1008 Packer Street (#5) Key West, Florida

Just listed by Preferred Properties Key West (that's where I work, but this is not my listing) 1008 Packer Street #5.  Read on home buyer wannabes. This place has everything most second home buyers want, and it is priced less than a single family home in the heart of the Old Town area north of Truman. And it would make a great vacation rental just in case that thought has crossed your mind.

When I looked at the house I could not tell that if the home was newer construction or a renovation because almost everything except so interior finishes was new.  I thought to myself 'this is good'. I love old school but I know that new construction or a quality renovation makes means long term maintenance and annual upkeep less expensive.  I learned that the hose was in fact a superior renovation of an older home that sat at the rear located on Truman Avenue with a giant rear yard. Then I remembered this home became part of a redevelopment of the entire parcel. In order to circumvent Key West strict new building codes, the new project was redeveloped as land based condominiums which allowed the developer to build houses on much smaller lots than land use laws would require. Since this home already existed, it became a part of the condo development but as as far as I could determine, it has nothing to do with the other units other than be a perfunctory member of the very limited condo association.

I looked on the historic Sanborn Fire Maps and note that 1008 Packer was shown on the 1899 map. That means it was built prior to that date. I then looked into the old shoebox and found a grainy 1965 photo that shows the house as it existed then.  As I said when I entered the house in 2013 I thought it was newer construction. It's not. It is really good renovation of a solid older home.  What you see in the black and white photo bears nothing to what exists on the inside today and the exterior has new porches and decks that totally change the look of the old. 

Today new wood siding, wood posts and railings give the old house and much different look. The front of the house is located near the street.  A new white picket fence and lots of trees and tropical foliage protect the house from the street. In fact you have to look really hard to even see there is a house behind the foliage. The lean to carport is now gone. That space became incorporated into units next door to the north. Today, an off street parking spot is located on the south side. And there is still a front gated entrance off Packer Street, but it is located a few feet further south.  What you see in the old has nothing to do with the new. And as Martha Stewart would say "That is a good thing."

See what I mean?  The old house has been transformed into the epitome of what second home buyers want in a second home in Key West. It has parking, a pool, a beautiful garden, and it oozes charm.  But that's not all. What you see on the inside makes it easy for the new owner to walk inside and start living from day one. There is no deferred maintenance nor punch list of things that one could do to make the place more livable.

When you first enter the home you see a very user-friendly kitchen with breakfast bar, handsome cabinetry, high-end stainless steel appliances, and granite counter tops. The tall vaulted ceiling and multiple French doors add lots of light to these spaces.  The more "in formal" living area is off to the right. The master bedroom is at the far rear. The dining area is left front and an informal sitting area is out of view on the right front.  The place is both easy on the eyes and functional.

During the cold winter nights up north in America, you and your family can enjoy breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the deck overlooking your pool.   I'll bet you will be using the outdoor space more than you can imagine. We all do. If its one of those few nights its rainy or chill (very few of those1), you can eat indoors.

The living area is quite informal and flows right back to the kitchen. The front door enters into this room, but I'll bet you enter through the French doors off the pool side. The transom over the front door was added for a bit of pizazz. It worked. A set of French doors in the living area open out to the sun deck. Dade County Pine walls help remind you that this an old house even if it has all the conveniences of being nearly brand new. A window wall and crisp white crown molding are employed to add both light and tone down the impact of the old Dade County Pine walls. Note also the use of recessed ceiling lights throughout the house. Lamps are used as accent pieces and not as necessities.

The master bedroom is located at the left front. It has a door that opens out to the revamped original front porch.  The bedroom is quite large by Key West standards.  And it is beautiful to boot.

The master bedroom has an en-suite bath. The second bedroom is located just off a small hallway. The guest bedroom uses the Dade County Pine wall to remind us again that this is an old house and not some new house in suburbia anywhere in the country. 

You will see that the second or guest bedroom has quick access to the bath, but that bath doubles as the guest bath. It has a second entrance just off the small hall to provide more privacy. This home offers a lot of very thoughtful design and functionality.  CLICK HERE to view more photos I took of this really lovely home. (Click on any photo to enlarge.)  And, take two minutes to view the YouTube video below. 

CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet and listing photos.  1108 Packer is offered at $865,000. Now that you've see the pics and video,please call me Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule your own personal viewing of this great Key West home.  Our office has the home next door at 1022 Packer Street for sale as well. It is offered at $1,875,000. Take a look at both.  1008 Packer Street has a lot to offer at a much lower price. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. Let me help you find your place in Paradise.

712 Love Lane - Key West

  

If you are a hopeless romantic you'll probably fall in love with today's home when you read the address - 712 Love Lane.  But if you're a pragmatist you may actually need to walk to the end of the lane, open the gate, and enter garden before you fall in love with this home. And after that all hope is lost for you will be surely, truly, madly, deeply in love with 712 Love Lane.

Today's home is located at the very end of Love Lane in Old Town Key West. In her book Key West Houses author Leslie Lindsey described 712 Love Lane as "an enchanting environment with a brick-and-stone patio and overhead trellis laden with cascading bougainvillea."

The listing broker describes this wonderful home this way:

"One of the island's best kept secrets. This 4 bedroom, 3 bath all-on-one-level triple saw tooth shotgun proved inspirational to many. Harry Roberts was the model for Harry Morgan in Hemingway's Key West novel To Have and Have Not''. Bill Wright, Russell Baker, and David Halberstram have all been inspired by this gem, secluded behind the library palm garden. Judith Kazantzis immortalized the home in her poem, Love Lane, Key West''. The main home and separate guest cottage with bath open to the private deck and 9 foot deep heated lap pool with outdoor shower. Cypress shutters and cypress cabinets with travertine tops in the kitchen and dining area. Located off Fleming Street at the end of Love Lane with off-street parking."

Let me first tell you why it is so "secret" - it's because there are three separate "Love Lanes" each located near the other but far enough apart to totally confuses just above anyone. If you walk on the north side of Southard Street you will find a Love Lane sign midway between William and Elizabeth Streets.. If you walk down the lane you will find that the lane abruptly ends where a house sits and the lane ends. Bur if you are walk on the south side of Fleming Street between Elizabeth and William Streets you will find an unmarked walking lane that begins at the edge of the Monroe County Public Library (which has been referred to as the Pink Library). This, too, is Love Lane. And if you went back to Southard Street and walked on the south side of the street you would find a tiny little walking lane, a lane also called Love Lane. In his book The Streets of Key West author J. Willis Burke explains the confusion about Love Lane:

"Love can generate some confusion - and Love Lane is no exception. Some maps show to Loves, one coming off Fleming and another off Southard, but not meeting mid-block. Other maps indicate Gwynn Street, named for a former mayor and cigar tycoon E. O. Gwynn, is the lane that runs off Southard. And yet another source cites Johnny Cake Lane as making up the northern half of Love Lane. At one time perhaps it did... As confirmed by the loving couple who lives on the Fleming Street side of the lane, both are now called Love Lane. It seems they don't meet because the bungalow that bisects the lane was built on the sly, and over the decades, has been grandfathered and let stand."

Love Lane adjacent to the Monroe County Library Garden

712 Love Lane is located at the end of the quiet little lane

I searched the old Sanborn Fire Maps and found what I believe to be 712 Love Lane. Love Lane existed and was named the same in the 1889 Sanborn Map, but the houses were not numbered. I checked the maps for later years and the house still stands where as the larger house at the corner at Fleming is gone. Today that space is the library garden. The early cottage was simple. I dug into the old shoebox and found 812 Love Lane is it was photographed in 1965 - below.

Like so many places in Old Town, this home has been added onto over the years. Rooms, multiple decks, a pool, a guest cottage are pieces that slowly became the whole. What was once a small cottage is now a 1309 sq ft home with three bedrooms in the main house plus the guest cottage or pool house. I started to write this blog about the charming spaces, I could not determine a favorite. So instead I'll throw up some photos I took when the home was owner occupied and you can decide which you like most.

When you enter the home you see the dining room on the right. It's a magnificent space with soaring ceiling, a library wall crammed with books and windows that look out to the garden of the Monroe County Library, and the front porch. A quiet little reading nook completes this space.

On the opposite side of the room is the living area with walls that seem to reach to heaven. Cedar shutters line the French doors on the south side which filter the view of the pool. Art has found a home on these walls which themselves become a piece of art. Look through the open door and view the first of three bedrooms in the main house. Notice the pickled wood flooring that is light and practical and in harmony with the house.

Pine walls were whitewashed which allowed the pink tones of the wood to show through. Louvered cedar shutters open out to the pool.

See what I mean? You can't pick a favorite spot because each room or space is so precious in its own right. I love the spartan bedroom with the single bed. It has a window that looks out to library garden. The shutter lined master bedroom made me want to jump on the bed and take a nap. The gauzy front bedroom begged me to peer through the shutters out to the pool. And then there is that insane kitchen with the soaring ceiling and handmade cedar cabinets. You absolutely positively cannot buy that charm from Home Depot or IKEA here. This kitchen was created with LOVE in mind.

The pool is located on the south side of the property. Some facing pools get an hour or so of sun each day. This pool should stay sunny most of the day throughout most of the year. Sometimes buyers miss things like that. It's always nice to have a pool with some sun and some shade. Not all people are bronzed gods and not all gods need to bake all day. The guest cottage or pool house is located at the far end of the pool.

The pool house (guest cottage) is located at the far end of the pool.  I walked inside and looked at the room and my jaw dropped. Who wouldn't love to sleep, or take a nap, or do other stuff in this place? The cottage has a tiny bath so if could function as a bedroom. This space is so restful.

I was nearing the end of taking photos when I snapped the above picture. I told the listing agent that Ralph Lauren must have created this space - it is just perfect!  He didn't, but I think you get what I mean. CLICK HERE to see all of the photos I took of 712 Love Lane.

Kevin N. McCarthy's book The Book Lover's Guide to Florida: Authors, Books and Literary Sites notes that author William Wright lived at 712 Love Lane (for about ten years). The present owners purchased this home from Wright in 1987. They created a masterpiece.  712 Love Lane is now vacant.  All of the furnishings are gone.  The house and garden await the vision of a new owner. The house needs painted and maybe the baths need updated. The house, however, is a little masterpiece that only needs preserved not remade.

This property has been rented during season as a vacation rental at $15,000 per month.  I think a new owner might improve on the monthly rental a bit.  You could not ask for a better location than this home. And I don't think there are many houses that are as picturesque as this.  

 CLICK HERE to view the Key West Association of Realtors mls datasheet and to view listing photos. If you would like to see 712 Love Lane with me, Gary Thomas, please call me a 305-766-2642. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Property Key West. You'll fall in love with this one!

1106 Thompson Street - Key West - Tropical Haven

 I am writing about 1106 Thompson Street for the third time which is remarkable for me since I normally do not write about houses located in the midtown area of Key West. But this place is different. It has the potential to become a Tropical Haven. It needs some TLC but it has so much going for it that I want some buyer looking for a good deal to go take a look at it with me.

The listing Realtor describes the property this way:

"Fantastic Deal And A Great Location! Would Be Perfect For An Investor Or Someone Who Could See The Potential Of This Property. Home Sits On Two Lots. It Is A 3 Bedroom 2 Bathroom 1,000.00 Sq ft. Brick Cottage That Needs TLC. Bring All Offers."

The site is located on the corner of Thompson and Catherine Streets.The property consists of a 999 square foot CBS and stucco home that sits in the middle of two separate lots. The owner had a building permit and plans for the construction of a 428 square foot accessory unit. The city would allow a 600 square foot accessory unit if a new owner still wants to add that addition which could be a guest house. Alternatively, a developer might consider tearing down existing house and building two separate homes on individual lots. Or a developer could tear down the existing house and build a much large single family home. I have shown this house to several buyers. I suggested a buyer renovate the existing house by updating the kitchen and two baths, convert the Florida room into actual living space, and add a pool. By doing my suggestion a buyer would end up with a lot of space with an incredibly beautiful tropical lot in Key West for about the same price as a low priced 680 square foot condo in Truman Annex. Now that, Dear Readers, is a bargain.

According to the Monroe County Property Appraiser the existing house is 999 sq ft in size. That figure does not include the semi-enclosed Florida room that adds another 200 sq ft or more of living space. The house itself has three bedrooms and two baths. The house was built in 1954 (59 years ago). A lot of 59 year olds get face lifts. It's time this house got one. A new owner would likely gut the interior and redo the kitchen and baths. If I bought the house I would add wind impact resistant windows and doors to reduce long term wind storm insurance premiums.

The lot is extra large - 94' x 101' or 9397 sq ft. The house is set back about 20 feet from Thompson and about the same from Catherine which provides lots of privacy. The yard on both sides is densely landscaped with tropical foliage.  In fact I think the foliage needs a good haircut.  Potential buyers need to understand the value that the existing trees adds so this property.  If you hired a landscaper to go up to Homestead to buy, haul, and replant a 9397 sq ft lot you would spend thousands and thousands of dollars in design, purchase, and planting costs.

west side yard

gate to west side yard

west side yard from rear of house looking toward Catherine St.

east or front yard includes a ramp to deck off master bedroom

north side or back yard

The lot is obviously in need of some major clearing and pruning.  I might even add new trees to the back and west sides to add more privacy from the adjacent public school. There is room for a pool on either the north, south or west sides of the property. That's the really neat thing about this lot - it provides so many variable opportunities for development.  

 1106 Thompson Street is offered for sale at the asking price of $424,900.  CLICK HERE to view the Key West Association of Realtors mls datasheet and listing photos.  Please contact me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642  or send me an email at kw1101v@aol.com to schedule a showing or for more information on this unique buying opportunity in Key West. (I have more photos that I can send to you.) I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. I think this could make a wonderful Key West tropical haven for the person who wants a tropical forest and no neighbors.