The Good Old Granada Towers

In the 1980’s, I was a young man in my 20’s. I was planning to leave my mothers house to live on my own for the first time in my life. Yes, It was that time. Time for me to leave the nest.

As a newcomer to the real estate market, I had to first decide whether I wanted to rent or buy. I knew “buying” my own piece of real estate would be the right thing to do as long as I could afford it. Being only in my 20’s, I figured the value of my investment can only go up by the time the mortgage is paid-off. Okay, so now what do I buy? House, Condo or Co-op? As a single young man I felt a house would be a bit more than I needed and I could probably not afford it anyway. Condos and Co-ops seemed to be up and coming then and the more affordable options. I did research into what would be the better real estate option for me. After just a couple of days of research, I decided a Condominium would be a better option for me since Co-ops seemed to have more restrictions and less benefits for my purpose.

Now the next option was… What do I want to spend on this Condo? I soon came up with my answer which was “As cheap as possible”. Of course this was not a defined figure and certainly not an acceptable answer to give a realtor. Upon further financial research, I came up with a figure of $100,000 maximum.

The final option was the hardest option… Where do I want to live on Long Island? I lived on the Northshore of Long Island all my life. I moved with my family to various places within Queens and Nassau Counties, but always on the Northshore. I guess I could even venture out to Suffolk county but I felt that was too far away from my friends, family and work. That’s when I went to the local newspaper called “Newsday” and opened it up to the Real Estate section to start my search. I looked at all the City’s, Towns, Villages, Hamlets, etc. in Long Island that offered condominiums. At that time there were a decent amount of condos available in various areas but not as many as there are today.

I found a good amount of Condos available in the City of Long Beach. Now the question was where in Long Beach? Eastend or Westend? By the Water or by the City? Condos by the water had the Pro of being by the beach which I thought was great for three months out of the year. I found the Cons of being by the beach outweighed the Pros. To me, the Cons were: Higher Sales Prices, Higher Maintenance Common Charges, Reduced Parking availability, Distant to Shopping, Restaurants, LIRR, Etc.  Needless to say, I decided I could easily walk a few short blocks to the beach so I will choose to live close to the City amenities. Maybe if I had a surfboard that would change things. In fact, I never even touched one yet always admired them from a distance.

In looking further at the newspaper real estate section, this one listing in particular caught my eye. A Brand New Condo in a 1929 Historical Landmark Building. Wow, I liked the sound of my first condo being brand new yet with the charms and character of a Landmark Mediterranean Style Building. This listing was for a 600+ Sq Ft one bedroom condo for the purchase price of $70,000. I immediately called the Real Estate office “Metzger and Topper Realty”. They were also the Management company for the condominium. I came to see this condo unit and signed the contract that same day.

After living there for a few years, I met a young woman who later became my wife in 1998. Obviously, she moved into the Granada Towers with me the day after our marriage. This condo worked out convenient for us because it was walking distance to the LIRR Train Station and she worked in New York City. Weekday mornings she would walk to the train station and be guaranteed to get a seat on the train because Long Beach is the first station on that train line. Most days we would leave our cars parked and walk everywhere we had to go. The Supermarket was (and still is) diagonally across the street so it was easy for us to walk the groceries home. Meanwhile, some summer weekends we would take a short walk down Riverside Blvd to the beach. Location, location, location!

For the most part, Long Beach was good for us. A couple years later, my wife wanted to be closer to her mother, who lived on the extreme Northshore. I was disappointed but I wanted to make her happy as a newlywed husband should. We decided to rent the condo out so we could still have it if ever we change our minds. I rented it to various people, couples, and families. It was always a profitable rental for us and it was never vacant more than a day due to the high demand of Long Beach. We rented it out effortlessly for many years until one day a tenant of mine asked me if she could buy the condo. She was a wonderful single woman, so I decided to give her the same opportunity I had. I believe the year was 2002 and yes, I made a profit but not a killing.

Today (2026) Zillow Estimates this same exact unit for over $400,000. Wow, and I bought it for just $70,000 in the 1980’s.