On March 15th of this year I noticed a bank owned listing at the Key West Golf Club community that looked interesting. I contacted the listing agent to ask permission to write about it in my blog. Soon thereafter I drove to the property to take photos. I often lock the front door so that nobody disturbs me, but this time I left it unlocked. I went about my business taking photos and creating a mental image as to features that stood out.   The second floor front bedroom was both tall and wide. It had a vaulted ceiling and ran the breadth of the house. Unlike a lot of golf course houses, this one did not have a second story front porch. I closed the door and placed my tripod at the far right side to demonstrate the size of this spacious bedroom.  But when I tried to open the door I disco... 12/27/2017

Forethought: "n. A thinking or planning beforehand; prescience; premeditation; forecast; provident care." If you keep track of sales activity in Key West you may have noticed a flurry of activity in the past few weeks at the Key West Golf Club community. During the past couple of years there have been numerous foreclosures and related short sales that have driven down the asking and selling prices at the Key West Golf Club. I'm not reporting anything new. But the flurry of recent buying may be a signal we are at or near the bottom of the market, at least at the Golf Course. CLICK HERE to view townhome sales at the Key West Golf Course over the past year. There was only one single family home sale (CLICK HERE) during the same time period. It sold for $735,500 in June 2008. I also genera... 05/22/2009

Margarita Villoch | Island Group Realty | 305-304-8505 127 Golf Club Dr, Key West, FL Great Home for Sale in Key West 2BR/1.5BA Single Family House offered at $205,000 Year Built 1996 Sq Footage 780 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms 1 full, 1 partial Floors 1 Parking None Lot Size 1,169 sqft HOA/Maint $350 per month DESCRIPTION Bank owned unit. REO. Qualified Buyers may be eligible for Seller financing at below market rates, FHA, and other incentives available where applicable. Fast response from Bank.Upgraded unit. Extras include half bath, tiled floors up & down, laundry closet, and extra closet/storage over stairs in front bedroom, balcony up, rear covered, screened 9'x12' deck down, & storm shutters. Located close to large free form pool, gym, and clubhouse. This gated community enjoys, lush, l... 12/02/2008

The good news is that there are only 14 active Bank Owned condos and town homes for sale in Key West. The bad news is that there are undoubtedly many more on the way. As of June 27, 2008 the Key West mls shows a total of 345 active condo and town home listings for Key West and Stock Island. I just went through the active listings one at a time (our mls programmer can't figure out how to search for short sale or bank owned properties as being different from non-distress listings). Most of the active listings are short sales followed by properties that are Realtor owned. Here is an example of what I see that is bringing down the price of many condos and town homes. Unit "A" is a 2 bed 1 bath town home constructed in 1995 in a Planned Unit Development with all the frills. It was resold in... 06/26/2008

On April 22nd I wrote about a bank foreclosure on Whistling Duck at the Key West Golf Club that I called a buying opportunity. READ WHAT I SAID THEN HERE. I showed the property to a client a few days later. I apologized to her for even showing the property. And my reasoning follows below. We had looked at another listing a few days earlier of a smaller unit that was in good shape but priced comparably. I could see from the photos that the Whistling Duck property used to be very attractive when it was occupied. I reasoned that some tlc would bring back the lustre of yore and that my client could get the property for about half the price the previous owner paid for it. So more square feet and a similar price seemed rational. Wrong. The specific Whistling Duck property is termite infested... 05/17/2008

There are two ways to look at bank foreclosures: (1) dumps that nobody in their right minds would buy or (2) buying opportunities. I think the 3 bedroom 2 bath 1060 sq ft condo at 23 Whistling Duck is located in the Nature Preserve area of the Key West Golf Club Development is a buying opportunity. The property is bank owned so we already know we have a motivated seller. The asking price was just reduced to $364,900 or $344 per sq ft. The property is vacant and easy to show. If potential buyers get pre-qualified through Countrywide Home Loans to purchase this (or another Countrywide owned property) they will receive a free appraisal and credit report if buyer finances through Countywide. I'm not a pitchman for Countrywide. But it is sweetening the deal for would-be buyers. I'm cheating... 04/22/2008