Taxes, food and housing are expensive everywhere. Our leaders most maintain some sort of lifestyle as they would appear beggars when they visited other countries. Listen to me you crybabies. I came here in 1994 and worked washing dishes. I saved my meager earnings by living cheaply. I watched the real estate market and when the time was right I jumped in. Some relatives back in NY helped me fund our purchases. I worked hard to direct the renovation of many of them. Others were already in good shape. Now we get top rental prices on these apartments. I personally think the rents should be higher by about 30 percent as it is costly to maintain things when people don't take good care of things. If you think apartment rents are high here you should move to NYC where I live during the hot months here. So quit complaining and save your money.