What to Order for Lunch in Paris

I was watching something on television the other day which reminded me of a real life incident that occurred in April 1992. My partner and I were in Paris walking around the Sorbonne. It was lunch time. We found a quaint little restaurant that dated back eons. We went inside. The place was packed, dark, and charming as all get-out. We stayed.

Our waitress appeared. As I recall these many years later she was probably in her 30s, but more than her age, I remember that she had hairy legs and unshaven armpits which reeked.  She spoke only French. We only spoke American. I used my pocket sized French-English translation book to order my selection: beef salad. I remember exactly what I ordered.

I am pretty sure we had some wine while we awaited our meals. Then they arrived. I don't recall what my partner ordered but I remember almost gagging when my bowl was placed in front of me. You see my beef salad closely resembled what we fed Gertrude our German Shepherd every night: ALPO. Our dog got a mix of kibbles and a whole can of little ALPO meatballs in a gravy. She loved it. I did not eat my lunch.  I drank it!

711 Olivia Street, Key West - A Perfect Renovation

Just Listed, but not be me, 711 Olivia Street, Key West which the listing Realtor describes this way:

"Don's miss out on this incredible opportunity to own a newly restored masterpiece located in the heart of Old Town Key West. This property is nestled on quiet & quaint Olivia St., with close proximity to Duval St., many shops, restaurants and galleries just steps away. The property has been meticulously renovated with luxury finishes throughout with a key west coastal flair. Enter the main house and you will find a designer kitchen with a seamless flow to living /dining area. Space is designed with cool beach colors to create a relaxing yet luxurious ambiance. Main House features a second floor master suite with luxurious walk in shower, double vanities, stunning cabinetry and ample closet space. Find your way to the pool through double glass doors and relax in outdoor oasis. Private Patio, stunning Pool and Waterfall...what more could you ask for and if that's not enough, the newly built guest house is completely separate from the main house, perfect for guests and extended family. Designed with living and sleeping quarters, this space opens up to the pool and patio area resulting in the perfect Old Town Compound. One Off Street Parking and Located in X-Flood Zone."

 I wrote about this same property in mid October 2017 just as Key West began to recover from Hurricane Irma. This house was not damaged by the storm, but it was one of the first houses to be offered for sale as our little town started to recover. There were a couple of months where we all wondered how the folks up north would react to the misleading media reports that suggested Key West was as badly damaged by the storm as other nearby Keys. Be late December we knew visitors would be returning in bigger numbers than before.  CLICK HERE to read what I wrote then about 711 Olivia Street. Then compare what I suggested with what this new owner created and now offers for sale.

The original house was gutted on the inside. The staircase was removed and reversed going in the opposite direction. The ceiling in the sawtooth addition at the rear was vaulted.  I often tell prospective buyers that all houses are just boxes and that they need to let their imagination go and dream of what they could do with a particular box. What surprised me was the complete perfection this new owner brought to this project. They nailed it!

The original house had several one-purpose rooms, each very small. Original interior walls and floors were removed as were windows, HVAC, etc. I was stunned at how large and open the entire living space now feels. The kitchen is quite large and has a lot of upper and lower cabinet space and counter space. There is a good-sized peninsula with bar seating on the back side.  Two French doors open to the back and right rear yards.

As best as I can remember there were four rooms on the first floor. The living room was on the left and a bedroom on the right. Both were tiny. The bathroom was located right rear and the kitchen was on the left rear in the sawtooth addition. The first thing you saw upon entering the old house was a tiny stairway to the second floor which had a bedroom. Today you enter into a small foyer which immediately turns to the right and leads through the living room toward the dining area and then the kitchen. A doorway in the back of the kitchen now leads to the guest bedroom with an adjacent bath. The builder saved some of the original Dade County Pine walls in both the bedroom and the new living room. The rest of the walls are drywall painted in coastal colors. New interior floors flow from room to room giving uniformity of look and function. So many of our old houses have sagging floors and often at various heights. Just about every other item in this house has been replaced except for exterior siding, the front porch, and the roof.

The open staircase leads to the second floor master suite. I had a vague recollection of a cramped ceiling and wondered how that could have been fixed. Well I was delighted to see that the old interiors were guttered.  The windows at the front dormer were previously shuttered. The newly renovated space includes new open windows framed by closets on either side, a sitting bench with built-in drawers. A full walk-in closet is on the back side of the bedroom. The bathroom is surprisingly large and includes a double sink vanity, large shower, and separate toilet plus more built in storage under the eaves. 

If you look back up at the old black and white photo of 711 Olivia Street you will see an adjacent two story house. That photo was taken in 1965. The old house was razed and concrete block garage with interior plumbing was added. That garage created the opportunity for redevelopment. The new owner took down the garage and built a new structure that is now a surprisingly large guest cottage with living room, wet bar, sleeping area and bathroom. Wind impact resistant sliding doors open out to the pool and water feature which are surrounded by Trex decking. The whole yard is now surrounded by new fencing which also creates defined areas separating the house and cottage from the street and nearby Galveston Lane.  CLICK HERE to view the photos I took of the renovation of the eyebrow house to the rear at 845 Galveston Lane which includes many photos of 711 Olivia before it was previously offered for sale.

The original house had 1248 square feet of living space. The renovated home and guest cottage now have 1504 square feet of living space situated on a 3550 sq ft corner lot. The cottage would be the perfect place for your mother-in-law to stay when she comes to town. It's all on one level - no steps. She can keep her box of wine in the mini-fridge and watch her programs without having to go inside the main house except for meals. A gate at the side even allows her to slip away without having to make her absence known. CLICK HERE to view photos I took during the renovation. I never imagined it could look as awesome as it does. This is a really great house.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos on 711 Olivia Street, Key West now offered for sale at the sum of $1,795,000. 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.

Key West Real Estate Sales Report - First Five Months of 2019

I wrote a blog on June 2, 2018 where I compared single family homes sales in the Old Town and Casa Marina areas of Key West for the first five months between 2013 to 2018.  My memory button got June and July confused in 2019 as I thought today would be the anniversary of my prior post. I will therefor use the Wayback machine to bring readers up to date (as of June 1, 2019).

I have written several blogs about my growing pessimism over the declining number of home sales and the continuing escalation of housing prices.  I repeated the process I used in the 2018 blog.

I performed a simple but strict search of single family home sales in the Old Town and Casa Marina areas by number of units sold, average price paid, and price per square foot for the seasonal time period of  January 1 to June 1, 2019.

I assumed that sales prices had risen dramatically but suspected sales would there would be fewer sales in each area in 2018.

CASA MARIA
 

Year

No. of Sales

Avg Sale Price

Price Per Sq Ft

2018                      7             1,413,333                    728
2019                      5             1,362,600                    616

Not only were there fewer sales in 2019, but the average sale price and the price per square foot declined. This can be explained by the fact that three of the five sales were for homes that sold under $1,000,000.  The most expensive house only sold for $2,475,000 or $722 per square foot.

CASA MARINA Current Inventory of Unsold Single Family Homes on the Market
Number            18         Avg List Price $2,146,550    Price Per Sq Ft  $922

OLD TOWN

Year

No. of Sales

Avg Price

Price Per Sq FT

2018                      40                  1,257,904            789
2019                      61                  1,181,536            816

The total number of sales increased but the average sales price decreased. The price per square foot did increase, however. Nineteen of the houses sold were located in the Bahama Village section of Old Town.  Most of those houses were fixers. I sold the least expensive house (above) for $350,000. It is definitely a fixer - if there is any fixing it.  The two highest priced houses in Bahama Village sold for $1,300,000 (new construction in 2008) and $1,732,000 (new construction in 2018 located across the street from public housing). While Old Town may be the preference for buyers seeking a place in Key West, many are opting to find a place they can purchase at a decent price, renovate, and create the house they want rather than buying some prior owners vision.

Twenty-three of the houses sold for more than $1,000,000. Seven of those sold in excess of $2,000,000.  The highest priced home was 101 Admirals Lane in the Truman Annex. It sold for $5,870,000.  

OLD TOWN Current Inventory of Single Family Homes on the Market
Number                   70        Avg List Price $1,877,261        Price Per Sq Ft  $891
I checked the average list price twice. I only used Old Town and did not include the Meadows or Sunset Key. Several of the current Old Town listings have been on the market for over two years. Some of those have challenging locations. Some are over-priced. Some do not have off street parking and buyers are resisting paying over a million dollars for a house without parking. Some are wonderfully renovated and are waiting for buyers with money to return to Key West.

Selling season is over. There have been numerous downward price adjustments since the start of this year. I think it's a good time for buyers with cash to come to Key West to test the market.

Get Off My Lawn!

Key West Horror Story No. 15

This is a true story. A couple of years a customer of mine who I will call "Charlie" had to return to his home town to bury one of his siblings. Both of Charlie's parents had passed during the previous ten years or so. It was up to Charlie and his siblings to bury the first of their brood. There were seven. And then there were six.

Charlie returned to Key West late one night a few days later. The house he bought had a rental cottage at the rear. The tenant's truck was parked on the street. Charlie went to work the next day and life resumed. The following night there was rapping on the front door. Charlie opened the door to find a Key West policeman and another man standing on the front porch. The officer asked if Charlie had seen his tenant. "No." He explained he had been out of town. The officer said the tenant's friend had not seen him and feared something was wrong. Charlie, the officer, and the tenant's friend walked to the cottage at the rear. Charlie knocked on the door and then opened it. He turned on the light and found brain matter and blood on the walls and bed. The tenant's body was on the bed.

The police officer called the fire department. More police arrived. Charlie told me every cop and fireman in Key West must have been standing on the deck when all of a sudden the deck collapsed to the ground. Nobody was hurt.

Charlie said the tenant left a note apologizing for what he had done. He gave is pick-up truck to his friend - his only friend. He had no relatives. The city removed the body. I asked Charlie if there was a funeral. He did not know. Charlie cleaned up the cottage by himself. He said he could never ask someone else to do something so horrible.

A lot of single people move to Key West to find a new life here - to start over. Some buy puppies. Some buy cats. Some spend a lot of time in the bars. Some buy dope. Some pack up their bags and go back home. And some end up like this poor guy. Alone with nothing left to live for.

Short Sale - 1307 Elizabeth Street, Key West, Florida

On February 12th I blogged about a then new short sale for a nice house located at 1307 Elizabeth Street in the Old Town area of Key West. I ended the blog by predicting "This will go quickly, at least as far as contract negotiation." It did. It went under contract within a couple of days, But that deal and a later deal both failed. It just came back on the market again.

Buyers seeking a "fixer" that does not look like it needs all that much fixed should consider 1307 Elizabeth Street, Key West. The house looks as though the owner walked away. Palm fronds are scattered all over the driveway and bricked side and back yards. I sold another house on this block three years ago and happened to snap a photo of 1307 Elizabeth Street as it appeared then. See below. It fits in nicely with the other lovely homes on this one block stretch between United Street to the north and South Street to the south. Simonton Street is one-half block away and Duval Street is one block further west. You could not ask for a better location in Old Town for the price - it's close to the action but not a part of it.

A previous MLS listing provided a bit of history of this former cigar maker cottage which was allegedly made in the Bahamas and floated to Key West in the 1880s for use of workers at the nearby Gato Cigar factory. In the 1920s it was used as a bakery. I checked the Monroe County Property Appraiser records and learned the house was significantly remodeled in 1996. It needs updated.

The black and white photo from 1965 shows the original cigar maker cottage together with an addition at the rear. The 1996 renovation added a second addition which is where the kitchen and dining area are now located. This room is a step down from the main living level and has a shed roof. The bedroom is located at the front of the house followed by the bathroom. All rooms have vaulted ceilings except the kitchen. The interiors are modern and do not have any historic character. Not being negative. Just pointing out what exists. A new side entrance on the north side opens into the living room. The old front porch is now a sitting porch off the bedroom.

The renovated house has 812 square feet of living space under air that sits on a lot measuring 40' wide by 81' deep. There is off street parking in front and a shed for the washer and dryer located at the rear. It appears that all of the windows are shuttered including the clerestory windows in the living area at the rear. The north side yard and back area are brick pavers.

 CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos for 1307 Elizabeth Street. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to discuss. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. This will go quickly, at least as far as contract negotiation.