The Red Barn Theater in Key West is celebrating 30 wonderful years with their 2010 season! Over the years, many famous playwrights, musicians, and actors, have been a part of what was happening in the theater. Jimmy Buffet, Richard Wilbur (U.S. Poet Laureate), and Tennessee Williams have included the Red Barn Theater in their Key West performance schedule.

The theater started out as a carriage house around 1829, but in the 1940’s, it began its life as a center for performing arts. The Key West Community Players performed at the Red Barn until after WWII. Ruth Guttman and her husband Yehuda used the theater throughout part of the 60’s and 70’s for puppet shows and piano concerts. The 1980’s brought the current group of actors who renovated the building and opened as the Red Barn Theater.

The 2010 season looks to be a great one! You can enjoy the comedy, Shirley Valentine, now through March 27^th. The story of a middle aged, working class wife in Liverpool, who just so happens to talk to her kitchen walls, is a Tony award winning show! What happens between her proper English kitchen and the beaches of Greece will keep you laughing.

There will also be a three night only performance of Always…Patsy Cline on March 18^th -20^th. The touching musical about friendship and the power of music has been a runaway hit. Following the friendship formed between Cline and a fan, the play focuses on the night the fan finds out Cline has been killed in a plane crash. This performance will be held at the San Carlos Institute in Key West.

The arts have a rich history in Key West. Authors, actors and artists have long called Key West home, and for good reason! You won’t find a more inspiring place to live! When you are ready to relocate to Key West, call Margarita Villoch! She is your local real estate resource for all things Key West and for the Lower Keys!

Key West is well known for various reasons! Shining sunsets, fantastic architecture and famous people are just a few things that come to mind when people think of Key West. But what we are most proud of is our philosophy of One Human Family!

The people of Key West have always been warm and welcoming to different cultures and lifestyles. Local artist, J.T. Thompson, created a campaign in early 2000 to express the accepting attitude of the area. He designed and gave away bumper stickers that read; “All people are created equal members of ONE HUMAN FAMILY.” By October of 2000, the Key West City Commission adopted One Human Family as the official philosophy of the city and it has been going strong ever since!

The people of Key West truly live by that motto. You can see in the daily life of residents, it isn’t just a fad. This has always been a diverse community which is part of what makes it such a unique place to live. Many different nationalities and philosophies come together to create the distinct laid back culture the Keys are known for.

Part of the tourism logo of the Florida Keys and Key West is “come as you are” and we mean it! Everyone should have a chance to visit and experience island living in the USA. Be warned you may fall in love with the lifestyle! Call Margarita Villoch when you are ready to buy a home in Key West to call your own!

Right now there is a lot going on in the real estate market. Home buyer tax credits, low prices and low interest rates have many first time home buyers ready to take the ownership plunge. With all the excitement and incentives, don’t forget the basics when it comes to closing on your Key West home.

The first and most important thing to remember as you prepare for closing is don’t change anything about your financial profile! The excitement of buying your home may have you running out to the local home improvement store and opening a credit account to buy new appliances or other necessities for your new home. STOP! Any changes to your to your credit picture can mean you no longer qualify for your financing.

Avoid buying a new car, new furniture or anything else on credit, even 90 days same as cash. There have been home buyers who walked into a closing and walked out again without becoming a homeowner. If you are working with a real estate agent they will have probably already told you to make no changes to any of your debts. Just be patient and go shopping after the paperwork is done!

Another important thing to do before closing day is asking for a final walk through inspection. Check for the condition of the home and that everything negotiated has been completed. This is your chance to make sure everything is as it should be.The best way to make sure everything goes smoothly at closing is to work with a good real estate agent. They will let you know what to expect at your closing meeting and if there are any special requirements in your state (some states even require a real estate attorney be involved in the closing). Closing doesn’t have to be scary! Your real estate agent will walk you through the process and you will walk away with the keys to your new home!

If you are ready to buy in Key West, call Margarita Villoch! She is your local real estate resource! It won’t be long until you find yourself enjoying the island life and relaxing on the beach!

There are many reasons why living in Key West is such an amazing experience, but one of the most spectacular things you will find in the Florida Keys is our coral reef. The Florida Reef is the ONLY living coral reef in the continental United States. It is home to some of the Keys most colorful residents! One of the best ways to explore the reef and all its’ inhabitants is by going snorkeling!

Approximately 6,000 coral reefs are found between Key Biscayne and the Dry Tortugas. There are many charters that are available to those wanting to snorkel. Sailboat charters, catamarans, and glass bottom boats are some of the favorite ways to go snorkeling in the Keys. However you decide to get to the reefs- just do it! It is one of the most amazing experiences you may have!

There are a few things to remember when snorkeling. Coral is a living organism, so when diving or snorkeling, look, but do not touch! Avoid grabbing, standing or sitting on the coral. Not only can you damage the coral, but you may hurt yourself in the process. Most important: all coral is protected, it is against the law to collect, harvest or sell Florida corals.

If you are wondering what you may see when you go snorkeling, the answer is a lot! The reefs are full of tropical fish, hard and soft corals, sponges, snails, jellyfish, anemones, crabs, lobsters, rays, sea turtles, nurse sharks, and other sea life. There are around 110 species of corals and over 500 species of tropical fish living in perfect harmony on the reefs! So come on down to Key West, where the water is alive!

After a day of snorkeling, come back to shore and relax watching the sunset over the water, then enjoy some of the amazing cuisine Key West has to offer. If this sounds like the life for you, call Margarita Villoch and start packing! There is nothing quite like the island life!

The goal of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was to help save jobs and benefit the local communities. Here in Key West and throughout the Florida Keys we have seen the benefits from the program. In the Keys a total of 15.5 million dollars is being used to do things such as pay teachers, hire law enforcement officers and fix roads. As a result, it is estimated 87,000 jobs were saved or created.

In Key West, you will see improvements throughout the island. One of the biggest projects is $8.6 million in federal stimulus money being used for sidewalk improvements, storm water gravity wells and upgrades to waste water treatment. Several of the intersections in Key West were not wheelchair-accessible. The city can now bring these sidewalks into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The stimulus money will allow Key West to install 24 new gravity wells to accommodate storm runoff. This will make a big difference in alleviating flooding that has been an issue in some neighborhoods. Indigenous Park on White Street is receiving parking lot repairs and will have a new storm water pump station installed as part of the stimulus package.

Other smaller projects receiving grants are the Key West Police Department and street repairs. The police department will be able to hire four new officers and pay them for three years with a grant of $812,000. $418,000 of federal money has also been set aside for the repaving of portions of United Street.

These projects will enhance the quality of life here in Key West! It is always nice to see your tax dollars at work in your community! When you are ready to move to the island, call Margarita Villoch! There is no life like the island life in Key West!

If you haven’t found anything to do this weekend, head down to Key West for the Old Island Days Art Festival! This annual art festival brings in over 100 artists to the area. It is a two day event starting February 27^th. Exhibitors will include painters, photographers, sculptors and more!

The exhibits will be set up along Whitehead Street and Caroline Street. They will go through the Presidential Gates and into Truman Annex. The historical setting gives visitors even more reason to come to the show! At the festival you can enjoy both traditional and contemporary art. Don’t forget to bring your wallet, you may just find a piece you can’t live without!

This is the festival’s 45^th year and is sponsored by the Key West Art Center. The first show was held on the sidewalk on Front Street and featured local artists. The artists had to use clothespins to display their artwork on the fence in front of the Old Custom’s House. The festival has now grown to include artists from all over the country and even some from Canada!

Of course, one of the most beautiful things you will see when you come to the festival is Key West itself! A city with ocean views and warm winds! A city filled with rich history and colorful diversity! If you think you may want to live the island life, call Margarita Villoch. She is your real estate resource for Key West and the Lower Keys!

There are many great reasons to buy a home in Key West! Beautiful surroundings, ocean views, and the island life are just a few that come to mind. The home buyer’s tax credit ($8,000 for first time buyers or $6,500 for repeat buyers) is another reason why now is a great time to buy or sell your home. But there are more changes on the horizon as the FHA announces its new lending guidelines.

January 20th, the FHA made an announcement outlining their new lending quidelines. These changes may make it harder for some to realize their American dream of homeownership. For years, FHA has helped countless people who had less money for a down payment or had a credit score that was lower than what the banks liked. There are many homeowners who would still be renters if it weren’t for FHA loans.

Always a popular program, in the last few years FHA has written almost 30% of mortgage loans. As the number of loans they held increased, they began to feel the impact of rising delinquencies. The new rules are an attempt to reduce the number of defaults. While some of the rules will apply to lenders, there are some big changes for buyers as well.

So what is the FHA’s new plan? Basically to lessen defaults on FHA loans, guidelines are being tightened. While there is not a specific date set for the buyer guidelines to go into effect, they will definitely impact who can buy a home. Here are the basics of the changes:

• Lower FICO scores (below 580) will now require a 10% down payment…that is up from 3.5%
• Mortgage Insurance Payment (MIP) is being raised from 1.75% to 2.25%.
• The allowable seller’s concession has been slashed from 6% to 3%. This means sellers will contribute less to the buyers closing costs.

All three changes are expected to go into effective by late spring-early summer except for the MIP increase which starts April 5, 2010. So if you have been trying to decide if it is time for you to buy or not, it is! You can still take advantage of home buyer tax credit, low interest rates and the current FHA loan guidelines to make the dream of owning a home come true.

If you are ready to embrace the island life and relocate to beautiful Key West, call Margarita Villoch! Her team will be glad to answer any questions you have about the changes coming for first time home buyers! If you are wanting to sell your home, we can help with a free market analysis of your home!

About 70 miles west of Key West lies a beautiful set of islands that are often overlooked by many tourists:  the Dry Tortugas. A US National Park, this group of seven islands was once the known as the Guardian of the Gulf. Famous for its pirate stories, military past, and rumors of gold, this is one island group you don’t want to miss!

The Dry Tortugas National Park protects the southwest tip of South Florida’s coral reef tract.  The only living coral reef in North America, the Florida Barrier Reef is also the third largest reef system in the world! Divers and snorkelers are drawn to the area by the clear waters, ship wrecks, loggerhead turtles and amazing coral formations. Nature lovers flock to the area to experience the wonder of migratory birds and marine life.

Accessible by ferry, you need to plan an all day trip when headed to the islands. It will take a little over two hours to travel to the island and then after 4-5 hours of exploring Ft. Jefferson and the surrounding beaches, it will be another two hour boat trip back. You will want to make sure and pack some sun protection and a few beach towels, other than that the ferry will have what you need.

The ferry trip includes a simple continental breakfast and a picnic lunch at Ft. Jefferson. It will have all you need to enjoy snorkeling around the island. There will also be a guided tour available. If one day isn’t enough, you can also camp on the island overnight. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience to sleep under the stars in the Dry Tortugas!

This is a unique destination and tours have limited availability. You will want to book your trip in advance! Of course, if you live in Key West, you aren’t rushed by time schedules and could work around the trip’s availability. When you are ready to change your lifestyle, call Margarita Villoch! Her team will answer any questions you may have about island living!

Raising the score in Key West doesn’t mean rooting for the Miami Heat in an upcoming NBA game! It is referring to getting the most out of your credit score. As we discussed recently, credit scores determine not only if you get a loan, but also how much you will be paying in interest over the life of your loan. Very few people have picture perfect credit; we have all experienced bumps in the road along the way! But don’t despair if your score isn’t where you want it, there are things you can do to raise your score now, and long term goals you can set to continue the upward trend!

Once you get the copy of your credit report, the very first thing you should do is look for errors! Errors on your credit report can lower your score. These are easily corrected and will quickly raise your credit score to where it should be. Make sure all accounts listed are yours! This is one of the most common errors on credit reports. Any late payments, charge offs and collections noted on these accounts have a negative effect on your score. Let the reporting agency know about these errors as soon as possible!

Next, check notations on your accounts. If there are late payments showing, make sure the information is accurate. If any of the derogatory notations aren’t correct, call the reporting agency to dispute the information. Inactive accounts should fall off after seven years, if they haven’t and there are negative notations on the account; ask for them to be removed. One of the most common errors is an account being flagged as “charged off” when you actually paid in full.  By correcting these errors you may see an increase in your credit score.

There are long term goals you can make that raise your score as well. Paying down the balance on your credit cards as much as you can is a big one! It used to be that as soon as you paid your balance down, you would lower your credit limit- DON’T DO THAT! Most lenders like to see your balance be about 30% of your credit limit. If you lower your credit limit, all that hard work is less effective. It still lowers your debt to income liability, but lenders also look at how much you owe on the card versus your credit line.

Of course the best way to raise your credit score is to pay your bills in a timely manner as much as possible. If you think you are going to be late, call the company. You may even be offered an extension! Either way, let them know what is going on. By doing that, you are letting them know you care about your credit rating.

Buying a home is one of the best investments you can make! Even with all the recent changes to the market, real estate outperformed the stock market in the long term! If you have questions or if you are ready to “score” that Key West bungalow you have been looking for, call Margarita Villoch or fill out the Dream Home finder! Her team is ready to help.