Taco Tuesday - The Value of Location

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.

Gary Thomas, Realtor, Preferred Properties Key West, 520 Southard Street, Key West, Fl 33040

419 Grinnell Street, Key West - A Blank Slate

The listing broker describes 419 Grinnell Street, Key West, listed for the first time on Saturday as a "blank slate". Previously this 4,086 Sq Ft irregular "L-shaped" shaped lot was to be included in the sale of the adjacent Grand Conch style (temple style) home at 421 Grinnell Street. That changed by offering this lot separately. The listing broker told me he had immediate interest from several potential buyers. This property won't last a week on the market. This is how the broker describes 419 Grinnell Street:

"A rare opportunity for development or renovation of a huge lot in the heart of Old Town Key West. The small un-renovated 1 BD 1 BA house at the rear corner of the lot could be renovated as a guest cottage or possibly razed and redeveloped. The lot is a blank slate for the creation of a lush tropical garden with pool and parking. Any plans would require HARC and City approval. This property can also be purchased with the lovely 2-story Conch House next door at 421 Grinnell St."

I noticed this big old lot taking up valuable space for years. The yard had stuff in it. Lots of stuff. I always thought it would come up for sale some day and someone would buy it and do something with it. (Some story.) Years ago it would have sold at a much lower price because there were many big old houses and smaller cigar maker cottages that folks were buying and renovating. And there all the rules that HARC imposes on owners as to what may be done and not done. The rules still exist but now there are only a few un-renovated properties and even fewer big empty lots. Now this comes up. There is a cottage at the back. The Property Appraiser shows that 419 Grinnell was built in 1919. The 1889 through 1912 Sanborn Fire Maps showed a larger house similar in size s to 421 Grinnell Street was sat at on the 419 Grinnell lot. CLICK HERE for more photos.)

A few weeks ago I bogged about our new listing at 411-415 Grinnell Street. It is located next door to 419 Grinnell. I photographed 411 Grinnell Street (above photos) in July 2012. Workers were just starting to renovate it. A few years later a new owner built a second house on the vacant lot to create an incredible island retreat. But before that, the empty lot was equally bleak as 419 Grinnell.

411-415 Grinnell Street looks totally different just a few years later. (It is offered for sale at $6,500,000.) And that is why the listing at 419 Grinnell Street is so appealing. Empty lots get bought. Creative minds and bank accounts combine to create new properties. Buyers, architects, lawyers, and city planners figure out what is possible and permissible. Eventually, new houses get built. A buyer could short circuit a lot of the process by buying both 419 and 421 Grinnell Street and simply renovate the existing cottage, add a pool and off street parking. It would be more complicated but you get the point. There is  lot of development opportunity.

Click either MLS link for more information on the lot and 419 Grinnell Street, Key West offered for sale at $995,000 or the existing house at 421 Grinnell Street, Key West offered for sale at $1,125,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. Get creative. Play with that blank slate in your mind. Figure out what you could do. Somebody will do it. That is for sure!

1104 South Street, Key West - Just Listed

Just Listed by Preferred Properties Key West: 1104 South Street, Key West. $2,395,000. If it were only that simple. 

What first looks like a simple two story home located over a garage suddenly becomes more complex when first floor glass doors open into the entry with water trickling down the flagstone walls. Turn right and enter into this home. Turn left and head over to the pool. It only gets better in either direction.

Who would have thought with such a simple front facade that the living area would be so profound. I cease to be amazed each time I see this space. It could be Bali or some place on the South Seas. But no, it is located at 1104 South Street in Key West. Years ago Ernest Hemingway lived in the house next door at 1102 South Street where he wrote A Farewell to Arms.

There's an office located just off the living area. How could any serious individual get any real work done with views of the pool so close? Really. The kitchen has all the necessities including windows over the kitchen sink. More on that later on.

The dining pavilion is located just off the kitchen. In th e real world a lot of people eat meals in the living room watching BRAVO or whatever. Serious meals requires serious dining space. This home has it. What a great space to impress your friends and curse your frenemies. The photo two above shows the view from the front entry hall looking toward the pool. The photo immediately above shows the living room. Look up to see the rear sun deck located off the guest room also shown below.

The spiral staircase leads to the guest room on the second level. It has both a front porch and a rear such deck. The  ceiling is vaulted and gives the room a very spacious feel. Long time readers know how fond I am of guests. This is a good place for guests or teenagers. 

Another guest bedroom and bath are located on the first floor.

The master bedroom is located on the second floor above the the "carriage house" front facade. This space is both expansive and dramatic. French doors open from the bedroom and bathroom out to two separate covered second floor balconies. I can imagine sitting out there sipping coffee in the morning and nursing a nightcap under the stars.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and lots of listing photos of 1104 South Street offered at $2,395,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. I live two blocks from this house. I have lived in this area for 25 years. Forget the south seas. It takes forever to get there. The south side of Key West is the place to be.

 

804 Elizabeth Street, Key West - A Perfect Perch on Buzzard's Roost

I went on Realtor Caravan this morning and saw several homes in the Mid-Town and New-Town areas of Key West. Realtors are not supposed to comment negatively about other agents listings so I won't except to say many of the homes built in the mid to later part of the Twentieth Century looked pretty much the same given the year they were built and those that have been recently renovated often look like the owners and contractors got all of their inspiration from Home Depot. Enough said.

Shortly after Caravan I was invited to a Broker's Open at 804 Elizabeth Street hosted by a former colleague, Jeff Dunaway. He was sitting barefoot on a swing on the front porch of the classic Eyebrow House. I asked if I should remove my shoes. No, he said. He invited me inside to eat the catered lunch. I opted instead to look about the house as I had not been inside for several years. I was eager to see the changes. I remembered the pool as being large and very sun-lit as in not having minimal landscaping. I was eager to see the pool which appeared shortly after I entered the house. i saw the pool as I moved from the living room thru the dining room and later a small study at the rear.

The original house dates back to 1874 and has been expanded and renovated by successive owners I dug down into my old shoe box and found a the black and white photo  (below) of the house that was taken in 1965. Two saw tooth additions were added at the rear of the house which are now used as the dining room and study. A separate addition was added to the right rear where the master bedroom and bath are located. There is a small bedroom with bath at the right front of the house. There are three rooms located on the second floor which include a decent sized bedroom, hallway, ante-room, and bathroom.

French doors open from the rear of the master bedroom onto a separate porch overlooking the pool There is an outdoor shower on the far side of the pool. By the way none of the neighbors can see into the yard.

The kitchen opens into the dining room and has a separate glass door that opens out to the covered patio overlooking the pool. I sat pool side and ate two sandwiches and drank a bottle of water. I told Jeff, the Realtor, this house beast any thing we saw earlier in the day. It is among the top of the houses for sale in Old Town at the current time. It is just as cute as can be. That pool is to die for.

This home has a successful history as a monthly vacation rental. You can see why by looking a the photos. Except for the kitchen which is plain, there is nothing about this house that makes you think of Home Depot.  The Dade County Pine walls, the shutters, the pool, the additions and renovations show a totally unique house in a coveted Old Town location. There are two off street parking spaces as well.

While Key West has been inhabited since the early 1820s, most of the population was concentrated around the seaport. This house is located in an area referred to on the 1889 Sanborn Fire Map as Buzzards Roost because it is the highest point on the Island of Key West. Longtime Readers most likely know the area as Solaris Hill - the highest point in all of Key West. I kind of like Buzzard's Roost more. Look closely at the map where you will see notations as to Negro Tenements. I am pretty sure those buildings are now included in what has become the Merlin Guest House. The former convent at St Mary's Star of the Sea Catholic Church was located about three blocks south at Division Street (now Truman Avenue).

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos for 804 Elizabeth Street, Key West offered furnished at $1,999,000. The 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. You will fall in love with this house!