623 Elizabeth Street as it appeared in 1965
623 Elizabeth Street - Key West - February 2010So many potential buyers have the image of the ideal Key West Cottage etched in their heads. They envision the simple, yet unmistakable, one-story home referred to as a Conch Cottage or Cigar Maker's house. Features usually include an entry door on one side with two windows, historically correct shutters, a shiny metal roof, a pool in the rear, off street parking, a very good Old Town location preferably out of harms way when it comes to flooding, and priced under $500,000. I give you 623 Elizabeth Street, a Key West Cottage that meets many of those ideal expectations. This is how the listing agent at Preferred Properties describes this new listing:
"Classic conch house located in a coveted Old Town neighborhood. Good ceiling heights in the living and bedrooms, with vaulted ceilings in the eat-in kitchen, which has butcher block countertops and custom cabinetry. French doors from the kitchen lead out to a covered dining porch and a nice deep lot. Livable now, with room for personal touches, including a pool and/or additions. Great value in a sought out location."CLICK HERE to see more photos of the interior and rear yard at 623 Elizabeth Street. You will note that the yard does not have a pool. But there is room for a pool and there may be room for a rear second floor addition to expand this old house. I have included a street view of three of the neighboring houses including two at the south which have second story additions.
The house at 623 Elizabeth Street as presently configured has 726 sq ft of living space that sits on a 2300 sq ft lot (23' x 100'). The two neighboring houses sit on the same sized lots and each has an addition and a pool. What none of the four houses has is off street parking.
623 Elizabeth Street is the 3rd house to the leftThe nice thing about a house like 623 Elizabeth Street is the ability of a buyer to move in and take some time before deciding to remodel the house because remodeling is an elective decision, not a requirement.
623 Elizabeth Street is located at the tippy-top of Solares Hill so flood insurance will not be required should you need a mortgage. The house is a two block walk to Duval Street, a five minute walk to the Historic Key West Seaport, and five minutes or less to numerous great coffee shops and restaurants. The Red Barn Theatre, The Waterfront Playhouse, The San Carlos, and Tropic Cinema are all within a five to ten minute walk. There is always something going on nearby. Who knows you may decide a pool and additional bedrooms for guests are not necessary.
If you would like to see 623 Elizabeth Street, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. in Key West, Florida. Our office is the exclusive Lower Florida Keys affiliate of Christie's Great Estates.
3 comments:
A little history on this house - back in 2004 when the TLC show "Trading Spaces" just started, they used this house and its neighbor, the triplex at 616 Elizabeth Street, as the two houses to swap! Frank Bialec got to redo the one at 616 and Genevieve Gorder got her hands on this. Thankfully, the owners have undone the mess she created here and left it charming and cute. Thought you and your readers would love to know this house is famous - well sort of - by decorating fans of this show and anything to do with the current HGTV design and decor craze!
Thanks for the info. I should write a blog about TV shows that leave the impression one can paint a room, remove some stuff, and build a thing-a-jig and sell a house. It does not work that way and there are lots of houses in Key West that are a testament to what I just wrote.
The poor house at 1115 Georgia St was also on one of those shows. It was priced at $1,075,000 in Jan 2005. Today the same real estate company has it priced at $525,000 and it still has not sold-five years later.
TV muscle hunks with super good looks may know how to cobble together a make-shift room divider or wall unit, but when you see one of their creations in real life, you soon see that their arts and crafts, like their life, is all about appearance and not necessarily about function or utility.
Gary
Also, there was another one on Elizabeth Street that was re-done to suit the tastes of the tv designers but not the owner. It was a lovely house that they painted yellow with purple shutters. I know because the owner was really shocked at the work. Later, I saw the same house on HGTV House Hunters and it was white. The couple on the show didn't pick this one but I knew it was the same property. Yes, you could write an entire blog on these shows and what happens after the tv crew leaves behind poor quality construction and the like (think MDF and particle board). I would love to know if any realtors have worked with these shows and their impressions - would make for a fascinating post! Thank you!
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