FOR SALE BY OWNER in Key West - Are You Tempted?

Have you ever been tempted to buy a house from an owner? I think the theory owners use is that they know their property and can sell it as well as some real estate agent, save the commission thereby increasing the cash in the seller's pocket. That sounds reasonable. 

Last week a customer who is looking for a new place in the Key West area sent me a link to a house she found on Trulia. Truila is a real estate search engine acquired by Zillow. They share the same information but put it out in the universe just a bit differently. Both acquire listings located in the Florida Keys from the three Florida Key associations of Realtors as well as other MLS sites which post listings for properties located in the Keys. This is legal. I called the listing agent located far away from the Florida Keys to set up a showing. "The property is no longer available", he said. He added "I should take it down". He should. I just checked. He didn't. The MLS link is still up.  Is the guy forgetful, inept, dishonest, unethical?

Shortly after viewing this listing I decided to search For Sale By Owner sites. Several sites post FSBO online including  Zillow and Trulia do FSBO. I think the owner pays to be listed. Not sure. Houses do appear there. The photo at the top is one of the FSBO houses available in the Keys. I gotta say it makes the house look tempting. Would you be tempted to buy from a For Sale By Owner or an out of area "forgetful" sales guy?

If you are looking for a home in Key West I think it makes more sense to work with a knowledgeable local Realtor in Key West. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.

3322 Flagler Avenue, Key West - Let' Look

I wrote about 3322 Flagler Avenue in Key West a few months ago  I liked this three bedroom two bath home because it reminded me of my youth and also because of the large tropical backyard which has a lot of potential. The listing real estate agent describes this home this way:

"Centrally located and beautifully well maintained home. Full 3 bedroom 2 bath with dinning alcove. Large fenced yard that is wonderfully landscape, with covered back patio, out door shower, storage shed and plenty of room for a pool. Off street parking for 2 cars, one spot covered. This is a must see, easy to show, currently owner occupied."

I've got news for you.

This home was built in 1958 and is pretty typical of many homes of that era. It's just been updated with a new metal roof, new windows with approved storm shutters for wind insurance mitigation credit, new kitchen cabinets, new light fixtures and ceiling fans, plus sundries like curtain rods and drapes. The house is freshly painted and is in basic move-in condition. The terrazzo floor is in really good condition as well. That means someone moving to Key West from far away won't need to arrive in Key West and start to clean and redo a property before they can move in.  If you think a quick "update" or a "freshening" is quick I've got news for you: it isn't. Seemingly little projects always take longer to do and cost a lot more than anybody ever intends. Let me show you what's been done.

This home is a bachelor pad right now. The bumper pool table is confirmation of that. But the living area is large enough for a real family. The living room is quite spacious. Note the dining alcove. Muted sunlight provides a cheery place for daytime meals. The space may be large enough to become a fourth bedroom. The adjacent new kitchen gleams. A door at the rear exits out to the west side yard which leads to the front covered parking or to the rear garden where there is abundant room for a pool.

The front bedroom has three windows which adds a bit of drama to what often-times is a boring space in many mid century homes. This house is an upgrade from could be mundane. The color choices used between the various bedrooms works as well. The colors play off the whites, blacks, and grays of the terrazzo floors.

The windows of the left rear bedroom look out to the rear garden. This room is quite spacious. While it is used as an office by the current owner, it has ample space for a king, queen, or bunk beds plus bedroom furniture. Both the front and rear bedrooms share the use of the hallway bath that has also been updated.

The master bedroom has a full en-suite bath. A sliding door opens out the very large rear yard where there is ample room for a large pool. The lot measures 60' X 114' or 6840 sq ft total. That is much larger than a typical lot in Mid Town or New Town and even larger than many lots in the Casa Marina Area. This lot is much nicer than comparable other houses on the market. I know that buyers don't appreciate landscaping as much as they should. Sodding a yard and planting mature trees the size of those pictured would add thousands of dollars to place in a similarly sized lot that is a blank slate.

I took a lot of photos of this home which you can see if you CLICK HERE. They provide many angles of each space plus photos of the building exterior and garden area. I don't want potential buyers to miss the genuine money saving opportunities this house provides as it sits for immediate move-in plus potential to add a pool later on. This is a clean house where the drudge work has been done. Nothing new needs done to the inside or to the house. The yard is nicely landscaped. There is room for a large pool if that is something that a new owner wants. But the place is perfectly fine as it sits. The yard is a safe place for the kids to play.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet on 3322 Flagler Avenue. Then please call me,  Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. Let's go take a look. I think you will be genuinely impressed by this home which is offered for sale at $569,000.

German Class Cheater

I was never a super-achiever in high school. Nor was I super-achiever in college or even law school, although I did much better in law school.

During our office sales meeting a couple of weeks ago I was discussing agents in my community that are posting their new soon-to-be-listed properties on ZILLOW, TRULIA, and FACEBOOK. Our mls rules require that listings be posted immediately in our mls and they do not recognize anything like a future listing. The point of having an mls system is to share information and to provide an even platform among agents.

I then recounted an incident in my German class in 1964. We were taking a test and the girl who sat in front of me took out a crib sheet to answer some of the questions. She reached down toward her right foot and pulled a piece of paper up to her desk. She looked toward the teacher who was reading a book or something. Realizing she would go unnoticed, she cheated. I know a lot of people cheated in high school. This incident occurred more than fifty years ago and you'd think I wouldn't remember one person out of the many that I know who cheated in school. But I remember it clearly because she was a member of National Honor Society.

I took my time leaving class. I went up to talk to the teacher. I told her that I saw someone cheat, but did not say who. I told her it wasn't fair that people cheat to get good grades.  I don't know if I was making excuses about myself for not being a better student or that I was blaming the teacher for not watching the students better so that they could not cheat. I knew I didn't cheat, and I got mad when others got better grades by doing so.

A year ago when I was preparing to go home for my 50th high school reunion I looked through my old yearbook and saw her picture. I went to CLASSMATES dot com site and looked the cheater up. She is a REALTOR. I told the agents in my office "Once a cheater, always a cheater!"

3322 Flagler Avenue, Key West - Freshly Updated New Town Home

Just Listed, but not by me, 3322 Flagler Avenue in Key West, Florida. The listing real estate agent describes this home this way:

"Centrally located and beautifully well maintained home. Full 3 bedroom 2 bath with dinning alcove. Large fenced yard that is wonderfully landscape, with covered back patio, out door shower, storage shed and plenty of room for a pool. Off street parking for 2 cars, one spot covered. This is a must see, easy to show, currently owner occupied."

I've got news for you.

This home was built in 1958 and is pretty typical of many homes of that era. It's just been updated with a new metal roof, new windows with approved storm shutters for wind insurance mitigation credit, new kitchen cabinets, new light fixtures and ceiling fans, plus sundries like curtain rods and drapes. The house is freshly painted and is in basic move in condition. The terrazzo floor is in really good condition as well.That means someone moving to Key West from far away won't need to arrive in Key West and start to clean and redo a property before they can move in.  If you think a quick "update" or a "freshening" is quick I've got news for you: it isn't. Let me show you what's been done.

This home is a bachelor pad right now. The bumper pool table is confirmation of that. But the living area is large enough for a real family. The living room is quite spacious. Note the dining alcove. Muted sunlight provides a cheery place for daytime meals. It is large enough possibly to become a fourth bedroom. And the new kitchen gleams. A door at the rear exits out to the west side yard which leads to the front covered parking or to the rear garden where there is abundant room for a pool.

The front bedroom has three windows which adds a bit of drama to what often-times is a boring space in many mid century homes. This house is an upgrade from could be mundane. The color choices used between the various bedrooms works as well. The colors play off the whites, blacks, and grays of the terrazzo floors.

The windows of the left rear bedroom look out to the rear garden. This room is quite spacious. While it is used as an office by the current owner, it has ample space for a king, queen, or bunk beds plus bedroom furniture. Both the front and rear bedrooms share the use of the hallway bath that has also been updated.

The master bedroom has an en-suite full bath. A sliding door opens out the very large rear yard where there is ample room for a large pool. The lot measures 60' X 114' or 6840 sq ft total. That is much larger than a typical lot in Mid Town or New Town and even larger than many lots in the Casa Marina Area.

I took a lot of photos of this home which you can see if you CLICK HERE. They provide many angles of each space plus photos of the building exterior and garden area. I don't want potential buyers to miss the genuine money saving opportunities this house provides as it sits for immediate move-in plus potential to add a pool later on. This is a clean house where the drudge work has been done. Nothing new needs done to the inside or to the house. The yard is nicely landscaped. There is room for a large pool if that is something that a new owner wants. But the place is perfectly fine as it sits. The yard is a safe place for the kids to play.

3322 Flagler Avenue is not shown in the Key West mls. But you can see if if you call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. Let's go take a look. I think you will be genuinely impressed by this home which is offered for sale at $569,000 or $405 per sq ft.