Did you catch The Opportunist's Guide to Real Estate from New York magazine? Pretty fascinating piece... The mag put together a list of NYC neighborhoods that flourished in the '80s, dipped during the early '90s, and then came storming right back through the mid '00s. Huge, huge numbers for some of these... Take a look at the list's Manhattan neighborhoods:

| Neighborhood | '80s Gains | '89 - '96 Losses | '96 - '06 Gains | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | East Harlem | +355% | -43% | +500% | | Lower East Side and Chinatown | +262% | -31% | +203% | | Washington Heights and Inwood | +241% | -40% | +333% | | Clinton and Chelsea | +236% | -40% | +232% |

As the article notes, according to NYU, numbers like these suggest these neighborhoods will be among the biggest gainers when the market strengthens. Pretty impressive, huh? Sometimes it helps to take a long-term look at things, especially things like real estate investments. Might even help put the current down market in perspective. What do you think?