price-to-rent of 50

Those are my only choices? Well, I guess I'll buy for $45MM, since in this theoretical I have that much money to blow.

At those numbers, people don't use spreadsheets. They just do whatever the fuck they want.

People looking at those numbers, can just do both.

People at that level don't use ratios.
They just do whatever the f*ck they want.

Not sure we understand dealboy, can you rephrase?

They don't usually get to that level without understanding financial ratios.

nada, for high-end properties > $3mm, renting is always cheaper. At the same time very few such properties are available for long-term rentals say >2 years.

Yes, and then at some point, they don't need to care anymore.
You still ask how much a chocolate bar costs?

inonada would also have you believe that apartments in this price range don't hold their value:

http://www.observer.com/2011/07/william-lie-wows-em-again-wassersteins-old-pad-in-contract-for-well-over-ask/
Could William Lie Zeckendorf be the shrewdest man in New York City real estate?
The only thing more surprising than the news just over a month ago that Mr. Zeckendorf was selling the top half of the late Bruce Wasserstein’s old duplex at 927 Fifth Avenue—which he fought off a number of other buyers for in a madcap one-day auction—is that he found a buyer less than a week after putting it on the market. Not only that, but according to a number of sources, the five-bedroom spread went for “well over” its $31.5 million asking price after some zealous bidding. One broker said the price could even be in excess of $34 million.

300_mercer, do you have any actual experience in that market? I don't know where your "> 2 years" comment is coming from, but I think you are dead wrong. Maybe in suburbia, but certainly not here.

Anyone know if there are new giudelines in place for the income ratio for renting based on the current economy that landlords might be pushing now?