Gea Elika

I would imagine that at some point soon, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve will start receiving thank-you notes from New York City realtors: The falling dollar has made New York apartments an incredible value for those that earn their salaries in currencies other than the US dollar. Even the Canadian Dollar is worth more than the US dollar these days – And when a currency called “the loonie” by its countrymen is worth more than the good ol' greenback, you know things have changed.

But the cheaper it is to buy dollars, the cheaper New York apartments are for those that earn money in yens, euros and British pounds. The lower the price, the higher the demand. Hence why New York realtors, if they are the least bit polite, should be sending volumes upon volumes of thank-you cards to those responsible for the declining dollar.

All of this, however, has been in the public's eye for some time. The assumption has been that New York City, like other major American cities, would benefit from this increase in demand. What hasn't been obvious until now, though, is that New York City has benefited more from foreign demand than any other American city.

Perhaps because it has been largely sheltered from the subprime crisis, or perhaps becase of its international allure, it seems foreign realtors have fallen in love with New York City. The Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) has just released a survey of their members that has ranked New York City the number one city for foreign real estate investment in the world.

Washington D.C. is the second-highest ranked city, followed by London, Paris and then Shanghai.

Surprisingly, given the recent turmoil in the real estate and credit markets, the survey ranked the U.S. as the “most stable and secure” country for real estate investment. This may be, in part, because of the higher levels of transparency in U.S. companies and markets that foreign investors often find refreshing and reassuring.

These two statistics mean that, across the globe, realtors will be be directing foreign buyers to New York apartments in greater numbers than in years past; more so than other American city.

Foreign demand will only increase if the dollar falls further. Furthermore, as the roughly million homes that are estimated to foreclose in 2008 due to subprime-related reasons start foreclosing, much of New York City – Manhattan especially – will look comparatively even safer. This should further concentrate the foreign demand for U.S. housing into the New York City real estate market.

Miami has been steadily growing for the past decade. Since 2000, the population has grown 11.5%, from 362,470 residents to 404,048. Much of this growth is from older Americans. Indeed, its reputation as a Mecca for retirees is well earned: At almost thirty-eight years, the average age of residents of the city is one of the oldest in the country.

Its reputation as a glitzy city full of wealth, however, may be a bit overstated. In 2005, the median household income of its residents was considerably less than the national average, at about $25,000. The average home during the same year, however, cost swell over $400,000. These two statistics suggest that Miami is largely a city of renters. And this turns out to be true: almost 60% of the population rents. Furthermore, only about thirty percent of the residents individually own their own home.

The above statistics are a numerical way of describing one of Miami's defining features: It is a regional hub for finance and other industries, which leads to a significant class of wealthy professionals, but its working class is considerably poorer than in most other parts of the country.

Regardless of the social problems that lie just below the surface, Miami has some of the best weather in the country, and the whole place is imbued with the natural beauty of the area.

The price of buying a home combines with the Miami real estate market's rapidly changing dynamics to make the search for a home in Miami even more important than in most cities. There are a number of ways to find an apartment or house to buy or rent here. Newspaper listings, though constantly shrinking due to the growth in online listings, are still popular here, even though they can’t be
efficiently searched. There are several online real estate companies that offer more complete services and extensive listings. All of them allow users to search listings by size and price, but few offer more possibilities than that.

There is one, website, however, that has extremely in-depth set of search options, for both renting and buying. City Cribs – allows users to search for a home by the details of the house that are important to them. If, for instance, they are only interested in a 3-bedroom furnished apartment with laundry and no parking, where landloards allow pets and there are no realtor fees, they can search for that,as well. Even the various results can be sorted in six different ways.

Renting an apartment in New York City is definitely not easy, or cheap. In fact, up until recently, New York apartments were considered the most difficult to rent by Marcus & Millichap's National Apartment Index, which evaluates the 43 most populous rental markets. Surprisingly, though, a mild uptick in vacancy rates in New York apartments in 2007 has pushed the city down to the number three spot in the index. Currently, both San Francisco and Seattle are considered tougher places to get apartments by the good people at Marcus & Millichap.

There's one aspect of renting an apartment that New York City still holds the crown in: luxury apartments. The city offers more luxury apartments – both total and per capita – than any other major city in the country. The nation's financial industry is, after all, one of the most profitable industries in the country, and the wealthy victors in the world's financial battles – as well as the well-compensated losers – all need a place to lay their head in the Big Apple as much as the next guy.

Renting a luxury apartment is, in many ways, a lot easier of a task than purchasing one. This is mainly because most of the luxury New York apartments for sale are (in)famous coops. Coops don't, of course, condone such plebeian processes as renting an apartment. Furthermore, the process of being allowed to own an apartment in some of these buildings often involves interviews – which often don't go well – and a number of other unique screening mechanisms that are just no fun to be on the receiving end of – especially if you end up getting rejected.

Renting may be a bit easier, but unless you are only planning on being in the city for a very short amount of time, it is usually a bad investment. And if you are looking for a luxury apartment, you probably have the money to own.

Fortunately, a number of new luxury condos are being built, as are a good amount of ordinary luxury apartments. That being said, though, vacancy rates remain, despite their recent minor uptick, low by historical standards. This is especially true for luxury apartments, which are less effected by economic downturns such as the one that the nation is currently experiencing.

So, it makes good sense to make as efficient use of your apartment searching time as possible. There are several websites that offer customized searches that are particularly useful for luxury apartments. www.citycribs.com is one example. It has the best search engine and listings on the net. Elika Associates is a leading New York luxury buyer's broker, which offers the most high-end service available for those looking for luxury New York City apartments . Their website is www.elikaassociates.comn

For a good number of years now, renters of NYC apartments have had the extreme displeasure of paying the highest rents in the country. A new report suggests that the city is entering 2008 with a continuing hold on the unfortunate and smudged crown which signifies its role as the most expensive city for renters in the country.

The new report – by the major California real estate investment firm, Marcus & Millichap – suggests that, at least insofar as median rental rates, NYC apartments far surpass those any other city in the country. The median, for those that always get them confused, is the number that is number that occurs most often in a set. So, when we say New York City's apartments cost a median monthly rent of $2,922, what we are really saying is that more New York apartments cost $2,922 for rent a month than any other price. It's a seemingly small difference between average – or mean – rental rates, but it's an important difference.

Median rates are a better representative of what the typical person pays, because it's not thrown off by the super-high numbers – the luxury rental NYC apartments, in this case – like the mean rental rates would be. It's a funny thing about New York City, though: In many cities, 2,922 dollars would get you something approaching a luxury apartment.

Here, though, it gets you the median. Can't you almost feel those dollars just pouring out of your wallet, like a crisp waterfall on a spring day? Sometimes I think landlords in the city just sit outside and watch people walk in and out of their buildings and make a cash register noise inside their heads, “ka-ching, ka-ching,” as their tenants walk by.

The next closest city was San Francisco, but its median rental rate was a full thousand dollars less than New York City. It stood at just $1,904.

In fairness to the equally cash-pressed San Franciscans, though, these numbers are a bit deceiving. New Yorkers tend to cram more people into their apartments, so even though the apartments themselves are more expensive, those that life in the City by the Bay actually pay more per person.

The report notes that there is more than just supply and demand driving rental rates in the city up. Of course, New York City and San Francisco's low vacancy rates force prices upwards, but the regional inflation stemming from the high income of New Yorkers and San Franciscans is what makes rental rates so astronomically high in these two cities.

Of course, while this means that rental rates are acceptable for high income earners, it means that the working class in New York City is pressed harder by the high rental rates than in any other city in the country.

The Dallas real estate market was hit hard by over-speculation and the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s real estate boom. After almost two decades, the low property values and relatively little building combined with the strong Dallas economy to attract significant investment in the area, both by the growing population and investors.

The diversity of the city is one of its main strengths. There are about 1.2 million residents in total. About thirty percent of them are Hispanic, a third Caucasian and a little over a quarter of them are of African-American descent.

The property values of the city vary greatly from neighborhood to neighborhood. There is both incredible wealth and poverty here. This disparity of wealth is, sadly, one of the defining features of life in Dallas. While this is true for most American cities, it is even more stark in Dallas.

About fifty-four percent of the population rents. The median gross rent – which means the total rent that someone living in the city is most likely to pay – was $685 dollars a month. In 2005, those that buy payed an average price of $120,900.

While it is easier to find a good home to rent or buy here than it is in most cities, it is still usually a difficult task. Someone looking for a home should use the most efficient methods possible

There are several ways to find a home to buy or rent here. Newspaper listings, while constantly shrinking due to the growth in online listings, are still popular in Dallas, even though they can’t be efficiently searched. There are a few online real estate companies that offer more complete services and extensive listings. All of them allow users to search listings by size and price, but few offer more possibilities and services bthan that.

One, website, however, has by far the most in-depth set of search options, for both renting and buying. City Cribs – allows users to search for a home by the details of the house that are important to them. If a user, for instance, is looking for a place with a balcony, they can search just among the homes that have one. Or, if they are only interested in 3-bedroom furnished apartments with laundry and parking, pets allowed and no move-in fees, they can search among just the homes that offer those things, as well. Even the results can be sorted in six different ways.