over with a different lender. Why is this so difficult? How do we get around this?

Finding a landlord that welcomes your dog with open arms—and, you know, doesn't make you carry Rover every time you cross the lobby—isn't the easiest thing to do in New York, let alone finding one who'll reward your proud pet owner status.

As far as design trends go, the stuffing and mounting of dead animals is a weird one. And yet, fake taxidermy is so ubiquitous in shelter magazines and Brooklyn bars these days, it’s more likely to elicit an eye roll than a shiver.