Bank Owned - 813 Shavers Lane, Key West, Florida

Ten years ago there were a lot of bank owned properties for sale in Key West. In 2018 the number of bank owned properties has reduced to a trickle including the newly listed property located at 813 Shavers Lane, Key West. Shavers Lane is located one-half block west of Duval Street just south of Petronia Street.  The Hemingway House is located one-half block west and one block south. Several of the single family homes on this block have become very successful monthly vacation rentals. This property when updated just a bit could become a monthly vacation rental as well or just be a nice house on one of the slow lanes of Key West.

The Monroe County Property Appraiser shows the original house was built in the 1890s. The Property Appraiser website show substantial renovations were made in 1996 including replacing foundation, new roof, construction of a new addition at rear, and so on. It further tells us the finished area is 1680 sq ft. I think it is larger - quite larger and that does not include any deck or porch. Read on.

This home theoretically has three entrances including the original front door, an entrance recessed a bit to the rear on the north side, and a third entrance recessed a bit to the rear on the south side. Let's look inside the original front door.

The 'original house' is now a one bedroom with living room, kitchen, bath and laundry on first floor and bedroom on second floor. The hall adjacent to the kitchen leads to a shared hallway with a separate unit in the back. Operative word is 'shared'. This is still a single family home if spaces are shared and not walled off, or that's the way I understand code is enforced. I am not giving legal opinion or stating a fact. I am just relating what I understand the way the code is enforced. I assume a new owner would make this a single family home and the current configuration would go away.

The recessed north entrance enters into a hall which passes into the kitchen of the rear apartment. There is a bath just off the kitchen and laundry hook-ups opposite the staircase. The living room is next. The second photo in this series indicates "first floor bedroom" which refers to the room located on the opposite side of the window. There are three bedrooms and two baths in this apartment.

French doors in the south bedroom open out to a sunny rooftop deck. The entire building appeared to me to have been built all new during the 1996 renovation and expansion project.  I am not a home inspector but I did not observe any striking structural problems. A new owner would probably clean up the incorporate the apartment into the house and create new room layouts. The good thing for a buyer is that most new money would be doing fun projects and not fixing old problems. I believe there is room for a pool on the south where there is now a driveway. CLICK HERE to view more photos I took of this property.

The listing Realtor describes 813 Shavers Lane this way:
"Located in the heart of Old Town, between Duval and Whitehead Street. Property is a half of mile from the Southernmost point. This Conch style home has 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. All bedrooms are located on the 2nd floor each bedrooms have their own set of staircases. Hardwood floors, large balcony / deck with exterior staircase. Property is equipped with 2 parking spaces on each side of the home."

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet on 813 Shavers Lane, then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to discuss. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.