Thursday, February 12, 2009

Key West mayor's two houses foreclosed on, debt is more than $1.2 million

OUCH!!!!!!
You KNOW times are tough when even the Mayor is in foreclosure!!!
I saw this today in Keysnet.com.

"Key West mayor's two houses foreclosed on, debt is more than $1.2 million
By SEAN KINNEY
skinney@keynoter.com
Two homes owned by Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson, one a rental property, the other his residence, are in foreclosure -- and two banks claim to be owed a combined $1,228,566.
The Branch Banking and Trust Company (BB&T) sued McPherson on Jan. 28, claiming it's owed $672,752 for McPherson's home at 3720 Northside Drive.
"Obviously, at this point, my house is upside [down]," McPherson told the Keynoter. He said he has hired an attorney to help him restructure the mortgage and not lose his home.
McPherson entered into the mortgage with his wife Christina, an assistant principal at Key West High School, on March 31, 2005. The mortgage went into default on June 1, 2008, and no subsequent payments were made, according to the lawsuit.
"All you can do is put your best foot forward," McPherson said.
In addition to his mayoral salary of $10,000 per year, McPherson works as a real estate agent, which he said has not been earning him much money.
"All I can do is work hard," McPherson said. "Do I think I'm alone? No. It's all about working hard."
Aside from his home on Northside Drive, another property owned by McPherson at 23 Calle Uno on East Rockland Key is in foreclosure as of Feb. 6.
McPherson has been using that home, purchased in 2000, as a rental property since he and his family moved to Key West in 2005 so he could qualify for the mayoral race.
When the Keynoter asked McPherson about the foreclosure on the Rockland Key home, he said he was unaware the action had been filed.
"You're telling me something I didn't know," he said, adding he hadn't been served yet with the lawsuit.
The Bank of New York Mellon alleges the Rockland Key mortgage went into default on Oct. 1, 2008, and the bank is owed $555,814.
In his tenure as mayor, McPherson has made community housing issues a priority.
Last November, the Key West City Commission passed a McPherson-sponsored resolution creating the Homebuyer's Assistance Program. Basically, the program uses $300,000 from a code compliance settlement to lend, interest free for 30 years, up to $20,000 for qualified Key West workers to make a down payment on a home. But that program doesn't apply to existing homeowners.
And in January, McPherson presented an ordinance to the City Commission asking the city to reduce impact fees, which are levied on developers to offset municipal costs of new roads and utility hookups, by 25 percent over the next 18 months.
That move made the city eligible to receive up to $2 million in state Housing Finance Corp. money to be used for foreclosure prevention or down payment assistance. "

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The Conchquistadore Deal of the Day 2/12/2009

Today's deal brings us way down south to Mile Marker 17.
A lovely waterfront home that was on the Market for almost 11 months with picturesque canal views.
17115 Allamanda Drive West, Sugarloaf Key
List Price: $539,000 - Sale Price: $520,000
2 Bedrooms-2 Bathrooms - 12,500 sf lot
Original Price: $649,000

Description: Definitely a must see if you are looking for a well-maintained home that really captures the spirit of the Keys. Meticulous care has been taken with everything down to the claw foot tub in the master suite, the fireplace in the Great Room, & beautiful wood floors & ceilings. A new metal roof, new central AC, a large screened deck overlooking the clear tropical canal

Let me help you find your own slice of Paradise.
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Friday, February 6, 2009

Holiday Isle Facing Foreclosure

I can say that I saw this one coming.
I saw this today in Keysnews.com and it was no true surprise. I knew that when they bought it, the market just was not there to sustain the residences that they were proposing.
This is still a GOLDMINE location and if someone were smart they would either fix it back up and return it to it's former splendor (lol was it EVER splendorous??). But you know what I mean, bring back that Holiday Isle Magic, OR in light of the recent Cheeca tragedy create a competitive Luxury Resort on par to Cheeca as we are losing many of Cheeca's clientele because other than Ocean Reef, there isn't a suitable substitute for this type of clientele.

Anyways, I hate seeing Holiday Isle in such a state of disrepair as it is in now. I have been enjoying it since the 70's and it was even mentioned in the very first song that I wrote, so I would love to see new life breathed into it once again.
"Holiday Isle facing foreclosure
Holiday Isle Beach Resort and Marina, Islamorada's legendary party spot and once a center of the village's bustling charter boat industry, is facing foreclosure.
Several companies and individuals affiliated with property owner Ceebraid Signal Corp. have failed to make payments on $77 million in loans, according to a suit filed by financiers on Jan. 28.
Ceebraid, a West Palm Beach-based developer, acquired Holiday Isle in April 2006 for a whopping $98 million. The company had planned to redevelop the 151-room resort into a hotel-condominium with units starting at $1.2 million, but the project was killed by the crash of the real estate market. "
Let me help you find your own forclosure resort!
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Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Conchquistadore Deal of the Day 2/4/2009

WOW!! Navigable Waterfront Single family Home for under $350,000????!!!!!!
What an amazing time to buy in the Keys!
Here is another example of the spectacular deals that await.
This CBS Home (Not a Mobile) was a bank-owned foreclosure ( I like these so much more than Short Sales) that was originally listed for over $999,000 when the owners were trying to sell it.
Under certain conditions this home may have even been eligible for FHA Financing with just 3.5% down.

623 Cuda Lane, Key Largo
List Price: $399,000 - Sale Price: $330,000
Lot size: 4,500 - Bedrooms: 2 - Bathrooms: 1
Mile Marker: 95 - Original Price: $999,900


Description: Great opportunity for a canal front home - ocean side - direct ocean access - 4 lots in from Ocean - stilt home - Spacious 2 bedroom home with cathedral ceilings - REO - Bank Owned -Foreclosed.
Let me help you find your own tropical deal.
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Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Kenny Chesney Flips

I saw this today at Keysnet.com,
It's a shame that he felt uncomfortable. We'd love for celebrities to enjoy the laid back pace of the Keys as much as everyone else.
Imagine how many more cool songs he would have been inspired to write!!!

I am a big Chesney fan and have seen how over the last several years he has been angling to be the Buffet heir to good time, laid back, tropical fun music, and owning a home in the Keys was just the right ingredient to cement his position.

"Kenny Chesney flips -- a day after reading 'Keynoter' story about his purchase of Key West mansion, he decides to sell it
By SEAN KINNEY
skinney@keynoter.com
We all knew Kenny Chesney was a country music superstar -- but a country music shooting star?
The Keynoter reported on Wednesday that Chesney purchased a mansion on Caroline Street in Key West.
By Thursday morning, he had changed his mind -- a for-sale sign was placed out front and a Budget moving van was seen with people loading stuff into it, not out of it.
Lynn Kaufelt is the Key West Realtor who sold the house the first time around and is the listing agent this time, too.
Kaufelt told the Keynoter, "He [the owner] was pretty unhappy, actually, about the piece in the Keynoter. I think he felt that his privacy wasn't respected."
British Columbia, Canada, radio station 890 CJDJ, "Peace County's Country," says Chesney issued a statement saying, "It's funny how you can be moving out before you even move in. I may've been naive to think I could just go down to the Keys and disappear, because that was the idea. I wanted to find a place where I could just be, and thought I'd found it. But with all the buzz since we signed the papers, the last thing I want to do to someplace I love as much as Key West is change the dynamics, especially for the locals who have been so good to me, so I'm stopping the insanity before it begins."
Chesney bought the house at 425 Caroline St. for $5.7 million. The new asking price is $6.495 million, according to Kaufelt.
This isn't the first time Chesney has bought a mansion, then reversed himself. The Los Angeles Times reported last April that he bought a five-bedroom, five-bath house in the Carbon Canyon neighborhood of Malibu, Calif., for $7.4 million and then promptly relisted the property for sale at $7.95 million. To date, no one has purchased that home from Chesney.
The Key West sale was recorded with the Monroe County Clerk of the Court on Jan. 20. The owner is a company called Falcon 200 Inc., which was acting on behalf of Chesney. The sellers were Nicholas and Susan Trivisonno.
The Caroline Street house is called the W. Hunt Harris House and was built in 1898. It has nearly 7,000 square feet of living space, including five bedrooms, 7.5 baths, a gym and a 1,500-bottle custom wine room. There's also a guest house, a 42-by-18-foot heated swimming pool and a wet bar complete with icemaker, granite countertops and teak cabinetry.
Chesney, 40, has won four Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year Awards. "

For a mapped location of the property, click here.

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Largo Lodge

Wow, the neat stuff you find off the beaten path.

I was showing property the other day in Key Largo, when I saw a sign for a hotel/resort I have passed by probably a thousand times. I had just finished showing properties to my client, and we both felt adventurous and decided to check the resort out.
What a wonderful surprise!!!

Largo Lodge is an adorable enclave of 3 cottages with 2 hotel rooms each and an extra hotel room off the Main House, that serves as office and private residence for the owner Hat, short for Harriet.

Lush and inviting, the grounds are just lovely with orchids everywhere.
With a minimum guest age limit of 16 years old, this quiet oasis is the perfect get-away.
Overlooking Tarpon Basin, one of my favorite mooring areas and a great hurricane hole, the resort offers gorgeous waterfront vistas. We even saw a huge friendly Manatee grazing just off the sandy beach.
A little history: The property's Main House in it's earliest incarnation was a Casino and speakeasy! You could just imagine the stories the walls could tell!! A Bit of "Key Largo", I could just see Bogie and Edward G. !!

Please check out the link and visit my new friend Hat for a most enjoyable retreat! Largo Lodge

Let me help you find your own off the beaten path oasis.
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