When did the condo first appear?

[bmurphy]

Originally Posted by Need_affordable_home

You can get a good price on a 55+ condo. If you decide to live in north FL expect to pay $75k to $100k for a 2/2 55+ condo. I dont know how much rent is but I wouldnt rent more than a year since its much cheaper to buy than rent

My parents dont like condos either and when they downsize, itll be a smaller 1 story detached house

$75-100k is not a reasonable price for a condo anymore, at least not in that area. $75k in general is not usually going to get you a great home.

[Need_affordable_home]

For a 55+ condo it is. They cost much less than regular condos. You can get a 1/1 55+ in my neck of the woods for as little as $50k and its not ghetto, its retirement

[Karla with a K]

Originally Posted by Need_affordable_home

For a 55+ condo it is. They cost much less than regular condos. You can get a 1/1 55+ in my neck of the woods for as little as $50k and its not ghetto, its retirement

Thats there, where there is a higher number of senoirs. Your post told folks that in North FL you could find those prices.

You can't I live here

[lulu]

I'm trying to think back & I think the first condo's I saw were back in the early 70's....Fountainbleu area around 87th ave. I might be wrong, but I don't recall any others right in Miami. It was basically Post WWII older homes all around...and I remember lots of new construction going on, of single family homes, during the 70's. Lots of rental apts. but no high rises or anything like that. South beach was full of smaller hotels w/retired folks that lived there.
Hmmmmmmm...I'm getting nostalgic again thinking back. Anyone know of a town or place with that 50ish-60ish Miami feeling w/leg room??? I sure would love a place like that again before I die.

[tallrick]

I lived near a place called "snapper creek townhouses" and they also built Kendalltown and condos called Kendall acres" and Kendall Acres West" in the 70's. Also remember seeing fountainbleau when the waterfalls actually worked. Also remember a multistory condo built in the 70's in Kendale Lakes.

South beach was full of cheap run down hotels full of people waiting for God. The beach was often crowded, but there were more families then. Parking was easier and we didn't have the ghetto celebrities we have now. Yes it was better then! They had some high rise hotels on the northern part of the beach, but it was a lot nicer before the condo came on to the scene. South Florida had it own unique style, something the latins and new northeastern migrants have been erasing since the 80's. You can still find those 50's-60's homes, but few if any are affordable, and no one besides me can build them anymore because they don't want to. The 50's luxury look was everywhere, from stores to homes to bowling alleys. That quality and style was lost in the 80's and will never return to Miami, ever. People today demend restrictive zoning and want overembellished Mcmansions and those that can't afford them live in multifamily structures with the same ugly details.

[angelo7221]

Towers of Kendale Lakes (13951 Kendale Lakes Cir) were put up in 1973..The Racquet Club of Kendale Lakes (probably one of the hardest condo communities in West Kendall to get into) were pu up 4 years later. The ones on 8755 Fountainbleau Blvd were put up in 1973 or 1974....at the time Kendale Lakes Country Club was one of the nicest places to live in Kendall....I remember having lived in paradise eternal until the mid 80's or so.

One of the first condo buildings in Miami Beach had to have been the Morton Towers on 1500 Bay Rd....after the Flamingo Hotel was torn down..Miami Dade public records has it down as being built in 1960..apts then but still a high-rise...but this is of course just a guess. Octagon Towers on 1881 Washington Ave was put up in 1966. Also you have to take into account all the high-rises that the elderly Jewish people live in in Ft Lauderdale and in Palm Beach county near Jupiter Inlet Colony area. The ones in Ft Lauderdale seem to be situated en masse near the 17 st Cswy and Ocean Blvd (south of it..after it loses its interstate status and becomes a mere residential road..Harbor Heights neighborhood..tucked in the back along se 23 ave)

And when were the Hillcrest condos put up...lots of condos where Jewish people and now Peruvian/Jamaican/Haitians/transplants live...I think those were put up somewhere around 1967.

I think those may be a lot older...I think Miami Beach sort of originated the condo trend and all the other coasty towns followed suit.

Condo buildings with good security, primarily well-off Cubans (in Miami buildings that don't have security and whose access are controlled by the residents are the best)

999 E Ponce De Leon Blvd (originally jewish I'm assuming)
343 Majorca Ave (Casa Majorca)
Anything situated on the 400-600 block of Coral Way across overlooking the golf course
1200 Brickell Bay Dr
I'd say any condo building in Coral Gables with a callbox in front (and a semi-decent HOA that can keep track of both thumbs) does a pretty good job with weeding out the riff-raff...