1214 Von Phister Street, Key West - Follow Your Dream

Just Listed, but not by me, 1214 Von Phister Street, Key West, This Casa Marina east 2140 square foot home has it all - ALL!  The home was built new in 2002, not remodeled. It has four bedrooms, three baths, and an open concept living area. It is a spacious two story with abundant main floor living area which seamlessly flows out to the covered lanai and pool area. There is also convenient covered parking for two cars.

There is a phrase about a photograph telling a thousand words. Well, these photos show this home is lived in. There is a lot of stuff in the rooms, and if you read the MLS details, you will learn the furniture is included in the asking price. The personal items are not included, including the juke box located near the front door. (I looked at the record selection which was opened to Pink Floyd.) What I would like readers to envision is these rooms without so much stuff - maybe buying the house without the furnishings or taking the furnishings until the new owners edit and paint the walls "their colors" and makes this home "their home". I am not being negative about the owners' home. There is just so much to see that readers may miss the simplicity of design that these spaces offer for relaxed Key West living. The fourth bedroom is located on the far side of the staircase. Note this room has a set of small French doors which open out to the covered parking. This is an ideal room for a home office, but it could easily work as a genuine guest room where your guests don't wake the entire household when they stroll in at 3:00 AM after partying hard on Duval Street.

The master suite is located on the south or rear side of the home. A set of French doors opens out to the covered porch which overlooks the pool below. This is a quiet part of town. Imagine sitting out on the porch late at night appreciating all the you have achieved in life. Maybe you will take a late night dip then go to sleep with the doors open and in the wee hours waking up with birds singing.

There are two additional bedrooms located at the front of the house. Both are good sized and are very suite for full time living as opposed to some of the pretend bedrooms you may have seen on some condos over at Truman Annex. This is a big house and built for full time living. But it works equally well as a second home where generations of a family can gather.

Von Phister Street is located one block north of Flagler Avenue and just four blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and Higgs Beach, the dog park, and Salute on the Beach. Louies Backyard is about a five block walk when you want a date night. And doggie beach is next door to Louies when your pup needs to go for a swim. (There are people who get a couple of weeks vacation each year. They save their money and go to Louies to have a drink and dream of living in a place so wonderful. Imagine being able to walk over for lunch or dinner any time you want.)

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS and view a lot of photos of 1214 Von Phister Street in Key West offered at $1,750,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, email kw1101v@aol.com, to schedule a private showing of this spacious home. I am a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. I live a little over one block away. Let me show you the Casa Marina Area I know and love. This house is really easy to fall in love with and so is life in Key West.

629 Elizabeth Street, Key West - Buying Opportunity

I have written about or mentioned the house at 629 Elizabeth Street numerous times over the past eleven years including when it was first listed for sale as a "fixer-upper". I know a lot of buyers tried to buy the place back then, including a buyer I represented. He made what he called a fair cash offer which was rejected. The seller selected a different offer and that buyer undertook the project of essentially building a brand new house which incorporated just a few boards from the original cottage that sat on this, the highest point on the island of Key West. While the original frame was maintained in appearance, the house itself is all new. CLICK HERE to view the photos I took during the construction process to memorialize what once was to what became.  I have added a couple of the original photos below so you can see how the house appeared prior to the "renovation".

The 629 Elizabeth Street was listed for sale in December 2016 at $1,699,000 and has had periodic price reductions since then.  The asking price was just reduced to $1,399,000 which is 23.7 % lower than original asking. The reduced asking price makes this an official buying opportunity in my opinion. Last week I cited 712 Ashe Street as one of the best buys in Key West in 2017. It was a similar "renovation" situated on a smaller lot but it included a pool. It sold for $1,410,000.  The new price on 629 Elizabeth Street will attract a buyer now.

During the "renovation" the original cottage was expanded with additional living spaces. Today the house has 1647 square feet of living space which now includes an open space concept living area, three bedrooms, and three baths. The original front porch is now a sitting porch off the master bedroom. The front entry was relocated to the side of the house where guests now enter into the vaulted living area.

One of the major attractions of owning a second home in Key West is our wonderful wintertime weather. This home has collapsible doors which allows seamless movement between the indoor and outdoor spaces. The one thing the owner did not do that could be done is to add a swimming pool. There is room for a pool at the rear corner of the back yard.  Not all owners want a pool and the monthly cost associated with one. So whoever buys this home can decide if a pool is in his or her future.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos of 629 Elizabeth Street in Old Town Key West now offered at $1,399,000. Then 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. This home is designed for easy living as all rooms are located on one level.  You can walk to Duval Street or the historic seaport in about five minutes. And when you come home at night you will enter a place that is perfect in so many ways.

Fire and Fury & Fatbutt

Today's blog has nothing to do with Key West real estate except that if you want to buy a place or sell a place and you want an agent with life experiences beyond self-aggrandizement and self-promotion, you may want to call me. Info below on that.

I want to share a small true tale that may explain why so may people in the White House seem to have made derogatory statements about the boss, Mr. Trump. I think what might have happened was quite insignificant at the time. I did something similar about forty years ago and it changed the course of my life to some extent.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog about negotiating with bullies where I mentioned traveling to Omaha to meet with other creditors of a farmer borrower I called "King". In the late 1970s I was a commercial loan workout guy at a big Denver bank. It was my job to correct the ill advised and unsecuredloan by getting security. The problem was there were other lenders who had also given King money, most of whom were also unsecured lenders.

We (my bank) worked out a plan to take liens on various assets of King including his homestead located in Kansas. We thought the passage of time and a good crop season would put King in a better position to repay a portion of our loan. Our short term goal was to perfect our security interest in each of King's assets against the claim of other unsecured creditors.

I went to Omaha with our bank's new ag lender to attend a creditors meeting to discuss our mutual bad boy borrower. I sat quiet throughout the morning meeting as all to the other lender reps were discussing throwing King into involuntary bankruptcy. Just before we broke for lunch one of the other creditors said something like "Gary, you have been quite all morning long and have not said a thing" (which anyone who knows me is an improbable thing).  He asked if I had an opinion at which time I said I thought we should give King time to take his crops to market to see how much cash he generate to pay to the creditors. What I was really recommending was that they do nothing which would give us the necessary time to perfect our recently recorded mortgages and financing statements.  In a contest between secured an unsecured lenders, we would then prevail over most of the other lenders. We broke for lunch and later that afternoon the group of lenders agreed to do nothing.

That night Howard Fatbutt, the ag lender, and I went to Gorat's world famous steakhouse in Omaha to celebrate our diversion tactics. For those not familiar with the name Gorat's, it is Warren Buffett's favorite steak house. I remember having a couple of drinks and eating a great steak. I have eaten there several times since that night, but that night had consequence for me because I told Fairbutt that my boss was an "***hole". I thought what I said was both a joke and more importantly private.  I assumed that most people think their their bosses are "***holes" to some extent. In point of fact I really liked my boss and respected him greatly. He was a former US government attorney and very smart.   I said something stupid that I should not have said.

The following week my boss invited me into his office and told me Fairbutt reported that I had called him an "***hole". My boss was genuinely pissed and did not care for any defense on my part.  A couple of weeks earlier he had told me about an upcoming promotion. On that day he said the promotion would not happen.  He wouldn't fire me, but he would not promote me either. I couldn't figure out why Fatbutt had told my boss anything except perhaps to recommend a bonus for pulling off a win for our bank. We worked in different areas of the bank and had not had any prior business or personal meetings before. 

I can imagine a scenario where Micheal Wolff, the seemingly ever-present bald guy hanging around the White House, would get a lot of people to make ill advised remarks about President Trump. I can't imagine anyone would have envisioned their quips would have been repeated in a tell all book about the boss. Howard Fatbutt was my Micheal Wolff. 

If you are looking for a Realtor in Key West and want someone with life learning experiences, please consider calling me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or send me an email at kw1101v@aol.com. I am a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.

2017 Key West Real Estate Sales Report - My View

Photo found in my old shoebox taken in the 1970s from the White Street Pier in Key West - before the condominiums and town homes were built along South Roosevelt and Atlantic Boulevards.

It is that time of the year to look back at calendar year 2017 to see the sales prices for single family homes in Key West and to compare those sales to an earlier time to glean a sense of the direction for sales in the near future. This year I decided to compare 2017 real estate sales to 2015 for the simple reason a little distance in time may reflect a trajectory rather than show a spurt or a drop.

The above photo is to remind readers of my blog what the weather is like up north right now. As if they needed reminded.

According to the Key West Association of Realtors MLS a total of 416 single family homes sold in calendar year 2015. I excluded all sales east of Shark Key (a total of 34 sales) to Stock Island from the analysis as I feel those houses are not located in areas my readers would consider as suitable for a for a new full time residence or as a second home. The revised number for 2015 shows 334 single family homes which sold between $200,000 to $5,000,000.

In 2017 I used the same search parameters and determined there were 301 single family home sales. The lowest priced single family home sold for $230,000 (on Stock Island) and the most expensive listing in Old Town sold for $5,000,000.  While the price paid for the lowest priced home increased by $30,000, the price paid for the most expensive home remained the same - $5,000,000.  The total number of sold single family houses decreased by 22% from 2015 to 2017.

Let's look at the two most important areas of home sales, Old Town and the Casa Marina areas. These are the two prime sales areas that drive a good portion of our economy. These are the areas where most second home buyers and buyers looking to purchase a future retirement home (full time or part time) want to buy a house.  My experience has been that most of these buyers will resist even looking in the Meadows area or on the "other side of White Street" which I often refer to as Casa Marina east. A lot of the homes in these two areas are equal to or better than many similarly or higher priced homes in Old Town or the Casa Marina. But if buyers won't look, the house may go unsold or the seller may be forced to reprice the house to attract buyers.

There were a total of 88 single family home sales in Old Town in 2017. (I went thru all sales and  strictly selected houses located on the west side of White Street to the water's edge west of Truman Annex. I did not include anything on the east side of White Street - period. I included all sales from the Gulf of Mexico south to the north side of South Street. The least expensive house that sold was located at 1016 Varela Street B and sold for $325.000. The most expensive home was located at 707 South Street and sold for $5,000,000. The average sales price per square foot was $726.00. The average sales price was $1,132,955.

Only five homes priced under $500,000 sold in Old Town. Up north in America a person could buy a very nice home for half a million bucks. In Old Town the house would likely need substantial to total renovation.  The average price paid on a per square foot was $473.65. Consider this - general contractors often quote a projected remodel or renovation at $300 to $500 per square foot. If you add $300 to the $758 per square foot price paid, you end up at over a $1,000 per square foot for a freshly renovated house.These high prices are having a depressing effect on our sales. I galls me that sellers demand so much a fixer. I still sell them, but I don't like seeing buyers being taken advantage of.

I then checked single family homes sales priced between $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 in Old Town. There were 27 sales where the average price paid per square foot was $758.07.  The average price paid was $1,311,346.

I did one final check to determine the number of single family home sales located in Old Town which sold between $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. There were 11 such sales. There were four sales of houses priced between $3,000,000 to $5,000,000.

I then set out to see how the Casa Marina single family homes compared to Old Town. There were no sales under $1,000,000. None! Nine houses sold for prices between $1,150,000 to $1,850,000 with an average price paid of $724.72 per square foot.. The highest price paid on a per square foot basis was for 1105 Washington Street which sold at $1,500,000 or $924 per sq ft. It was a very lovely mid-century modern totally updated with pool and guest cottage added. We had five sales priced between $2,350,000 to $3,650,000 with an average price per square foot of $876.39.  But keep in mind these homes are larger in size than those in Old Town and sit on larger lots. The higher priced sales have increased by about one million over the past five years.

 I next revisited all Key West single family home sales in 2015.  46 homes sold for $1,000,000 or higher. The median sales price was $1,612,357 at an average of $683 per sq ft. In 2017 the number of single family homes sold in Old Town and Casa Marina (strictly enforced border patrol Mr. Trump) increased to 52 with an average price per square foot of $878.25. The median sales price was $1,525,000. The average sales price per sq foot was higher - $2,018,756.

Intuitively we know prices have gone up. Statistically, the number of sales in Key West as a whole are down by 22% compared to 2015. The demand for houses has remained intense for the twenty-two years I have been selling houses here. In 1996 and 1997 a buyer could purchase a cigar maker cottage for somewhere around $250,000. Now a cigar maker cottage will cost near one million dollars.  Back in 1996 the highest priced homes sold around one million dollars. In 2017 there were no sales under one million in the Casa Marina but there were 14 over one million - three over $3,000,000. The demand for nice homes in good locations is there. The inventory of available homes for sale in the lower price range in Old Town and Casa Marina is missing. 

Buyers who were previously unwilling to look in the mid-town and new town areas are now looking there. Sales prices on a per square foot level are reduced. However, many of these homes are now over fifty years old and are in need of repair or renovation which then gins up the renovation costs.  Remember the $300 per square foot price quote many contractors give to buyers. And there are rules which restrict the amount an owner can spend on a home and limitations of the size to lot ratio. These governmental impositions are spurring many new owners to take down existing structures to build new and larger homes with cost saving features such as hurricane impact windows and Hardi plank siding which dramatically reduce annual insurance costs.
 
The 2018 sales season has just started. As of January 4th there are 181 active single family homes listed for sale priced between $365,900 to $15,850,000 in Key West and Stock Island. Seven of the highest priced homes are offered between $5,000,000 to $6,950,000.  There are already 49 single family homes under contract priced between $398,000 and $1,795,000.

The most telling thing I continue to see on a daily basis is the reduction of asking price on properties in all areas of Key West. While we have 21% of the existing listings under contract, we have about 147 days left of our selling season to sell the 181 active listings. We will need to put more than one house a day under contract. I hope we have a lot of million dollar buyers headed down to Key West looking to buy.

I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or email me at kw1101v@aol.com. Let me help you find your home in Paradise.

2017 That Was the Year That Was in Key West Real Estate Sales

Some say Key West dodged the bullet when Hurricane Irma slapped our island home in September 2017.  We were fortunate that only a couple of our homes were severely damaged, but a lot of homes did have roof and fence damages, loss of trees, and loss of peace of mind for a few weeks living in the aftermath of the storm. Earlier in the year we experienced a brisk real estate sales market as dreamers bought houses in the Old Town and Casa Marina areas at higher than ever asking prices.

Some people were fearing that Key West might be in a housing bubble similar to the one that occurred in the two years preceding the national recession that occurred in 2008.  I will soon write a new blog giving the year end statistics on single family home sales in Key West. My lament, if any, is that we have few homes for sale as the 2018 selling season begins.


Listed below the real estate sales I believe were among the best of Key West in 2017.

712 Ashe Street. This house was a mess beyond repair, but it was located in a really great Old Town neighborhood far from all the hubbub of the Duval Street area. Sold for $475,000 after 489 days on the market.  It was then totally rebuilt and the new home placed on the market at $1,450,000. It sold for $1,410,000.  The story of this decrepit old house is the story of new Key West.

Let me share a brief personal story to make my point. When I was working with Mitzi Krabil, my Realtor in the 1980s and early 1990s, I was a very difficult buyer. I insisted on getting my way and buying at my price. I did not win at that game. When I was ready to settle for a cigar maker cottage that used to be available for around $100,000, I fessed up to Mitzi and said I would then buy one. She said "Gary they are all gone." And she was right. Time had passed me by. If I was to buy, I would have to pay the higher price. If I wanted something that had been updated, I would either have to pay more for it or buy a fixer and pay to have it fixed. That has been exactly what has been going on for over the 34 years since I first visited Key West. The stark reality for new buyers is that the cost of the fixer house has gone up and the cost of renovation has dramatically risen. Moreover, buyer in the old days could do so many more things to improve a house that are no longer acceptable because ever expanding HARC rules and city building code regulations.

I warn real buyers that buying a fixer house is not as easy as one might think even if a buyer has done a similar project up north in America. Things work differently down here and buyers have a good chance of getting taken advantage of if they are not here.  The owner of 712 Ashe Street was his own general contractor and also the listing agent on the sale. He invited me over a couple of times during construction. We even discussed pricing when he was near completion.He was going to ask $1,350,000.  I told him his asking price was too low. He increased it by the date he listed the house. I am not taking credit for that, but I may be the culprit. I think the house was priced right and sold right.  This price reflects the new reality for very well done fixer houses in Old Town.This house did not have parking but many of the homes in this location do not have parking either. If it had parking, the sales price would have been higher.

830 Olivia Street. This was a bank owned property that had been listed many times over the years as a short sale. It was probably illegally divided into two or three living units. I am not sure if the prior owner actually lived there, but I suspect the income that the place was throwing off during the lengthy foreclosure was the reason none of the short sales efforts ever got approved. Another factor hindering sale was a gigantic tree that hung over the roof. Getting rid of that monster would have been extremely difficult and expensive.  Finally, the house is located across the street from the cemetery. Some people would view this house and this location as a bad omen. I think the right buyer could turn this place into a gem. It sold at $514,500.

1717 Rose Street sold at $515,000. It was a nice mid-century home in move-in condition. It sat on a huge lot that gave it potential for either expansion or to tear down and build new. Razing mid-century homes has become an alternative to renovation as the rules for renovating have put a lot of constraints on owners. It has a quickie makeover and is back on the market.

1007 Eaton Street. I listed this cute two story home that went under contract in a matter of days on the market. It sat on a deep lot with room for a pool in the rear where there was also an off street parking space. Buyers need to read the MLS description and not just look at photos. Sold for $624,000.  Key Words: room for a pool and off street parking in rear.

 227 Julia Street is a real beauty located in Bahama Village. Some buyers pass-up looking in that area, but they are the losers. I think some homes there are comparable to homes located east of Duval Street that are priced much higher.  Buyers who want a better price should look west of Duval.

 1 Nassau Lane. I listed this gem in early April. I posted an open house sign the first Sunday it was on the market but did not place an ad in the paper. I had 182 lookers. The next Sunday I placed an ad. On the day before my second open house two separate couples came to the house twice on the same day. During the two showings a different couple stopped to look at the outside. I allowed them to take a look in between the showings to the other couples. The lady came back to the Sunday open house and made a cash offer over the asking price which was accepted by the seller. This cottage style home had charm to spare and a superior location on one of the slow lanes of Key West!

806 Southard Street. I sold this house. It was a tough sale. The former owner was raised in this house. The seller's family had expectations of selling at a price over the actual appraised price. The house was in pretty good condition and sits on one the very best blocks in Old Town. The buyers had to pay a bit more for this house, but they got what they wanted - a great looking fixer property with room for a pool and off street parking in great location. They hired Matthew Stratton, one of the very best architects in town, to design the renovation. I am excited to watch what happens.

2619 Gulfview Drive. This was a bank owned property with an incredible waterfront view of the Gulf of Mexico. This is a single family home with a lot of positive features with the negatives of deferred maintenance. I think whoever bought this got a steal!

1403 Catherine Street.  I sold this house a few years ago. When we were doing the home inspection, the home inspector said "I have never seen a house with nothing wrong with it until this home" or words to that effect. This place was and still is the best built and most attractive home in Key West. The buyer got a heck of a deal! Congratulations!

411 Grinnell Street. This 1541 sq ft single family home sold for $2,800,00 - the highest price per sq ft in Key West this year - $1,871 per sq ft. The house was unique in that it included an adjacent lot with a valuable ROGO on which a new house could be built. Earlier in the year I lamented the soaring increase in the number of houses offered for sale at an asking price of over $2,000,000. I questioned how many could be sold. I will give my readers all the numbers in an upcoming blog. Suffice it to say I was mistaken as to the demand for $2,000,000 plus houses in Key West. By the way,  I sold the house next door a couple of years ago and the eyebrow house across the street five years ago or so. I think those owners must be pleased as punch to see the home values rise so quickly in their little enclave.

1026 Von Phister  This house is located caddy-corner across the street from my home. It sold for $3,000,000. The listing and selling agent is Cory Held at Preferred Properties. She sold the next two homes as well.

1023 Johnson Street. This was a total renovation plus addition of an historic Casa Marina home on a large lot. It was done to the nines.  It sold at $3,350,000.

1019 Flagler Avenue was another total renovation of an historic home. It sold for $3,650,000. That's not the whole story, however, This home sold two more times since I started to write my blog. Now that's not noteworthy, but those sales mirror the rise in popularity of the Casa Marina Area and the increased value of larger and more improved homes in that area. It first sold in 2009 for $625,000 when it was a very large house divided into owner occupied quarters at the rear of the first floor and all of the second floor. A portion of the first floor was rented out as a doctor's office. The house sold again in 2014 for $900,000. The owner/seller had not made any substantial improvements to the property. The new owner did the complete renovation which resulted in the 2017 sale at $3,650,000.

707 South Street.  I drove down South Street on my bike or in my car for years and looked at the big old house that sat at this location. I looked nearly abandoned for so long. The house itself was a feature scene in the 1989 James Bond movie License to Kill. Then it was renovated and expanded. The interiors were incredible. Craig Reynolds, Key West's premier landscape architect, did the pool and gardens. This impeccably renovated and expanded home sold for $5,000,000.