Lucy Cohen Blatter

Attention affordable housing-seekers: You have until this Friday (January 15) to apply for a below market-rate two-bedroom apartment in a newly renovated elevator building at 2524-2526 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd, between 146th and 147th Streets, per the city's Housing Connect portal.

If you're looking to buy an apartment in NYC, you've probably noticed that condos are more expensive than co-ops. But we were amazed to read in the most recent Manhattan market reports that the median price of a co-op at end of 2015 was $749,000, whereas the median price or a condo was over $1.7 million.

Living alone in New York City certainly isn't cheap. In fact, according to the most recent rental market reports, it'll cost you around $2,700 month to live in a Manhattan studio, $2,500 to live in a Brooklyn studio, and $2,250 to live in one in Queens.

Many studio apartments we peruse are designed like fairly indistinguishable boxes, but not this one. Located on Central Park West between 102 and 103rd Street (that's technically Manhattan Valley, in case you were wondering), this $550,000 studio has the charm and features of a much larger apartment, such as a closet-lined foyer, dining area, and walk-in closet.

If you're anything like us, you're spending much of your downtime this week fantasizing about what you'd do with the $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot you're counting on winning  Wednesday night. And, like us, you're probably also planning on parking quite a bit of that prize money in real estate. 

Full disclosure: We're suckers for the Berkshires. The towns have that hippy/artsy vibe we love. In the winter, there's skiing and snowboarding, and summers bring swim spots, hiking and biking trails, and arts and culture venues like Tanglewood.