This week, readers were curious about a story of a New York City firefighter who worked an additional job and endured years of living in a cramped basement apartment so he could save up enough to buy a house with a yard. His hard work paid off and he was able to buy a brand-new, three-bedroom house for $435,000 in Mastic Beach, which is in Suffolk County, New York.

Also of interest: It seems counter to the spirit of rent-stabilized housing, but there are no caps on broker fees for these apartments. Renters reached out to Brick to share some of the shockingly high broker fees they have seen in their apartment searches.

Here are this week's top five posts:

1) From Jamaica to Long Island: I saved enough on cheap rent to buy a house and create generational wealth for my son

2) Sky-high broker fees for rent-stabilized listings shock NYC apartment hunters

3) How do we show our building has made a 'good faith effort' to comply with Local Law 97?

4) Clearing out your house? Here's where you can donate stuff so it doesn't end up in a landfill

5) What you can get for $1 million in Williamsburg, a neighborhood in transition but still a draw for creative types