As soon as we leave our apartment complex and turn right to head east on the lightly traveled 133rd Street, we cross a main North-South street. On the north corner, a development of houses that sell for $500-750,000 begins and extends for the next 1/2 mile. Over that same 1/2 mile stretch on the south side of the street, there is another nice apartment complex on the corner, a 5 story office building at the 1/4 mile mark and finally two 3-story condominium buildings.
The condominiums have been somewhat of a mystery. We drive by these buildings every week. I pass them frequently on one of my prayer walks. I hardly ever see cars parked outside or people in them. The lack of observed activity over the last year had made me curious about them.
They sign at the foot of the driveway says that they have an “Open House” every Sunday. Yesterday, on the way home from church, we decided to take a peek.
We were greeted by a realtor who informed us that the 2nd story unit we were in was 2,800 square feet! It had a very spacious, creative layout. The kitchen had Viking appliances, granite counter-tops. The bathrooms had jacuzzi tubs, separate showers, spacious, well appointed walk in closets. Really nice!
The price…
One point one million dollars!
…plus homeowner fees (I didn’t ask)
The realtor informed us that we were standing in “the last unit of this size so the market price has been firmly established”. Maybe in New York or Boston…but in Kansas?
“You have such a great view. Look at it!”
The condos back up to a small shopping center!
On our way out, the realtor encouraged us to also look at the 1,900 square foot unit on the bottom floor. It was a “bargain” at $550,000.
As we walked out the front door, we couldn’t help but notice the beautiful houses across the street that cost the same as the “bargain” condo. As we drove that last 1/2 mile to our apartment, that “exclusive, luxury condo” began to look like a glorified version of our apartment!
$1.1 MILLION???
You can buy a whole bunch of house and then pay people to maintain it for a lot less than that.
I can’t quite get my brain wrapped around that. Then again, I have also not been smart enought to earn that amount of money either.
