3817 Flagler Avenue, Key West - Just Listed

 

Just listed 3817 Flagler Avenue, Key West. The listing broker describes this 1.095 Sq Ft two bedroom, one bath ranch this way:

"This bright and well maintained home has a lot going for it. There are two bedrooms plus a living/dining room, a large kitchen, a laundry room and a Florida room that opens to the enormous back yard. Plenty of room for a pool and outdoor living. Built and lovingly cared for by the same family, it is ready for your inspiration. Amenities and updates include a covered carport, central air, up to date appliances including a washer and dryer and a recent roof replacement. A great value in Key West."

While I normally write about houses in Old Town and Casa Marina, today I write about a modest 1965 located on the far end of the Island of Key West. Only one family has lived here. The place is well maintained and is ready for a potential renewal. 

The 5,000 Sq Ft Lot measures 50' X 100'. That's may not be where you are from, but on the Island of Key West that's a lot of lot! The house is located about half a block west of A1A as is winds its way south around to become South Roosevelt Blvd which ends at Smathers Beach. Houses directly opposite on the south side of Flagler Avenue are all canal front properties that are selling in the multi-million dollar price range. The super-sized houses behind 3817 Flagler sit on enormous lots and also sell in the multi-million dollar price range. To me, this is a win-win location. I know that Flagler is a busy street in the daytime, but it is pretty quite after evening rush hour that usually ends at 5:30. There is a reason a lot of locals own the pricey homes in this area - it is being not near Duval but being nearer the things that make Key West so wonderful.

This property won't work for everybody, but it will probably be sold by this time next week. It is the third to least expensive single family home for sale in Key West. The least is a bad shaped bank fixer that really needs a lot of fixing and a small house in an age restricted compound with no parking.
  

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos of 3817 Flagler Avenue offered at $699,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to arrange a private showing. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West, the listing brokerage. 

Key West Real Estate Throwback Thursday - No 29

from August 8, 2017

Key West - A True Story about Senior Living

Today's blog is a true story. All of my blogs (with a couple of exceptions like Bert and Ernie) are true. I want to make sure my readers know what I write is true.

This is a story that while I think the drama as it played out is unique, the problem itself is pretty universal as more and more senior adults are living longer and longer creating issues for their children who themselves are either in or are quickly approaching Golden Years. It is one of adult of how adult children manage the care of their aging adult parents and how and where they live out their adult senior years.

A few short years ago I was working with a woman I will call Shirley. Shirley lived in the Ft Lauderdale area. She and her husband had recently sold their business and had a nice nest egg for their retirement years. He suddenly passed and she found herself wanting to make more of her remaining years than just remembering the past. She discovered Key West and imagined how wonderful a life she could create here. The lure of Hemingway's old haunts and the prospect of new friends and new adventures caused her to look at the interenet and that is where she found me. She had the idea of buying a small place in Old Town, fixing it up, and then traveling back and forth to Ft Lauderdale where her mother lived.

Meanwhile Shirley hired a full time live-in helper to watch over her mother who was able to do many things for herself but who also had lapses where she forgot things.  For that reason, Shirley felt a need to be in Ft Lauderdale more of the time than down in Key West. She made frequent trips to Key West and made offers on a couple of fixer properties which never worked out. Then one day a very expensive bank owned property right in the heart of Old Town came on the market. I put it in my blog and sent her photos. She came down the next day and bought it. It cost a lot more than she planed to spend but she understood that by the time she went through a year's worth of renovation, she would end up spending about the same amount of money. She paid cash and hired a designer guy to do some custom work on the inside to make this old house into her new home. 

One day Shirley got a phone call from the live-in house attendant. Shirley's mother had wandered out of the house and got away. Shirley was very upset that the woman she trusted to take care of her mother had allowed this to happen. The live-in was let go.

A short time later Shirley picked her mother up to go out to lunch.  While they were dining, a truck went to Mom's house and packed her clothing, her bed and dresser, her clothes and photos, and so forth and took them to an assisted living facility in the area.  After lunch Shirley took her mother for a drive. As they approached the assisted living facility her mother exclaimed "What is this? What are you doing to me?" Shirley's mother was very upset. There were tears for loss of freedom and dread of the unknown. This was heart-breaking for Shirley.  But she knew it was best. They went inside and all of Mom's things were put away and the new room looked somewhat like the old room. Mom wasn't happy at first. But as the days and then weeks rolled on and as Mom got to making new friends, it worked out.

A couple of years ago Shirley came to one of my open houses. We hugged and talked about things. I asked about her mother and was told she had passed away. Her dementia got worse and then she passed. Shirley now spends much more time here. She has a new set of friends and is living the life she imagined but even more than she imagined.

I told Shirley to never ever invite me to lunch.

July 15, 2021 update

I was showing homes last weekend when I tried to explain a mistake I made in telling the showing times. I told them the story about Shirley and her mom.  Getting old happens.

"I have to call my husband."

A few years ago I knew I had a sale during the open house of the first week of my listing. A lady buyer and her friend came to my first open house. The superlatives flowed from her mouth, not mine. The friend re-enforced her each time she saw something she liked

There was nothing not to like. It was just reassuring to hear the potential buyer saying how wonderful the house was. 

She could not have been there lounger than ten minutes at most. She first asked how long I would be there. It was a Sunday. I told her 2:00 PM. She said "I have to call my husband."Would I wait?" Would I wait? Of course I would wait! Then she said she would call her Realtor. Her Realtor!

More lookers looked. They were looking around and commenting about her potential new house.

Half an hour passed. Her Realtor showed up. Her Realtor is a Key West Super Agent. She agreed with every statement that flowed from her buyer's mouth. 

Just around 2:00 PM the husband showed up. I knew him. Of him. By sight and name. A professional. He was doomed. He looked around and approved of everything he saw. He had little choice. The next day I got the offer.  The woman  buyer gave away her leverage each time she open her mouth. 

Not the Weekend by the Ocean They Were Expecting - Key West Behind Iron Bars

The two above photos of Sunset Marina were taken about twelve years apart. The top photo shows the Monroe County Jail which was opened in 1994.  This was about four or five years before the Key West Golf Club Community was developed. Six years later the Sunset Marina was built. Neither were attracted the location because of the jail but despite of it and its neighbor to north, Mt. Trashmore, the long time landfill. It was about this that the landfill was decommissioned and the sky high pile of trash was covered with soil and protective membrane and the planted to avoid erosion.  It is this jail where the wayward spend a day or too many if they disobey the law. Some came here to stay a few days, some came to start a new life, some may leave here to spend more time behind iron bars as guest of the State of Florida. .

All of these photos were taken during the booking process at the Monroe County Jail. All of these people are presumed innocent. I saved some of these photos because many people were bandaged for what seemed to me to be minor charges like "open container" violation. I see tourists walking the streets of Key West everyday with drinks in hand. They do not get arrested. Many were arrested for violating probation or failure to appear. One person was arrested for child molestation and another for murder. You can't tell by looking.

Remember Sergeant Phil Esterhaus would tell the policemen "Let's be careful out there"? I say the same thing to those who come to Key West.