704 William Street - Old Town - Key West - Short Sale

704 William Street - Key West

The asking price on the very attractive three bedroom home at 704 William Street in Old Town Key West just got a lot more attractive. The house is now a Short Sale and the asking price has been reduced to just $899,000. The listing Realtor describes this home this way:

"Beautifully renovated throughout with 2 story addition in a sweet and quiet Old Town location. Totaling 3 bedrooms and 4 baths all ensuite, you will marvel over the private layout this split floor plan boasts with seperate staircases to 2 second story bedrooms. Gorgeous kitchen with top the line cabinetry, high end appliance package and stone countertops. Bright, airy and open with vaulted ceilings in great room and double French doors to the pool with dramatic water feature. This is a potential short sale transaction subject to lender approval."

This property was thoroughly renovated in 2006 when it was offered at $1,595,000. There were not a lot of buyers for houses in that price range at that time. As the economy slowed and buyer reluctance to buyer expensive second homes lessened, many sellers reduced the asking price on properties to attract buyers. The asking price on this property was periodically reduced as the market declined. Now the same lovely home that was built to appeal to a buyer in the $1.5 million dollar price range has been reduced to appeal to a buyer seeking to pay less than $900,000. It's the same house, the same location, but it is offered at a much better price.

Master bedroom with en suite bath

When you open the front door your eyes are immediately drawn to the dramatically vaulted ceilings of the great room and kitchen. The space is so open and inviting. The kitchen is an integral part of the living area and does not 'look' like a kitchen. A set of double French doors beckons you to look out to the pool. The pool has a waterfall feature and the rear yard does get quite a bit of sun. I have no doubt a serious sun worshipper will have all the space he or she needs to be a golden god or goddess all year long. A beautifully crafted stairway on the opposite side of the kitchen suggests something important must be located at the top of the stairs.

The third bedroom has balcony overlooking the pool

A third bedroom is located on the second floor of the adjacent wing. That bedroom could rival the master bedroom in many Old Town homes. That bedroom also has an en suite bath.

The listing agent says the house has 3 bedrooms, but there is actually a fourth room that can be used as a den/office/study/optional guest room because it has an en suite bath as well. This room does not have a door for privacy, but it does have a set of French doors that open out onto the beautiful pool for a quick midnight dip. CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls data sheet and to view listing photos.


Duval Street and the Historic Seaport are just minutes away by foot or bike. Charlie's Grocery! is the only neighborhood store for blocks and it is just around the corner. Bill Butler Park is located at the end of the street where William curves and becomes Poorhouse Lane. This a nice and quiet location near the heart of everything.

If you would like to see this beautiful home or any other property listed for sale in Key West, please contact me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. Let me help you find your place in Paradise.

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2533 Patterson Avenue - Key West - Bank Owned

2533 Patterson Avenue - Key West - Bank Owned

If you are a local Key West resident or if you are hoping to here to live full time and aren't a member of the lucky buyers that have uber dollars, the new Bank Owned family home at 2533 Patterson Avenue in Key West just might interest you. In the words of the listing Realtor, not me, read about this new Key West property:

"Beautiful quiet residential neighborhood. Fantastic square footage for the price. This Bank Owned Key West property would make a great purchase for a first time home buyer or investment property. Beautiful French doors allow for great natural light. No Appliances included."

Living room

This house was built new and completed in 2005. It was not damaged by Wilma. The house has 1944 sq ft of living space on two floors. Inside you will find a large living room with adjacent fourth bedroom (or office or den) plus a large dining room and generous kitchen (and even a separate laundry room) at the rear. Upstairs the master suite occupies the front half of the home. There is an en suite bath with two vanities plus separate shower and bath. The master suite opens onto the second floor deck where you can catch the breezes and they flow across the island. Two more good sized bedrooms, each with its own en suite bath complete the second floor. No dinky little pretend rooms in this home. As your kids grow up, you won't need to find a new place to move.

Dining area with deck overlooking the rear

Spacious Kitchen

Extra Large Master Suite

One of three additional bedrooms

The lot is a generous 5,000 sq ft (50'x100'). The yard is sodded, but there is no actual landscaping. There is a privacy on the west and north sides. A new owner will likely add a fence in the front and on the west side to provide privacy for the back yard where I would add big pool. The back yard is very large and is aching for a pool where the kids can have fun in the Key West sun.

Room for a pool and play area for the kids

View off the second floor master bedroom

The house has two tiered porches on the front and a rear porch overlooking the area where the pool could be added. The siding is in great shape and the trim appears in equally good condition. The house has the necessary storm shutters and ought to qualify for maximum windstorm mitigation credits. (I don't sell insurance so please don't ask how much it will cost to insure this puppy.)

The best thing about this Bank Owned property is its price - $328,680 or just $168 per sq ft. That is less than the cost of a building lot in the Old Town or Casa Marina area. And the new owner gets to breath the same wonderful air and enjoy the wonderful year around climate as the folks who have to pay so much more to live in Paradise. CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls data sheet which has some excellent listing photos. I took more photos which you can see if you CLICK HERE.

If you would like to see this home please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. in sunny Key West, Florida.

I Sell Real Houses in Key West

Prices are rising, sellers are getting greedy again, and the dream of buying a place in Key West may start to fade for those who waited too long.

Instead of buying a big house (or small cottage) you might consider purchasing the next best thing: a reproduction of a real Key West home. Consider the 718 Eaton Street's look-a-like home shown above. It is the creation of local artist Ronny Bailey who I have blogged about before.


Ronny grew up in Key West and was a carpenter for 30 years. His re-creation of Old Town Key West homes in miniature sizes is now his passion. He beams with pride as he talks about his work. This is a man in love with his life and his work. And his work is a testament to his love of the place that he has called home. He loves the Key West of yore and recreates houses the way they looked before the gentrification and HARC-ifornication.

Ronny brought his latest masterpiece to my office a couple of days ago. He smiled a big smile as I photographed this glorious piece of art. The house real house is located at 718 Eaton Street. It is located next door to the former house known as the Calvin Klein House. The home next door to the east was featured in the Cuba Gooding, Jr. movie A Murder of Crows that was filmed in Key West in 1998. Rent it you want to see Key West on film. The film was pretty lame if you ask me.

I scrounged around the old shoe box and found a 1965 photo of 718 Eaton Street and then went over yesterday and took a pic from a similar angle. Compare the house of yore with the home of today. Ronny did a pretty good job if you ask me.

718 Eaton Street was built in 1850

718 Eaton Street as it appears in 2012

718 Eaton Street (the real house) is not for sale!

Ronny's reproductions always include miniaturized household items and sometimes depictions of animals. Each wood carving will include the words love, joy, and peace.


CLICK HERE to visit Ronny's FACEBOOK page.

If you are looking for a life size house, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. in Key West. I sell real houses. They sometimes cost a lot of money. But you can really live in them. CLICK HERE to search the Key West mls. If you see a place you like, please call me. Thanks.

1411 Petronia Street - The Meadows Area - Key West

Just listed, but not by me, is a newly completed renovation of an absolutely charming two bedroom two bath home in the quiet Meadows Area of Key West. I wrote about this property a couple of years ago when it was offered as a short sale. I even had a buyer who made an offer that was accepted and we went through months of negotiation with the prior owners' lender and eventually got the short sale approved. Then my buyer decided not to buy. The buyer did not do the inspection. The buyer got cold feet. So the very disappointed seller had to start the process over again. Months later the short sale was approved and a new owner bought the house. The floor plan was thoughtfully redesigned and spaces meticulously updated. When I walked into this house my jaw dropped!

I had stood in the middle sawtooth addition to the origninal small eyebrow house many times and told potential buyers what they might do to the property to make the space more functional. Buyers often imagine huge costs and horrendous contractor experiences (too much HGTV home remodel nightmares). The new owner did what I imagined and combined two smaller rooms (the old kitchen and a wrongly placed bathroom) into a lovely new kitchen with a captivating view of the lush tropical pool. Except my vision in no way conceived of how great the space could or would become. BRAVO!

The new owner fixed what had been the problem with the house for years by reassigning the use of the front two rooms in the house, both of which were ill conceived and non-functional bedrooms. The front door of the house opened into what was the original living room. A prior renovation added a stairway to the second floor which made the space clumsy and almost too small for a bed. Besides, who wants to enter a home by going in the bedroom? There was another small bedroom suitable for a crib or may usable as an office. The new owner redirected the stairway to the east side of the house where the main entry was relocated forevermore. The crib room became two new bathrooms. The front bath is en suite to the bedroom. A second guest bath has entry off the living room which is the main sawtooth addition in the middle. The former tiny kitchen with small under counter refrigerator and freezer and tiny dishwasher was ripped out. The adjacent bath was also removed. The wall between the two rooms was removed and the resultant large new space was outfitted with a deluxe new kitchen that screams panache!

The upstairs was tweaked and spaces that were funky became ever so inviting. I could not have ever imagined the bathroom in that house could look as wonderful as it became. The door in the middle of the bedroom opens out to the front second floor porch that overlooks quiet Petronia Street. I could just imagine how cook it would be to sit there late at night listening to not much of anything.

The new owner cleaned up years of neglect to the pool area. The deck was replaced and an awning added. New tropical plants were added. The two large coconut palms on either side of the pool and the large canopy of trees in the neighboring yard and new tropical foliage added to the rear yard make this space lush. It is picture perfect. I invited myself to sit down at the table and imagined drinking a Bloody Mary. Aah!


I took more photos which you can see if you CLICK HERE. 1411 Petronia Street is offered for sale at $895,000. CLICK HERE to view the Key West Association of Realtors mls datasheet and to view the listing photos. The house has just 1120 sq ft of living space so the asking price on a per sq ft basis may bother some people who shop for houses like they shop for body soap: they shop by the price of the bar. Some soaps smell great and cost a lot. Some soaps are cheap and do the job. Some soaps are a bit rough like Lifebuoy. Other soaps like Caress cost more but do more, like caress your skin.

1411 Petronia Street is located three blocks east of White Street. It's a long walk or a quick bike ride over to Duval Street or the Seaport. Most of the island's gyms and yoga places are located within a few blocks which makes it an easy walk to do your daily exercise routine. Bayview Park is a couple of blocks to the south. The city's bandstand and public tennis courts are located there. This is a very nice and comfortable neighborhood where most of the homes have been updated. While this home does not have off street parking, parking is not a problem here. Most of the houses are single family and there are no commercial activities competing for on street parking.

If you would like to see this nifty home, please contact me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. in Key West, Florida. If you snooze on this, you will lose and that is a fact. This is a real buying opportunity.

707 Southard Street - Old Town Key West Chramer Extraordinaire!

707 Southard Street - Key West, Florida

Just listed today, but not by me, an absolute doll house if I ever saw one. This special little home at 707 Southard Street is located in the heart of Old Town Key West. You can't beat the location for convenience. Most of the neighboring homes are equally charming and certainly much pricier. The asking price will fit the budget of many buyers who want a simple getaway place: asking $565,000.

The house next door to the east

The listing Realtor describes this special property this way:

"The Quintessential Conch Cottage on one of the best blocks in the center of Old Town. Utterly charming. Relax on your front porch and watch the world go by. Just a block to Sarabeths and two blocks to Duval. Separate outdoor building houses the original kitchen. The interior was just updated with refinished bath with stone floors, new fixtures, completely repainted interior, refinished wood floors. Outdoor shower and laundry."

The funny thing is I walked by this house on Monday and thought to myself I wish a place like this or its neighbor on either side were for sale. All three look absolutely perfect. Serendipity, perhaps?

The roof is composed of two sawtooth gables plus a rear shed addition. The home is painted a bright white. The blue shutters contrast the white so perfectly that the resultant appearance is crisp and clean. The front porch provides an excellent perch for viewing the continual people parade. I can imagine sitting there sipping an iced tea greeting passersby as they say things like "I love your home!" or other such words of praise and envy.

The house itself is small, just 606 sq ft. The living area is quite spacious and tastefully designed. Six over six window provide light on the south and east walls. The master bedroom is located front west and when the bedroom door is open the filtered light from that room adds additional light to the living area. So what one might assume to be a small space actually appears quite large. There is a smaller second bedroom at the rear. Both bedrooms have private baths. The dining area is nestled between the main house and the historic cook house at the rear which is housed in a smaller building. The cool pool is located to the west of the cook house. What a delightful place to spend the spring, or summer, or fall, or winter, or the rest of your life. 707 Southard Street may be everything you need in a picture perfect setting and located near where ever you want to go. CLICK HERE to view photos I took of this charming cottage home.

Dade County Pine walls and ceiling plus six over six windows equal Key West Classic

Sophisticated but not stuffy

Master bedroom (above) master en suite bath (below)

The second bedroom (below) has private bath and a view of the darling pool

Dining is nestled between the main house and cook house

The cook house is located in a separte building at the rear

Sarabeth's is just a block away to the west. The Cafe Marquesa is a five minute walk. The Monroe County Library is around the corner: perhaps a three minute walk. Ten minutes if you stop to speak to neighbors. Five Brothers is located a couple of blocks east. You can be almost any place in Old Town within a five to fifteen minute walk. And that's why living here is so great. Your needs are less and they are fulfilled without a lot of to-do.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West Association of Realtors mls datasheet and to view the listing Realtors photos. Better yet, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a visit to see this place. Don't wait. I got to show this house late Tuesday (the day it was in the mls) and there were other agents following right behind me. This house ought to sell very quickly. Our market has few places left and this Key West property is offered at the price point where many buyers are prepared to buy. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc.