Key West Open Houses - St Patty's Day

If you're out and about after church and before the St Patty's Day festivities begin stop by

409 Grinnell Street, Key West $1,249,000

1413 Von Phister Street, Key West  $1,499,000

"Jungle Gem" - The Tropical Oasis at 744 Windsor Lane, Key West

744 Windsor Lane, Key West

Offered by Gary Thomas, Cory Held, and Jeffery Grosky

Preferred Properties Key West

$5,750,000

26 Evergreen Terrace, Key Haven

Just Listed by Preferred Properties Key West, that's where I work but this is not my listing, 26 Evergreen Terrace which is located on a canal in the Key Haven area of Key West.

This 2831 square foot home was built in 1998 on an 8,759 square foot corner lot. Readers not familiar with newer Key West housing will be pleasantly surprised to see how spacious and well planned this home is.

The listing Realtor describes this home this way:

"Located on a large corner lot on Key Haven this home is on a pristine canal with easy open water access. Features include very high ceilings, three bedrooms, three & a half baths including a large master suite with a walk in closet, an office and a private balcony with great views. The main level has an open floor plan with a gourmet kitchen with top of the line appliances, two guest bedrooms en suite and an expansive screened porch. The home has a park like yard with a covered living area. This home is great for indoor and outdoor entertaining and enjoying life on the water. Upgrades include a relatively new 15,000 lb. boat lift and a new roof."

The second floor rear deck runs the length of the back of the home and expands the practical living space by leaps and bounds (but don't leap over the deck which looks down to the canal) with direct access to the Atlantic Ocean. I know guys like to keep an eye on their boats - easily done here.

The ground level lanai and third floor deck off the master bedroom also provide different views of the canal. There are many reasons people move the the Florida Keys. The warm days, blue skies, and the lure of the sea are a few of the reasons why people decide to make the Keys their home. Can you blame them?

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and more listing photos of 26 Key Haven Terrace. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a private showing of this impeccable home offered for sale at $1,700,000. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. You will love this home.

The Realtor Waltz

Every night when I was a little boy my dad would take me to my room to get ready for bed. We would kneel beside my bed where I would say my prayers. I blessed my entire family - Mommy, Daddy, Ronnie, Shirley and Joe, Grandmother, Granddaddy, and my dog - Blacky and later Mickey. I didn't know what "if I should die before I wake" meant, but I said it and meant it. Then I would get in bed and my dad would either tell me a story, whistle a gentle tune, or sing me to sleep with either "Red River Valley" or his favorite "Tennessee Waltz". The lyrics go like this:

I was dancin' with my darlin' to the Tennessee Waltz
When an old friend I happened to see
I introduced her to my loved one
And while they were dancin'
My friend stole my sweetheart from me.

Looking back I wonder why this song had such an impact on my dad. I know my mother never, ever cheated on my dad. The thought would have never crossed her mind. The melancholy in his voice rang just too true when he sang that sad song, even to a little boy who knew nothing of the world.



As a little kid and later as a teenage my world centered on me and not my parents. I wish I would have cared more. Maybe I would have learned something. My dad died the week before I graduated from high school.  You can't fix things like that.

I remember the time I met with another Realtor to take photos of her new listing for my buyer. I don't recall exactly how it happened, but she unburdened herself about receiving a phone call or email from a buyer for whom she had been working for several months. It seems her buyer bought a house using a different Realtor in Key West. Key West is a small place with maybe 300 Realtors. She told me how much time she had spent on this buyer. How many different places she had gone to take photos for him. How many emails and phone calls she had made. And then to find out the buyer actually consummated a deal with somebody else was so hurtful.

She said she felt like such a fool. She complained that this same thing had happened before. She said she trusted people too much. And then she complained that she will have to see this other agent for maybe 20 more years, each time remembering that he stole her buyer. Frustrating. Hurtful. Maddening.

I have experienced the same experience as my friend plus multiple instances when people tell me they read about a property in my blog, called their Realtor, and then bought the property. It's like a "Thank you very much for the info, Gary!" and **** ***! It happened again a couple of weeks ago during an open house I was hosting. The person walked up, introduced himself or herself (don't remember for sure), and said we read about our house in your blog and bought it from ***** *****. "Gee, thanks for telling me. That's why I write my blog, so that buyers go to other agents to buy houses I write about."

I am sure most Realtors have experienced the loss of a customer to another agent and felt a sense of betrayal. To me it's akin to finding out your sweetheart has been cheating on you, like in the song, and has run away with your best friend. 

3010 Flagler Avenue, Key West - A Less Expensive Alternative to More Expensive Old Town

Just about all potential buyer who call me to discuss the desire to start looking for a home in Key West says they want a place in Old Town close to Duval Street so that they can walk to the restaurants and do all the things they do when they visit as tourists. They tell me how many bedrooms and baths they want, whether they require a pool and parking. It's when I tell them how much it may cost to find a place that is in tip-top shape that reality often sets in as the cost of paradise seems out of the reach for some. I often quiz these potential buyers to ask if they have considered mid-town and new-town areas. Most are unaware of the areas or the value of homes located there.

3010 Flagler Avenue is a viable and less expensive alternative to the more expensive homes in Old Town and Casa Marina areas. This three bedroom home also includes a pool, guest cottage with bath, and carport. The 1,602 sq ft home was built in 1958 and sits on a 6,360 sq ft lot. (Imagine how much that would cost in Old Town.)

The home has been tastefully updated and is in move-in condition. I looked for but did not find anything that needs to be brought up to date. That means a new owner won't have to live through months of contractors not showing up to fix things or countless homeowner trips to Home Depot or Ace Hardware looking for stuff and then paying for stuff.

The master bedroom has a pretty chill view of the cool pool. Who wouldn't want a view like that each morning?  There is a large guest bedroom (with bath) in the main house plus a guest cottage (with bath) in the rear which the current owner uses as an office.

Last week I mentioned that I made by first visit to Key West in March 1984. I drove down from Miami and turned left on A-1-A and started toward Old Town, or so I thought. Instead I ended up on the eastern end of Flagler Avenue which had block after block of mid-century homes. This wasn't the Key West I anticipated.

I dug into my old shoebox and found the above black and white photo taken at where I think 2900 to 3100 block of Flagler Avenue. I think I see commercial buildings a couple of blocks to the east. The blond house on the right side of the photo looks much like 3010 Flagler does. The house definitely has a carport, a trademark of mid-century homes.  3010 Flagler Avenue today has a semi-circular drive and plantings which give the house privacy from the street. Additionally, the home has new windows and doors courtesy of the FAA's airport noise abatement program. While every home owner can hear plane loads of tourists arriving at some point, only a few homes got the expensive and effective replacement windows. 

This home should be workable with a family with one or two children. The guest bedroom is good sized or to a gay couple who want a slice of paradise that won't break the bank. The new Poinciana School is only a couple of blocks away as is the new Anytime Fitness.  Our three large shopping centers are five minutes by car.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos of this super-clean and well price home now offered at $825,000 or $525 per sq ft. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. to schedule a private showing. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.  You really should see this house. You will be impressed.

Some things from the 1950s never go out of style.

Follow me on TWITTER where I often give up to the minute alerts of price changes and new listings that are worthy of immediate attention. There are a lot of agents who check the MLS and their emails. once a day. I live on the MLS and respond to buyers quickly.