Beth Stebner

So your heart’s all a-twitter, it’s all you think about and suddenly, you know – you’re finally ready to take the plunge with your significant other. No, you’re not tying the knot. You’re ready to buy a place in the city together. Before you sign on the dotted line, however, stop in the name of love (sorry, couldn't resist). "I've never seen it work out if the couple isn’t at least engaged,” says Karla Saladino, co-founder of Mirador Real Estate.

The idea of high-end, lavish laundromats seems, at first, contradictory: Time is, by definition, one of the biggest luxuries for overloaded, overworked New Yorkers. And isn't a laundromat, by definition, a black hole of time loss, one bedecked with used dryer sheets and old magazines? Plus, thanks to an influx of laundry apps and inexpensive wash-and-fold services, many no longer have to deal with their own washables.