Strange Love in Key West - A True Story

I always preference my little tales of Key West by telling my Dear Readers that the stories are true as opposed to stuff that comes out of Washington and reality television. You can't make up the truth, and, sometimes, the truth hurts.

A few years ago on the week before Christmas, I was setting up a listing of my office to host a Saturday afternoon open house. I turned on the lights and opened the door to the pool at the rear. I placed my open house signs out in front and prepared to talk to passersby.

I had been sitting on the cute-as-can-be front porch when I noticed the neighbor was hanging Christmas lights on his two story duplex home next door to the east. I walked out to the sidewalk and started a conversation. I looked up and saw what I assumed was his wife on the second floor front porch. They kept doing their respective decorating as he told me about the joys of this Old Town location.

He told me something I had not heard before. He said he lived on the first floor of this home and his wife lived on the second. I thought the arrangement odd. It was not until three years ago that I found another couple who also lived in a two story house who shared their spaces the exact same way.  I know a lot of folks who live together no long share their bedrooms, but living in separate floors was rather odd even for Key West.

All of a sudden and without notice the wife dropped the hammer from her hand. The law of gravity set in.  It fell. And landed on her husband's head.   He screamed. I instantly appreciated why they lived in separate parts of the house.

Now there can be two theories as to what happened either of which is plausible. One is the wife dropping the hammer was totally accidental. I as a witness could testify to that in court. I could have told a judge and jury she was totally innocent.  On the other hand, I could testify she waited until I distracted him from what he was doing and then she dropped the hammer squarely on his head.

I have told friends this story for years. I don't really know her intent.  But I thought it very strange what happened occurred while I was there to watch it. Who knows?

1501 Leon Street, Key West - Bank Owned House Back on the Market

BANK OWNED HOUSE - BACK ON THE MARKET.  1501 Leon Street in Key West is a bank owned property that just went back into our MLS as an active listing. The property had been under contract and suddenly the deal fell apart. I spoke with the listing agent who reported the property was ready to close when the buyer failed to close.

I wrote about this house as soon as it hit the MLS last year. It went under contract soon after. In fact the day I went over to take photos, another agent was showing the house to her potential buyers. I drove by the house a couple of times and I saw buyers and agents poking around looking at the house and hypothesizing what they might do with the property.

This was once one family's castle. Of that, I am sure. As you look at the photos and read my narrative, understand what you see is the result of several years of neglect. Where once there was pride of ownership with a fairy tale cottage at the front of the corner lot, today there is a house in need of serious renovation or perhaps tear down and rebuild.

This 2205 square foot home was built in 1958 and sits on an imperfect square lot that measures 88' X 90' or 7920 square feet. That is large for Key West but fits into the neighborhood which is located on the ocean side of the island of Key West. The Atlantic Ocean is located about five blocks to the south.  CLICK HERE for an aerial GOOGLE MAP VIEW. Nearly every home in the immediate area sits on a lot of 5000 square feet or larger which is much larger than you will find in Old Town.

When I first arrived at the house I realized the second story was an addition and not a very attractive one at that. But as I looked at the lot, I immediately started to think what a new owner might do to improve upon what exists today. I went to the back yard where I found a boat and lots of trash. Forget the debris, if you can, and imagine the second floor as no longer existing.

Consider instead expanding the house toward the east on the Flagler Avenue side of the house.  This would provide more privacy at the rear for the construction of a new garden, pool, and deck. I would add new impact windows and doors throughout plus add new insulation and air conditioning.  I would also install a CBS privacy fence on the Flagler and Leon streets similar to the one that exists in the very expensive home on the opposite side of Flagler. See the photo below.

I took photos of the current interiors which you may view if you CLICK HERE. If you were to buy this home, you would certainly clean and paint it at a minimum. You would probably update the kitchen and baths. You would fix up the yard and add landscaping. So what you see in these photos should not give you pause, instead, it you energize your brain to figure out how you could turn this property into something that equals that home across the street.

There are several brand new homes being built within blocks of this location. A new owner could raze this existing house and build all new. The large lot means you could build a home up to around 3,500 sq ft or a house and maybe a pool house. The large lot gives a new owner so many options that are rarely available. 

1501 Leon Street is a bank owned property is now offered at $603,250. CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a showing. I am a buyer's agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. 

713 Emma Street, Key West - Open House Today

Okay all of you romantics in Key West this Valentine's Weekend, bring your beautiful bride or handsome husband to see this adorable two bedroom home located at 713 Emma Street just a couple of blocks from Ft Zach Taylor Beach and only a couple of blocks to Duval Street.

OPEN HOUSE

Sunday

12:00 to 3:00 PM

713 Emma Street

Key West 

From Duval Street at Petronia, walk or drive four blocks to Emma. Turn right. Located 1/2 block on the right.

Packing in Key West

This is a retelling of a true story imparted to me by a lady lawyer who purchased an Old Town  home from me. She lives in a big eastern city throughout most of the year, but spends her winters in Key West. She enjoys the ability to practice her profession in the comfortable environment of her tropical home. She is single and shares her life in Key West with her two dogs which she calls her "puppies".  

My buyer. who I'll call "Annie", told me about a recent event which occurred while she was on a scheduled conference call with various "principles". She said that particular phone call was more productive than she had expected, inferring that not all conference calls work out well.  Annie set the stage for the events that followed. She said she normally leaves all the doors open when she is at home. She loves the fresh air and sunshine, the elements she can't enjoy up north during the winter. She said the conference call principles were making their points when all of a sudden the puppies started barking loudly - the angrily. An unknown woman walked right into Annie's front door with a piece of paper in hand. Annie did not who this woman was or why she was standing inside Annie's house.

Annie told the principles she needed to excuse herself from the phone call and put the telephone on hold. She walked to the woman and asked who she was and why she was inside her house. The lady said "This is my house!" Annie told me she immediately wondered if the precious owner had pulled a maneuver sold the house a second time to someone else. She remembered how tight he was and wondered if he would have tried something like that. She dismissed that thought. The woman then said something about having proof the house was hers. Annie examined the piece of paper. It was some type of rental agreement for Annie's home.

The woman told Annie she had seen the house advertised on Craigslist where she saw a lot of photos. The lady loved the place and paid the $3500 for her upcoming vacation.  Upon first arriving at the house lady could see someone was inside. She called the rental agent who said the last "tenant" had not left the house and was an illegal holdover. The agent said there was nothing he could do. The lady was not deterred and decided to confront the illegal holdover tenant herself whereupon the lady and Annie were facing each other down in the living room. Annie said "I am the owner. I do not rent my house".   The lady realized she had become another victim of a Craigslist rental scam. She agreed to leave.

Before existing, the door still opened, the lady asked Annie a favor.  She said she was expecting a package which was to be shipped to the vacation house address. She asked Annie to call her when the package arrived. Annie agreed. The package was delivered a couple of days later.  Annie looked at the sender's return address: it was a firearms and ammunition dealer. Annie surmised the package contained either a gun or ammunition.

Annie called the lady who returned to Annie's home to retrieve her package. This time the lady waited to be invited inside the house. The two ladies exchanged pleasantries. Annie looked at the box as she handed it over to the lady and said "I'm packing!" The lady said "I'm packing, too!"  They laughed.

Annie told me under other circumstances the day of the telephone conference call could have ended quite differently. She said she might have responded to seeing a stranger walking around in her living room not with a question but with action, and under Florida law that would have been her legal right. Remember the terrible consequences in the Trayvon Martin killing. Florida law gives property owners the right to stand their ground and kill an intruder.

I get phone calls every few weeks from folks who have seen a Craigslist ad for a house which I have written about. The caller often starts out telling me they are a bit suspicious about an ad that sounds to good to be true. Or the tell me the rental agent insists that the renter remit payment by Paypal instead of credit card. I always tell each caller to do a Google search for real estate companies or property management companies that rent vacation rental homes.

1109 Stump Lane, Key West

If a picture is worth a thousand words, there's no stopping me on this house. How cute is the front of 1109 Stump Lane? Wait till you see inside. It looks like the photographer was doing a photo shoot for Ralph Lauren Home or Coastal Living Magazine. It's that adorable!

For readers not familiar with Stump Lane, it is one of those quaint little lanes I like to call the "Slow Lanes of Key West" partly because they are so small, or short, or dead-ended, that drivers cannot get up enough speed to do much of anything. Some slow lanes are accessible only by foot - cars are not allowed. Buyers who want a lot of action and commotion in their lives may not care about today's home because the lane is so quite. Not much happens here. Folks from up north who are tired of hearing traffic and dealing with hordes of people may want to read further. Stump Lane is located between White Street to the east and Frances Street to the west and about 100 feet to the north of Southard Street. The lane has parking on one side of the street which is not a problem for residents as this is not a commercial area. Duval Street is a five to seven minute walk. You can walk to the seaport  in about five minutes. There are gyms and yoga studios on nearby White Street.

Stump Lane was previously called Barracks Lane. That's because it is located just west of the former US Army Barracks located in the triangular area shown in the black and white photo above taken in 1920. I marked the approximate location of 1109 Stump Lane with an "X" in the upper left hand corner. The Historic Sanborn Fire Map shows a house on that location in 1899.  While I could not find a picture of the house itself, I did find a Water Front Pass of Mr. Carl Bervaldi who lived there around World War I. The Army Barracks and other military buildings date back prior to the Civil War. Civilians who worked on the Army base may have lived in one of the  small homes on the nearby streets or lanes. Today most of those old homes have been dolled-up so much that the former occupants would not recognize them. This home has changed very much. However, it does not have an electric doorbell. My house doesn't have one either.

I had shown this home several years ago. I saw it again a few days ago and was surprised to see how much it had changed and yet remained much the same.   The Dade County Pine walls now had a clean white wash look. The original floors were replaced. A hanging barn door apparatus was installed with two 15 light panel doors doors which created a nice division between sitting areas and the dining and kitchen areas.

The kitchen and master bedroom are located in rear additions to the main house. When I say new additions, I mean not parts of the original house. You can tell by the roof line the additions were done in the late 1980s or early 1990s. The high pitched vaulted ceilings create a spatial separation between the kitchen and dinning areas. French doors at the rear flood the kitchen with daytime light. I think whoever did the decorating in this house knew what they were doing. The house is totally different and definitely more inviting. Before the brownish walls made the rooms look smaller. Today the space seems so much larger and definitely more user friendly. 

French doors open out to the pool area. There is a little shed at the rear that was upgraded into a pool bath. I remember it dearly from times when I showed this house. It's a private story I will share when I show the house. The above photo shows a different set of French doors. These doors open into the master suite located in the rear addition to the house. There is an interior passage off the kitchen which leads directly into the bedroom.

One of the joys of living in Key West is the ability to take a late night dip in your pool. There is plenty of privacy at this place. You can lay out and get an all over tan in the daytime and skinny dip at night.

If you look back up at the top of today's blog and checkout the roof line, you will see that the second floor itself is an older dormer-like addition to the original house. The room sizes are workable. Both bedrooms have closets. There is a full bath at the top of the stairs. A family with two or three high school teens might find this space difficult, whereas a middle aged couple with children in college or adult children with kids of their own would find these two rooms accommodating for visits.  These rooms are larger than you will find at the Shipyard Condominiums and Presidents Walk - and utterly more charming. If this home were rented as a monthly vacation rental, guests will find the space delightful.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and to view more listing photos of 1109 Stump Lane. Although the house is not offered furnished, th e furnishings are negotiable A new owner could likely buy most of everything in the house and start rentals or just taking life easy from day one. Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to set up a private showing. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.