1221 Margaret Street, Key West - Old Town

I got a chance to preview 1221 Margaret Street a few weeks ago. I was really impressed. Really! I have written about this small group of single family homes built at the edge of Old Town in 1999. Some share a rear driveway which allowed the developer to build big houses on smaller lots than official building code required. Note the two off street parking spaces on either side of the front entry. Let's look inside.

All of the houses replicated the revival style architecture of our historic homes. The builder created new interiors that had the look of older homes. The owner of this property undid the original and remade a better version that brings this home into the 21st Century with pizazz. Walls were removed, floors replace, new kitchen added, bath rooms upgraded, and on and on. 

The listing Realtor describes the space as "striking sophisticated interior that has been professionally designed and decorated. Huge Chef's kitchen with Hansen and Bringle custom cabinetry and Dade County Pine accents throughout the home." I have been inside many hoes with built in the 1990s with similar desgin and interiror layout. This is the best renovation I have seen. You just have to stop and look and take it all in. It is that good.

Glass panel doors open from the living room out tto the pool and spa. There is a stand alone two story guest cottage at the rear. The master bedroom is located on the second floor rear of the main house. It has doors that open out to a private deck also overlooking the pool.

The first floor is entirely devoted to family living space whereas the second floor is the cloistered master suite which has front and rear decks. The staircase delivers guests to the third floor which has two additional bedrooms each with en-suite bath.

The guest cottage abuts the communal rear driveway but this house has dual parking spaces in front. I mention the driveway only to show that the space is not occupied by another house.

I have mixed feelings about the guest cottage. It is one of the very best I have seen. It has a mini-kitchen (which is fully stocked with dozens of mini bottles), a full bath, and a full second story bedroom. First floor and second floor walls were partially removed to create a more open environment. I was just awed by the space and level of finish. That's why I have mixed feelings. I feel the brother-in-law will never leave. Ever. 

This home is located in the X flood zone just four blocks from upper Duval and four blocks from the White Street arts distinct. The Atlantic Ocean is a short bike ride to the south. On a good day you can be just about anywhere in Key West in five minutes or so by car. On a bad day if you are following a Conch Train or Trolley Car or a tourist driving a golf cart, bring your lunch.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datashet and listing photos of 1221 Margaret Street, Key West offered for sale at $3,450,000. 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.

 

 

526 William Street #1, Key West - Delancey Hall Condominium

If you have been living on the Internet searching for a place to call your own in Key West, the new listing at 526 William Street may be the place you have been hoping to find. While I expected many new listings around Christmas, that did not happen. This Delancey Hall two bedroom main floor condominium is the exception and is an exceptional one at that. I have written about other units in this building before, and I sold a similar second floor unit several years ago.The building was renovated in the early 2000's by Toolbox Construction, one of the best general contractors in Key West. They consistently do quality projects. This unit has been meticulously maintained. It is move-in ready.

The owners on the first floor share "sitting rights" on that porch and the owners on the second floor share that porch. Both porches are prime perchess for people watching. The first entry is quite dignified and sets the tom for the rest of the building. You enter unit No. 1 intot a hallway that leads past the bedrooms and toward the living area at the rear.  

French doors off the living room open out to the private deck overlooking the shared pool. Entrance to the pool for all other owners is on the north side of the building. This owner steps down from the deck.  I don't think I have ever seen anyone use the pool. Pools are nice to own, relatively inexpensive to maintain, and seldom used by most owners. 

526 William Street No.1 is offered for sale at $1,300,000.  CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and to view more photos. Then please contact 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. 

Blown Away in Key West

 

 Do you know the way you feel when you are blown away by music, a picture, a meal, a drink, an odor? While searching the Key West MLS for upcoming open houses and I noticed  a property described as a renovated duplex of just 1,176 sq ft. I thought to myself "That's odd. I thought it sold in 2021." I checked the MLS database and, sure enough, it did sell. It was listed for $1,250,000 on February 27, 2021 and reduced to $1,150,000  on March 29th. Even though the market was brisk, it did not sell. The listing was "cancelled"on May 17th and relisted the same day at $1,095,000. It went under contract twelve days later. It sold on June 16, 2021 for $1,075,000 cash. I never saw the inside but the listing photos looked great.

The house dates back to at least 1889. I found photos o the house taken over the years. It was inevitable the house would be renovated like almost all of the homes in Old Town.

1965

 June 2015

2016   When it was offered for sale at $695,000. It did not sell.

 2019  Photo I took expecting this property would be offered for sale after renovation.

2021 Listing photo

This sweet little duplex sold for $1,150,000 on June 16, 2021. The new owner put the same property back on the market 107 days after he bought it for $1,295,000. It went under contract January 5, 2021. 

Then I recalled a similar new listing located near where I live. I spoke with an agent in the listing office who told me that new owner thought he purchased that the house at a bargain price and decided to test the market and possibly net a hundred grand profit on a quick flip. The owner withdrew the listing as soon as the Christmas seasonal rentals kicked in. Big houses in the Casa Marina area are renting in excess of $25,000 per month. Our houses have become piggy banks.

 

 

2021 That Was the Year That Was in Key West Real Estate Sales

 

Pardon my absence these past few days. I have not been away or ill. Instead, I have been super busy selling houses - thee in a week and working on another. That;s enough about me, let's take a look back at 2021 - the year that was in Key West Real Estate Sales. 

There was so much apprehension when the world shut down at the beginning of the pandemic - especially from Key West Realtors who feared their livelihoods would be crushed. I was optimistic because I was sure the people who loved Key West would return. Florida has a lot of cities and beaches, but there only one Key West. It's like having a choice between a COKE or an RC Cola. Similar but not the same. The Real Thing or a not-so-good imitation. When the Sheriff lifted the barricades and the TSA let travelers back into town, Key West burst into the best version of itself. Tourists fled their isolation in the north to buy new primary, secondary, and investment properties in Key West. 2020 real estate sales amazed us all. I am here to tell you 2021 sales were more astounding. There were 435 single family homes sold in Key West in 2021. I am going to share some of to those sales to give readers a sense of this past year.

The least expensive property to sell created a furor the within hours of hitting the MLS. People across the world must live on Zillow and Realtor.com who spend their day looking at new listings in Key West. I got several inquiries about 921 Packer Street listed at $350,000. It was a 453 square foot 1/1 house located steps away from Truman Avenue and across the street from the trash bins of a fish restaurant. It had buyers flocking to buy it and sold for $365,000 or $862.88 per sq ft. See below.

The most expensive home to sell was 625 Caroline Street which made headlines in 2009 when a city commissioner told the world that a world famous singer had purchased the house. The buyer, who valued his privacy,  promptly put the house back on the market. It took two years to sell and sold at a bit of a loss. Thank you very much Mr. Commissioner. 625 Caroline Street sold in 2021 for $6,500,000. There were two other sales in the $6 million range both on Sunset Key; one at $5,500,000 on Grinnell Street; and two near Eaton Street; three sales in the $4 million range; and 21 sales in the $3 million range including one I sold at 727 Washington Street in the Casa Marina area. Think about that - 21 sales over $3 million in a little town with a population of 25,000 out in the middle of the ocean.

There were 159 single family homes that sold between $1 million to $2 million in all parts of the city. Most were located in Old Town and Casa Marina areas. However, the sales expanded out through Mid Town and into New Town - and beyond. I noticed the increased volume of sales and higher priced sales up the Lower Keys. I typically do not show or sell houses up there, but I saw in real time the explosion of sales in that area. I am not including any of those sales in my blog. I am just advising readers that the increase in sales volume and pricing is not limited to Key West.

I think one of the best buys last year was 516 Elizabeth Street that sold for just $890,000. It is an beautiful historic home located on one of the very best blocks in Old Town. It does not have a pool or an off street parking spot. Boo Hoo! If it had one or both the sales price may have had a $1 in front of the $8.  Parking and pools remain highly desire items for most home buyers. There is no place to drive once you get here. Just saying. 

417 Simonton Street was another bargain property. It was one of those places with "good bones" that needed a lot of money to bring it into this century. It had a decent back yard with an out building and trees. Trees! The nemesis of renovators. This fixer house sold for just $1,300,000 or $35,000 over asking. A bargain.

 

3108 Riviera Drive sold in days for $1,899,000. The renovated home sits on the Rivera Canal which feeds directly out to the Atlantic Ocean about half a mile to the east. Canal front homes have sky rocketed in popularity and price in the past few years. This same home sold in its "original condition" for just $650,000 in 2017. It resold in 2019 after renovation for $1,119,000. And then closed on New Years Eve at $1,899,000. What a way to start the new year in such a prime location.

  

I wrote about 517 Elizabeth Street a couple of times over the years - first when it was one of the projects of Key West and later when it was completely renovated and ever-so-beautiful. I include it in today's blog because it is an example of houses that we only learn about after they close. This house sold in zero days on the market for $2,550,000. I drove by a couple of days ago and noticed construction going on again. Almost all new owners do the same thing. They make perfect more perfect.

I sold 530 Catherine Street in 2014 for just $595,000 cash. It was a fixer then but it had a very valuable transient rental license that had never been used. The new buyer renovated the place and turned it into a money machine. It was listed and sold in 2021 at $2,525,000. It isn't the only one to do that. Several similar homes with transient licenses had similar sales success.  

I truly expect a bunch of new listings to hit the MLS in late December, That did not happen. Keep your computer on. I know there are going to be new listings soon. Expand your search parameters and be prepared to spend a bit more than you hoped. And cont acct me, Gary Thomas, to be your agent. 

 

 

Key West Real Estate Throwback No. 36

How Gay Was My Villa

from: July 16, 2015

 

Update: I was meeting with some former customers a few days ago. The gent found me from my blog and said his favorite blog was How Gay Was My Villa. This is for you, Bill. 

Key West is a great place to live. You can be and do just about anything and everything. Except for some do-gooders who sit on some public commissions, we all try to stay out of each others "business".  The rich and not so rich often live side-by-side. One's station in life does not matter. Gay and straight live together. Generational Conchs and newbies from around the world live and work together. People of different faiths, different races, and political persuasions all get along. We are an accepting community. The openness and welcoming nature of Key West as a community was one of the main reasons I decided to move here. I could be me.

I am a Realtor. I am gay. Most of my customers are straight and accepting. I sell houses to people who hope to move here to become a part of the Key West community. One of the really great things about my job as a Realtors is that I get to see inside so many Key West homes. Some places amaze me either for their architectural design, decor, or outdoor living area. Or all three. I have found that a great many of my favorite properties were gay owned. To be perfectly honest, some of the oddest places I have shown were also gay owned or occupied. I would like to share some remembrances of the latter.

Decorating with David and Other Dudes!

I have learned that a great number of gays have statutes of David in their homes or gardens. I consider the David statute as being code for a "gay man lives here". Some owners have additional pieces of  homo erotic art peppered around their homes. I have been in homes owned by women where the female figure is prominently or sometimes selectively displayed.

 

Not all of the homoerotic art I have seen relates back to the Greeks and Romans. I have seen lots of modern "art" photos, pop culture photos, posters, paintings, and more recently photos of porn stars.

I have several memorable properties that I would like to share with my Readers. The first house was a two story place located in the Meadows area. I showed that house several times a few years back. It had the obligatory Statue of David near the pool. There were  little statuettes, oil paintings, charcoal prints, and etchings of nude and semi-nude males throughout the house and garden. You could not move your eye from one area of a room to another without seeing a nude male image. The listing Realtor for that property worked in my office. He told me that after months of not being able to sell the house, he finally persuaded the owner to store some of the art off site. The emphasis was "some" because there was still plenty of male nudes in the house after boxes of other pieces were taken away. The house eventually sold and that owner put it up for sale. That's when I noticed what horrible condition the place was in.The naughty nudes had distracted my attention from the condition of the property itself. I never noticed the condition because I was so distracted by all the naked bodies.

I showed another house located in the Arts District (east of White Street) on several occasions. The owners had moved away and leased the space to a really nice gay man who had several roommates. The place had gay art, Fantasy Fest paraphernalia, boas, wigs, and hoopla everywhere. The master bathroom had photos of nude male porn stars everywhere. I remember that the light switch in the master bath room was a miniature penis. The tenant used to work for an international celebrity. The listing Realtor allowed the tenant to show the house - well, it wasn't so much that he allowed it to happen, the tenant always greeted potential buyers at the front door and started the tour. We got to hear his story, his famous former employer's story, and we got to peer into this den of men! It took forever to sell this place.

Back in 2006 when Key West was at the height of the real estate boom one gay man asked me to look at his Shipyard condo to discuss listing it. When I entered the place the first thing I saw was a nude oil painting of him laying in the sand. The painting was placed near the French doors that opened to the rear deck. I might have got the listing had I not told him to take down the portrait.

A local gay man visited with me in my office a few years back and said he wanted to sell his house. Local architect Tom Pope had designed the recently built house which was located at the dead end of a Key West lane. The house was new construction and not a renovation. Given those few facts I was sure that I could sell this place quickly. I decided to go the property to see the place so that I could suggest the listing price. The owner showed me around from room to room. While we were standing opposite each other in the master bath I looked down into one of the dual sinks when I spotted it. The DILDO! It was laying in the sink. All of a sudden I was not able to utter a word. I could not get words out of my mouth let alone put words together to make a sentence. I pivoted and made my way to the living room where I said good bye to the owner. I knew I could never look that man in the eye again.

And then there was the gay owned home with an incredible master suite that included a stunning sitting room and bedroom chamber outfitted with three single beds.

Mannequins pop up every now and then. I'm not sure why people buy them let alone why they play a part of home decoration. They don't surprise me anymore. Slings are another matter. A few years ago I showed a house where a gay couple was splitting up. They owned a very nice home in a very good Old Town location. Everything about the house two story home looked picture perfect, that is until I walked into the guest bedroom which was painted black. There was a sling. That was not a typo. Many homes in Key West have cute little swings. This room had a sling!

If you are thinking of buying or selling a place in Key West and are looking for a Realtor, call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or contact my by e-mail at kw1101v@aol.com. I am a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. Living life in Key West is just great. I could care less how you decorate your villa as long as you are happy. However, it might be a little easier to sell your home if you take down photos of your favorite gay porn stars and stow away the dildos.