Southernmost Point Buoy Painted

It was in the newspaper recently that the Southernmost Point Buoy is going to get repainted. I was kind of curious if they had two and switched them out. I thought I saw one over in the welding yard on Amelia and Simonton St. a while back. It turns out that was probably the temporary buoy that was made during the time the street and side walk where the buoy sits had been cordoned off to be redone. A temporary one was erected several feet away for photo opportunities. What happened to the life size Seward Johnson sculpture of the tourist family taking pictures that used to be at the Southernmost Point? I think I saw them in that same Amelia St. welding yard. Both are gone now.
Any way the buoy that is there is never moved. I am told that the buoy is solid concrete and the only way that it will be moved will be after it is broken up with a sledge hammer and shoveled away. This is probably a good thing. The buoy was erected in 1983 to replace the signs that were constantly being stolen. It costs $4,000 to paint the buoy and it was last done in December 2008. Do you know that as I went around the corner recently there was actually a long line of people waiting to take their pictures in front of the monument? Don't tell them it is not really the southernmost point. The back yards of the homes directly to the East and the Navy base to the west are both further south. Both Fort Zachary Taylor State Park and Ballast Key, a private island are also further south.


Don't they put a Christmas tree up there at Christmas? I cannot remember. I was told that they never decorate it. I happen to know that is wrong. It was once the Easter Bunny. In about 1996 they were re-painting at this time of year. The buoy had been sanded and primed and it became the Easter Bunny before it was a buoy again. And what is wrong with that? If you can believe in the Easter Bunny you can believe that the buoy is the southernmost point. It's all fun.

No Word...

The other day I was thinking about this past decade and trying to think about what characterized it when I realize that we do not have a name for it. There is a gap in the English language as to what to call it. Yes we are in the 21st century, but that is for the whole century, not just the first 10 years of it. You could say the early 2000’s but that is pretty vague and does not precisely define the decade.

It has been a pretty bad decade with 9/11 and the financial melt down, but it at least deserves a name. What could it be, the zeros? Or better yet the zippy zeros, but that would be a lie. There has been nothing too zippy about it unless you called the sky rocketing real estate prices zipping up between 2000 and 2006 but finally crashing and burning as the decade slides to a close.

It could be the double 0’s, but that sound more like a cup size. How about the 00's? “Back in the 00’s when I was selling real estate in Key West….” How about the preteens? Well it just sounds like the whole population advancing on puberty together.

Now that we're confused enough about what to call this decade we are quickly advancing on the next decade. The “teens”?????

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Key West Real Estate Moves Back in Time with the Smurfs

We all know that our real estate market has been a roller coaster ride this decade. I find it interesting to go back and look at how prices have changed dramatically over the years in one Key West neighborhood.

Any one who has spent much time in Key West off Duval Street probably has heard of Key West Estates nick named "Smurf Village". Why the Smurf moniker? Some say that the mansard style roofs make them look like mushrooms where the cartoon Smurfs makes their homes. These homes, in New Town on Duck, Eagle and Harriet Ave, four to a building have been popular entry level homes for Key Westers since built in the late 80's.

When built they were all the same size 1040 square feet, 2 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. Over the years there have been many transformations. The owner has a yard, owns the land and can make many improvements, adding a pool, an addition, enclosing a porch, etc., but it is always a "Smurf".

In the 90's I remember being in discussions with other Realtors, while on caravan if we thought a Smurf House would ever sell for more the $100,000. The collective answer was "no way” shows how savvy real estate agents are. In 2004 one of these town homes sold for $519,000. That was the last sale in 2004. The first sale of that year was $345,000. That is a 50% increase in one year! Where are we now? With a scourge of foreclosures and short sales the average Smurf sales price in 2009 is $166,106. How many years ago was that the average price? The closest that I can tell is 2001, the year of the attack on the World Trade Center. We have stepped into the time machine of real estate travel and gone back 8 years. The good news is that you cannot buy a Smurf house today. They have all been bought. The last several that came on the market had multiple offers within days (a bidding war). This tells me that we will see an increase in prices to satisfy demand. Yes in Smurf Village they have hit bottom and the upward movement of prices is now here.

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