13 Bougainvillea Avenue, Key West - Bank Owned Property

The new Bank Owned property located at 13 Bougainvillea Avenue in Key Haven, our suburb to the north, is something for bargain seekers to cheer about. CLICK HERE to read the Key West mls datasheet on the property. But there's more to this home than the datasheet suggests. When a Realtor creates a new listing in our mls, he or she uploads data from the  Monroe County Property Appraiser's website. That data auto-fills the mls with information from historic county records. The mls is correct as to what is shown on the Property Appraiser's site. However, it appears that a former owner converted the original garage into additional living space. The net effect is that instead of being a 1613 sq ft home, the actual home now has 1908 sq ft of living space with three bedrooms and three baths.

This home is a modified ranch built new in 1965. The door seen to the rear of the carport enters into a hall that leads to two doors. The door on the right enters into the main part of the house - the space shown on the Property Appraiser's site. There's another door on the left which enters into what I call a mother-in-law apartment. We will look at the main house first.

When you enter the main house you walk into the great room which is bright and clean. There's a relatively new kitchen to the right. Double glass panel doors open out to the semi-covered rear deck. Another door opens out to the east side yard which is enclosed for privacy.

The master bedroom with large en-suite bath is located at the front of the house. There is large walk-in closet located between the bedroom and bath. There is a second bedroom plus hall bath. The entire home was updated not too long ago. New additions include all new windows and doors, light fixtures, fans, interior doors and trim, and tile floors throughout the house. You can see the pride of ownership the former owners had in this home. It was well cared for.

When you walk through the double glass doors and out to the rear area of this home, you know exactly why so many families, fishermen, and sun enthusiasts opt to live in a location like this as opposed to Old Town - the sun, the sky, the water. This home is located on a wide canal that provides easy access to the nearby deep ocean waters. The rear lot line measures 62.5' - which is more than adequate to accommodate a really nice pleasure boat or fishing craft. (The lot is 100 ft deep or 6250 sq ft total.)
The wood decks need some repair or replacement. And some of the tropical foliage is looking a bit puny. Those are cheap fixes. CLICK HERE to view all the photos I took of this property. You will get a much better sense of how much house and grounds this listing has to offer.

I really think this home is something to cheer about. This home is offered at $624,900 or $387 per sq ft based on the Property Appraiser records showing 1613 sq ft. But it you include the apartment, the effective asking price would get adjusted down to just $327 per sq ft. CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet on this property. Then 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. This is really worth looking at!

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3 Aster Terrace - Key Haven Canal Property - Key West

Just listed, but not by me, 3 Aster Terrace in Key West's bedroom community of Key Haven. This is the area where many of the local Key West business owners and professionals live. Just about every house is located on a canal. And so it is with 3 Aster Terrace. Most of the houses were constructed in the 60's and 70's and many of those have been renovated. A large number of new "showy" homes were built at the north end of Key Haven at the beginning of this decade. Those houses are large and grand and pretty pricey. If you watched The Real World on MTV during 2005 you would know that the house the kids lived in was located on Key Haven.

I showed 3 Aster Terrace last week, the same day it was listed. The place is very clean for a Bank Owned property. The listing agent told me the bank is going to do some additional painting to spiff the place up a bit more. The house was built in 1960 and renovated in 2007. The listing Realtor describes the house this way:
"Bank Owned! Large Key Haven home with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, with one bedroom and bath that could be used as a mother-in-law unit or lockout. Renovated in 2007, some of the upgrades include kitchen with stainless appliances and maple cabinetry, new plumbing, new electric, impact resistant windows, and recessed lighting. Excellent floor plan with living room, den, dining room, and Florida room. Key Haven is a waterfront community located just minutes away from Old Town Key West. Excellent boating access to Gulf and Atlantic waters."

CLICK HERE to read more detailed info on this house and view some good exterior and interior photos. There is a white picket fence in front set off by off street parking. The photos of the interior do this house justice. The rooms are good sized. There are real closets. The windows and doors are impact glass which means you do not need shutters. This 3 bed 3 bath home has 2272 sq ft of living space and sits on a 6000 sq ft lot. The entire rear of the property backs onto a canal. This house is priced at $599,000 or $264 per sq ft.

This house could be a good deal for a family that plans to live in Key West full time or for a second home owner that wants a place provides water access. Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a showing of this Bank Owned property.
Houses like this are selling quickly these days. Don't assume that because it is for sale today that it will be around tomorrow. Let me help you find your home in Key West.

Snap! Thud! Ouch ! ! !

"You can only not fall before you run off the edge of the cliff, not after."

A sale of the large home at 44 Floral Avenue in the Key Haven section of Key West was posted in our mls late yesterday afternoon. CLICK HERE to see the 3650 square foot, three story house with four bedrooms, five baths, two car garage, pool, tiki hut waterfront home that SOLD at $890,000 or $245 per sq ft. The public records show that the seller purchased the house in January 2005 for $1,800,000.

As of today there have only been four single family homes sales in Key Haven since January first. CLICK HERE to see what sold and at what price.

I don't know the particulars of the sale at 44 Floral, and it really doesn't matter, because that sale is only illustrative of what I have been telling my buyers which is that houses are listed for sale for one reason: to get sold. Some sellers are highly motivated (like many short sellers) and others just need to sell like folks getting divorced or a personal representative settling an estate.

There are still some wacko sellers out there. Sellers with huge edifice complexes. They are typically people who did a lot of creative things to their properties, spent a lot of money on designer kitchens with Viking or Subzero appliances, ultra expensive glass tiles, imported light fixtures, travertine floors, Ipe decks, of whatever. They think their design sense justifies a price per square foot far in excess of what similar houses in the same area have actually sold for. They will not accept the fact that a new lender will not loan new money on a house that will not appraise for a ridiculous amount no matter how chic the kitchen or master bedroom and master bath look. I am not saying or inferring that all houses priced at a high dollar per square foot are over-priced. A lot of the best homes in Key West are priced very high on a per square foot basis because they are truly unique, have a superior location, and were superbly built or renovated.

I always loved watching Road Runner cartoons. I always hoped against hope that Wile E. Coyote would smarten up and not get done in by the smarter Road Runner. But Wile E. never got it. He never learned his lesson. He always broke the cardinal rule "You can only not fall before you run off the edge of the cliff, not after."

If you are looking for a second home or a new primary residence in Key West, please consider working with me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. You can also contact me via e-mail at kw1101v@aol.com. I am a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty Inc in Key West, Florida. I'll do my best to keep you from falling off the cliff.

Key Haven -- "Safe" Haven?

With all of the doom and gloom being uttered on TV and in print this past week about the collapse of the stock market, one phrase kept cropping up: "safe haven". Commentators were being asked to tell the public "safe" places to park their money in these trying times.

There are two ways to look at having cash these days. One, if you have a lot of cash you are very fortunate. Two, if you have a lot of cash you probably won't get a very good return if you park it in a bank or a CD. Interest rates are terribly low. So even though cash is king, if you park your money in a bank you will not earn enough interest to buy much bling.

I just created a list of homes for sale on Key Haven. CLICK HERE to checkout the list of single family homes priced in the low $300s per sq ft to over $1100s per sq. ft. Key Haven is a ten minute drive (on good days) from Old Town. It is our bedroom community where so many locals who got priced out of Old Town migrated to. Most of the homes are located on canals that provide boating access to the deep waters only minutes away. Click the photos to see the kind of spectacular views some of these homes have.

Some of the homes on the list are short sales meaning the seller owes more than the amount of the asking price but hopes the lender will accept a discounted payoff in order to avoid possible foreclosure. There is at least one bank owned property on the list (8 Beechwood Dive priced at $499,000 or $364 per sq.ft. - with a pool). It is owned by local bank that has had the property for two long years.

Several of the properties on the list flooded during Hurricane Wilma. Those properties may be priced at a discount because of this.

There are also several very high end properties on the list. These properties have excellent locations and superior upgrades and craftsmanship in their construction. I think there are some good buys on a price per sq. ft. basis on some of these properties. Of course there are more buyers for the less expensive homes, but some of the larger properties are real values even in this stressful environment. It is for that reason that I suggest Key Haven may be a safe haven for buyers who want to capitalize on this current market.

If you see something on the list that strikes your fancy, please contact me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, or email me at kw1101v@aol.com. If you are looking for a place in Key West other than Key Haven, CLICK HERE to perform your own search of our mls database. Then call me to help you.

Second Quarter Sale Report for Key West Real Estate

The second quarter of 2007 is over. How did the real estate market do in Key West this year as compared to 2005 and 2006?

I did a quick search of SOLD homes, condos, duplexes, and 3-4 units from Key West through Shark Key priced over $200,000 from March 1st thru June 30, 2007. There were a total of 109 such sales. The least expensive sale was a one bedroom condo listed and sold for $250,000. The average sale was a 3-bedroom home with 1457 sq ft listed for $920,702 and that sold for $845,707. The most expensive sale was a home listed for $4.675million that sold for $4.34 million.

In 2005 there were 189 sales during the same time period. The least expensive condo sold for $200,000. The average sale was a 3 bedroom, 1325 sq ft listed at $1,002,561 and sold for $954,714. The most expensive home was an Old Town home on Sunset Key that was listed for $7.4 million and sold for $6.950 million with only 105 days on the market

The year 2006 had a total of 124 sales during this period. The least expensive was a 215 square foot condo that sold for a whopping $240,000 ($1116 per sq ft). The average sale was a three bedroom 1,525 sq ft home listed at $1,146,748 and sold at $1,038,578. The most expensive sale was a 5,000sq ft home listed at $5,900,000 that sold at $5,500,000 (on the market 440 days).

What do the numbers show? Well, I am no statistician but is easy to see that the overall sales are down and the overall sales prices are down across the board from low end to high end sales as compared to both 2005 and 2006 sales.

I have also noticed something very bothersome. There have been a very large number of properties that were put under contract (both seller and buyer agreed to all contract terms) during the past quarter but that later went back on the market. There are usually four things that cause a property to fall out of contract: buyer remorse, poor homeowner inspection report, insufficient credit, or property failed to appraise for the contract price. My suspicion is that properties have devalued and are not appraising at the contract price. If the seller will not lower the price, the property goes unsold.

The hardest part of the market to sell is the mid-range priced home. If you go back through Key West real estate sales to 1997 you will see that the mid range priced home has always been the most difficult priced property to sell. Back then the affordable fixer-uppers in Old Town sold around $250-280K. Homes over a million sold quite easily. But the majority of homes in the $500-800K range languished. Those homes are now just priced a lot higher. And I think the pessimism or skepticism about the lack of sales is failing to recognize this fact. Doom sayers are comparing the "boom market" sales of 2003 thru 2005 to today, and they are seeing doom and gloom.

The next three months are traditionally the worst. Town is hot, locals go away, not much sells. The hurricanes of 2005 and the market downturn have put a chilling effect on a traditionally down market. We shall see what happens this year.

My suggestion: if you are a seller and don’t need to sell now: Don’t list your property. If you must sell now, price it correctly. If you are a buyer, now is the time to buy. The market may not have totally bottomed, but good properties will get purchased before the dregs. Get the right property at a price you feel comfortable with.

If you are thinking about buying, please CLICK HERE to preview all current Key West mls listings. Then call me at 305-766-2642 to help you find your deal. And there are some good deals out there.