If you want to meet more girls, consider changing your name to Ryan.

If you'd like to encourage Norse fishermen to move to a remote shoreline in the North Atlantic Ocean, have all the mapmakers label it something cheerful like "Greenland."

If you'd like to increase property values, try renaming your neighborhood something pleasant like "Willowy Boulevard."

It turns out, that might actually help.

Recently, online real estate broker Zillow.com put together a survey of how property values relate to the street names they're on. The team discovered that there's a lot of power in a name.

Street names can indicate whether a neighborhood is old or new, rural or downtown and, often, expensive or cheap. In fact nationwide it turns out that property values can swing pretty widely, predicted by nothing more than the street where they're located.

"We looked at years of data about sales and listings," Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff wrote in the New York Times. "We learned three things about the relationship between home values and street names: First, names are better than numbers. Second, lanes are better than streets. Third, unusual names are better than common ones."

How much of a difference can this make? Sometimes enormous.

The most common street name in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is 2nd Street. (There are roughly a thousand more 2nd Streets than 1st Streets across the country, which really drives that American educational crisis home.) Nationwide a house located on 2nd Street is worth about 48% less than the national average, all other things equal. Spell out the name and you make matters worse; "Second Street" homes sell for 60% less than average.

In fact, numbered streets turn people off everywhere in the country except for Atlanta, New York City, and Denver. In New York people presumably don't have many other choices, but in Denver it turns out they actually prefer streets with numbers instead of names. 

Proud as we are of our website namesake, Main Street USA fares no better. By Zillow's estimate a home on Main Street loses 44% of its value just by dint of the mailing address. As Rascoff noted, common names in general suffer this fate, and Main Street is one of the most common a town can have.

Occupiers everywhere will be pleased to know that Wall Street, while fairly common, tends to have homes worth about 60% of the norm. (In fact, after several random searches, it's surprisingly hard not to have property values worth less than normal. One wonders if there's a cluster of gloriously titled neighborhoods out there with their thumbs on the scale.)

So where's all this property value going? Well, it turns out that every developer who named his sun-blasted subdivision "Shady Acres" was actually on to something. Descriptive names like "Lake Front" and "Sunset" often are indicators of high value, as are unusual names and "Ways,""Drives" and "Boulevards."

Homes located on Sunset Way, for example, tend to be about 76% more expensive than average while Lake Forest Drive gets an 11% bump. Idiosyncratic history buffs can also take heart: homes on Verdun Avenue cost 123% more than the national average

It’s dangerous to read too much into this data though. Rascoff specifically warns readers not to confuse correlation with causation here. In reality, it's pretty unlikely that home buyers pay close attention to the street signs. Far more likely, they pay attention to what those street signs reflect.

Lake Shore Drive has more value because, odds are, that house is somewhere close to a lake and people like water. Mechanically numbered streets may reflect a grid-like or heavily planned development, and older neighborhoods are more likely to end in "Street."

Still, the numbers are there and names have value. They say something about a neighborhood, and might even be a good place to start if you're looking for something affordable.

After all, if you want to save money, it turns out you can't beat Main Street.

To have some fun with Zillow's tool, MainStreet decided to plug in a few well known streets from popular culture. Here’s how they stack up against the real world:

• Yellow Brick Road – Greater by 12%
• Mockingbird Lane – Less by 23%
• Evergreen Terrace – Less by 10%
• Spooner St – Less by 26%
• Sudden Valley Ct – Less by 24%
• Privet Dr. – Less by 19%
• Baker St – Less by 42%
• Grove St – Less by 24%
• Beacon St – Greater by 80%
• Sesame St – Less by 7%

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SEE ALSO: Why Most Buyers Should Plan To Live In A New Home For At Least Five Years

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Actor Toby Maguire has listed his Los Angeles home for $10.25 million — almost $2 million more than what he paid for it just one year ago.

Built in 1949, the 6,320-square-foot "plantation home" was designed by architect John Byers. 

The mansion has belonged to celebrities for years — Maguire and his wife Jennifer Meyer Maguire purchased the home last January from television host Ricki Lake for $8.45 million, who bought it in 2006 for $5.6 million from Courtney Cox, according to Variety. 

Alec Traub of Redfin real estate has the listing. 

Welcome to Toby Maguire's beautiful house.

The home is in the wealthy Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood.

The layout of the house is very open — and all of the rooms lead into each other.

The best architecture seamlessly combines functionality and beauty.

Both of those attributes are heavily represented among the 14 winners of architecture blog ArchDaily's annual building of the year awards.

More than 30,000 architecture enthusiastst participated in the nomination process, narrowing 3,000 projects down to 70 finalists, and finally down to individual winners across 14 categories. 

The buildings are as inspiring as they are diverse, representing the very best new architecture around the world.

Commercial Architecture — Cultura Bookstore, São Paulo, Brazil

Architects: Studio MK27 – Marcio Kogan + Diana Radomysler + Luciana Antunes + Marcio Tanaka + Mariana Ruzante

Cultural Architecture — Natural Park Venue, Cape Verde

Architects: OTO

Educational Architecture — Farming Kindergarten, Vietnam

Architects: Vo Trong Nghia Architects

The founder of China’s largest private airline company paid $47.4 million for a full-floor condo at Extell Development’s’s One57.

Guoqing Chen, co-founder of HNA Group, closed on the 86th floor unit on Jan. 21, paying $7,645 per square foot for the luxury condo, according to property records filed with the city today. 

Public documents list the buyer One57 86 LLC, but Chen’s name is listed on the $30.2 million mortgage. The mortgage, from China Citic Bank International Limited, also names Pacific American Corporation, of which he is CEO and vice president. Pacific American is a subsidiary of HNA Group.

Chen entered into contract in December 2011, putting down a 5 percent deposit. The condo was originally offered for $46.5 million according to an offering plan filed with the Attorney General’s office. The full-floor unit measures 6,200 square feet and has four bedrooms and four bathrooms. 

SEE ALSO: Inside One57, Where New York's Most Expensive Penthouse Just Sold For A Record-Breaking $100 Million

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Forget about red velvet seats and old-timey popcorn machines. In terms of picture and sound quality, there are few home theaters in the world that rival the one installed in director Michael Bay’s new Los Angeles retreat.

The state-of-the-art screening room was conceived by theater architect and acoustical engineer Jeff Cooper, a mandarin of modern theater design whose client list includes Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Zemeckis. For the tech-savvy as well as the Luddites among our readership, Architectural Digest asked Cooper to explain what makes Bay’s screening room so extraordinary.

The 40-seat digital theater is designed “with steeply inclined, curved rows of stadium seating to maximize sight lines and assure optimum hearing lines,” Cooper says. The Stewart MicroPerf screen, which measures 12 feet by 24 feet, has thousands of minuscule perforations to allow for what he calls “acoustic transparency” from the five front speakers and two subwoofers mounted directly behind the screen.

A 4K Barco digital video projector, mounted in the projection room, delivers image brightness and clarity that are nothing short of breathtaking.

Click to see even more photos >

And read about Michael Bay's Los Angeles retreat here >

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With new rental projects becoming harder and harder for developers to pencil out in Manhattan as the price of land and construction rises, it would make sense to assume that rental inventory would be shrinking. In reality, new rental inventory is expected to grow over the next two years, but the trend is not forecast to last much beyond that time frame.

The rental market in Manhattan south of 96th Street is projected to expand through 2016 as the pipeline of projects developed over the past several years comes to market.

The prime area of the city is projected to see a roughly 25 percent uptick in new rental apartments this year to 4,152 units (up from last year’s number of 3,313) and then more than double in 2016 to almost 8,800 units, according to the brokerage Citi Habitats.

For developers and landlords the near-term onrush could give way to concerns of a glut, but Jim Hedden, chief development officer for Rose Associates, said he thinks demand is strong enough to offset the additions on the supply side.

“Is it staggering? I look at some studies and it doesn’t scare me,” said, Hedden, who is bringing one of Manhattan’s largest rental developments to market this year, 70 Pine Street.

“As a rental guy, I think [in 2015 and 2016] you’re going to see the pipeline deals from ’13 and ’14 and it’s going to fall off after that. There’s just no land available and everything is priced for condos.”

In fact, new inventory is expected to reverse course in 2017 and decline 14 percent to 7,540 apartments, according to the brokerage’s projections. And the culprit, industry pros say, is the sky-high prices development sites are fetching these days that almost necessitate condos as opposed to rentals.

In the short term, the increase this year is largely the result of a couple of mega-projects, most notably the Moinian Group’s 1,174-unit 605 West 42nd Street, the Durst Organization’s 709-unit “pyramid” on West 57th Street and Rose Associates’ aforementioned 70 Pine Street, which will deliver 644 units.

Projects like these work either because the developer has owned the sites for many years or was able to lock them in at attractive bases, industry watchers say. But in today’s market, those rental-appropriate development sites are becoming harder and harder to find.

By way of comparison as to how these projects began on paper, Moinian paid an average of roughly $205 per buildable square foot in 2005 and 2007 when it purchased the two Far West Side parcels that made up the development site for its 60-story-tall rental tower.

By last fall, the average price for a buildable square foot in Manhattan had climbed to $548, up 23 percent from the year before, according to commercial brokerage Massey Knakal Realty Services.

Oskar Brecher, Moinian’s executive vice president and director of development, said that shortly after the recession, the developer considered the project as a condo in the face of a potential condo inventory crunch.

“But as the [overall real estate] market improved, we concluded the financing could work as a rental and we moved the building over to a much simpler scope,” he said.

Nowadays, considering the price of land and the underwriting challenges for rentals, Brecher said developers will have to get more creative when putting together projects that pencil out soundly. 

“It’s much more difficult to make the numbers come together,” he said.

Rose got involved with 70 Pine in 2012, when it bought out the stake held by the partnership of Ronnie Bruckner and Nathan Berman’s Metro Loft Management, which for a short time had planned to do a condo conversion at the former headquarters of American International Group.

Rose’s Hedden said the two teams’ divergent approaches came down to “philosophical differences,” and that the decision to steer the project to a rental was “never much of a discussion.”

One result of the higher prices developers are paying for property these days, he said, is that it pushes minimum rents up to the areas of $75 and $80 per square foot.

“What we found in the market is that the people who pay those types of prices expect certain finishes and a certain lifestyle,” he said. “It’s driving the product to a higher level of finish than what was put out five or six years ago.”

“So what you’re seeing then is the life cycle of finishes used to be 10 to 15 years. Now it’s five years. It gets updated a lot quicker and adds to the acceleration of the rent,” he said, adding that the demand for the latest finishes and amenities creates “room for growth in those rents.”

Andrew Heiberger, the CEO of Town Residential, said that because of “rising costs of land and exorbitant construction budgets, we will see few ground-up rental projects in Manhattan.”

Meanwhile, rising employment numbers and tight credit restrictions for first-time homebuyers have been pushing Manhattan rents up for nearly a year.

The median price for a Manhattan rental climbed to $3,250 in December, capping 10 consecutive months of year-over-year gains, according to the most recent market report released by appraisal firm Miller Samuel. That’s a 4.8 percent bump on the year. And with the dearth of new rental construction on the horizon, prices are expected to continuing rising.

The lack of construction “coupled with the increasing trend of existing rental projects converting to condo, will cause a ripple effect in the rental market with monthly rents rising as high as 5-10 percent in 2015,” Heiberger told The Real Deal last month.

MNS CEO Andrew Barrocas also said prices will continue to climb, “I’m not saying, ‘Hey, I think it’s going to increase.’ I know it’s going to increase,” Barrocas said.

Moving out of Manhattan

Manhattan is not the only borough in New York City that will see more rental units coming online this year. In fact, the number of units coming to market in Brooklyn is expected to jump 120 percent to 6,527 units from just shy of 3,000 in 2014, according to Citi Habitats.

In Queens, Long Island City is forecast to add 1,800 new rentals this year, a bump of 87 percent over last year.

And the swell of units in those places, sources say, is a direct result of the changing face of the rental landscape in the city.

“It’s no longer a stepsister to Manhattan, but to many people it’s more desirable than Manhattan,” Scott Avram, senior vice president at Lightstone Group, said of Brooklyn, echoing a common refrain.

The firm is working on a pair of large rental buildings in Gowanus, at 363-365 Bond Street. National home builder Toll Brothers originally planned to do a 450-unit condo building at the site, but when they got bogged down in a rezoning process, Lightstone picked the project up for $33.15 million in 2013 and decided to reposition the two buildings as 700 rental apartments.

“It’s one of those niche neighborhoods where the rents, from the developer side, are so strong that we could not look away,” Avram added.

Town’s Heiberger noted that Brooklyn, along with areas such as Jersey City, Hoboken, Astoria and Long Island City, are all benefiting from “Manhattan’s white-hot sale and rental markets.”

Rents in Queens were up 5.9 percent on the year in December, with a median price of $2,839, according to Miller Samuel. In Brooklyn, the median price of $2,900 was up 9 percent on the year.

David Maundrell, founder and president of the brokerage aptsandlofts.com, said the rental surge in Brooklyn is as strong as he’s ever seen it.

While land and construction costs are also on the rise in Brooklyn and Queens, they are still far lower than they are in Manhattan, making it easier for developers to pencil out the numbers and convince lenders to provide financing.

Maundrell said that back in 2006, when Brooklyn was in the midst of a condo boom, “there were no major rental projects here.” The rentals that did come online were the “shadow product,” projects envisioned as condos that switched course mid-stream because of financial struggles.

“The enormous amount of product on the rental side” today has different roots, he said, though he noted that renters are still discerning. 

“The renters are there and they’re willing to pay top dollar, but the product has to be worth it,” he said.

Condos grow at faster clip

While developers are delivering more rental units in Manhattan this year, rentals in the borough are a decreasing percent of the new residential pie.

Last year, rental units in Manhattan accounted for 58 percent of the new residential product, according to Citi Habitats. This year, they will make up only 41 percent. 

That is because condo production is projected to outpace growth on the rental side this year, expanding roughly 150 percent to 6,097 units.

The opposite is true in Brooklyn, where rental growth outpaces condos. New rentals are expected to make up more than 80 percent of the market in Brooklyn, as well as in Long Island City.

On the rental rate front, some analysts point out that the reason for increases in Manhattan is that there’s an inherent demand for rentals because the tight credit market still makes it difficult for many to buy.

“The reason rents have been rising, or at least have been at a high level for the last three or four years, is not unique to Manhattan. It’s a function of tight credit,” said Miller Samuel’s Jonathan Miller. “People are tipped back to the rental market and it creates a logjam. This is a national phenomenon.”

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NOW WATCH: What I Learned By Taking A Photo Of Myself Each Day For The Last 5 Years

House hunting can be exciting, but don't let that excitement sweep you up into making a decision you'll end up regretting — especially if you're a first-time homebuyer and might not know what lies ahead.

Before you commit to one of the largest purchases in your life, you'd better be sure you're ready for it.

Here are 7 big warning signs that you might not be ready to buy a home after all.

1. Your job isn't secure.

When you purchase a home, you're usually locking yourself into a 15-year or 30-year mortgage. You need to make sure you'll have a steady income for the foreseeable future in order to keep up with your payments. (Even if you sell the house after, let's say, 10 years, you'll need stable income for a decade into the future.)

If you're currently working odd jobs or the company you work for is showing signs there may be cutbacks soon, you're better off waiting until you've found a position that offers a bit more security.

If you're self-employed or rely heavily on bonuses or commissions, wait until you've been in that position for a few years and have a predictable pattern of income and/or have developed a steady client base.

2. You don't know how long you'll stay in the area.

Buying a home is making a commitment to live in one area for many years to come. If you have any suspicions you may want to change scenery in the near future, bear in mind that it's not nearly as easy to sell a house as it is to let the lease on your rental expire.

Commissions, closing costs and other fees consume about a six percent bite on the sale of the house — meaning the house will need to rise in value by six percent (plus inflation) between the time you buy and the time you sell in order for you to "break even" on the property.

Sure, you won't be "throwing money away" on rent in the meantime — but you will "throw money away" on loan origination fees, interest charges, property taxes, maintenance, appraisals, inspections and a whole host of other expenses. If you'll only be in the house for a year or two, renting may make more financial sense.

3. You're in a ton of debt.

First of all, being in too much debt can make it hard to qualify for a mortgage. Most lenders will decline your application if debt takes up too large a percentage of your monthly income.

But more important, being in significant debt means your financial boat is in rough waters. Before you make any large purchase like a home, you should work to improve your credit and clear your debt so it doesn't weigh you down for years to come.

4. You haven't budgeted for additional expenses.

In addition to your mortgage, buying a home also means paying for closing costs, a home inspection, moving expenses, renovations and repairs. Do you have enough to cover all of that, or will your mortgage just about tap you out? (Use our mortgage calculator to figure out what your payment would be.)

Don't fall into the trap of thinking your mortgage will be your only expense. While you were a renter, your rent may have been your only home-related expense, but as a homeowner, you need to pay the plumber, electrician, handyman, roofer, HVAC company and more. If the home is located in an HOA-governed area, you'll also need to pay associated fees. Make sure you have enough wiggle room in your budget for these bills.

5. You're not ready for the work that comes with homeownership.

When you own your own home, no one will come fix your leaky faucet for free or plow your driveway when it snows. You're responsible for all maintenance and upkeep, so you'd better be ready to put in some DIY time, or pay someone else to do it for you.

6. You don't have enough for a down payment.

You should have at least a 20% down payment ready in order to avoid paying private mortgage insurance (PMI). If you don't have enough, wait until you've saved up more money before you consider looking at houses.

The only exception is if you're in an environment in which home prices are skyrocketing (like 2010), when the cost of PMI was negated by the climbing home values. But these days, with values stabilizing and returning to normal growth levels (roughly the level of inflation), you're better off waiting until you've saved 20 percent.

7. You feel pressured to buy a house.

You shouldn't feel pressured into buying a house just because everyone says you should. You're not "pouring money down the drain" by renting if renting is the best option for you right now.

Yes, homeownership is considered a rite of passage. But whether you're 21 or 41, the only life decisions you should be making are the ones that make rational and financial sense for you. Don't feel like you have to buy a home just because "everyone else is doing it."

Paula Pant quit her office job in 2008, traveled to 32 countries and is a successful real estate investor. Her blog Afford Anything is the groundswell of a rebellion against tired old financial advice that says you should skip lattes and chain yourself to a desk for 40 years. Afford Anything helps you crush limits, create riches and maximize life.

SEE ALSO: About half of homebuyers make this expensive mistake

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After listing her penthouse at the Amory S. Carhart Mansion penthouse for $34 million in July 2013, Jimmy Choo co-founder and fashion designer Tamara Mellon has lowered her home’s price to $29.5 million.

The 7,000-square-foot duplex has five bedrooms, tall ceilings, and over 5,000 square feet of outdoor terraces and roof deck space.

Mellon bought the duplex for $21 million back in 2008, according to the New York Times. She is moving downtown because she likes the vibe better. 

“I love my apartment; I wish I could take it downtown,” Mellon told the Times. “The terraces are heaven.”

Mellon opened her first Jimmy Choo shoe boutique in 1996, according to British Vogue, and was instrumental in growing the brand. She sold Jimmy Choo to Labelux for $811 million in 2011 and left to start her own brand of eponymous clothing. 

The home was originally jointly listed between Corcoran and Elliman, according to a Curbed New York story at the time, but Mellon has since taken her business to Sotheby’s International Realty’s Serena Boardman.

Tamara Mellon's penthouse is in the Carter Mansion on the Upper East Side. It was built in 1913 and designated a NYC landmark in 1974. Currently, there are four grand-scale condo units in the building.

A direct elevator connects the penthouse with the lobby. The gorgeous, airy apartment also has four wood-burning fireplaces.

The home has tall ceilings and is decorated in a very modern style.

A custom-built mansion in the ultra-exclusive millionaire's enclave of Palm Beach just listed for $47 million.

British businessman Lord Anthony Jacobs built the house after he bought the property in 1995 for $4.15 million and bulldozed the existing house, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In its place, he built a 13,000-square-foot monument to Mediterranean architecture.

Paulette and Dana Koch of the Corcoran Group have the listing.

Welcome to the waterfront mansion at 100 Casa Bendita in Palm Beach, Florida. It boasts an impressive 200 feet of ocean frontage.

As you enter the mansion, the Mediterranean-styling is immediately apparent.

Spectacularly ornate fountains, stone archways, and wrought iron gates greet you.

On Saturday, The New York Times released a fantastic investigation into the influx of foreign wealth in the New York City luxury real estate market.

Looking at more than 200 limited-liability corporations (LLCs) and trusts, The Times's Louise Story and Stephanie Saul attempted to unravel who exactly lived in the Time Warner Center and other "Billionaires' Row" highrises.

The report took 13 people an entire year to put together, which they did by "searching business and court records from more than 20 countries, interviewing dozens of people with close knowledge of the complex, examining hundreds of property records and connecting the dots from lawyers or relatives named on deeds to the actual buyers," the reporters wrote.

That alone should put into perspective how slippery real estate LLCs and trusts have become. Thanks to these types of shell companies and the lack of incentive to regulate them, luxury real estate has never been more secretive.

Take for example One57, home to the city’s first apartment to sell for over $100 million. Of the 27 units that have been sold so far, over half of them are owned by LLCs and trusts to maintain the owners’ privacy.

This is happening elsewhere in Midtown, too. According to The Times, Bloomberg Tower is 57% owned by LLCs or trusts, The Plaza's ownership is 69% such arrangements, the Time Warner Center is at 64%, and 15 Central Park West is at 58%.

At some of these residences, only a third of the owners actually live there at any one time, the Times reports.

These secretive ownership arrangements are not limited to the glossy penthouses of Manhattan. According to data from First American Data Tree that The Times analyzed, 44% of sales over $5 million in the US were to shell companies. 

The fact that the world’s 1% are using real estate purchases as their own private bank accounts is nothing new. New York’s real estate in particular is a prime option because it leads to such stable returns.

But what The Times points out in its investigation is that these secretive purchases can allow corrupt officials and billionaires to keep their assets hidden away from victims and foreign governments.

Even if you were to somehow pin down a name associated with an owner (or their relatives or lawyers), the fact remains that trusts and LLCs can transfer ownership without any real estate record. Many of the sales are also in cash, according to The Times, so there are no mortgage statements or public documents.

Though there have been a few attempts to make real estate ownership more transparent, the main argument against doing so is that it could hurt the economy. If these wealthy individuals didn’t feel safe buying property in America, they would just spend their money elsewhere.

The hope in New York is that despite rising rents, a homeless crisis, and a lack of affordable units, the money from these multi-million penthouses and pieds-à-terre will eventually trickle down.

And in the meantime, luxury buildings will continue to rise and court the mega-wealthy from around the world. 

“I don’t see some kind of global effort to stop all this because the money’s too good,” said David M. Crane, a Syracuse University law professor, told The Times. 

Check out the full, must-read article here.

SEE ALSO: Inside One57, where New York's most expensive penthouse just sold for a record-breaking $100 million

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"Affordable luxury" three-bedroom apartments are hitting the market in Flatiron, offering balconies, heated bathroom floors, and granite countertops for $4,500 a month.

Ten three-bedroom units will soon be available in the eight-story building at 21 W. 24th St., two blocks from Madison Square Park, in what owner Greg Jones described as offering luxury amenities for an affordable rent.

"It's not affordable as in that it's rent stabilized, but it's priced pretty well for the area," said Jones, whose company GRJ owns the building. "The towers along Sixth Avenue near Madison Square Park are charging $4,000 for studios."

Jones noted that three people sharing these new West 24th Street apartments would be able to pay just $1,500 apiece.

"They're terrific apartments for young professionals who have roommates, because you can pay per room," he said.

Each unit in the elevator building has a separate wine fridge, a washer and dryer, bathrooms with floor-to-ceiling porcelain and glass showers and 8-inch-thick oak wood floors, Jones said.

Jones declined to give the square footage of the apartments but said the ones on the front of the building were bigger and the ones in the back would include balconies. The units will hit the market next month, he said.

The building's ground-floor retail space will house Chop Shop, which has another location in Chelsea and serves Asian fusion cuisine.

GRJ, owned by brothers Gregory and Graham Jones, purchased the property in September for $4.7 million and then renovated it, according to online property records.

"There's a voracious demand for quality and relatively affordable housing in the city," Jones said. "We look forward to providing that. There’s not much stock on the 24th Street block that compare to this."

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NOW WATCH: What I Learned By Taking A Photo Of Myself Each Day For The Last 5 Years

Even though it’s only 90 miles from New York City, the Hamptons is another world filled with sandy beaches, quaint main streets, celebrities, and restaurants. 

The Hamptons can make for a relaxing getaway, or a party-filled weekend. But no matter what you're going for. one challenge remains: it can be extremely stressful to find a place to stay.

Since it's officially Hamptons renting season, we broke down the 10 most popular hamlets by reputation, with suggestions for hotels, restaurants, and average rental prices from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Keep reading to see our ultimate Hamptons rental guide for 2015.

East Hampton

When it comes to nightlife, East Hampton has you covered with raging dance clubs like SL East and the Pink Elephant.

It also has stellar beaches, tons of shopping, and top-notch restaurants. The ultra rich love East Hampton, especially away from the hustle and bustle of the public beaches, where glamorous homes can be found.

If you’re looking for a rental deal, look inland — the closer you are to the beach, the more expensive it’ll be. Plus, this is one of the most popular hamlets during the tourist season so it’s best to get your rental early.

Average Rental Prices for Memorial Day through Labor Day*: ~$36,000 to ~$150,000

Hotels:Baker House 1650, c/o The Maidstone, The 1770 House

Restaurants:Fresno, Nick & Toni’s, The Living Room, East Hampton Grill, Luigi’s Italian Specialties

Southampton

Another popular town, Southampton puts all other villages to shame when it comes to three things: shopping, celebrities, and real estate.

This hamlet is packed with stores and is a favorite spot for people who have money and want to be seen. There are a lot of epic, multi-million dollar mansions that line the ocean as well as popular hotspots and restaurants where the blue bloods hang out.

Average Rental Prices for Memorial Day through Labor Day*: ~$40,000 to ~$210,000

Hotels:A Butler’s Manor

Restaurants:Saaz Indian Cuisine, Red Bar Brasserie, La Parmigiana Italian Restaurant

Sag Harbor

Known as a haven for artists, this former whaling village is one of the prettiest towns on the South Fork, with cute storefronts and old-school Hamptons appeal.

It also has fantastic real estate and a funky Main Street with delicious restaurants. Plus, it’s not too far from the popular Long Beach.

Average Rental Prices for Memorial Day through Labor Day*: ~$27,000 to ~$110,000

Hotels:The American Hotel

Restaurants:Estia’s Little Kitchen, The Dock House, The Beacon

North Haven

If Sag Harbor is where the wealthy artists live, than North Haven is its family-oriented suburb. The mansions here keep getting more and more expensive, but there’s not a whole lot to do in this tiny hamlet.

Renters can expect extremely high rental prices across the board, with plenty of deluxe mansions up for grabs. North Haven is located between East and Southampton and has a large amount of waterfront real estate, which also factors into the high price points.

Average Rental Prices for Memorial Day through Labor Day*: ~$47,000 to ~$190,000

Hotels: N/A

Restaurants: N/A 

Westhampton/Westhampton Beach

Westhampton is the closest town on the list to New York City, meaning you'll have a shorter commute as well as access to clean, beautiful beaches right off the exit.

This is a popular hamlet for people renting and co-renting homes. It has restaurants and stores to keep you busy, but is much more affordable than Southampton.

Average Rental Prices for Memorial Day through Labor Day*: ~$40,000 to ~$100,000

Hotels:Beaver Damn Creek House

Restaurants:Starr Boggs, Boom Burger, Pizzetteria Brunetti, The Patio Restaurant

Sagaponack

One of the oldest hamlets in the area, this tiny village is renowned for its rural beauty and has some of the most scenic beaches in the area. 

The major downside of Sagaponack is that its too small for any theaters or shopping. For those, you would need to travel to nearby Southampton or East Hampton. But the real estate here is top notch — and über expensive.

Average Rental Prices for Memorial Day through Labor Day*: ~$65,000 to ~$290,000

Hotels: N/A

Restaurants: Sagg Main Store

Amagansett

Technically within the town of East Hampton, Amagansett has its own special style with delicious restaurants and really nice, sandy beaches.

Amagansett is a lovely resort town for the more low-key Hamptons visitor. It has great boutiques and a musical venue called Stephen Talkhouse where Jon Bon Jovi has performed unannounced.

Average Rental Prices for Memorial Day through Labor Day*: ~$46,000 to ~$170,000

Hotels:Hermitage Resort, Inn at Windmill Lane

Restaurants:Mary’s Marvelous

Water Mill

Artists, authors, and actors love Water Mill for its charming residential community. You’re not going to find a lot of parties or nightlife in this quiet hamlet, but if relaxation is what you’re after, Water Mill delivers.

But don’t let the pastoral setting fool you. Lots of celebrities and executives have homes here for the summer to capitalize on the idyllic surroundings.

Average Rental Prices for Memorial Day through Labor Day*: ~$45,000 to ~$150,000

Hotels: N/A

Restaurants:Robert’s, Sabrosa Mexican Grill

Montauk

During the day, surfers flock to Montauk's Ditch Plains Beach for the best waves on Long Island before the pubs take over with a nightlife scene that draws both hipster and local crowds to this fisherman's village.

Best for families, Montauk has become the most expensive place to stay in New York State. For tourist attractions, there are plenty of lighthouses to visit, beaches to walk down, and lobster to enjoy.

Average Rental Prices for Memorial Day through Labor Day*: ~$50,000 to ~$150,000

Hotels:Ruschmeyer’s, Panoramic View, Solé East Resort

Restaurants:St Peter’s Catch, Zum Schneider Montauk, South Edison, Dave’s Grill

Bridgehampton

Bridgehampton is a trendy vacation destination for the super rich — in fact, about two-thirds of its population are part-time home owners (which means rentals are not hard to come by!).

This town is really big with the equestrian crowd since Bridgehampton hosts the annual Hampton Classic Horse Show in late August. There are also cute boutiques, wineries, and restaurants for vacationers to try.

Average Rental Prices for Memorial Day through Labor Day*: ~$60,000 to ~$190,000

Hotels:Bridgehampton Inn

Restaurants:Mercado, Topping Rose House

*Note: 2015 rental price ranges were for current four-bedroom rental homes and were averaged from Memorial Day through Labor Day prices on Brown Harris Stevens, Sotheby’s International Realty, and Corcoran Real Estate. Ranges do not account for rental outliers.

SEE ALSO: Meet the residents of 'Billionaire Lane' in the Hamptons

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In a northern section of Hong Kong there once stood one of the most densely populated places on earth.

From the 1950s until 1994, over 33,000 people lived and worked in Kowloon Walled City, a massive complex of 300 interconnected buildings that took up a city block.

Caught between China and the British-run Hong Kong government, the city was essentially lawless, equally known for its opium dens and organized crime as its dentists' offices. 

Photographer Greg Girard spent years investigating and documenting the strange place before it was demolished. Girard collaborated with Ian Lambot, another photographer, on a book about Kowloon, titled "City of Darkness Revisited," available here.

Girard has shared a number of photos from the project here, and you can check out the rest at the book's website.

Kowloon Walled City was a densely populated, ungoverned settlement in Kowloon, an area in northern Hong Kong. What began as a Chinese military fort evolved into a squatters' village comprising a mass of 300 interconnected high-rise buildings.

The city began as a low-rise squatter village during the early 20th century. After World War II, Hong Kong experienced a massive influx of Chinese immigrants. This led to a lack of housing in the city. In response, entrepreneurs and those with "squatter's rights" in Kowloon built high rise buildings on the space to capitalize on the housing demand.

At its peak, more than 33,000 people lived in the 6.4-acre city. It was considered by many to be the most densely populated place on earth.

On a budget of $3,500 a month, you'll mostly find one and two-bedrooms in Manhattan and Brooklyn. But in Queens and Staten Island? You can find houses with three and more bedrooms.

MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN: 2-bed, 1-bath co-op with marble flooring and a two-person tub in a smoke-free doorman building at 205 West 54th Street (between Seventh and Eighth). $3,500/month, no broker's fee.

CHELSEA, MANHATTAN: 1-bed, 1-bath condo with an open kitchen and stainless appliances in a full-service building with a 10,000-square-foot private courtyard at 555 West 23rd Street (between Tenth and 11th). $3,500/month.

EAST HARLEM, MANHATTAN: 2-bed, 2-bath floor-through apartment with a private garden in a pet-friendly elevator building at 419 East 117th Street (between First and Pleasant). $3,500/month, no broker's fee, $250 Costco gift card.

COBBLE HILL, BROOKLYN: 1-bed, 1-bath co-op with tree-top and courtyard views and a decorative fireplace in an elevator building with laundry facilities on the same floor at 124 Atlantic Avenue (between Henry and Hicks). $3,500/month. 

 BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN: 1-bed, 1-bath condo with built-in bookshelves and a washer/dryer in a five-story, pre-war building at 69 Pineapple Street (between Henry and Hicks).

ASTORIA, QUEENS:  3-bed, 1-bath recently renovated with an eat-in kitchen in a pet-friendly two-family house at 22-03 35th Street (between 23rd and Ditmars). $3,500/month. 

FRESH MEADOWS, QUEENS: 3.5-bed, 1.5-bath house with custom closets and a washer/dryer, with a backyard at 7533 167th Street (between 73rd and Union Turnpike). $3,500/month.

KINGSBRIDGE, THE BRONX: 3-bedroom, 2-bath with a sunken living room and recently renovated kitchen in an elevator, pet-friendly building at 3660 Waldo Avenue (at West 238th Street). $3300/month, no broker's fee.

SHORE ACRES, STATEN ISLAND: 3-bed, 3-bath house with a two-car garage and kidney shaped in-ground pool at 45 Seagate Road. $3,000/month.

SEE ALSO: See inside the most expensive penthouse in New York City

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NOW WATCH: We Did The Math: Should You Buy Or Rent In These Major Cities?

Like a lot of people, Mark Stevenson has had it with rent prices.

His Walnut Creek, CA apartment complex raised the rent last year, and he recently learned that his 1-bedroom unit is headed up another $351, to $1,830 a month.

“Here’s my dilemma: Renew a 12-month rental lease complete with a 24 percent mugging, or buy a condo,” Stevenson said. “I’m looking to buy now.”

That could be a good financial bet, given the findings from Zillow’s latest Home Price Expectations Survey. A panel of more than 100 experts predicted:

• U.S. home values will rise 4.4 percent in 2015, to a median value of $187,040.
• Median U.S. home values will exceed their pre-recession peak of $196,400 by May 2017.
• 51 percent expect rental affordability will not improve for at least two years.

Already, renting is half as affordable as buying, something Danville, CA broker Kevin Kieffer of Keller Williams Realty hears about all the time.

“‘My landlord is getting ready to hike the rent by $200, and I’ve got to buy:’ Since 2001, I haven’t heard that more consistently than I am now,” Kieffer said.

The issue is basic economics: Demand is outstripping supply.

“Vacancy rates on rental units in the fourth quarter were down to 7 percent, the lowest in more than 20 years,” said David W. Berson, chief economist for Nationwide Insurance.

The squeeze could continue for years, said Berson, who participated in the survey.

Rents will rise as millennials strike out on their own — but not all of them will rent. “If a larger share start to move toward [buying], the rent increase will not be quite as rapid,” he said.

The situation is worse in some places than in others.

In Dallas, for example, a renter making the median household income spends 27.7 percent of it on rent. In Chicago, it’s 31.5 percent; in New York, 40.5 percent and in Los Angeles, 47.9 percent.

More than half of the survey panelists who had an opinion said the market will correct the nation’s soaring rents, requiring no government intervention.

“Uncle Sam can certainly do a lot, but I worry we’ve become too accustomed to automatically seeking federal assistance for housing issues big and small, instead of trusting markets to correct themselves and without waiting to see the impact of decisions made at a local level,” said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries.

What does that mean for the average renter deciding whether to buy?

Homeownership certainly isn’t for everyone. Renters should consider how much they have in savings, how long they expect to live there and other factors — but they shouldn’t expect a break on rents.

SEE ALSO: What to know before buying your first home

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NOW WATCH: We Did The Math: Should You Buy Or Rent In These Major Cities?

A huge apartment on New York City's Upper West Side has just been listed for $42 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The 7,000-square-foot apartment is in one of Manhattan’s first co-op buildings from the 1930s. 

On the 9th floor of the 18-story residence, the apartment is bright and airy with huge windows that look out on the city. It has five bedrooms, a library, a maid’s room, and not one but two living rooms.

According to the WSJ, the anonymous owners bought the home for $12.2 million in 2003 and renovated it with an updated layout and smart home features. The result is a light, white apartment with pops of color.

Randall Gianopulos and Serena Boardman of Sotheby’s International Realty are sharing the listing.

Welcome to the 7,000-square-foot apartment on Central Park West selling for $42 million.

The home has two living rooms and 14 huge windows that face east towards the park.

The kitchen is at the center of the home with bar seating, a center island, and the latest appliances.

Photographer Jay Maisel purchased 190 Bowery in 1966 for $102,000. The property has recently been sold for an astounding $55 million to real estate investor Aby Rosen. And for the first time here's an exclusive look inside the iconic bank turned mansion. 

Video courtesy of Digital Destinations 

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On 2.5 acres in Houston, Texas, an anonymous owner has erected an enormous 27,000-square-foot chateau that’s being sold for $43 million.

The newly built monumental mansion is reminiscent of Versailles with hand-painted decorations, period-inspired molding, and its lavishly gilted details.

It has eight bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and four half baths, a library, three different kitchens, and a fitness center. There's also has a pool, gardens, outdoor BBQ and fireplace, and pool house on the property. 

Kelli Geitner with Martha Turner Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing.

The newly constructed home sits on 2.5 acres in Houston, Texas.

It's massive with ample grounds and gardens.

The 27,000-square-foot mansion was modeled loosely after Versailles in Paris.

The housing market is making a comeback in many parts of the country.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, sales of new houses increased by nearly 12% overall during 2014 — the most since 2008 — as interest rates remain at historic lows.

RealtyTrac, a company that analyzes national housing data, also notes that 2015 marks the first wave of boomerang buyers — those who served their time in the damaged-credit diaspora after losing homes to foreclosure seven years before.

As hopeful as all that seems, though, harsh memories endure of a real estate crash that saw some property values decline by 50% or more.

So it's not surprising that two fundamentally important questions are on the minds of an understandably cautious public: Can home ownership once again be viewed as a "good investment?" And, if so, what constitutes a "fair price" when values are on the upswing?

First things first: If your principal goal is to generate a rate of return — say from renting out the property and/or its appreciating value over time — then your decision deserves to be made with as much care as it would for any other financial investment.

But if your motivation for buying a house is to set down roots, it makes more sense to base your decision on the relative value of the property, and its potential to keep pace with — if not to surpass — the rate of inflation, all future upgrades taken into account. Here's what I mean by that.

What is a good investment?

Eight years ago, my mother reached the point where she required around-the-clock care in an institutional setting. Given the high cost, my siblings and I concluded that the best course of action was to sell her house —the same house she and my dad bought 38 years before.

Fortunately for my mom, the market hadn't yet turned, and the sale yielded a significant amount of cash profit — a little more than seven times the property's basis (i.e. what my folks paid for the place plus the improvements they made over time).

After finalizing the sale, one of my brothers shook his head in wonder and said, "Boy, Mom and Dad sure made a great investment." But was that really the case?

As it turns out, the rate of return on that so-called investment amounted to 5.19% — roughly on par with the yield on then-current 30-year Treasury bonds and only about a half percent better than the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation over the same period. Certainly not the level at which you would expect an investment to perform but, then again, there was nothing speculative about my folks' decision to buy that house — their goal was to find a place for us to live.

The key consideration for my parents, however, was no different from what it is today for house-hunting consumers: to strike a deal at the right price.

A straightforward way to compare

Real estate agents often talk about comparative values, or "comps," where the prices of recently sold and currently listed properties within close proximity are used to justify a particular house's asking price. Although that can help give you a sense for a community's general affordability, it's not nearly as precise as you should want for a big-dollar expenditure.

Fortunately, there is a better way to assess relative values.

Start by separating all the outlays that are associated with home ownership into three categories: acquisition, ownership and operating.

The acquisition cost is just that — the purchase price plus any fees or charges that are unique to the transaction.

Ownership costs are annually recurring expenses, such as for property taxes and homeowners insurance.

Operating costs include for utilities (electric and non-electric fuels), water (if publically supplied) and, to the extent that it may vary between properties, for cable, trash pickup (if privately arranged) and property management (if you plan on subcontracting that). The real estate agent or broker should be able to provide most of this information.

Then, divide the sum totals for each of these three categories by the square footages of the various structures under consideration (factoring in the size of the lot may complicate matters) and you'll be in a position to evenly compare their relative values, three thought-provoking ways.

Not only will that help you to negotiate for a "right" price for the property you want, but you'll also have a head start on creating a monthly budget once you've included the principal and interest components of your monthly mortgage payment (don't double-count the escrowed real estate taxes and insurance) and provide for routine repairs and service contracts.

Incidentally, this approach works equally as well for rentals. Simply swap out rental payments for the purchase price and divide by square feet. And, as always, take care to limit rental and mortgage payments to no more than 25% of gross income so that you have enough left over to furnish the place. There are free online calculators such as this one that can help you to estimate how much house you can afford.

More from Credit.com

• The Home Affordability Calculator
• How to Get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage
• What Should My Monthly Housing Budget Be?

SEE ALSO: About Half Of Homebuyers Make This Expensive Mistake

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A triplex penthouse at the Chetrit Group’s 550 Madison Avenue will have the astronomical price tag of $150 million and is slated to shatter the record for the city’s priciest listing, The Real Deal has learned.

The $150 million penthouse will encompass floors 33 through 35 of the 37-story tower between 55th and 56th streets, according to an offering plan filed with the New York Attorney General’s Real Estate Finance Bureau and reviewed by TRD. 

The residence will be serviced by a private elevator and will measure a whopping 21,504 square feet – a vast space that will hold eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms and 10 powder rooms, according to the offering plan. Douglas Elliman is listed as the selling agent.

The asking price per square foot for the 550 Madison triplex is about $6,975, in comparison to the $10,489 per square foot the Zeckendorfs are planning to ask for their $130 million triplex atop 520 Park Avenue. Chetrit is bringing 96 ultra-luxe condos to Sony’s former headquarters for a total sellout of $1.8 billion, as TRD reported.  

The developer and an investor group paid $1.1 billion for the property in 2013. The principal sponsors of the condos are Meyer Chetrit and David Bistricer of Clipper Equity.

The city’s current pricing listing is a $118 million three-unit combination at the Ritz Carlton in Battery Park City. Meanwhile, a $100.5 million penthouse condo at Gary Barnett’s One57 became the city’s priciest-ever condo sale when it closed last year for about $9,200 per square foot.

Before that, the $88 million purchase in 2012 of Sanford Weill’s 15 Central Park West penthouse, which closed  for about $13,000 per square foot, was the highest price paid for a Manhattan pad.

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