Apocalypse Now?

If you are like me you spent lot of time yesterday either watching CNBC or maybe checking in every few minutes on CNN.com or MSNBC.com to see what in the world the stock market was doing. Yesterday was most troublesome. The DOW plunged 800 points. The good thing is it could have been worse. It ended up only losing 369 points. But that "good" news was diminished by the world wide cataclysm of stock markets everywhere taking a similar dive.

I'm no economist. My economic education is probably akin to that of John McCain. Hell, I keep urging people to buy now because a lot of properties are "bargains" by comparison to what they were priced at just two or three years ago. Yeah, the fundamentals of the Key West economy are as sound as anywhere else in America.

Except they are not. Right after I started my blog in late 2006 I began to profile new projects that were being built in different areas of Key West and hoped to attract a buyer for one of the projects. I reasoned that even though the real estate market had cooled there were new projects that were designed to provide the kind of amenities many would-be buyers want. I further reasoned that the financial guys behind the deals would not be putting money into the various projects if they believed the projects would fail. Some of the properties include the uber-expensive townhomes with water views known as Casa Marina Residences, the less expensive Casa Marina Estates, the Sea Isle Townhomes, Atlantic Drive (near the ocean), the Santa Maria Condominiums, Paradise Harbor, the Steam Plant Condominiums, the Key West Beachside Resort, and the politically and legally challenged Harbor House Condominiums. I did point out that the once planned demolition of Atlantic Shores Resort to make way for another high end ocean front condominium project was scuttled and replaced by the construction of more ocean front high end hotel rooms.

The one thing I did get right was my questioning of the business model that would permit the construction of so many high end units. Not counting the Key West Beachside Resort, there were about 150 units priced in the $2 million and higher price range. I don't know the number of units at Beachside that were or are available.

Potential buyers responded to the multiple offerings with a resounding a lack of interest. This past weekend the Casa Marina Residences put the land up for sale so that uber-project is toast. The Santa Marina Condominiums have not fared well and that's all I will say on that. Key West Beachside has had some closings. The Steamplant is not yet finished. Harbor House built a model unit on the waterfront. Prices were reduced on several of the units to attract buyers. I don't think it worked. Sea Isle Townhomes is being rented a vacation rentals. The Atlantic Residences only built two buildings and the remaining lots are vacant.

People still want to buy a place in Key West, but it seems like most would-be buyers have decided to take a "time-out" and wait until the market settles before they commit. I can't argue with that.

I recently received a gift from a client: a book entitled Timing in the Real Estate Market by Robert M. Campbell. I'm almost finished. I agree with almost everything I have read so far. He discusses predictable behavior in good and bad markets. He wrote about boom times and the emergence of speculators whose sole purpose is to make a rapid profit. (That happened here over and over again. It lead to the huge price spiral from 2003 to 2005.) Houses stopped being homes and became investments.

When the real estate market got really bad and sales activity slowed (on real sales as opposed to the new phenomena of short sales), the market in Key West became driven by fear just as Mr. Campbell posits. Some owners abandoned their homes. Others just abandoned their investments. Many of those properties became foreclosures. I think many of the short sales we have seen in Key West are investments gone bad as opposed to homes being sold by abused home owners. But I don't have any statistics to substantiate my theory however.

Mr. Campbell theorizes "real estate trends are influenced by a whole host of market forces -- interest rates, the expansion or contraction of the economy, consumer confidence, income levels, inflation, population trends, changes int he tax laws, and even war." Add in gas prices and hurricanes for extra emphasis (the Gary Thomas theory).

I personally think many Americans see the coming election as not just a choice of who will be President but more importantly view it as a referendum on the kind of country we want to be in the future. Our economy is broken. Big business took our jobs and moved them to other countries. Our economy became dependent on foreign oil and our wealth got shipped overseas just like our jobs. We have become a nation of consumers and service providers. Our stature as the predominant world leader has diminished greatly. I think the election is time for payback and re-assertion of the US as moral leader.

I don't know that the Wall Street crash has occurred yet or if it is still to come. But if it has not happened yet, it will. Using Mr. Campbell's theory of market forces that can predict real estate trends, I see that crash as the Apocalypse.

I wish the election were this week because I think the results would do a lot to remove a lot of the uncertainty in the American psyche and in the real economy. I think there is going to be hell to pay in Washington. People are seeing their lives being messed around with Wall Street types who cared only about enriching themselves and by the politicians who let them get away with it.

If the election and the "crash" are in fact the bottom of the current market trend, that means that good times are headed our way. That will be the start of the next recovery. And that is the first phase of a new upward trend. The phone calls and e-mails have slowed from would-be buyers. But they have not stopped. People are waiting to see what happens next. They are poised and ready to buy if only they know that the market has hit rock bottom. Mr. Campbell teaches that the smart investor buys now and beats the crowd as they charge uphill on the next price swing.

804 Elizabeth Old Town Key West Historic Eyebrow

804 Elizabeth Street in Old Town Key West is a quintessential classic Key West “eyebrow” style home complete with two saw tooth additions. One sawtooth addition is the formal dining room with vaulted ceiling. Just behind the dining room is the second sawtooth addition (probably the "cook house" in olden times) with its authentic naturally weathered wood vaulted ceiling. The owner has been careful to preserve the Dade County pine walls in the older parts of the house. Upstairs there are even some of the original floors. This home is a great example of the transition from old eyebrow house to a comfortable home that reflects today’s lifestyle. There is a new kitchen in the rear that overlooks the stunning 36 foot pool and gardens. This home was the subject of the TV program “In a Fix”, a few years ago. Truth be known, the owner had to redo what the TV program "fixed". But it was fun to watch.

I've shown this house several times and I absolutely love it. It is a charm to show. The house invites you to sit down and relax. Not a lot of houses do that. But this one does. This is a house you could be comfortable to live in. The rooms are people sized. They aren't too grand. They are not too small. They are livable. And that pool is incredible. The only complaint I've heard is that there aren't enough trees or foliage. That's fixable: plant more.

The master bedroom is located on the ground floor at the rear overlooking the pool. There is an adjacent office that could be remodeled to create a new master bath and master bed suite. And there is room to expand the master bedroom area if desired.

804 Elizabeth sits just a few feet below to the top of Solares Hill. It is a short three minute walk to Duval. The famous Seven Fish Restaurant is a one minute walk. The 800 block of Elizabeth has a mix of restored homes and houses that have been in place of decades. It is a real Key West neighborhood. This 4 bed 2 bath Eyebrow House has 1940 sq ft and sits on a large 5876 sq ft lot. It is offered at $1,250,000 or $644 per sq ft. CLICK HERE for more details and additional photos of the property.

Would you like to see 804 Elizabeth Street? Maybe even buy it or one of the 11 Key West Eyebrow Houses CLICK HERE FOR LIST currently for sale in Key West. If so, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or e-mail me at kw1101v@aol.com.

Bank Owned Homes in Key West

I just created a new list of Bank Owned Homes in the Key West area. Homes from Old Town up to Sugarloaf Key. CLICK HERE to checkout the list. I must add that the list does not contain all bank owned properties. Some Realtors have not entered all of their listings in the mls. Some out of town Realtors (like some from Tampa and Miami) have access to our mls but do not necessarily follow our rules and don't always get their listings entered correctly.

There are some dogs on the list. Some of the houses have had the kitchen appliances and even the kitchen cabinets removed. Some need more than a little "TLC". But there are a few really nice homes that are priced very aggressively. The bank owners want to sell those houses. A couple of the houses are located on water. What a treat: a good deal and a water view.

Here are a couple of tips to help make your offer attractive to the guy at the bank that decides whether to accept your offer. First, have cash or get pre-qualified to purchase any on which you intend to make an offer. Most lenders require proof of funds or a pre-approval letter on file before they will even look at an offer. Two, don't clutter your offer with extraneous conditions that the bank (seller) will not consider. The bank is selling only what it got through foreclosure. It will warrant title and nothing else. Do your inspections before you make your offer because the bank will not re-negotiate the deal after it has agreed to a sales price. Three, offer to close within thirty days. In a world of multiple buyers, don't plan on dragging your closing out. Finally, even though the lender will usually pay for the title insurance, you may want to engage a local real estate attorney to represent you at the closing. Don't let a good deal turn into a bad one by being penny wise and dollar foolish.

If you are looking to purchase a bank owned property in Paradise please consider working with me. I used to manage bank foreclosures for two banks in Denver. I have the real world experience to help you present an offer to the bank owner that may have a good chance of getting accepted. Call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or e-mail me at kw1101v@aol.com. Who knows, we may get the better of Mr. Potter!

Key West Short Sale Opportunities

A Short Sale occurs when a property is sold and the lender agrees to accept a discounted payoff, meaning the lender will release the lien that is secured by the property, upon payment of of an amount less than is actually owed.

In yesterday's blog I reported that about one-half of the single family home and condo sales in Key West were either short sales or bank foreclosures. Short sales occur when troubled borrowers try to sell the property prior to foreclosure in hopes of salvaging part of their credit worthiness. Many short sales fail but others are succeeding. So I thought it might be helpful to explain how they work from a buyer's perspective.

Some sellers identify their property as a short sale to attract buyers. Some of those sellers aggressively price the property at or near the price they think the lender may accept as a discounted payoff amount. Other sellers keep the asking price in line with other homes in the geographic area but advise potential buyers to submit their best offer. In this current market I would suggest you look for property you like first then try to determine if there is a real bargain to be made in buying it. There are too many properties on the market just to look for a "bargain". Look to buy value first then make the bargain happen through negotiation.

The asking price and selling price are not always the same or even near the same even in short sales. In a competitive market seek to make your offer as a buyer better than all other offers. That does not mean you have to offer the most money. (1) If you have the ability to do so, make an "all cash" offer. Submit proof of funds (letter from your bank showing more than $X in your account or provide a copy of your most recent bank statement or stock brokerage account showing value of liquid assets) to cover the transaction. (2) Obtain written pre-approval from a lender showing that you can obtain a loan to purchase the subject property within a limited period of time. (3) Do not encumber your offer with unnecessary contingencies. Instead, make your offer as simple as possible. (4) Offer to close the transaction by the end of the calendar month if possible. Make your offer help the bank's performance look better by getting the deal done by month end.

Some Realtors will tell you that you do not need to have an earnest money deposit to make an offer to purchase. That may be true in some instances. But if you want to get a bank's attention, have real money on deposit with a title insurance company or an attorney who will write the title insurance policy. I suggest that you offer to pay for the title insurance. By so doing you eliminate one sticky point in any negotiation. Lenders are seeing a lot of short sale offers that disappear because some Realtors are submitting offers on multiple properties. Having real cash on a specific property may make your offer look better than an offer that is just written on paper.

Once you have a signed contract between seller and buyer, the short sale offer is submitted to the lender (or lenders if there is more than one mortgage). The listing Realtor or short sale negotiator will submit a HUD One form to the lender. That form will show the net proceeds the lender will receive should the short sale be approved. It is a good faith estimate of all charges and fees that seller and buyer will incur to make the deal happen. You are more likely to get a contract approved if there is just one lender or if one lender has both a first and second mortgage. If some outside party has a mortgage of other lien junior to the first mortgage, that other party must also agree to the short sale. That may require a nominal payment to that party. If that party does not agree, a short sale cannot occur.

Assuming that the HUD One Statement is acceptable from a numbers standpoint, the lender will first order a BPO, Brokers Price Opinion. ("The BPO is a tool used by lenders and mortgage companies to value properties in situations where they believe the expense and delay of an appraisal is not necessary. Real estate brokers are given an order to do a BPO by the lender, mortgage company or loss mitigation company. The broker does either a Drive By BPO or an Internal BPO in most cases.") If the numbers still look attractive, the lender will probably order a full appraisal to validate the proposed deal. Once the appraisal is returned the lender will do internal math calculations and obtain departmental approvals of the short sale amount. It is almost like doing a loan approval in reverse. Here the lender must substantiate the deteriorated property value to justify the write off of a larger loan. When approved, the lender notifies the parties that they may close the deal and give them a limited period of time to do so.

Some lenders have gotten their acts together and have become able to get deals approved within a few weeks. That usually happens when sellers have all of their documents in order and when there are no extraneous requirements to complicate a proposed deal.

Be flexible. Be willing to work with the seller if need be to get the deal accomplished. I've seen several sellers who listed properties at what I think is an aggressive low price agree that agree to sell at an even lower price. Sometimes things crop up between the contract date and closing that make closing look almost impossible. Different lenders have different requirements to approve short sales. Some require a cash payment from seller to permit debt forgiveness for the balance. Others may require the seller to sign a promissory note. Perhaps something happens to the property that requires the contract terms to be restructured. Be flexible. If you are getting a good deal, do not be a hog. Pigs get fat. Hogs get slaughtered.

I created a very simple list of single family short sale properties in Key West. There are more properties but the often listing Realtors may not have entered the information in our mls database correctly for easy capture. CLICK HERE to review the easy single family short sale list. CLICK HERE to review the condo and town home short sale list. If you are looking for a particular type of property or have a specific location, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, or e-mail me at kw1101v@aol.com. Let me know what type of property that you want, your price range, and the time frame in which you want to get a deal completed. Maybe I can help you. I can try.

Out of Business

Those of you who come to Key West know the Pegasus Hotel at the corner of Southard and Duval Streets. There are several store front shops on the Southard Street side including the now Out of Business Psychic. The Psychic of all people should have seen the downside--you'd think.

It's that time of the month again. Time to recap what happened in the Key West real estate market for the month of September 2008 and to compare it with the same time for previous years.

I've said before I am not a numbers guy. I guess I'm in the wrong business because numbers are really important in real estate. Anyway, in 2005 there were 23 single family home sales in Key West totaling $27,454,266. The number dropped to 14 sales in September 2006 with sales of $9,730,000, and fell further to 5 sales in 2007 for only $4,386,500. In 2008 we had 20 sales totaling $12,026,000. We are improving, right? Yes and no. Our sales are up over 2006 and 2007 but they are only 44% of what they were in 2005. Five of the 20 single family home sales were bank foreclosures and 5 were short sales. So one half of our market was distressed property. And I think several of the remaining sales were distressed but not characterized that way because of the way they were marketed.

In 2005 there were 12 condo and town house sales that totaled $8,326,000. That number fell to only 6 sales in 2006 with sales of just $2,728,000. In 2007 the number bounced back to 11 sales of $9,421,000. 2008 produced 11 sales of $3,414,000. Looks bad, right? Maybe. Maybe not. Six units at the high end Key West Beachside Resort closed in September 2007 and that drove prices very high. If those sales are eliminated, there were five market sales of condos totaling just $1,885,000. So it sort of looks like we improved over condo and town home sales over years 2006 and 2007 this year, but we are near the number of sales for the year 2005. But our sales price are off by 59% over what they were in 2005. Out of the 11 condo and town home sales we had in September 2008 3 were bank foreclosures and 3 were short sales. So, again, distressed properties made up at least half of that segment of the market again.

I just checked the Key West Association of Realtors website. There are 1116 residential units for sale in the Key West area. That number does not include timeshares. There are still plenty of people looking to buy in Key West. I know some have decided to hold off doing anything until the uncertainty in Washington and Wall Street clears. As if that is ever going to really change. If the Psychic who went out of business across the street from our office is any indicator of predictor of what the future holds, don't believe anybody who tells you what the future beholds. They don't know. But past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior.

We have been improving year over year. We will not go back to the price levels of 2005 for some period of time. But our sales volume in terms of numbers of units sold is progressing to the same level. That is encouraging even if prices are down. But down prices are good for buyers who got sold out of the pricier market. So now some people who missed the earlier price ride are in on the ground floor of what may become another rise in prices. Who knows? The Psychic is Out of Business.

Bewitched in Key West

Just Listed by Preferred Properties Christies Great Estates (that's where I work these days) 927 and 929 United Street Key West. These enchanting houses are located on the cusp of Old Town and the Casa Marina Area. Both are brand spanking new.

927 United Street is a 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath 1800 sq ft home that was built in 2007 complete with top of the line finishes. The 9350 sq ft lot is huge by Key West standards. Upon entrance you are greeted with a wonderful open living space featuring hand crafted moldings, cherry wood floors, French doors leading to the pool and veranda. The front, side and rear yards are beautiful. The kitchen has beautiful wood cabinetry with granite counter-tops and Viking stainless steel appliances. The master bedroom suite has its own private courtyard. The master bath is a jewel. This house is surrounded by lush tropical landscaping complete with an irrigation system and landscape lighting. Off street parking for two cars. This house is offered at $1,450,000 or $806 per sq ft. CLICK HERE for more detailed information and photos of this property.

929 United Street is a newly built Key West Conch House just blocks from the beach and Duval Street. The attention to detail goes beyond one usually sees in new homes with marble and wood flooring, state of the art bathrooms with mosaic tiles, European style finishes throughout and perfect lighting both inside and out. The ample kitchen has designer cabinets, granite counter-tops and Viking Appliances. There is an adjacent butler's pantry-laundry room. The three bedrooms share the second floor. The master bedroom is very large and has vaulted ceilings and a large California closet system. The pool is located in a tropical setting surrounded by rare plants, irrigation system and exterior lighting. Off Street parking. This two story 1900 sq ft house sits on a huge 9350 sq ft lot and is offered at $1,495,000 or $787 per sq ft. CLICK HERE for more detailed information and additional photos.

Both houses were just recently completed. They are sitting empty waiting for somebody to turn them from houses into homes. I see both houses as being buying opportunities for buyers who want a Key West house (a) that is new and does not need a lick of work, (2) that looks old but that is really up to the minute with architectural detail and custom finishes, (3) that is located near Old Town and all the attractions Old Town has to offer,(4) that has a large lot and pool area so that the owner can appreciate Key West's wonderful outdoor living, (5) and that is a real value for the asking price. Both of these houses meet that criteria. Neither house is a short sale, but both are being offered for sale at a price than is less than the developer has in either property. That is a buying opportunity.

If you are looking to buy a Key West house or condo and can't twitch your nose to make it happen, please checkout all of the Key West homes currently listed for sale in the Key West MLS database. CLICK HERE to search for the property of your dream. If you see something you like, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or e-mail me at kw1101v@aol.com.
You don't have to be a witch to turn either house into your home, but it would help if you had a bunch of cash in the bank, a rich Uncle Arthur, or good credit.

537 Caroline Street Old Town Key West

Just Listed (but not by me) 537 Caroline Street Key West, Florida. Those in the know recall this prime location as the former Banana's Foster Guesthouse.

This is how the listing Realtor describes this property: "Built in 1888 by William Curry...A rare combination of a Classic two-story conch with five transient licenses plus 1 licensed Manager's unit located on a prime Old Town corner. Built as a single family home & later converted to a guest house this property features an impressive 8 bedrooms, 7 1/2 bathrooms in two structures with a small dip pool and 4 off street parking spots, just waiting for you to restore to its' original grandeur. Fantastic architectural details including double porches, high ceilings, hardwood floors & heavy moldings. Truly in the heart of it all just 1 block off Duval Street. Tenant occupied, needs 24 hour notice. Formerly known as Bananas Foster's guesthouse and is currently being used as a Single Family home." CLICK HERE for additional information and photos of the property.

I have mentioned before that I used to own a guest house in Key West (Eaton Lodge at 511 Eaton Street). I learned very early that having a great location was critical to staying busy during down times for town. Many tourists drive to Key West without room reservations. Some opt for a motel on the Boulevard but most head towards Old Town to find a nice room at a cute little inn. This particular property is located one block off Duval at the corner of Simonton and Caroline Streets. The famous Curry Mansion is at the opposite end of the street and the equally famous Cypress House is just across the street on the east corner. Both Caroline and Simonton are feeder streets that tourists use to move about Old Town. So the location is superb for many reasons. Most of the neighboring homes are mansions or at least close to it!

The former owner that operated the property as a guest house had a great sense of style and decorated the rooms with pizazz. (The pics in the listing look like he took much of his furniture and antiques when he sold the property). As the listing Realtor points out the property has 8 bedrooms, 7 1/2 bathrooms, and only 5 transient licenses plus a "manager's license". That means any bank will only consider the number of licensed rooms to evaluate any loan to purchase the property.

When I bought Eaton Lodge in 1993 it had been foreclosed by the SBA and shut down for two years. The business went away. But as soon as I opened the doors in early 1994 former guests and tourists new to Key West immediately became heads in beds. I think any new owner of the Banana's Foster property will not have any difficulty getting the property up and running. If a buyer purchased and closed this property before the end of December, he or she would have time to redecorate the rooms and paint the exterior (it's looking a little sad!). But come the day after Christmas, the rooms at the inn should be filled until Easter. That is what a great location offers: opportunity to stay full and make money.

The property has four off street parking spaces and there is nearby paid parking within 150 feet. So tourists who drive to Key West will not experience separation anxiety about being too far from their cars.

This property is listed at $1,900,000. There are other guest houses for sale in Key West. CLICK HERE to see all of those listed for sale at this time. I have said before that people who have property listed for sale right now want to sell. One of the properties shown in the link is a short sale. There may be a bargain in your future. Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or e-mail me at kw1101v@aol.com for more information on any of the guest houses listed for sale.

A Done Deal for Sure!

Way back on May 14th I wrote about a new Short Sale that I thought looked interesting. It was a recently remodeled home at 917 United Street in Key West near the Casa Marina area. CLICK HERE to read what I wrote then.

That nifty house just sold (closed). The original asking price was $1,749,000 or $1,242 per sq ft. That was in January 2007. The property was re-listed with a new Realtor in April 2008 at $995,000. It was offered as a short sale and the property went under contract on June 13th. It sold/closed today for the price of $650,000 or $387 per sq ft. That is a great price for a nicely redone 3 bed 2 bath house with a pool.

Short Sales do occur and actually close. It takes time and perseverance on the part of the seller, the buyer, and usually two sets of Realtors that are willing to make the extra effort to get a deal done. Congratulations to both listing and selling Realtors and to the lucky buyer. He or She got a good deal in my opinion.

If you are looking to purchase a home, second home or investment property in Key West, CLICK HERE to checkout the Key West mls in real time. If you see a property that you like, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or e-mail me at kw1101v@aol.com.

Other People's Money

I don't like the idea of a bank bailout one bit. It will reward incompetence and greed. It will not teach anyone anything other than that Big Brother will come to the rescue of those who have power and influence. It will cost taxpayers an unimaginable amount of money and lost opportunities.

The Wall Street mavens created this mess by screwing with private home ownership and turning it into investment vehicles that could be bought, sold and traded at a profit (or a loss). The mavens got rich and earned incredible salaries, bonuses and stock options based on the their production. The mavens got theirs. And now the taxpayer is being told we have to make everything better for the common good. Hooey!

Now the Bush Administration is asking the public to go into tremendous debt so that our large financial institutions do not fail. The Administration is raising the specter of mass financial ruin if we do not act now.

What if several real big banks and a lot of small ones were to fail? What if the remaining investment banks were to fail? I know three things would happen for sure. One: the assets would be marshaled and sold to pay creditors.
Two: the stockholders equity would be wiped out. Three: the unsecured or under-secured might get nothing. But the insiders in the banks who created the mess for the institutions would lose all the equity they had in the companies by virtue of stock ownership.

Let's get up close and personal and look at the mess from Key West. Without naming names let me relate a couple of tales that may cause you to question the rationale of a bailout.

Local bank "A" was an aggressive local lender in the Key West market. It made residential and commercial loans. Since it is not a large bank, it had to participate a portion of some loans to larger upstream lenders. That is a common practice among banks to spread the risk. Bank "A" made no qualification loans based on cash down and appraised value upon build-out of the finished property. The assumption was that the market would continue to grow and that the new structure could be sold at a profit. The bank would fund the cost of acquisition, construction, and provide interim financing until the building was completed and sold. The front end and completed appraisals would be used to justify the loans. That scenario does sometimes work in a perfect world.

Local Bank "B" made aggressive loans including one development loan that was used to convert a group of apartment buildings into condos. I'll call this development "Howard's End". I used to work for a couple of big banks in Denver and did commercial loan workouts. One of the first things I'd do when I got a new credit (problem loan) was to read the Credit File and the Collateral File. The Credit File tells you the story of who the borrower is and the purpose of the loan.

The Collateral File contains the documents (loan commitment sheet, deeds, mortgages, notes, security agreements, assignments of rents, UCC filings, etc.) that secure the lender's position on the property (the "collateral"). Most banks have a loan administration department or loan review department that reviews collateral files to make sure that every required document was properly executed and recorded to insure the bank's position is perfected in the event legal action or foreclosure becomes necessary.

I personally did not like the location of Howard's End, and I thought that the workmanship was marginal. When I saw the project two years ago it was about 70% complete. The entire project flooded during Hurricane Wilma and a lot of the work that had been done needed to be repaired. Local Bank "B" had turned off the money supply to complete the project and used the loan reserves to continue paying interest on the construction loan. By so doing Bank "B" did not have to recognize a potential bank loss by writing down a portion of the loan. In essence the bank was advancing new money to hide the eventual loan loss. (I base this on what the developer told me personally. I have no independent verifiable knowledge.)

The developer somehow deeded one unit a new owner and got a title company to insure title. It is my recollection that Local Bank "B" did not get any money from the sale of that unit but that the developer got the cash.

The deal is more complicated because Local Bank "B" did not properly collateralize its loan. It did not have a first mortgage on all of the buildings or ground that makes up the complex. As a result there were competing parties with conflicting legal priorities on different buildings that make up the project. The result was that even if Bank "B" were to foreclose its mortgage, it would not end up owning all of the buildings and all of the ground. At least two different parties owned individual units or a portion of the underlying ground that prevented access to other parts of the property.

As I recall Local Bank "B" had about a $2 million loan to the developer. A private party had a second mortgage of around $500,000 and then there was that buyer who somehow got to purchase a unit inside the complex before a certificate of occupancy was issued or the condominium documents were recorded. Do you see the problem here dear reader? If you do, would you agree with me that such incompetence should not be rewarded by bailout? Shouldn't the bank fire the moron that created this mess. Shouldn't the shareholders in Bank "B" suffer a dilution of their investment for hiring such incompetent people? Where is the responsibility and accountability for management if managers let bankers hide problem loans and let collateral clerks fail to properly secure a loan? Maybe small banks should not exist if they cannot perform the required functions correctly.

Local Bank "A" doesn't get off any easier. That bank profited by charging huge fees for originating and booking its loans in the Go-Go years before 2005. Local Bank "A" and its officers and its directors made calculated bets that they could grow the bank by making aggressive loans. They bet wrong in several notable instances. Local Bank "A" has had to foreclose on mortgages it held and now must try to sell its foreclosures in a declining market. And it has more foreclosures in the pipeline. Neither management personnel nor style has changed.

I know my rants and raves won't stop anything in Washington. But if you are old enough to remember the Junk Bond fiasco of the 1980's and the S&L collapse in the 1990s you may share my disdain for what is being proposed today. Once again the public is being asked to reward the Wall Street players (and small hometown banks like the two I mentioned in Key West) that took huge risks with other people's money. I could care less if the Wall Street players lose their homes in the Hamptons, Aspen, Boca or anyplace else. They did not earn that wealth. They took it. It's time for payback.

408 William Street - Old Town - Key West

Just Listed (but not by me) 408 William Street, Old Town, Key West,Florida. This historically important home known as the Richard Roberts House was brought to Key West from Green Turtle Cay in 1847, and settled into its current home on one of the best streets in Old Town. It has received numerous Local and State historic preservation awards. Currently it is configured with 3 Bedrooms 3 Baths, 2 offices, large living and dining rooms, and FOUR covered porches, two on each side of the house and on both floors. Interior walls are wood and the floors are heart pine. The kitchen cabinets are gorgeous Dade pine and the kitchen has new appliances. Most of the interior rooms open onto shady porches, and the living room has a wall of glass doors that lead to the deck and spa. CLICK HERE for more discussion of the house when it was located in the Bahamas.

I had the good fortune to show this house on Sunday and I was taken by the delicate splendor of this painted lady. It is just beautiful. There is a newer addition at the rear of the house where the living room and a bathroom are located on the ground floor. But the original house is just so precious. I have written before about houses that have everything "up to the minute". This house is the antithesis. The treads on the exterior stairway between the first and second floors are not rickety but strong and worn. The show decades of use. Today treads would be replaced to look new. But the treads here ares a testament to the "soles" of those who climbed these stairs for years and years.

The house is divided into living areas on three levels. The spacious new living room is located at the rear of the house on the main level. It has French doors that look out onto the deck. The updated kitchen sits in the middle of the house and one of two offices is located at the front. The second floor has two bedrooms and a bath, and the third floor has a third bedroom and another office. All rooms have windows and or doors to provide natural ventilation (there were no air conditioners in the mid 1800s). But the house is air conditioned today. 408 William Street is offered at $1,075,000 or $573 per sq ft. That is a modest price for such a beautiful property. It will not last long.

There are two drawbacks that will affect certain buyers. First, there is no off street parking. So if you absolutely positively must have off street parking, look elsewhere. Second, there is a spa located on the good sized deck area just off the living room. There may be room for a small pool. But there is not room for a medium sized pool. That's not going to happen. But if you are a buyer that does not require either a pool and parking, you must see this house.

You could not ask for a better location. The house is a five minute walk to Duval Street or the Historic Key West Seaport.

CLICK HERE for more information and photos of 408 William Street. Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or e-mail me at kw1101v@aol.com for more information on this house or any other Key West listing.