Hi, Im looking for somewhere in central London and I don’t have a great deal of money to spend so I am not looking for anything too expensive.

I’ve heard of people who have a rent controlled apartments and pay barely anything for rent because their grandmother used to live in the apartment 50 years ago. How is it possible for a family to maintain a rent-controlled/stabilized apartment even when the original tenant has moved away or died? How can one apartment remain in the same family for multiple generations? Is this even legal?

Is it ok for a landlord to rent a flat to someone that works as an escort?
And can a landlord get in trouble with the police for allowing a escort to rent a flat . Or am I just worrying to much.

What are passport issues for a longer stay, where’s good safe lower rent neighborhoods for apartments near Metro? Any good resources to find apartments? She’s doing online school, so we can travel, need internet.

I’m considering to live in beijing for half an year, where can i find information on house-renting? Any websites that provide such service? As I had no experience in renting a house, how should I judge whether the rent fare is fair or not?what documents do I need to sign?

“I’m caught in a trap

I can’t walk out

because I love you too much Baby”

Beijing is caught in ‘trap’ over dollar
By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing

Published: May 25 2009 03:00 | Last updated: May 25 2009 03:00

China’s official foreign exchange manager is still buying record amounts of US government bonds, despite Beijing’s increasingly vocal fear of a dollar collapse, according to officials and analysts.

In recent months, senior Chinese officials, including Premier Wen Jiabao, have repeatedly signalled their concern that US policies could lead to a collapse in the dollar and global inflation.

But Chinese and western officials in Beijing say China is caught in a “dollar trap” and has little choice but to keep pouring the bulk of its growing reserves into the US Treasury, which remains the only market big enough and liquid enough to support its huge purchases.

In March alone, China’s direct holdings of US Treasury securities rose by $23.7bn (£14.9bn) to reach a new record high of $768bn, according to preliminary US data, allowing China to retain its title as the biggest creditor of the US government.

“Because of the sheer size of its reserves Safe [China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange] will immediately disrupt any other market it tries to shift into in a big way and could also collapse the value of its existing reserves if it sold too many dollars,” said a western official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The composition of China’s reserves is a state secret but dollar assets are estimated to comprise as much as 70 per cent of the $1,953bn total. China owns nearly a quarter of the US debt held by foreigners, according to US Treasury data.

The collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the US mortgage financiers, last summer prompted Safe to adjust its strategy and buy far more short-term US government securities, instead of longer-maturity bonds and notes.

But Safe has not fundamentally changed its strategy of allocating the bulk of its burgeoning foreign exchange reserves to US Treasury securities, a western adviser familiar with Safe thinking told the Financial Times.

He said Safe traders were “very negative” on sterling because of expectations of renewed weakness of the UK currency, but Safe was neutral on the euro and bullish on the Australian dollar.

The pound ended last week at its strongest since December, shrugging off a warning over the UK’s soaring public debt from ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.

The US dollar fell to its lowest level of the year against major currencies last week. Treasury yields spiked to six-month highs as investors focused on the willingness of creditors to fund a deficit that was expected to be about 13 per cent of GDP this year.

China’s buying of US debt helps Washington fund its soaring deficit and there is no indication that Beijing will shy away from purchases, the Obama administration’s budget chief said last week.

> How much does this effect our (U.S.) ability to pressure China on the North Korean nuclear program?

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cb2e1262-48c3-11de-8870-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Thanks Hilbilly, there’s one in every crowd lol.
Lakota – I hear ya. What a mess huh. 2010 is our D-Day to start turning this around. McCain wasn’t at the bottom of my list. He wasn’t even on my list.
Thanks for cheering me up Ol’ Foolosifer. Ha!
Here ya go Christine – KJI as Elvis

http://www.freakingnews.com/Kim-Jong-Elvis-Pics-1919.asp

the game already came out but i wanna rent it to see if its good, and sum games arent for renting

Staying at a hotel will be more expensive then renting an apartment, but will people even rent out to me?

How much should I expect to bring with me so that I cover all expense? (rent, cell, food, misc.)

Please keep in mind that I have two distinct places in mind that I wish to visit: Shibuya, and Tokyo,

Thank you.
So far by looking at your replies I’m guessing I’d have to rent a “serviced apartment” and have about $100/day to spend.

I estimated I’d need $27,000 (MAX) for ALL aspects of the trip:

plane:$2,000
apart:$5,000/mo. (I know I can find cheaper)
etc.: $10,000 (Food/etc.)

does this sound about right? and if so, I don’t feel comfortable carrying around that much money on hand, are there any banks that are connected to banks in the U.S. so that I can transfer my money?

Thank you, again.

I’m currently planning my trip to Tokyo. I’m looking for work there (I know that I need a work visa in this case) and also am looking for a place to live at.

I’m very tight on budget (well, not very, but the cheaper the better). Could be just a one-room apartment.
I don’t really feel like having any roommates.
I’d prefer the area to be pretty safe for a girl to walk alone in the evening.
Websites for that kind of stuff are welcome.
Are there any rooms/apartments for rent that are located, for example, above family restaurants and such?

And also, preferably Ikebukuro (I think I almost got a job there). Could you, please, also tell me what it’s like to live in Ikebukuro? What’s good? What’s not?

Thank you

We are looking to move to London soon and we were wondering if it is cheaper to rent a furnished apartment or an unfurnished one? If the apartment is furnished do you have to pay extra to have the furniture removed?

Would appreciate any insights. Thanks!