312 Margaret Street, Key West - Newly Renovated Home near the Seaport

Just Listed, but not by me, 312 Margaret Street, Key West. This freshly and stylishly renovated home is located one block from the historic seaport or Key West Bight by locals. Decades before selfies and slurpees were common sights at the Key West sea port, spongers and shrimpers would bright their catch to the docks located a block or so to the north. Once the shrimp, fish, and even turtle catches were brought off the boats and processed. Today the seaport is mostly tourist related business Commercial buildings have been renovated and repurposed and houses big and small have also been restored or renovated.

The docks have been rebuilt. Yachts, tour boats, and fish restaurants will be found at the sea port now.

I found the above photo of 312 Margaret Street in my old shoebox. Then I searched the Historic Sanborn Fire Maps and learned that the house existed on the first map dated 1889 and was then numbered 311 Margaret. The street number was changed on the 1892 map. The first map showed the front portion of the house and a one and one-half story with a one story in the rear. The roof line suggests the rear roof was a later addition.  The lot to the north was vacant for years. Today there is a cluster of five small cottages.  Harpoon Harry's is located about one hundred feet to the north.

I found the above photo in two previous MLS listings which suggested all the things a new owner could do. Well, the current owner did them and now the house is available for purchase as shown. Let's take a look.

Yesterday was the very first time I ever saw the inside of this house. I opened the mahogany door and stood there just a moment to take it all in. I turned to my right and saw a bedroom configured as a sitting room. I looked forward and saw the living room and then the pool beyond. I thought to myself, I like this place.

The builder used pocket doors in a couple of areas including this room. Double pocket doors open from the entry/kitchen into the room. Another pocket door opens into the bathroom/laundry which has a third pocket door which opens back into the entry. All of the windows are wind impact resistant. The window casings are painted crisp white. Down lights are featured in most rooms. The Dade County Pine walls in this room were sanded and preserved. New engineered heart pine wood floors were added on both levels. There is also a fire suppression system on both levels.

I couldn't resist. I slid the back door open and walked around the pool. It was in the mid 80s yesterday. Just perfect Key West weather. There is plenty of space for sunning and lounging. The decks are Ipe and the pool is real - not a spa. I checked around, I did not see any adjacent property with a pool or deck view.

This is the second guest bedroom and en-suite bath. I stopped midway thru the room and turned around. Recessed light coves were built into the walls as places to hold swing arm lamps and cleverly become built-in bed stands for places to put things. Ingenious. I do not recall seeing anything like that before. It may not be original, but it certain is clever and useful.

This bathroom is amazing. Colorful tiles cover the floor and frame the window which beckons you to look out. So I did. I took two terrible photos and missed the pool except for a smidgen. I checked again. No house has a view looking into the pool area or into the bath.

The master bedroom and en-suite bath are located at the front of the house. I stood near the door and took in the space - in is quite large yet comfy. Four windows on the front and one on the south allow subdued light into the space.

CLICK  HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and more photos of 312 Margaret Street offered for sale (unfurnished) at $2,440,000. The furniture may be purchased separately. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a private appointment to view this freshly renovated 1,916 Sq Ft 3/3/ home. It has two off street parking spaces. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.

ROE v. WADE, FOSS DRUG, and My Former Roommate

It was lunch time in January 1973 when I walked into the Foss Drugstore in Golden, Colorado and learned of the ROE V. WADE decision by the United States Supreme Court. That day was one of those days I will never forget. I knew how controversial the abortion issue was. And I also knew it would give women a safer way of dealing with pregnancy. Today's blog is not to re-litigate the decision but to share a real life story that could have had a different ending were the decision rendered sooner.

I had just passed the Colorado Bar Exam and was waiting to find my first job as an attorney. I was and had been the legal staff assistant to a judge at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Golden. Two years earlier I shared an apartment with a guy I will call Ronald. We were students at the University of Denver Law School. Ronald was pretty good looking. He came from money. His parent s bought him a 1970 Mustang. He always had cash. He had two girls he saw regularly. One girl was kind of frumpy. Ronald told me they had meaningless sex to take care of his needs. He often made derogatory remarks about her but not to her. And he got her to clean our apartment on alternating weekends. I cleaned it when it was my turn.

I will call the other girlfriend Nancy. She also went to DU where she was an undergraduate. She was the daughter of a very prominent trial lawyer who was also a bigwig in the Democratic Party. Really big. Nancy was very sweet, very pretty, and very important to her father and mother.

Ronald and I met at some Democratic Party event in 1966 and became friends. We moved in together in 1969 when we entered DU. The apartment building was located in the Capital Hill area of Denver. It had an indoor pool, sauna, and was very nicely furnished - all for $200 per month or $100 each. We lived there for one year and decided not to renew our lease for a second year. We remained friends. I could not stand how he used people. 

Ronald and I got together sometime the next year when he told me that he and Nancy found out that she was pregnant just a couple days before she was to fly to Paris to attend the Sorbonne. Nancy decided to stop in London before going to Paris where she had an illegal abortion. It went horribly wrong. She ended up in a real hospital. She could never have children. Her parents flew over to comfort her.

Ronald told me Nancy's father met with him and told him he would never practice law in Colorado. I don't think I ever saw or talked to Ronald after that. Nothing judgmental on my part. It just did not happen.

I Googled his name and learned he got a job at some government agency in Washington D. C. I checked back a couple of years ago. I saw where he used to live in Virginia. I say used to live because by then he had passed away of so disease. 

Ronald was an okay person in some ways, but he was mostly a user. A taker. He took Nancy's life without killing her. Things might have been different if ROE v.WADE had been decided earlier. 

Comments will be moderated and posted.

Marty's Place Reborn - New SRO Housing in Key West

I took the above photo of Marty's Place in Key West. The cottage complex was ideally located in Mid-Town about five blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and easily accessible to Old Town to the west and the three shopping centers to the east. The complex became an independent housing environment in the 1980s. Units were renovated in 2001 and showed well from the street in 2018. The executive director of AH Monroe County spoke to the Key West Association of Realtors the year earlier and told us the existing cottages were in need of renovation once again. Because construction costs are so high here it was decided to raze the exiting units and construct 47 one bedroom units (12 ADA units) with a mix of independent and assisted living apartments. A health clinic will be located in in the building. There will also be 16 parking spaces. We were told construction would be funded by charitable donations and grants.

Within days what had been the home to Key West citizens with special needs was no more. I started to photograph the construction progress. Some construction photos are posted below. CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE. 

The new complex started to take shape. I thought it was going to be too tall  and too incompatible with the Key West architectural style. But then I looked around the neighborhood which seemingly developed without any forethought. I came to believe that Marty's Place might become model of what could happen to the area.

Marty's Place is now complete. Residents have moved it. I took new photos yesterday and spotted a plant and chair on one of the balconies. Do you have any idea how great that is for residents to have a balcony to enjoy our sunshine and the ocean breezes? 

AH MONROE COUNTY did good. Very good. 

True Tales of Key West Real Estate in the Time of Covid 19 - Part Seven

 

This is another true story of Key West real estate.

Several years ago two adjacent properties owned by the same owner were placed on the market. Both properties were in need of renovation but were priced in my buyers price range and were reasonably located. Both houses had more tenants than licensing laws allowed. That is common here and a lot of other places across the country. I set up showings in advance so that my buyers could see each of the units. The listing agent is very diligent and got approval from the seller and notified tenants in advance of the showings.

We arrived at the agreed time and were greeted by a member of the listing agent's office. This happened so long ago that the agents were not called "Teams". We looked each unit in the first building. Then we moved next door where the aggressive female tenant refused to let us see her apartment. The agent could not persuade her to allow us inside. She said she had not be given proper notice. We moved on to another unit which I recall was located upstairs in the rear. The woman tenant reappeared outside in the back yard shared by tenants of both buildings. She had a rake in her hands. I think I asked if we could go inside her unit as she was outside. I probably probably promised our inspection would be very brief/ As I recall she snarled - or something like that.  She was genuinely menacing. I don't recall that she said any threatening words, but her whole persona projected evil - like a Stephen King character.  The husband pulled me aside and said we should just move on. He would not want to have to deal with her likes if he bought the place. And so we did - move on.

My buyers bought a perfectly wonderful cottage in a highly desirable location with very nice neighbors. I don't know if that seller ever sold those two properties.

 

 

908 Washington Street, Key West - Just Listed

Just Listed - 908 Washington Street Key West. This 1.988 SqFt three bedroom, two bath mid-century home located in the Casa Marina Area will like sell this week. It is in original condition and might benefit from a good update - but not in need of anything substantial in cost or scope. A buyer seeking a renovation property should take a look immediately. I saw it this morning and two potential buyers were to look after I left.

This is not located in HARC and could be razed and a new home built on the 93' X 60' lot. Author Judy Blume used to own the house next door to the east and also the one across the street to the west. This is the only house on the block that has not been updated. The interior is 1,988 Sq Ft. There is room at the rear to add a pool. Let's take a brief photo tour of the inside.

The floors are in great condition. Note the acoustic tile ceiling. They appear throughout the house. That is a brick wall behind the media center with a fake fireplace. The center hall leads to the bedrooms and laundry rooms.

The master bedroom (top photo) has an en-suite bath typical of the time - small. But the bedroom is quite large. The two guest bedrooms share a bath. Both guest bedrooms are also large. There is no central air. Instead there are wall units in each room.

This is definitely a mid-century home - it has a formal dining area and original kitchen with Formica counters. But it is all clean and in move-in condition. 

If you look back up at the black and white photo you will see a garage on the right side of the house. The garage was converted into a family room several years ago is pictured above. The laundry room is located behind the wood panel wall and has a door that opens into the center hallway. 

The right rear side yard has ample roof for a pool and patio. Both the left and right side yards are quite large as is the back yard (but it is not large enough for a pool. I think a new owner might relocate the living room to where the master bedroom and family room are now. New doors would bring more light into the house  and make the spaces meet the way we live today. I would probably relocate the dated kitchen to that side as well. The present dining room and kitchen could then become the master suite with larger bath. CLICK HERE to view more photos.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and more photos of 908 Washington Street, Key West offered for sale at $925,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a showing. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. I have lived in the Casa Marina Area for twenty five years and love it.

Key West Real Estate Throwback Thursday No.6

From October 2, 2015

The Metallic Man and the Clicker

How in the world could something so innocent as a tiny little metal clicker have to do with buying a house in Key West? How, indeed!

The above photo shows Judge Joseph P. Lewis, Betty the division clerk, Velma the court reporter (stenographer), and me. The photo was taken 43 years ago. I was Judge Lewis' legal staff assistant. I had recently graduated from the University of Denver College of Law when the photo was taken. I had passed the bar and was looking for a job as an attorney. I was 25 at that time. I stood 5'8" tall and probably weighed 135 pounds.  Look at the pic. I don't look very intimidating, and I certainly never lived up to the nickname my dad gave me as a child - Butch. What happened one day at the Jefferson County Hall of Justice in Golden Colorado (that's where Coor's Beer is made) may help you understand the importance of the clicker and how it relates to me as a Realtor 43 years later.

Former Jefferson County Hall of Justice

Walkway from former Hall of Justice to Clerk's Office and County Jail

 Judge Lewis' courtroom was on the forth floor (top floor) of the building pictured above right. The county jail was located about 150 feet away in a separate building.  The county clerk's office was situated between the two. The interior of the Hall of Justice was open from the ground floor to the ceiling of the forth floor with courtrooms or administrative rooms situated on all four sides of the building. Interior walls were blond brick. Noise of any sort sounded throughout the building and even filtered into the courtrooms.

One afternoon I was in the hallway outside our courtroom talking to two Deputy District Attorneys.  A man in his 40's or early 50's exited the clerk's office and began clicking a clicker in rapid succession as he walked the hallway heading toward the elevators.  Back then we did not have police or sheriff's officers in the courtrooms or hallways. Nobody had to pass through a metal detector at the entrance to the courthouse.  We had not yet become a society that was afraid of everything and everyone. So there was nobody to stop this metallic madman from disturbing the solemnity of the courthouse.

I left the Deputy D.A.s and moved quickly to the elevator hall where I grabbed the elevator door and braced my right arm against the door to prevent it from closing. I yelled "Ralph, call the Sheriff!"  Ralph was a older man, probably in his sixties, whose office was located just off the elevator lobby. The clicker man was alarmed when I prevented his exit. He began chopping at my arm with his arm, trying to break my hold. He hit me repeatedly. And it hurt like hell.

Steve Worrell, a fellow classmate from law school, came out of his courtroom into the hall to see what was going on. Steve played football in high school and even though he wasn't much taller than me, he was definitely bigger in size and stature, and surely he wasn't the sort of guy you would want to pick a fight with. I wouldn't call myself a wimp, but I was. Oops I just outed myself as a wimp!

Steve reached past my arm and grabbed clicker man by the shirt and quickly waltzed him straight across the hallway into the marble wall.  I think Steve was about ready to punch the man, but someone either grabbed the man or Steve to prevent things from getting more difficult. Within a couple of minutes a couple of deputy sheriffs arrived. I told them what had happened. They put the man in handcuffs and took him next door to the county jail.

Later that afternoon I got a phone call from the Captain in charge at the jail that day. He asked me to come over and sign the complaint under which the man had been arrested. When I got there the captain made me an offer. He said I could go inside the holding cell and hit the guy. He even offered to have some guards hold him for me so that I could beat the hell out of him. I am as serious as I can be. I don't lie, and I don't make stuff like this up. I told him no and that was the end of that.

The next day the man was arraigned in the courtroom of Judge C. F. Johnson. The Judge had me sworn in, and I related what had happened in the hallway the day before. My recollection is that the man admitted what I said was accurate. He was taken away on a mental health hold for three days. I don't recall anything further ever happening in this regard.  But I will never forget the Captain's offer to let me beat up the guy who had hit me.

Many locals in Key West visit the Monroe County Sheriff's web page CLICK HERE several times a week where we can see who has been arrested and on what charge.  It's not uncommon to see someone we know get picked up for driving under the influence or some other infraction.  Sometimes I see images of people that disturb me.

48 years old when arrested. Disabled and held on municipal ordinance violation

68 years old when arrested for failure to appear

58 years old when arrested for failure to appear

Barbara was 62 years old when arrested for a municipal ordinance violation

None of the offenses would explain how these people got the bruises and lacerations pictured above. There is no justification in my mind that could possibly permit someone in authority to hurt these people.  These pictures are just examples of what you can and will see on a regular basis of people who are processed through the Monroe County Jail. I'm not saying the Sheriff's officers did this and I am not saying a city policeman hit these people.  Somebody did.  

I moved to Key West in December 1993 and have been selling homes since December 1996. I love living in Key West, Florida. I encourage people to move here and fulfill their dream of living in Paradise. I encourage would-be buyers to checkout the Monroe County Sheriff's website on a regular basis - not to see photos of the abused but to see where the defendants live, where they were arrested, and the charges against them. This personal search is a sure fire way to determine for oneself areas of town that a buyer may determine are better than others. Key West is a very safe place to live. Most of our person on person crime occurs between spouses, partners, roommates or people living together. Stranger on stranger crimes are normally bar fights.  

I will never regret not punching the man with the clicker. Never!

The Smartest Guy in the Room

A couple of recent listings and sales recently got my attention. 

Yesterday I wrote about 1218 Varela Street in Key West where I pointed out it had sold several times over the past twenty years. We just cannot build new houses on the Island of Key West because we do not have land and we have state imposed limits on all new construction. Also, we have height restrictions which prevents building up into the sky like they do on either Florida coast. So repeated sales of the same property is to be expected.

There is one particular property that seems to get purchased by novice buyers who own it for a year or so and then re-sell it. Oddly, the same agent continues to be the listing and buying agent on this house. I had buyers who looked at it ten years ago or so. I warned them to drive by the place many times at night and daytime before they made an offer. They did not make an offer and moved on to look at other properties. The property is located to an offensive neighbor. And no it is not the one that had a hog on the front porch (for real). It was and is worse than that. That is all I will say.

A couple years ago I showed a buyer a very nice but dated property in a great location offered over $2,000,000. My buyer made a good cash offer on the property discounted by the amount buyer would have to spend to bring the property up to today's standards (about $200,000 less). The seller said no way and my buyer walked away. I called around and found a neighboring property not listed on the same block. We got a deal put together and closed for cash a month later. Two things happened. The listing agent called me a couple of days after the seller said no to my buyer's offer. I told the agent about the deal I put together. Agent was shocked then blamed the seller for being so greedy. I am  not so sure about that. I deal with agents all the time that think they should be on one of the Million Dollar Listing shows - they are that smart. After that house did not sell, the seller hired a new agent who listed it at the price my buyer paid for a similar totally renovated on the same block. The property lingered in the MLS for about two years and finally sold for $500,000 less than my buyer offered. I love when that happens.