Key West Horror Story No. 5

A few years ago I represented a buyer who found me via my blog. He lived up north in New York City and was looking to buy a cute Key West cottage where he planned to move. He came to town on several visits to find that perfect place. This was during that terrible time soon after the Great Recession.  Many buyers lost faith in our economy and believed we would never be as good as we once were. I know he expected prices would be lower than they were. He quickly learned he couldn't afford as much house as he thought.

This particular buyer was self-employed. He lived from project to project. He would get paid a lot of money upon the completion of each project. But there was no steady income for the times in between. I hooked him up with a local lender who figured out a way to get him approved for a mortgage. We started looking in areas other than Old Town where prices were lower. We found such a place in Mid Town.

The particular house was an estate sale. The previous owner had passed away. The man was single and died alone except for his dog. His body wasn't discovered for quite some time. The body of his large dog was found as well. The dog apparently survived for a while after the owner passed. You can figure out what happened.

The deceased had two male siblings who lived in the northeast. They engaged a local real estate agent who was a stay-at-home-mom and part-time agent. She told me the place was a mess when she first saw it and offered to fix it up for the far-away brothers. She hired local contractors to do some repairs, install new bathrooms including plumbing and tile installation, painting, and so on. She purchased new kitchen cabinets, appliances, light fixtures, fans, etc. The place looked as next to new as a fifty year old house could look. She was a real estate agent mind you, not a licensed contractor. 

The finished house was priced the equivalent of a fixer house in Old Town except it was already fixed. My buyer was willing to forgo the cuteness in favor of the up to date renovation at an affordable price.  He made an offer. We negotiated the price a bit and put the place under contract.

I was a bit concerned that the agent had done a lot of work which may or may not have been permitted. I included a couple of safe guards in the contract which later proved useful when the renovations she  authorized did not pass final building inspection. The brothers had to come out of pocket to bring the sub-standard work up to meet building code. 

I totally sympathized with the situation those brothers went through. Losing a family member is never easy. Losing a family member in such a harsh way is awful. But then having to pay for something twice compounds the loss even more.

909 Eaton Street, Key West

The listing Realtor describes 909 Eaton Street in Key West this way:

"Isola Bella is where the Mediterranean meets the Caribbean. Gated and private, this historic Key West home is reminiscent of a Sicilian Villa. The spacious front yard and patio dining area are relaxing spaces adorned by Italian Cypress trees and statues fit for a Roman piazza. Ionic columns frame the welcoming front porch, leading to an interior masterpiece of original Cuban tile floors and custom built cabinetry. The open living area flows into a colorful breakfast nook, where French doors open to the inviting pool and patio. 2 BD/2BA main house with 1 BD/1BA guest quarters, off-street parking and walking distance to the Historic Seaport, White Street, and Duval Street. Featured on the 2009 OIRF Historic Homes tour, this unique property is your chance to experience Old Town Key West with a twist of Sicilian flair. Priced below recent appraised value!"

This is an Old Town home unlike any you have seen before in this blog or in person, of that I am sure. It is definitely worth a look if you are a buyer seeking a really nice home in a good location with a pool and off street parking which is offered at a reasonably affordable price. The house itself was built new in 1958 and later renovated to its current state. It is a CBS house with stucco finish with 1312 sq ft of air conditioned living space situated on a 50' X 106' lot (5326 sq ft) - that is equivalent to a standard lot in Casa Marina or twice the size of a standard Old Town lot.

Although the house has been updated, some original features such as the Cuban tile floors remain to add character to this home. In fact the first thing I noticed when I entered this home was the floors which are in impeccable condition. The living room alcove is to the left of the front entry. The bedrooms are located to the right. As you pass through the dining area French doors come into view and after that the covered patio and pool emerge.

The kitchen provides all the necessities in a colorful and compact environment. The pool area has both covered and sunny spaces. As much as you will want a sunny pool, you will quickly realize you need shade as well.  CLICK HERE to view more photos of this ingenious property.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet. 909 Eaton Street is offered at $1,170,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a showing of this home. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.

Knowing the Value of Money

I was in New York City a few weeks ago during a truly unbearable hot spell. I had no idea how hot the city gets in the summer. I know now and won't repeat my mistake. I made my way to China Town for Dim Sum then walked around in Little Italy wishing I had gone there instead. Later I found my way over near the Flatirons Building when I passed the ancient ATM machine pictured above.  It looked like a cousin of R2D2 or some patron of the STAR WARS bar. And that reminded me of a dinner in I had in Key West a year earlier. 

In February 2015 I  had dinner with a couple of New Yorkers who were friends of a friend before the four of us went to see NEXT FALL at the Waterfront Theater. I had not met this gay couple before that night, but after listening to them speak for a short time I assumed they are among the 1%. If they aren't, they are pretty close. One is a writer and the other is a really Big Shot at one of the big three television networks. I remember asking the TV executive about the cost of living in the city. I referenced BRAVO's Million Dollar Listing New York and asked what regular people had to pay for housing. He said a million dollars minimum. I tried to clarify my question by referring to busboys, bartenders, sales clerks at Macy's, and people that work for tips or an hourly wage. He restated his answer:  a million dollars. I said that can't be right. He insisted it was.

Now I know busboys and shoe salesmen at Macy's can't afford to pay a million dollars for a place to live. I am sure they rent - I just don't know where or how much they pay. But that's not the point. I wondered what kind of reality must these two men live in to not understand that real people can't afford to live in a million dollar universe.

I have had the same feeling about most of those yo-yos in congress and candidates who think there is no need to raise the minimum wage. I haven't been paid an hourly wage since my third year in college - that was a very long time ago. I still remember making decisions on what I could afford to buy to eat based on how long I had to work to pay for it.  I can't imagine how difficult it is for people who work for $7 or $8 per hour to pay for a place to live and feed their children.  In Key West you'll have to pay $3.99 for a loaf of bread and about $4.50 for a gallon of milk. That's more than a sales clerk on Duval Street makes after W2 deductions. I just don't get how people who have so much can have so little understanding of people who have have so little. It's as if the 1% live in an alternate reality not unlike the patrons of the STAR WARS bar.

If you are thinking of buying a place in Key West, please consider working with me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. I am grounded in reality and know the value and limitations of money.

703 Eaton Street #2, Key West - Bank Owned Condo - Old Town

The newly reduced asking price on the Bank Owned Condo located at 703 Eaton Street #2 in Key West certainly made this property a lot more desirable. Now it is offered at just $435,900 or $434 per sq ft for this 1003 sq ft second floor unit. 

Soon after I moved to Key West in December 1993 I got invited to a lot of parties and get-togethers including a cocktail party at 703 Eaton Street which was then a single family home owned by a local doctor and author. I met a lot of very interesting people that night - I mean a lot!  That is something new comers to town can look forward to. Key West is very welcoming to all who come here. You can be as big a member of the community as you want or you can be anonymous. There is room for every.  When I arrived I immediately noticed this home was not like the other old houses I had been in because it wasn't old. In fact the original house pictured above was razed in the 1970s. The current building was constructed in 1979.  The building is quite large and was converted into

condominiums after the good doctor sold it several years ago.

The building layout and unit layout is very simple. Entrance to the property is controlled by a keyed entry system that really works. This unit owner will enter off a gate on the Elizabeth Street entrance and walk up a stairway to a separate gated entry to the covered exterior hall with views of Eaton Street. You enter into the living room which has a fireplace on one wall. There is a large balcony which overlooks the shared pool below. The compact kitchen is located adjacent to the entry. The master bedroom suite is located on the west side of the unit and the guest bedroom is located on the east side.

The second bedroom is located on the opposite side of the living room. This spatial separation gives the owner and guests or roommates privacy.  If you have looked at some of the more expensive units in Truman Annex you'll appreciate what I am saying. Oh, and this unit has views of the pool from both the living room and the master bedroom. 

The guest bath is located at the end of the hallway and adjacent to the second bedroom. Both bedrooms have ample closet space.

703 Eaton Street is located two blocks from the Historic Seaport and two blocks from Duval Street. You and your guests can walk to everyplace you might need to go in a matter of minutes, well, almost everything. The new 24 hour gym is located one block away. Starbucks is two blocks. Fausto's is one block away. I lived a little over a bock away for the first eighteen months I was in Key West. You can't beat the location for convenience. The traffic really does slow down to a trickle at night. CLICK HERE to view more photos I took of this unit. 

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet. 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. 

717 Galveston Lane - A Last Little Piece of Old Key West

Just Listed, but not by me, 717 Galveston Lane, Key West.  This 532 square foot cottage is tucked away on a little lane near the top of Solaris Hill in the heart of Old Town. The lot measures about 40.5' X 71.5' or 2903 sq ft. The above photos demonstrates the lot is large enough to accommodate two cars and that suggests all kinds of wonderful things a new owner could do with this property.

I searched the Historic Sanborn Fire Maps to try to determine the approximate age of this small home. It first appeared in the 1892 map when it was identified as 19 Low's Alley.  The street name was changed to Lowe's Alley on the 1899 map. The same house first identified as 19 Low's Alley became 717 Galveston Lane on the 1912 Sanborn Map.  The above photo shows 717 Galveston Lane in 1965. You will notice a 1950s vintage CBS (concrete block structure) located next door to the south. The Sanborn maps showed a wood house on that same site dating back to the 1892 map. It was obviously razed for some reason. What a loss as this block is otherwise picturesque. I looked thru my old shoebox and found a couple of additional photos taken in the 1930s by WPA workers which I want to share with you now. Those photos depict the charm of this gem of a location which until a few years ago had not been updated to the same extent of other areas of Old Town.

 I studied this 1930's vintage photo of Galveston Lane which appeared in Redbook magazine in the 1930's. I am fairly certain the photo was taken just off Windsor Lane looking south. Notice the large house to the left rear. That must have been the house that was razed. The children were probably standing in front of 717 Galveston Lane.

Galveston Lane jogs to the left about 60 feet south of 717 Galveston Lane and passes by Bill Butler Park. It then proceeds a couple of hundred feet to the south where it ends and intersects Olivia Street. The photo just below shows 845 Galveston Lane as it appeared in 1965. The second photo shows 845 Galveston Lane a couple of weeks ago. That historic eyebrow house is now near the completion of its renovation and expansion. While 845 Galveston Lane is a much larger home and sits on a lot which is huge by comparison, the photos demonstrate the transformation potential for vintage homes on this little block. (845 Galveston Ln will appear in an upcoming blog on the projects of Key West.)

 Finally, I found the above photo of Solaris Hill taken in the late 1970s. I noted the location of 717 Galveston Lane with an arrow. Solares Hill is the highest point in Key West. Houses in this area are located in the X Zone for flood insurance purposes. If you buy this house, your lender will not require that you purchase flood insurance. But it you do buy it, it will be at the cheapest rate offered.

The listing Realtor describes 717 Galveston Lane this way:

"Old Town Key West cottage on a large lot on a quiet lane, ready to make your own. Off the beaten path yet centrally located to everything in Old Town. Walk in Shed and off street parking for 2 cars."

I sold a similar home on Galveston Lane a couple of years ago. Although it had been updated, my buyers are going to expand that house and add a pool They have engaged local architect Guillermo Orozco to design their upcoming renovation project. 

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos of 717 Galveston Lane which is offered at $459,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to set up a private showing of this little house with a great location. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.