Last week while photographing some ongoing construction for my blog I suddenly got a whiff of garlic. It wasn't totally am unpleasant smell but not the kind of smell I normally encounter in Old Town. A few days earlier I picked up my completed federal income tax returns from my accountant. His office is located on North Roosevelt Blvd in one of our shopping netters. As soon as I opened the door I got a whiff of the Subway Sandwich shop located next door. The smell made me think of food. It was both pleasant ad distracting. I commented on it to my CPA. He said you get used to it. Why should anyone have to get used to the smell of somebody else's business?
A few years ago a woman who reads my blog called me to talk about looking for a new house. I knew where she lived. I blogged her house before she bought it. Her house is located about 75 feet from the back door of a Key West eatery. The woman told me she gets awakened every morning as the cleaning crew scrubs pans out side the back door of the restauand. She said she hears the workers speaking, the pot and pans clonking, and chickens screeching - EVERY DAY. When the cooks arrive she starts to smell the aroma of garlic and onions as it hovers over the nearby homes. EVERY DAY.
A few days into the new year I got a phone call from a man who GOGGLED an address and up popped a blog I wrote. He called me to discuss the place. I pointed out the pros and cons of the place. I had shown it a few weeks earlier so I had a fairly clear recall of the place. I liked the house and felt the price was reasonable but pointed out that it was located perilously close to a restaurant and warned of the smells, noise, and foot traffic he might expect. He said he liked the place. I told him a lot of people buy places they like. But there comes a time to sell and selling difficult locations is, well, difficult.
I am not saying buying a house located near a restaurant is bad. It is, but I am not saying that. I believe in the value of location as a key reason to buy a place. Or to not buy a place. Taco Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, all day, all night, everyday without pause can get annoying. It may prevent an owner or his or her heirs from selling what may be their biggest investment of their lives. Think before you buy. Consider who will buy what you "settled" to buy.
7 comments:
When the winds blow in the right direction, I can smell El Siboney from my yard. Could not imagine living next door - although Mark did for quite a while in that cute house
I did not mention any location.
No mention needed. El Sib is the only place that kicks off smells that strong...every single day.
Did not mean to suggest you did - just commenting from my own experience living 2 blocks from that particular restaurant
I remember years ago when there was a fish seller located at the Chevron parking lot. I could smell the stench of fish 20 feet away sitting inside my car with the windows rolled down.
That fish seller and the subsequent mobile restaurant devalued the property to the north. Whoever allowed that to happen should have been flogged. The poor guy who lives in the house next door never bargained for that. It may have been legal. Don't know about that. But it is certainly not neighborly.
That fish truck did stink
Never been to El Sibony on Stock Island. Any pros or cons.
KWJAY. Thank you for using part of your blog for recommendation or not.
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