Sarge

 

Not the real house

A very pretty but assuredly run down house was listed for sale several years ago. Unlike so many the houses located in the Historic District of Key West, this property actually had an historic past. I mention this because much of nothing ever happened in most of the homes real estate agents list as "historic". This property actually had a pedigree and story. And when it was listed also had a disengaged owner who only wanted money and lots of it for his prized but ill-treated property.

I wrote about the property in my blog and showed it to several potential buyers. Three of them made cash offers on the property that were in line with what would have been a good pay day for the seller at that point in time. Each offer required the seller to deliver the property vacant of any tenants.

The property was once a beautiful single family home that had been carved into several long term residential apartments. As I recall it had more apartments than legally permissible, but that would get cured during renovation. The seller would not agree to making the tenants leave. He feared the buyer would back out of the deal and he would be left with an empty building. The seller's head may have been so full of smoke that he failed to appreciate the fact that nearly all of the buyers who wanted to buy his property were asking the same thing in their contracts - deliver the property free of the tenants.

I recall one apartment quiet well. It was located on the right side of the first floor. You entered into a one bedroom apartment through the kitchen door. Upon opening you were overwhelmed by dog stench - pee, poop, and mange. And then the dog himself would rush to eat you, I mean greet you. I don't remember his name, I will call him "Sarge". Sarge was a big black Labrador-mix. He would woof and attack with dog slobbers as soon as the door opened. The listing agent would warn potential buyers of each predictable onslaught. I avoided going inside on most showings. It really was that horrible. And a real person (not saying a human being) lived in that stench. I wonder what happened when he brought home a date. Nah, that probably NEVER happened.

The building was eventually purchased. The buyers paid the price and got the trophy property. He spent a couple of years renovating the place. I write about this because so many potential buyers create a no-win situation for themselves in the offers they make. If a seller would not agree to give notices to vacate in one contract, why would another buyer think the seller would do it for him? In Key West buyers sometime need to accept they may be required to take risks they detest in order to buy the property they want. 

Someday I am going to write about this one particular buyer I worked with for a couple of years. He always found some reason to not get a deal done. I think any real estate deal has some degree of risk. That guy wanted no risk and low price and high gains. Not much. The buyer who got Sarge's house got a trophy property (after spending a whole lot of money and time) in a great location. The right buyer got the property. One of the people who made an offer bought a different property from me. It was all fixed up and required no repairs. She and her dog Harley moved right in.She later told me it all worked out right in the end.