Not Haunted in Key West

Twenty-five years ago today I did the scariest thing in my life - I bought a shut down guest house in Key West. The 13 room guest house had been foreclosed upon by the Small Business Administration which let the place sit boarded up for two years. The auctioneer removed some of the plywood coverings so that potential buyers could take a look at the inside before making a bid. All bids were final and the property was not subject to any further inspection.

The main house and carriage house were once the home of Dr. and Mrs. Warren. Genevieve Warren is second from the left pictured above. She was one of the founders of the garden club. Rightly so as the guest house property had one of the grandest gardens in Key West back in the day and still did even though the Small Business Administration let it go to seed during its lack of maintenance. The trees were overgrown and vines and weeds crept all over the place. The government agency did not pay the nominal annual license fees to keep the business licensed which resulted in the city voiding the 13 guest house licenses. The lights did not work, the water was not turned on, and I had no idea what other conditions might be discovered were I to be the successful bidder. The bidding went slowly in $5,000 increments. A guy who worked with the auctioneer approached me and asked if I really wanted to buy the place. I said I did. He asked me my what my highest dollar offer would be. I said $500,000. (This was in 1993 when prices were much lower than today. You cannot buy a crumby condo for $500,000 in Key West today.) He said I should bid it all and confidentially told me I would blow everyone else out of the water. They would fear me and said I would get the property. I waited for the bidding to continue for a minute or so and then I bid $500,000. The room went silent. The auctioneer beckoned higher bids. Then he gave fair warning, banged the gavel, and announced I was the high bidder and said the government representative would have to confirm the bid. That happened after they confirmed my deposit check.

My partner and I plus our dog moved into the property the week before Christmas 1993. Within two months we had the trees trimmed, the buildings tented for termites, and the rooms cleaned and ready for business. I hired an attorney to help get back the thirteen licenses that had been lost. In the meantime I obtained five transient licenses which were available based on the size of the building rather than the number of rooms. We opened for business the first week of February 1994 and were busy every day thereafter.

Before we opened the doors to the public we got to spend a night or two in each of the bedrooms. Later we lived in the manager's unit tucked away off to the side of the original dining room which we used as our office. The main house was among the grandest of the grand back in the day. And it was still in really good condition when we bought it.

I sold the place a couple of years later. I regret that now but that is what I did. Years later the woman I sold it to wanted to move away from Key West. I showed the property to a potential buyer. I recall her standing in the main entry way telling my buyer about ghosts in the house. I looked at her and thought she sounded ridiculous. That was a lot of hooey.

Three years ago I received an email from a woman writer who was working on a tour book on Key West wherein she was going to discuss the "paranormal".  I told the writer I could not offer any stories about the paranormal as I had not experienced any such thing. I don't know where or why people come up with things like this. Things that go bump in the night are often the result of gravity and not a ghost dropping an object or stepping on a cat's tail. Or too much alcohol.

 

I have been selling unhaunted houses in Key West since 1996.  I guess Realtors up north in American have to add riders to let potential buyers know their listings are not haunted. If you are looking to buy a place in Key West give me a call.