Best Headline of the Day

"House sales climb -- home prices now cheaper than a tank of gas." -- today on Fairway Supermarket electronic "zipper" sign above West Side Highway at 133d Street in Harlem, New York City. Smart-aleck Noo Yawkers? You better believe it. In between advertising its daily specials in gigantic letters, the zipper has some fun. During the scare about contaminants found in imported Chinese fish, the zipper blared: "USDA set to recall Beijing Olympics."

US City Dwellers: Swap for Paris?

"Do you have a personal home exchange season - like summer time - or do your home exchange requests vary according to your changing personal and business demands?" asks Ursula Godwin Niesmann, founder of Jewett Street, the well-established home swap agency based in Germany. She says that among European members of her group, "2- to 3-week summer swaps to major North American cities like New York, San Francisco, Montreal or Vancouver are very popular." And #1 choice among Americans, "despite the weak dollar": Paris. (Photo above is one of the Paris offerings -- a villa on the Ile de France with three bedrooms You can see more choices at the Jewett Street Web site.

No Debt: BelleHavens' Smart Club Pitch

The destination club BelleHavens, which is in the same deluxe class as Exclusive Resorts and Quintess, has a unique selling point that should appeal to mortgage-wary travelers: the homes in its portfolio are owned by members rather than the club's overseers, and are debt-free. BelleHavens thus calls itself the first "equity membership" club with asset protection as a key factor. That doesn't mean that visits to properties such as those at La Quinta, CA (shown); Palm Coast, FL; Kohala Coast, Hawaii; Hilton Head, SC; Los Cabos, Mexico; and midtown Manhattan come cheaply. The current price of a BelleHavens Equity Membership is a one-time deposit of $225,000 and annual dues of $18,500. Still, that means a reasonable average price of about $615 per night based on 30 nights annual usage. And peace of mind? Priceless.

Second Home Slump? Not in NYC

While formerly hot second home markets like Miami Beach, Las Vegas and Fort Myers slump, New York City, especially Manhattan, soars. Example: A Time Warner Center 3,000+square foot 65-floor condo, sold by Ricky Martin last year for $9.75 million, is for sale again for almost double: $18.9 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Pop star paid about $6.8 in 2004 for 7-room pied-a-tierre in the sky.

Real estate agents in the Pocono Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania are touting the area as an affordable alternative to other vacation-home meccas within striking distance of both the New York City and Philadelphia metro areas. They estimate that one-quarter of the houses in the Poconos are vacation homes. Typical buyers? Couples under 40, with kids, who don't have a fortune.

What's available? From one broker, ERA Anderson real estate in Stroudsburg, come these examples:

1. 3 bedroom, 2-bathroom chalet on 1½ acres for $159,000
2. 11-room, 4,738-square-foot traditional-style home, built in 2000, with four bedrooms and 2½ baths on 1.3 acres listed for $379,900
3. 1-acre lot to build on, with an existing septic tank, priced at $34,000

Thanks to Shannon Roxborough of www.northjersey.com, whose story this is adapted from.