911 United Street, Key West

Just listed by Preferred Properties, that's where I work but this is not my listing, 911 United Street which is located in the South of Truman section of Old Town Key West. While this beautiful house looks like a classic Conch Revival, it was actually built in 2000.  The listing Realtor describes the property thus:

"A truly magnificent property with so many superb features that they just cannot be listed here. Private heated pool and spa, large kitchen, granite counters, stainless appliances, open living - dining and kitchen are among the things that make this a special home. Additionally the master bedroom with walk-in closet and the guest bedroom both have private balconies; the master over-looking the pool."

This 2380 sq ft home sits at the corner of United and Packer Street. The 2970 sq ft lot is an irregular  34' X 94'. The house itself sits towards the font of the lot. The back portion of the lot contains the pool and rear garden area. And there is private off street parking located behind the fenced pool area.


911 United Street offers three full floors of living space. The first floor includes a formal entry way which leads back to the kitchen and great room just beyond. The second floor includes the guest bedroom with en-suite bath at the front of the house and the generous master bedroom at the rear. Both bedrooms have access to separate balconies. The rear balcony overlooks the pool below.

This home and land are owned in fee simple, just like your home up north in America. But here in Key West, this property is classified as a "land based condominium". The condominium designation allowed the new single family homes (and renovate one existing property) on lots that were smaller in size than required for new single family home construction. Some of the homes share a private lane that leads to off street parking spaces. The land is owned by the condo association which also maintains it. (Condo fees are just $325 yearly.)

A spiral stairway leads to the overly large third floor. The space run the length of the house. The front space could accommodate a single bed.  The back space currently has a daybed and office furniture. There is more than enough room for a king size bed in the space. There is a small bath on this floor as well. The listing only shows two bedroom but there is abundant space for more beds.

As noted above, a door off the master suite exits on to the rear second floor balcony that overlooks the pool and garden. A stairway provides access from the balcony for an early morning or late night dip in the private pool or spa.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet and listing photos of 911 United Street which is offered for sale at $1,349,000.  Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to arrange a private showing of this impeccably maintained home. You won't find a think that needs to be fixed.

1317 Catherine Street - Key West

1317 Catherine Street sits behind another house that faces Catherine Street. Were it not for today's blog, you might never know about this two bedroom two bath home even exists or that is offered for sale at $659,000. The features and price point of this property deserve a little more of your time. Please read on and then CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet. This property is currently used as a vacation rental.  The listing agent describes the property as a

 "Hidden gem just a short walk off White Street on Catherine. Well updated 2/2 with a heated pool and some very pleasant exterior space. Nice master with French doors opening onto the pool area."

While the covered porch has a door that enters directly into the living room, you are more than likely to enter the house via the kitchen door. It's less formal and more practical. The kitchen leads directly to the dining area which flows into the living room. A decent sized guest bedroom is located off the living room. That bedroom has a door that opens out to the deck that overlooks the pool. The master bedroom is located at the back of the house. The room runs the width of the house and like the guest bedroom this bedroom opens out to the swimming pool.

With the double doors in the master bedroom opened to the outside you not only have a beautiful view but you can also hear the sound of the water splashing into the swimming pool. Unlike parts of Old Town where you may hear the clang of a trolley or the ring-ring-ring of a bell, this part of Key West is tucked away just far enough to be near places of interest but your not amid all the hoopla. You can be there in a few minutes.  Heck, you can be anywhere in Key West is about five or six minutes unless town is crowded with tourists.

 

This house is designed for informal Key West living. Note that windows in the kitchen open out to a bar which provides covered outdoor dining space.  Adjacent to the covered porch is a stand alone cottage which is currently used just for storage. An outdoor shower is located next to the cottage. A new owner might find a more creative use of this attractive space. CLICK HERE to view more photos of this property.

This property does have a successful vacation rental history. However, a new owner could just as easily buy this home and keep it all to him or her self.  Not every buyer wants to share the sheets with strangers.  This home is priced at $659,000 and offers features that cost a lot more when the house is located in the heart of Old Town. 

If you are looking either for a personal residence or an investment property please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a showing of this property.  I am a buyer's agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.

My Brother the Mummy

I grew up in the 1950's in a little suburb just west of Denver. I shared my bedroom with my big brother. I was ten and he was twelve years older than me. He was a handsome devil. Really. He had just come back after spending two years in the US Army. The first night he was back we went shopping for a new car. He bought a brand new blue and white 1956 Oldsmobile convertible. He was a snappy dresser who had blue suede shoes, a couple of cool sport coats, a worsted wool overcoat, lots of nice short sleeve shirts which he always wore with the sleeves rolled up to show off his muscles. After he had been back home he even had a duck tail haircut. The girls loved him, and I admired him.

There were only four television stations in Denver in the mid 1950s: ABC, CBS, NBC, plus an independent station that ran scratchy old black and white movies from the 1930s and 1940s which included weekly horror movies. I remember one particular winter night. It was quite late. My mom and dad had gone to bed hours earlier. My brother, his girlfriend Janet, and I had watched "The Mummy" - the real one with Boris Karloff wrapped in bandages. I remember the plot essentially to be a chase scene in slow motion where the mummy slowly dragged his bandaged body with one arm out-stretched chasing morons too paralyzed with fear to run away from the creature. He always caught them. Movies haven't changed much in the eighty-two years since "The Mummy" was produced. Morons are always too paralyzed with fear to escape and they always get caught. It's their destiny.

Anyway, after the movie was over my brother went outside to warm up his Oldsmobile convertible to take Janet home. It was snowing that night. He stayed outside long enough to remove snow from the car. (You readers up north in America know about snow covered cars because you have to live with it. Us Key Westers know of it from memories or seeing snow in movies or on television. We live frost-free in the Keys!)

When my brother came back inside his head and overcoat were covered with new fallen snow. When he opened the front door a blast of cold air flushed across the living room. He paused. He looked across at Janet and me sitting on the couch. He raised his right arm in the same manner as the Mummy had held his in the movie. He slowly edged toward us. He didn't say a word. He dragged his foot behind him as he headed toward us. We sat paralyzed with fear. We both screamed for our lives. I am pretty sure he caught us.  I'm alive so I know he didn't kill me. He married a different girl. So I'm not so sure about what happened to Janet.

There is a photo located in the confines of my deceased sister's basement that shows my brother wearing a short sleeve shirt with muscles tensed standing next to Janet in front of his blue and white 1956 Oldsmobile convertible (photo above is what his car looked like). They made great cars and great brothers back then.

Today I sell houses in  Key West. I mostly represent buyers who have a dream of owing a second home in Key West where there is no snow and where we only see mummies during Fantasy Fest.

1424 Grinnell Street Key West - Sophisticated Mid-Century Update in the Casa Marina Area

1424 Grinnell Street is located in the tony Casa Marina Area of Key West. This bedroom community is a stone's throw from the nearby Atlantic Ocean. The Casa Marina Resort is a short two block walk to the west. Two great ocean front restaurants (Salute on the Beach and Louie's Backyard) are located within a five minute walk.  The madness of Old Town is within easy biking distance for those times you want to break bread with tourists or attend a play at the Waterfront Playhouse or the Red Barn Theater. The area is not without its ties to old Key West. Tennessee Williams' sister owned the house across the street at 915 Von Phister; Thomas McGuane lived half a block away also on Von Phister Street; for a brief time Ernest Hemingway lived two blocks away at the corner of South and Whalton Streets; Phil Caputo lived on Casa Marina Court; and today Judy Blume lives very near. Houses in the Casa Marina are typically located on larger lots than Old Town. Many of the homes have a semi-rural flare in that there aren't sidewalks but large public right of ways that seemingly expand the already large lots. And unlike much of Old Town where many of the homes have become vacation rental money machines, most of the houses in the Casa Marina are primary residences or second homes. 

 The listing Realtor describes 1424 Grinnell Street as a

"Tropical modern Mid-Century residence in the Casa Marina.Enter into a large foyer and a 65 ft. great room, high gloss porcelain tiles and a state of the art kitchen opening to the pool and gardens through the L shaped wall of glass sliders. The kitchen features a 16ft quartzite island that stretches across 4 of the 7 glass sliding doors. Espresso cabinets host Bosch 800 series appliances, 2 built-in ovens and a Thermador built-in refrigerator. Inset into the island is the microwave drawer, flat surface cooktop, and combination beverage and wine cooler. There are 3.5 baths that are truly outstanding. Each bedroom is abundant in space and closets with sliding glass doors to the gardens surrounded by privacy fencing."

Readers of my blog may recall I have been following the renovation of this home for many months. I found a genuine throwback photo of this house taken from the Von Phister Street side in 1965. Other photos are recent. They show the transformation of the plain 1960s ranch into the sophisticated home it is today. The interior was totally gutted. External building changes included a new roof, installation of new impact windows and doors, and the construction of a new six foot privacy wall that envelops large corner lot. Landscape architect Craig Reynolds designed the pool and gardens.

The interiors are new throughout. Once you pass the threshold you behold a huge new space that is both subtle but demanding in the same instance. How can that be, you ask.  The color pallet used in the flooring and walls is very soft and unobtrusive so when you enter the house your eyes are automatically drawn first to the far end of the house which opens out to the pool. As you pass into the house you can't help noticing the contrasting colors of the pool, tropical gardens, and sky which depth and dimension to the interior spaces. The gardens are newly planted. As they grow the depth of color from the trees and tropical foliage will become even more vibrant.

The public living spaces are bright and open into each other. The sleek porcelain floors and monochromatic color scheme tie the rooms together. Design elements such as light fixtures, tiles, mirrors, and so on catch the eye of the beholder.  

A guest bath is located off the hallway leading to the bedrooms. This home has two master bedrooms each en-suite. Each with private outdoor garden space.

The west master bedroom suite is a bit larger. Dual doors at the far end of the room open into the bath which is a darker than the other master bath which seems almost opulent compared to the almost understated simplicity employed in this bathroom. When you look closer you quickly appreciate the richness of the minimalism which includes dual sinks with tilting mirrors and a huge glass enclosed shower. A set of dual doors open into one of two walk-in closets in this second master suite.

A third guest bedroom provides generous sleeping accommodations and equally dramatic en-suite bath. Like the two master suites, the guest bedroom has access to a small private garden on the other side of the impact doors. A large privacy wall insulates the house and garden from the street. Light flows in to the rooms but privacy prevails.

As I took photos of the baths I had to touch the tiles. They so totally different from the run of the mill tiles you see see repeated in house after house in Key West. The tiles in the master bath almost have an art deco feel to me. They aren't, but they give off that aura.  And it is the aura of being different that separates this house from so many others. CLICK HERE to view more photos I took of this property.

Doors from the kitchen and living room open wide and seem to disappear into the walls. The outdoors and indoors become one as living and entertaining spaces merge. In the winter when your friends up north in New Jersey or Michigan are freezing their behinds around dinner time, you and your Key West friends will be having cocktails and canapes under the stars.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet on 1424 Grinnell Street which is offered at $2,595,000. Besides the refined public spaces there are two master suites, one large guest bedroom, a fourth potential bedroom which could alternatively be used as a den/study, office, media room, or home gym. There are three full baths and one half bath, two off street parking places (one covered), pool and lanai,  and laundry. Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a private showing of this freshly renovated home. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. I live in the Casa Marina Area and love it. Let me show you this house and this wonderful neighborhood.