Crain's reporter looking for buyers/sellers

Be sure to use the expression "snapped up" in your article.

...and be sure not to present any figures that exclude 15 CPW and the Plaza. The market is what the top four brokerage houses say it is, and don't you forget it.

snapped up indeed

...and whatever you do, don't make ANY attempt to expose the glaring discrepancies between the monthly carrying costs of owning vs. renting! Or if you do, make sure you intimate that it's not because selling prices are too high, it's because rents are too low. Any mention of traditional affordability metrics or plain common sense would be a waste of ink/bits.

Also, you would be wise to take up the party line about Manhattan being unique and isolated from any economic or credit related issues.

I agree with all of this advice. In fact, don't go to nybits.com - which some on this website falsely accuse me of owning - and look at what market rental property is going for, and choose virtually identical apartments and add up all the carrying costs.

What you will see - undoubtedly - is that it's far more advantageous to buy than it is to sell, because if you buy it will cost you twice as much as to rent, but YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PICK YOUR OWN PAINT COLORS!

That benefit alone is perhaps worth a first-born male child which, of course, would mean that I would be up for adoption.

Here's an idea: Chelsea Stratus (buy) versus Chelsea Vanguard (rent). Add the tax abatement back in since it expires over time, see what that'll get you stuck with after 10 years.

The 21st Century White Elephant.

Or - here's another novel idea - you might even look at certain apartments that are both for sale and for rent, and do the equivalent analysis, where you will again see the price of picking your own paint colors.

Did you know that yesterday I invested $100,000 in TUR, the Turkey index fund, and it went up 2.3% in one day, just like Manhattan real estate does. Therefore, I fully plan to have $402,352,130.16 after 365 days. Because what the market did yesterday it will continue to do every day in the future.

or, maybe, you can go to this thread

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/3696-sukenikking-of-the-price-change

and see how important the "all-important spring sales season" is.

Wouldn't it be better if the article displayed a cartoon of renters running around NY hysterically while dodging falling objects from the sky? How about a cartoon where a little girl cries while holding a $5 bill as she gazes up at a shelf with a $10 teddy bear on it?

Those falling objects are little black arrows, JuiceMan.

Sorry you couldn't afford the teddy bear you wanted. I'm sure things will pick up for you when the housing market skyrockets later this year due to the surging economy and abundance of cheap financing.

Hey Juicy, I did the math: I rent, I save, I invest, I earn.

Waaaay ahead at the end of the day.

I offered to let you calculate the difference between imputed rents and market rents on several other threads, using the Fed's own formula, but you've yet to take me up on the offer.

Because EVERY TIME IN HISTORY that imputed rents far exceed market rents, the real-estate market has collapsed. EVERY TIME.

And once I get my $402,352,130.16 after 365 days, I'm going to say I told you so!

Too bad weasel-boy - you should've bought $250,000 BID (Sotheby's stock) like I did on Monday and sold it all this morning - you would've been up 20% three days later.

I'm not a day trader, malraux - I invest, yield on average 60% a year, so I'm happy with that.

So I still have my TUR shares, and they'll be worth $402,352,130.16 in 365 days.

CUT TO: MALRAUX, sitting in dank, dark apartment, crumpled Ring Ding wrappers strewn everywhere, the faint glow of his Mac II illuminating his bloated, tear-streaked face as he silently refreshes his browser on ArtForum.

MALRAUX (shrieking): YES! Another record for Bacon.

INSERT: hand with pencil scribbling in spiral notebook.

MALRAUX: Somebody's gon' git paid!

MALRAUX pulls out a sunwrecked cigar box and opens it, removing $500 in Monopoly money.

MALRAUX: How sweet it is!

Don't forget the weasel wrapped around his neck.

Tagovino: Joking aside, both sides of the "Manhattan is special" argument have a valid point. Manhattan IS special, but the specialness seems - to some degree, at least - to be concentrated at the top. In that segment, incredibly wealthy people continue to pay stunning amounts of money for prime real estate without regard to tight credit or the direction of the economy.

In the mid-lux segment and below, on the other hand, Manhattan shows signs of "sticky pricing", as buyers and sellers eye each other warily across a growing bid/ask spread in a very slow market. It's impossible to predict what will happen next. Historic relationships between income and housing costs point toward substantial devaluation; but there's still so much cash sloshing around this town that those benchmarks may not be reliable.

Now who's spoiling the fun, West81st?

I can't believe it - my TUR shares are down today!

Oh well, so maybe it'll take me 366 days to reach $402,352,130.16, since Turkey is on the rise.

This is the discussion where stevejhx said he eached 60% on his portfolio each year.