1231 Flagler Avenue, Key West

I showed 1231 Flager Avenue in Key West a few days ago. As soon as I walked inside this 1,524 Sq Ft 1950s ranch style home I was taken by the gleaming restored terrazzo floors which put to shame so many of the new flooring we see today. These floors are both durable and stylish. The entire house
shows like gem.The home is located a little more than one block east of the tony Casa Marina Area where houses of similar size and age may sell for a million dollars more, this home is affordably priced at $895,000. Let's take look.

The house has just been been completely renovated including new roof, wiring, air conditioning, new kitchen and updated bathrooms, and triple pane impact windows and glass panel doors. The house is bright, shiny, and super clean. It is in perfect move-in condition.

The open concept living/kitchen/dining area is located at the front of the house. A door a the side leads out to the newly created covered outdoor living area while the hallway leads to the two guest bedrooms and later to the master suite at the rear.

What you see when you enter the master bedroom are glass doors on two sides opening out to the pool on one side and the covered outdoor living area on the other. The ceiling is vaulted adding a genuine feeling of height and spaciousness. The herringbone pattern wood floors are a counter-point to the terrazzo floors in the original portion of the house. What at first glance appears to be a fixed wall behind the bed is instead the backside of a floating closet. I loved this design. It made the room more user friendly. Well done!

When the curtains are pulled and glass doors shut, the master suite is totally private from the rest of the house. Another set of doors open out to the pool where moonlight madness awaits - or not.

The mechanical equipment is located on the east side yard so that the pool guy can come and go without disturbing the house or covered outdoor living area. The patch of grass is artificial, but the orchids in the trees and freshly planted foliage are real - as in real pretty. The pool is as clear as can be. This owner did a bang-up job. This house is worthy of looking at.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos of 1231 Flagler Avenue, Key West offered for sale at $895,000 or $587 per sq ft.  Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a private showing. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. Higgs s Beach is a couple of minute bike ride to the south. What a way to start the day for everyday of the rest of your life.

Tales of Old Key West - The Fat Ladies of Eaton Lodge

This is a true story.

It is not about body shaming.

It just happened. That's all.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my move to Key West and the opening of Eaton Lodge guest house. I publish this blog on two sites and a couple of readers asked for more tales of events that happened there - kinda like the stories you would watch on the Bob Newhart Show.

We opened for business on Valentines weekend in 1994. The guesthouse sat vacant and boarded up for two years while it was in foreclosure.  We bought it in October at public auction; moved in the last week of December 1993; started cleaning and fixing things in January; and opened Valentines weekend. We went from five rooms the first couple of days to capacity within a week. We stayed full until May and then stayed near full through most of the summer and fall.

The guest house was and is still located about 200 feet east of Duval Street. We quickly discovered people would drive down to Key West from Miami without a reservation. The guest house is located on one of two streets that lead directly to Duval. Half the cars would pass by. People might see the vacancy side. Or they might have just seen the glory of the old house and said I want to stay there.

A mother and daughter showed up. The daughter had to be in her late 20s or 30s. Both were tall and really, really big. They stayed in room 5 on the second floor west front for several days. A day or two after they arrived we noticed a drip coming though the ceiling under their bathroom. The metal drain at the bottom of the fiberglass shower had popped. Water seeped through. That had not happened before. We presumed it was from all of their weight. We fixed the leak. They said nothing about that event or any thing else other than how much they loved their stay at Eaton Lodge.

Even though we had two full time maids, my partner or I would help clean rooms on days we had massive checkouts as we would have corresponding check-ins the same day. One of us cleaned room 5 and saw that the toilet seat had broken and was no longer attached to the toilet bowl. We asked the maid (actually a man) when this happened. He said on the first day of the ladies stay. He said they were too fat and deserved - It.  They sat on the toilet without a seat for their entire stay. We fired him.

It is funny, like in Newhart. It is sad, like in real life.  At least they enjoyed their stay.

617 Frances Street, Key West, Florida - Just Listed

Just Listed by Preferred Properties Key West - 617 Frances Street. I had the opportunity to see this house just before it was listed and want to share some photos and thoughts with my readers - especially those looking for a fixer-upper.

I love how much the houses of Old Town have changed so little over the years. I found the above photo of 617 Frances St in my old shoe box. Take a look. When I found the photo I presumed the owner at that time had replaced original wood columns and balusters with wrought iron. That was a common practice across Mid-Century America. Chain link fences were equally popular and required less maintenance than painted white picket fences.

I then searched the Historic Sanborn Fire Maps to see if I could determine when the house was built. The lot where 617 Frances Street sat vacant up to and after the 1912 Map. I went to the Monroe County Property Appraiser website which shows the property to the rear at 618 Ashe Street had a house on that lot. I compared the Sanborn Map to current Property Appraiser Map which shows 617 Frances and 618 Ashe perfectly aligned. There was a small cottage sitting mid distance at what would become 617 Frances. I am confident that the current house did not exist as of 1912. I decided 615 Frances must have been split to create the new 617 Frances Street after the 1912 Map. A small building sat at the rear which I believe was incorporated into the building which is now 617 Frances.  The Property Appraiser records show the house as having been built in 1933 which we know is not correct as that was during the Great Depression which slammed Key West. This suggest the house was built after 1912 and before the WPA reconstructed the property records. My guess.

The house sits on a 3,060 sq ft lot (34' X 90') on one of the best blocks in Old Town. Most but not all of the houses on this block have been extensively renovated. 614 Frances Street was totally renovated when it sold in 2016 for $1,825,000. 620 Frances St sold in 2018 for $1,825,000.  The house to the rear and immediately south of  at 620 Ashe Street sold at $1,900,000 in 2019. I mention these sales as they indicate the price trend for renovated homes in this immediate area.

617 Frances Street is a place of possibilities. It is a true renovation project. I walked the entire lot and all around the inside of the house. The exterior needs work. The interior has been pretty much gutted so that a potential buyer can see what exists and what does not.

There are five foot side yards on the north and south sides of the house.  There is a small shed at the rear which abuts the property line.

The long narrow building at the rear may have been the "Dwelling" unit sited on the 1912 Map. The French doors painted black and the elevated wood deck were probably added in the 1970's or 1980's. They were not used in Key West houses before then. The windows in the front part of the house appear to be original. They have the old fashioned rope sashes.

This is  one and one-half story vernacular house found in many parts of Old Town and The Meadows area. The Property Appraiser says the house has 1,300 sq ft of living space. You enter into a hallway that passes an original parlor which has been opened and pass by what is now the kitchen. A door at the end of the hall opens into what I presume may have been the original Dwelling. It is long an narrow and has a high pitched roof that has been partially exposed at the entry. I can envision this room being made into an open living area with kitchen and dinging space included. I am familiar with another house on Grinnell Street that had this same size room and in just about the same condition that became a truly wonderful living space. I think the current deck could be replaced by a pool and that the rear cottage could become the laundry and storage room. Don't see what exists. Imagine what you could create. I think the parlor and kitchen could become first floor master bedroom and bath room. CLICK HERE to see all the photos I took.

The original chain link fence still wraps the entire lot including the front white picket fence which is attached to the chain link. I think there is adequate ground to comply with pool setback requirements.

There are two bedrooms on the second floor which share the only bathroom in the house.There used to be a bathroom on the first floor but the current owner removed it. Having existing plumbing and previous use will same some money during renovation.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet on 617 Frances Street, Key West offered for sale at $995,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a private showing. I am  buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.