MOVIN' ON UP

excerpted article from msn.com:

Dennis R. Hughes, a senior vice president at The Corcoran Group, a division of Cendant, in New York City, recently showed a two-bedroom apartment in the Beekman neighborhood that has a library, sterling silver faucets and 24-karat-gold hardware. It is priced at $17,000 -- per month.

"Not extraordinary at all," is how Hughes, whose rental listings currently range from $4,300 to a startling $27,000 per month, describes the rarity of such prices.

One of his clients, a high-powered businessman, offered to prepay two years of rent -- in cash -- for a place that cost $18,000 per month -- a total of more than $432,000. That made the owner think the place was underpriced, and the deal was called off.

"The luxury end of the market is going very nicely, very strong," Hughes says. "I love this market."

Christ! You prepay 2 years and give them what they want and so they decide that they should have asked for more? The full article includes the 20 most expensive cities in the country and surprise, surprise, NYC is still at the top:

http://realestate.msn.com/Rentals/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=29087>1=6974