OMG! 2BR New York Apartments for $10

Say what you will about urban renewal, but it certainly creates some notable real estate situations.

Take the story of the nine tenants who live in two adjoining buildings in Manhattan's East Village, pictured at left. Once a thriving neighborhood, the streets around Second Avenue and First Street fell victim a few decades ago to arsons-for-hire, leaving many of the neighborhood buildings graffiti-scarred and abandoned.

But neighborhoods don't stay the same forever, especially in New York. In a classic urban renewal story, the city took over derelict buildings and sold them to nonprofits and private developers. Now high-rises loom over the few remaining low-rise wrecks, and the neighborhood is one of the city's hippest. And therein lies the irony.