Key West Single Family Homes Under Contract - February 2020

Long time blog followers know I have my mood swings ranging from pessimism to optimism.  I think most Key West Realtors do. I say this because I talk to them. Or they ask me what I think only to tell me they think it is in a depression mode.

Town has been very, very busy with tourists ever since Christmas week. A friend at one of the small luxury hotels told me their business is going gangbusters. The Conch Trains are full. Those awful golf cart rentals are all over the streets as are scooters and people on rental bikes. The two weeks ago I started to notice more houses going under contract. The numbers are not staggering but they are on the uptick.

Let's take a quick look at the single family homes under contract in Key West as of February 5, 2020.

Number Under Contract    Price Point Range                    Average Price Per SF

3                                            $199,000 -  $500,000                     $976

21                                          $500,001 - $1,000,000                  $557
  
11                                          $1,000,001 - $2,000,000               $812

5                                            $2,000,001                                    $1,022

Total 40 

There are currently 207 single family homes on the market priced from $300,000 to 6,200,000. A couple of those houses are approaching their third anniversary of being offered for sale. That should tell you something about the house, the location, the owner, the listing agent, or all of the above.

I then checked to see how many single family homes were listed over $2 million - 49! Most of these homes are located in either Old Town or the Casa Marina Area,  One is in Bahama Village, one on Sunset Key, one on Hilton Haven, and several in The Meadows. The average asking price per square foot is $939. 

I meet a lot of "lookers" at open houses most of whom are tourists taking a nosy to see what houses look like and dream about owning one some day. Many of those people are from the upper Midwest, New Jersey and New York. They complain about the cold and taxes (state income and real property taxes) where they live - especially in comparison to real property taxes in Key West. Florida has no state income tax which I believe may be driving some of the higher end home purchases.

It will be interesting to see how many of the 207 single family homes sell (close) before August and how many unsold dogs are on the market in February 2021.

1424 White Street, Key West - Casa Marina Area

I remember driving home from work one late afternoon in 2002 when I saw what I thought was impossible -being razed in Key West. Checkout the photo just below and you can see the house that used to sit at 1424 White Street in the Casa Marina area. As you may be aware you can't tear down old houses in the Historic District and in some parts of Casa Marina or the Meadows areas. Houses that have been officially designated as historically significant by the Historic Architectural Review Commission must undergo rigorous approval process before the structures can be altered. And only a few houses meet the criteria that would permit demolition.

1424 White Street as it appeared in 1965

1424 White Street as it appeared in July 2010

Now look at the photo immediately above. Notice the striking similarity between the two and yet detect the differences. The obvious changes are the longer existent exterior stairway, the removal of the second floor porch "addition", and what appears to be replacement siding. Otherwise the porches and everything else looks pretty much the same. Or so it seems.

In the days that followed I watched the roof of the old house get hoisted into the air. Then piece by piece the old house was torn down. Stick by stick and room by room the house came tumbling down. Then bobcats moved in and tore up the earth under the old house. The site was clean except for the original which which was suspended in air. A new crew moved in and drilled holes in the earth for new concrete piers. Carpenters began building the frame for a new house in the space under the roof. Weeks and months went by and finally the roof was lowered onto the new shell. Siding was attached and the exterior was painted. The old relic porch stoop was restored and given new life but the historic bases were kept intact and intentionally not restored so as to keep a more authentic look. It is that old look that tricks the eye and makes one think the house itself is a relic when in fact it was "new" in 2003.

This is how the listing Realtor describes 1424 White Street:

"The perfect blend of classic Conch architecture with a stunning rebuild and renovation greets you at this coveted Casa Marina home. Although the historical piece dates to 1928 with the original concrete pillars in the front, it was rebuilt by an award winning builder from the ground up in 2003. Beautiful whitewashed Dade County Pine walls greet you as you enter the front door with a large staircase to take you upstairs to 3 of the bedrooms. The 2 guest bedrooms have a large renovated bathroom between them with beautiful turquoise quartz countertops and glass tiled walls. The master suite has 2 rooms with a cathedral ceiling in the bedroom and a large bathroom also filled with turquoise. The downstairs has a fourth bedroom currently used as an office plus a completely renovated bathroom.
Boasting large voluminous rooms with 10 foot ceilings this 4 bedroom/3 bathroom charmer showcases a fabulous open floor plan and entertaining space. The chef's kitchen was redesigned in 2018 and features beautiful Vadara counters, an undercounter beverage cooler, 5 burner gas cooktop, oven, wine refrigerator and top of the line stainless steel appliances. The kitchen/dining area flows seamlessly to a large family room with double French doors leading out to over 640 sq. ft. of Ipe decking surrounding the heated cocktail pool. The possibilities for this property can be endless, from a year round home to wonderful luxury rental option"

There is a large den or family room located at the front of the house which could easily become a guest bedroom or even a first floor bedroom when climbing the stairs becomes difficult as there is a full bath located adjacent.

The inside of this house is all about family and entertaining. The ceilings on both floors are high. The great room at the back of the first floor has a large family-style kitchen which extends into the living area and the adjacent semi-formal dining area. French doors at the back and rear side of the house open out to the rear garden and pool. Too many of the older houses in Old Town are claustrophobic. This home is the opposite. Big spaces make for big living.  Note the extra large crown molding, high baseboards, quality trim and clean real wood floors. This home was built by one of the premium local contractors to be his family's permanent home. While the wood walls resemble Dade County Pine of yore, they are new pine painted to look old.

The gentleness of the stairway and the second floor landing are so graceful. The master bedroom is located at the rear of the second floor. It's another good sized room with rear deck overlooking the backyard.

Two guest bedrooms share a large bath on the second floor. The master suite is located at the rear. All three bedrooms have access to the second floor covered front porch. The master suite is very large and has a unique closet system built into an office. The master bath is immense. My favorite feature of the bedroom are the multiple windows on two sides.

This 2392 sq ft home is located at the corner of White and Von Phister Streets in the Casa Marina area. It is offered for sale at $2,190,000. This home was built by one of the top residential builders in Key West for his family's personal residence. You can see the attention to detail on the outside and on the inside. CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos.

I live one block away and I love this area because it is close to everything. The White Street Pier and Higgs Beach are a short four minute walk away. That's where they shoot off fireworks at least twice each year.) Faustos Market is a few blocks to the north. They have a great little meat counter with an in house butcher. The Dairy Queen and numerous small restaurants are in that area as well.

If you a looking for a special place in Key West let me show you 1424 White Street. Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. in Key West. Let me show you the house that would not die.

Key West Border Patrol Incident

This is a true story.

Sometime during the spring of 2007 the US Border Patrol started to aggressively round-up illegal aliens in the Key West area. I remember one episode that made the front page of our local paper, The Key West Citizen.  It involved the raid on a hotel next to the Home Depot which was being renovated. The contractor had many illegals working on the site. This raid got a lot of locals riled up because of how aggressive it was. And it made illegals very cautious.

That same week I had workers making some repairs at my house. The workers included a man from South Africa, a carpenter from England, two day laborers from Nicaragua (who did not speak English),  an electrician from Ireland, a painter from Poland, and a tile setter also from Poland.

It was around lunchtime a few days after the Border Patrol raid.  The workers were sitting under the palm trees outside by my pool eating lunch. Like many of the homes in the Casa Marina Area where I live, my house has a large privacy fence.  Someone opened the gate without ringing the bell.  All of the workers eyes looked to the north end of the pool and saw male wearing a uniform enter the yard. Everybody but me scrambled and ran out the gate on the south side of the pool where we were congregated.

It took me a minute to figure out that the workers had confused the Orkin Man with a Border Patrol agent. The workers finally made it back to work, but checked over their shoulder for days to come.

It's DaBomb! Bank Owned Key West

Some of the other Key West agents got upset with me a few years ago and enacted a special Gary Thomas rule regarding writing in the public spaces about mls listings. I obey the rule. Others write blogs and post listings on internet and do not.  Regardless, there is a new listing that may interest buyers for a property in Old Town. Send me an email at garyethomas@aol.com. State your name, address, email address, and phone and ask for info on new bank owned property. I have interior photos when the home was occupied.  Or call me. Number above. I want to be your buyer agent on this great property. There is much excitement about it.

Key West Open Houses - St Patty's Day

If you're out and about after church and before the St Patty's Day festivities begin stop by

409 Grinnell Street, Key West $1,249,000

1413 Von Phister Street, Key West  $1,499,000

Key West - One Year After Hurricane Irma

Key West has been my home since December 1993. I have stayed in Key West for each of the hurricanes since Hurricane Georges in 1998 which recurred while I was in Ft Lauderdale attending a real estate refresher course. I remember the drive back to Key West on US 1 - a trip that normally take four hours took ten. I decided never do that again.

In late August 2018 CNN and other media started to warn the public about Hurricane Irma as it formed in the Atlantic.  The enormous storm moved at a terribly slow pace as it headed towards Cuba and Florida. The storm was so wide that hurricane models were unable to predict the exact path it would take. As I recall CNN predicted a tidal surge of up to ten feet and warned of catastrophic disaster for Key West. Many locals who always stayed here decided to leave for Irma. I estimate that about 25 to 30 per cent of locals stayed in Key West - including me.

I drove around the island a couple times during the days preceding Irma's landfall. There was barely any traffic. Stores on Duval Street were boarded up. The hotels and guest houses were shut. Houses were shuttered. The high school parking lot was filled with cars in anticipation of flooding in low lying areas. The skies alternated between awesome blue with enormous cumulus clouds to gray and threatening as Irma headed our way. I hunkered down with a friend in Old Town. We lost power around 8:00 PM. I went to bed and woke up the next morning to mild but constant rain and wind which lasted for an eternity. I ventured outside a couple of times to test the conditions but decided to stay indoors because tree limbs were falling everywhere. Around 3:00 PM we went for a walk around Old Town and later drove to the Bayview Park and Casa Marina areas where I took photos of the damage. I thought it would be interesting for readers to compare the locations one year later.

One of the first sights I saw was a huge mahogany tree that fell across the 300 block of Simonton Street. That tree was one of many canopy trees we lost in the storm. In my opinion it was the loss of the trees was the biggest loss during this event.

The boarded up houses at 421 Simonton Street were being renovated when the hurricane occurred. They were not damaged. The renovation has just been completed.

The Curry Mansion lost a huge tree at its front entry. The building did not appear to have sustained any visible damage.

Another huge tree located at the corner of Caroline at Simonton Street had fallen. The former Banana's Foster property on the corner was not damaged.

I walked to the corner of Eaton and Elizabeth Streets where a new property at 700 Eaton was being built and the historic house at 704 Eaton was being renovated. Neither was damaged. The renovation was recently completed and the house at 704 Eaton was listed for sale. It went under contract in just seven days on the market.

A massive tree located on the side of the Eaton Street Fish Market fell across William Street. The uprooted tree hoisted a propane tank up about ten feet off the ground. I turned around and looked south on William Street where a huge mahogany blocked the 500 block. I walked east to Margaret Street.

When I neared got near the corner of Margaret and Southard Street I saw a banyan tree leaning against the Harris School. As I got closer I saw several more trees had fallen on the school grounds. The building was not damaged. I walked west on Southard Street to checkout two nearby houses I had sold. Both houses were fine, but the owner of one beautiful home lost his prized Date Palm.

The biggest shock of the afternoon occurred when I reached the corner of Southard and William Streets. I had always considered the 600 block of William Street to be one of the prettiest streets in Old Town. Irma changed that. Two giant banyan trees fell onto the late Shel Silverstein's house which was badly damaged. The house was razed several months later. This is the only house I am aware of that we lost. There was minor damage to three abutting properties. 

I walked south on William Street to the corner of Windsor Lane where I looked to my right and saw two huge trees had fallen at the Key West Writer's Compound.  The trees were located on either side of the former home of author John Hersey. The trees took down the fence and crushed a motorcycle parked on Windsor Lane. I sold this historic home several years ago. I walked around the property and determined it was not damaged. The fence was rebuilt. The owners now have sunny views.

The 1100 block of Fleming Street (between Frances and White Streets) was closed for more than a week because two enormous banyan trees in front of 1117 Fleming Street fell onto the street. One big limb damaged the porch of the adjacent house which is now being repaired.

Later I drove over to the 1400 block of Virginia Street to checkout a house across from Bayview Park. I had this house a couple of years ago and wanted to make sure it was okay. Two big trees snapped in half. The house did not have any visible sign of damage.  The city did not take the trees down.

I then went to the Casa Marina area where I saw another giant banyan tree located at 1100 Flagler Avenue had fallen. This is the former home of author Judy Blume. The current owners are now extending a brick fence to add more privacy to this home.

The house under construction in the 1000 block of Washington was not damaged and was recently completed and is now being lived in.

"X" marks the spot at the corner of Washington and Whalton Streets where one of the tallest and most majestic trees in Key West fell. It took the city more than three weeks to remove the tree. The tree was located on the public right of way. The city requires property owners to pay significant fees to obtain permission to remove trees during construction. These funds are supposed to be used pay for replacement trees. The city has not replaced anything at this location. Double loss!

CLICK HERE to view photos I took before and after Hurricane Irma.

Key West is back to as normal as Key West can be. We have a lot less trees than before, but we have as many houses less one. This is a great place to live. Come down and checkout Key West.