400 Simonton Street, Key West, Florida - Investment Property

Just Listed, but not by me, 400 Simonton Street in Key West, Florida. According to the Monroe County Appraiser this landmark building was built circa 1889. See the black and white photo which shows how this property looked back in 1965. That's nearly half a century ago. My God, I graduated from high school that year. Compare it to the color photo below. The property has had various uses over the years. And now it is offered for sale. The listing broker describes this property like this:

"Historic Downtown Home from the late 1800's just a few steps from the Seaport. There are 6 charming apartments each with old town architectural appeal. A mixture of studio, one bedroom and two bedroom units. Small garden area with a tropical feel and many porches for tenants to enjoy."

 The building itself looks to be in very good shape. Compare the way the building looked in 1965 to its appearance in today. It is virtually the same. Even the exterior stairs between the floors is visible. According to the mls listing this building has 4078 sq ft of living space located on a 4200 sq ft lot (42'x100') at the corner of Eaton Street and Simonton Street. Zoning is HNC1.  

I considered buying this property and the adjacent Artist House guest house (located next door at 534 Eaton Street) when that owner at that time was tinkering with the idea of selling both buildings. He had been renting rooms at 400 Simonton Street as part of the guest house. I don't know if he ever got caught because that is not permitted. That owner sold both properties to different people. The Artist House has sold at least twice since then. Today the property at 400 Simonton Street is licensed to rent six non-transient long term rentals.

I took a couple of not-so-good photos of the bricked courtyard and was reminded that the area was previously used as a small cafe. I think that space is quite lovely but very under utilized today. 

The thing that excites me about this property has nothing to do about the current uses but rather what it might become. Years ago the first floor was a real estate company and the bricked garden was a small cafe of sorts.  Earlier this week the owners of the Marquesa Hotel announced a $10 million dollar expansion onto the adjacent properties at 410 and 414 Simonton Street. CLICK HERE to read more. Use your imagination to see what you might do with this property at this great Old Town location. 408 Simonton Street is pictured below. That's but a taste of what is to become.

The Reception area at the Marquesa Annex

400 Simonton Street is offered for sale at $1,600,000.  CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet on this property. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to set up a private showing. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. Tenants may require 24 to 48 hour advance notice to view the apartments. This is a buying opportunity for a buyer who wants either a performing investment property or someone who wants to do something creative with a great old building in a very solid location.

1314 Laird Street, Key West

Just Listed 1314 Laird Street located at the corner of Sunshine Drive and Laird Street in Key West. The listing Realtor describes this 1260 sq ft two story home this way:

"This nearly-new single family home in Atlantic Estates is in pristine condition and easy to maintain. Located close to the beaches and Old Town. The modern great-room design overlooks the private pool and outside entertainment area. Loaded with upscale amenities such as bamboo floors, granite counter tops, 9 ft. ceilings with crown moldings, and stainless steel appliances. The property is completely fenced and lushly landscaped. The windows and doors are impact resistant and the structure is built to withstand 180 MPH winds. Two off-street parking spaces. Exceptionally low insurance rates. Green energy package includes R-19 insulation in the walls, R-22 insulation in bottom and middle floors. R-30 insulation in the attic and super high efficient tankless whole house water heater. Exterior is finished with Hardi siding."

Second floor front porch where you can watch nothing happen

Atlantic Estates is a small enclave of recently built modular homes located  a couple of blocks north of the Atlantic Ocean and just one block east of White Street. Locals and frequent visitors to Key West know this area as being  within easy walking distance to the White Street Pier, Higgs' Beach, our famous ocean front doggie park, and Salute on the Beach.  However, if you buy this house, you'll have your own private pool and won't need to share the sunshine with anybody. When you need a drink, you won't have to dip into your kids' education fund to pay for it. Let's look at this home from bottom to top. If you have seen any of the other homes here before, you will notice this one is a bit smaller and instead of having three bedrooms and three baths, this home has two bedrooms both of which are on the second floor.  That means this home is about 400 sq ft smaller than the other homes. The owners picked this corner lot and had this home specially made to preserve an existing tree on the site.

If you enter this home for the very first time on a day when the rear doors are opened, you can't but help being drawn to the pool and deck area. There's plenty of Key West sun there. After all the house is aptly located adjacent to Sunshine Drive. You'll also note these homes are constructed with Hardiboard siding which is insect, fire, and moisture resistant. This means the house will stand up to Key West's intense heat, humidity, rain, and termites which find the cement based material less than desirable to eat. Traditional wood siding requires constant vigilance here whereas Hardiboard needs painted less often and does not rot. The impact windows and doors plus the siding and metal roof means this home will qualify for substantial discounts on fire and wind insurance policies. You'll rest a bit easier knowing you can afford this place as compared to many stick built houses down in the Old Town area.

The master bedroom shown above has an ensuite bath plus rear deck which looks down to the private pool. You will get nice morning sunshine from this vantage point. The pool and deck area should be sunny through most of the day.  The guest bedroom is at the front of the house. That bedroom also has a private balcony which is pictured just below the lead photo in today's blog. 

CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet and listing photos. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to set up a private showing.  I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. Let me help you find your place in Paradise.

229 Golf Club Drive, Key West Florida

 229 Golf Club Drive is the only one level single family home ever built in The Sanctuary section of the Key West Golf Club Community. The 1350 sq ft home has three bedrooms, two baths, a 30 ft enclosed sun porch, a carport, and beautifully landscaped grounds large enough for a pool. The 6616 sq ft lot overlooks the 18th Fairway and is cloistered on cul-de-sac where Golf Club Drives arcs and returns to the gated entry.

 This home may be the one you have been looking for especially if you don't want to worry about climbing stairs later in life. When you enter the home your eyes are drawn through the living area and toward the rear porch which effectively expands the living area. The kitchen opens out to the living area so the cook will always be a part of what is going on in the living area which, by the way, has vaulted ceilings that give the whole area a spacious feel. You'll note the tiles in the living area continue to the rear porch making making a seamless transition from inside to outside.

All three bedrooms are on one level. A lot of potential buyers in their 40s and 50s may not think of climbing stairs as an issue unless they come upon a house in Old Town that has a spiral staircase. But the fact is we all age and sometimes climbing stairs may require an owner to move simply because one party develops mobility issues. The master bedroom and bath are quite large. One guest bedroom is outfitted with twin beds while the other is used as a music room.

When you exit the from the rear porch out into the back yard you'll see lots of potential. There is room for a private pool should you choose. However, it you are not already aware the golf club community already has two pools one of which is just huge. There is also a community center and workout room.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet and more photos of 229 Golf Club Drive which is offered at $699,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a private showing. This is not my listing. I am a buyers agent an a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. I have sold a lot of homes at the golf club. I continue to think it is one of the very best values in town. Let me show you why.

Key West Real Estate Horror Story No. 3

Several years ago a man read my blog and contacted me to help him find a home in Key West. He was retiring from his life's work at a northern university and was looking for a modest home in our gay friendly town. He was a single man who wanted to find a place for him and his older adult companion who had some physical disabilities. He explained they were just friends and not lovers nor partners.  He had a modest retirement and needed to find something in the $300,000 range. We discussed various properties that were available and created our short list of places to look at. One such place was a cute little two story house on a secluded Key West lane.

The first time we looked at the house I questioned the viability of the place for his friend who needed to use crutches or a walker to get around.  While there were two bedrooms, the stairway to the second floor bedroom was so steep that you had to walk down the stairs backwards. I told my buyer it would not work for him. He was in his early sixties and I could see he had his own mobility issues. He said he could make it work.  The house was priced right and he could make do. He put his personal comfort aside to find a place where he and his friend could afford-ably live. I wrote an offer.

The listing real estate agent was a former New York City attorney. When we submitted a pretty simple offer, we got a whole lotta legal stuff thrown back at us. I don't recall what the issues were, but I do remember my buyer's reaction:  he would find someplace else rather than deal with that lawyer. Now, remember, that the listing real estate agent used to be a lawyer in a state 1440 miles away.  And also remember that the agent no longer was a lawyer. But that's not the way my buyer perceived the role of this lawyer-cum real estate sales person. (As a side note that house did not sell under that agent. In fact it took the owner several more years to sell the house because of the challenging staircase that my buyer was willing to accept. Sometimes sellers might want to ask themselves why their place can't sell when houses all around them do sell. If it's not the price, maybe it's something wrong with the house or the real estate agent or both.)  We moved on.

We expanded our search and moved away from the favored Old Town area and looked in less expensive mid-town part of town. A home on busy Flagler Avenue and near Key West High School was offered at a price my buyer could afford. It had three ground floor bedrooms, two bathrooms, nice outdoor spaces, and a potential garden for my buyer to cultivate. He bought it without any hullabaloo. I stopped by the house a couple of weeks after he moved in to deliver a thank you gift. He loved his new home. Another dream of moving to Key West had been fulfilled. That was the end of the story, or so I thought.

Four years later I saw a story on the front page of the Key West Citizen about my buyer: he had been shot to death just after he entered his bedroom one morning after returning from the botanical gardens. Locals dismissed the claims of a homeless man who was an ear-witness to the murder as it happened including the next door neighbor who was a local judge. CLICK HERE to read the Broward Times item that tells the tale about the murder that went ignored for three days.

I have been in business for forty-three years. I have been a lawyer, banker, federal government employee, guest house owner, and Realtor. As a kid I sold donuts door-to-door, Christmas and all occasion cars door-to-door, drove a furniture store delivery truck, worked at the post office, fueled airplanes at the county airport, and was a legal staff assistant to a judge while attending law school.  I bring with me a set of business skills from each of the jobs I have had in my life. Today I sell houses. I am no longer a lawyer and don't give legal advice. When I see an issue, I tell my customer to discuss the matter with a real estate lawyer. My job is to make deals happen and not to create barriers to deals getting done.

324 Whitehead Street, Key West - Historic Truman Annex Residence

The listing Realtor, not me, describes 324 Whitehead Street in Key West this way:

"Historic Truman Annex Naval Officers home, circa 1906, featuring 5 bedrooms each with its own ensuite bathroom. Classic front double porches grace the facade of this home, one of the most grandiose in Old Town Key West. Home has been extensively restored to feature a chef's kitchen, formal sitting room, spacious dining area, media room, and guest cottage with large indoor/ outdoor living room not included in living square footage. Master suite boasts a sun-filled sitting room that serves as its entrance. Spacious guest rooms and closets throughout. Over 1000 sq. ft. covered decks and porches. Property has off-street parking via the gated access of Truman annex, yet offers an entrance off Whitehead Street for easy walking access."

One of the things I love about my job is that I get to see the interiors of some pretty incredible homes. I love to see unique cigar Cigar Maker Cottages and Eyebrow Houses. Sometimes I find a Grand Conch or Bahama House that is just "done to a T".  I am always finding some extraordinary architecture or interior design in the Casa Marina Area. The home at 324 Whitehead Street is and exquisite renovation and expansion of what was historically a Naval officer's residence. Today it is a gracious private home offered for sale at $4,495,000.

I dug into the old shoebox and found three photos that date back to the first part of the twentieth century that show 324 Whitehead Street. The first (above) is an aerial photo of  324 Whitehead Street taken in the 1920s. The entire area shown in that photo was part of the US Naval Station until the 1980s. Today much of that area is now part of the Truman Annex. Some of the buildings shown in the top of the photo have been razed and replaced by the Marriott Hotel and condominiums. The middle photo shows 324 Whitehead Street in the 1930s. The bottom photo shows the main gate to the former Naval Station which is about 100 feet north of 324 Whitehead Street. The grandeur of the gates and the facades of the houses let's us know that the military officers lived in style. Wait till you see the inside.

An iron fence and broad lawn punctuated by tall palms separates the house from Whitehead Street. The front porch sits high off the ground and gives a commanding view of the street.  The front porch is extra wide and runs the length of this huge house. Multiple sets of French doors provide alternate points of entry to the home.

Unlike modern architecture which has rooms with open spaces and sometimes undefined purposes, this grand old house has specific rooms for specific purposes. The front parlor with fireplace is separated from the formal dining room by an interior sets of petite French doors. An informal living area is located on the opposite side of the main floor front. The extra large chef's kitchen is at the right rear. 

The attached guest cottage, pictured above, was added to the north side of the home. The bedroom with en-suite bath sits just inside the covered veranda which evokes a sense of grandeur from long ago. The veranda overlooks the pool below. 

When I arrived at the second floor landing I looked directly into the sitting room off the master bedroom. I was taken aback. Wow! We just don't have spaces as grand as this in Key West. The adjacent master suite includes a fireplace and double sets of French doors that open out to the second level front porch. What a view you have from that place. Then I went back inside and entered the master bath. It is enormous. There are dual pedestal sinks on opposing walls on one side. The entire opposite wall is a custom made closet with mirrored doors that looks like it is a hundred years old. But it isn't. A center island with similar antiquing provides additional storage plus a coffee bar. There are two more bedrooms on the second floor plus a third floor bed and bath that take up the entire third floor.

Back door to the parking

324 Whitehead Street is offered for sale at $4,495,000. CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet and listing photos. If you are in the market for a truly grand home, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to see this one. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.