Last weekend, 77 signed in at a comparable apartment on West 79th Street.

The comparable fifth-floor apartment went for $1.6 million in July 1989, and the one on the 10th floor is now for sale.

After suggesting an asking price for your apartment, can the broker back it up with prices of comparable apartments sold recently?

Those rates, he said, are at least 30 percent lower than for comparable apartments in Manhattan.

The $1,300 difference, he added, would be less than the homeowner would pay to rent a comparable apartment in the community.

There, rent-stabilized tenants paid, on average, $337 a month less than they would have for comparable market-rate apartments, the study found.

In some cases, they may even pay less rent than would be required for a comparable rent-stabilized apartment.

Residents can even check up on the recent sale prices of comparable apartments.

"A comparable apartment last year would have gone for about $1,400."

She has no intention of ever selling her one-bedroom, though a comparable apartment sold for well over $600,000 not too long ago.