Buy a condo for less than a new car

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http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/02/real_estate/condos_less_than_cars/index.htm?hpt=T2

Reading about the ones in south Florida for around $25K made me think of my mother selling her condo in Fort Lauderdale (1 bed, 1.5 baths, small older building) in summer 2005 for $350K. :bugeye: That building is on a canal and the unit included a dock space, so I expect even nowadays it would sell for a bit more than average. Still, the last time we heard from the person who lives in the unit next door, about a year ago, the word was that prices were down a lot and some of the units were vacant.

My mother got out at just the right time. I think it was the following winter that housing prices in south Florida hit their peak and started to collapse.

Now that I look back on it some more, I think one reason prices went so high in her building was that that particular island was starting to be redeveloped. Right across the street, several older rental-apartment buildings had been torn down and a big new condominium was going up, with units for sale in the range of several $100K to $1M. I think the expectation was that my mother's building would follow suit eventually. I think that new building never did get finished.
 
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jtbell said:
Even if I had spelled out all the way, it still might not have helped. Do you know the joke about the definition of the word "condominium?" :biggrin:
No, I don't! Smile:
 
Okay I will be the wet blanket. In my area the issue is not finding cheap, there are many of cheap units and houses, but it is the maintanence fees. From 200 a month to 1800. In 2 years.

From my understand a lot of the developers created "property management" companies and the housing coop has a long term contract with that mangement company.

In my area you can a place for 10,000, but the management fees are unbelievable.