What every homeowner should know about living in Key West
Your home, flood and wind insurance could cost as much as your monthly mortgage payment. Maybe more. You need to make at least $30 an hour to even consider affording rent and you likely can never afford to buy. You’re closer to Havana than a Walmart or Target. You pretty much have one choice on pretty much everything. And everything runs on ISLAND TIME.
It’s not the mainland, folks. And it’s not a vacation
Key West hurricane prep | Part 1: Let’s get started
June is hurricane prep time in Key West. With so much hurricane prep info floating around, here’s what you REALLY need to know.
4 ways to strengthen the Key West tree canopy without home rule control
Historically, the Key West tree canopy boasted little in the way of showy shade trees. We are an inhospitable, oolite limestone island in the middle of salt water. What green things we had were more scraggly than soaring, the results of birds and other creatures using...
Key West trees | Welcome to the Cunningham Urban Hammock
Myrtles of the river, stoppers and the Jamaica caper flank the pool with mango overhead (2022) The mango remained, as did the Florida thatch palm, in 2012 In 2013, the urban hammock was just establishing itself The next people to own our house are in for an...
Living in Key West: Part 3: Cat hair, garbage cans, fresh water conchs
It doesn’t take a degree in demographics and a passion for data dumps to know when Key West’s snowbirds arrive. Lights in that once dark house come on at dusk. There are peals of laughter across the fence line and the rumble of interesting conversations of which I can...
Buying a Key West home? Wind and flood insurance costs could change your plans
Three things come at a premium when you're living in Key West: An X flood zone, which until Oct. 1, had meant your house wasn't as likely to flood and therefore the mortgage company wouldn't require flood insurance; parking because there isn't any in Key West; and...
Key West hurricane prep: 4 lessons learned from Tropical Storm Elsa
https://youtu.be/JcxNFlB4aEU Well, that was fun. Perhaps Key West should have a hurricane prep drill every year like Tuesday's Tropical Storm Elsa. Because let's be honest, we don't expect a hurricane until, say, September, even though the season officially...
Living in Key West | Part 2: Coping with grills and termites
Crikey! How could I forget the island's assault on our outdoor grills? But I did, as a dozen barbecuing cooks reminded me in short order. "Spot on," said a former Floridian, "but you didn't even get into the average lifespan of an outdoor grill." He wasn't alone in...
Living in Key West | Part 1: The things no one tells you
Ranger Ed is on our roof playing whack-a-mole with the leaks in our solar panels. That's not a place people of a certain age ought be; yet, here we are. Living the dream of home ownership on a mystical, magical tropical island at the end of the road. A place where,...
Finished the hurricane prep? Here’s a “forgot this for Irma” checklist
As if we weren't bollixed enough. A hurricane trolling the Keys? Really? We knew it was going to happen. It's hurricane season. Mother Nature doesn't care one whit if we're stressed with Covid-19 and what appear to be Revelations' end-times plagues. Here we sit, out...
Fair Insurance Rates for Monroe is a grassroots nonprofit that helps residents understand and navigate the complicated world of Florida flood, wind and homeowner insurance. The BEST source of property insurance information in the Keys.
