Just SOLD - 400 - 408 Duval Street - Old Town - Key West

Locals woke up this morning to the news of the sale of the 400 to 408 block of Duval Street as being sold for a whopping $19,130,000.  I heard about the sale on Thursday morning as I was working in my yard. The Selling Realtor was Mitzi Krabill of Truman and Company. She procured the buyer who just happens to be my next door neighbor. Mitzi told me that Claude Gardner at Prudential Knight and Gardner Realty was the listing agent. The property had not been listed in the mls so the sale came as quite a shock to me. A good shock, however. The sale was posted in the mls later that day.

I mention this sale to would-be buyers who continue to sit on the fence and whine and moan about the state of the economy.  The doomsayers want everyone to believe the whole American economy is in turmoil. There are a lot of unemployed people in many areas of our country.  But there are eight or nine times more people employed than there are people not working.  And those people are driving our economy and buying things and using things. At the higher side of that group of Americans are people like those reading my little blog. They are making money or have saved money to buy a place in their retirement years. They either own a second of third home in some destination location or they are thinking of buying one. It is to that group that I submit the thesis that now is a good time to buy in Key West.

A couple of years ago Key West faced the prospect of economic "ruin" if oil from the BP oil spill hit our beautiful coral reef and landed on our shores.  Buyers got frightened by the continual banter in the press about doom and gloom. Negative talk can really upset a market.  Assume for argument sake that what I suggest is true: some people stir up trouble just so they can buy assets at a lower price. Some buyers balked and even walked away from contracts because they feared the prospect of ruin if the oil hit Key West.   The oil slick did not hit Key West. But the fear mongers did their job and scarred the beejeezus out of a lot of people. Other buyers took advantage of the situation and made out like bandits by buying assets at truly depressed prices.

I view the sale of the Duval Street property as a very positive vote of confidence in the economic vitality of Key West.  The hotels, motels, and guest houses had their best year ever last year. People from all over the world come to Key West for a day, a week, or longer. They come to experience life a lot less directed than it is where they come from. They come here most return year after year. They come here to eat, drink, party, and other really fun things.  Key West has an exotic feel and wonderful weather. But it is located in the United States and Americans don't have to go through customs or worry about the government nationalizing their property.

Real estate in Key West is scarce and scarcity usually drives prices higher. We have a limitation on new growth and development. We have a height restrictions and density limitations on any new or remodeled properties.  Developers cannot do here what they can do in places like Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Sarasota, Pensacola and other beach locales.  Besides that, those places have big highways, tons of people, and end up on shows like COPS. 

If you are thinking of buying a small getaway place, a full time home, or maybe a business in Key West and are not working with someone, please consider contacting me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or send me an email at kw1101v@aol.com. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.