With Apolgies to the Beach Boys, I Give You "Damn Citations"

It happens every Spring. The college kids come to Key West to party hard and have fun. No shirt, no shoes, no problem for the most part. Kids bring lots of cash and have a good time. They aren't bad kids. They are probably your kids or your nieces and nephews. They are just here to have some fun in the sun. The problem is they have fun when the sun don't shine. They have fun so late sometimes that they wake up the roosters by partying too hard in the pool in the house that they rented. And its not only the rooster that gets awakened. Sometimes it is the next door neighbors. But first, the verse:

I'm pickin' up damn citations
(Oom bop bop damn citations)
She's giving me some damn citations
(Oom bop bop citations)
Damn, damn, damn, damn citations
(Oom bop bop)
She's giving me damn citations
(Oom bop bop damn citations)

There is a story on the front page of today's Key West Citizen (READ HERE) that tells the tale of what could happen if you rent to spring breakers or anyone else and do not have a transient rental license or if you do not (allegedly-like they say on TV when the cops nab the culprit in plain view of everybody but don't want to presume him guilty) have a valid monthly vacation rental agreement.

It's not fair to pick on the college kids that come to Key West to have fun. Many 'adults' do the same thing except they are usually not as thin or as cute as the college kids, but some are as nearly nude and certainly as loud after they have had a few (dozen) beers. When they take the party back to their rented house and wake the locals who, for the most part are a tolerant bunch, things change. Patience wears very thin in the wee hours of the morning.

The interior of the Monroe County Jail in the 1970s

You can rent a house or a condo as a vacation rental but you need to follow the rules. If you don't, and if you get caught, you can go to real estate jail. No, they don't put you in a cell. But they can put you through hell. That extra money you could have made will go the City of Key West and not to your child's college fund.

Owning a house or a condo with a transient rental license is one way to avoid going to real estate jail. (A transient rental licenses permits an owner to rent his property on a daily basis every day of the year, the same as an innkeeper rents a room.) The other is to be a responsible owner and not to violate the Golden Rule: don't piss off the neighbors. Make sure your rental agent earns the management fee you pay and does not allow a rental to The Situation turn into a Damn Citation.

If you are looking to buy a house or condo in Key West that has a transient rental license, please consider working with me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or contact me by email at kw1101v@aol.com. I am a full time buyer's agent and Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. in Key West. Avoid real estate jail; buy a place that's legal.