Lucy Cohen Blatter

New York is a city of extremes—in weather, income and real estate. In fact, when he ran for mayor, Bill De Blasio famously described New York City's income inequality as a "Tale of Two Cities," and nowhere is that more clear than in our real estate inventory with rental apartments running as cheap as triple digits and as high as six digits (!). 

If you're looking to live on the Upper West Side, and don't mind a rather tiny space, you may have a hard time finding  a better deal than this $285,000 studio in an elevator building on West 87th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam.

As apartments in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens continue to break price records, you may find yourself thinking more and more about relocating to the 'burbs. And you're not alone.

In Manhattan, where the average one-bedroom is $3,500, there's no denying that a true one-bedroom for $1,750 a month is a pretty good deal. That said, this one is not in a prime location (it's far east, and the median price for one-bedrooms in East Harlem is more like $2,000), plus it's a walk-up.

They say living near greenery makes us happier, and we'd have to agree.  Of course, NYC is more concrete jungle than green, leafy oasis, which is why we were intrigued to read on Fast Company about an app called Walkonomics, which helps city-dwellers find the most tree-lined route to take from one point to another.

Sure, a multi-bedroom share house "down the shore" sounds kind of fun. But honestly, sometimes we like a little alone time on our vacations. That's why this quaint one-bedroom cottage in Ocean Grove, on the Jersey Shore, caught our eye. It's petite compared to many vacation rentals, but let's be honest—in New York City, it would be considered generously sized.

It's available for about $140 a night, with a minimum four-night stay. And quite a few nights are still available in July and August.