Living on an island can be a magical place
but it can also come with some challenges.
I'm gonna share with you some of the pros and cons of living on Key West
and we're gonna get started right now.
Hi, everyone! Welcome back!
This is Karriann Graf with Berkshire Hathaway Knight and Gardner Realty
and today we're going to dive right into some of the pros and cons
of living on an island.
Pro #1: The tropical climate
Our average temperature is 78 degrees.
We have sun and warm weather nearly year round.
Just think: it never freezes in Key West.
Pro #2: Key West is a three by four island
so everybody knows each other.
It means it's close knit.
One of our favorite expressions in Key West is, "We're all in it together."
Pro #3: Our crime rate is super low
Our police force is extremely patient
and diligent with their service to our community.
People come here from all around the world
because our crime is so low.
Pro #4: Key West offers lots of water adventures
There's parasailing, there's jet skiing, there's fishing, there's swimming...
One of my experiences with fishing many years ago,
I caught a huge ridge snapper.
The captain said that they were kind of rare to catch.
A couple days later, my picture was in the Key West Citizen
with my proud smiling face of my fish. Look over here [points]
Pro #5: Living on a small island allows you the opportunity
to ride your bicycle all around the island
to run your errands instead of having to drive everywhere.
This saves on car payments, it saves on insurance, and it saves our green scape
and it is a great benefit to everybody.
We have a surplus of bars and restaurants.
We have nearly 200 to choose from and they all offer their own kind of cuisine.
We have American, we have Caribbean, we have Jamaican, we have Italian,
we have Mexican, Cuban, and much, much more.
Some of my favorite restaurants that we've talked about
coming up or we talked about previously, we have Keys Coffee,
we have Kermits, we have Bagatelle, we've got Two Friends,
we've got Conch Republic.
And each one has their own special item or lunch or dinner that is awesome.
Con #1: The flights can be pricey flying out of Key West
but I want to tell you it is worth every bit to me.
When you have to drive from Key West to Miami, it can take upwards of 4 hours
depends on how fast traffic is going.
Normally, the average speed limit from Key West to Miami is about 45 miles per hour.
So anyways, tickets can be upwards of 100 to 150 dollars more
but it's well worth it compared to the time that you have to spend and the stress
of getting to your destination.
That leads me into...
Con #2 which is the drive down from Miami to Key West
or Key West to Miami.
It can be beautiful,
the infrastructure of everything that is coming from Miami is amazing.
But the fact that it takes about 4 hours to get here, it can be long and grueling.
That is a con that I believe is important to mention.
But if you're coming to visit, it's amazing seeing the 40 different bridges
and all the palm trees and the tropical paradise that you encounter.
Con #3: Retail stores
There are not enough for good shopping here in Key West.
Some of my favorites, since I don't drive the 4 hours like I already talked about,
is I go to Coach, Lilly's, J McConnell's, and I go to sometimes Banana Republic
depending on what they have.
Other than that, retail stores for clothing for women is not very good.
But really there are not many retail stores in Key West.
I named a few of my favorites. Other than that, amazon.com
Con #4: Our tropical weather
I talked about it up above because it is a pro but it can also be a con
when we have this tropical storms and hurricanes
that can come our way.
Some of the things that happen when a hurricane's coming,
that's a little bit of an inconvenience, is you need to clean up your yard,
you need to put everything up, you need to get ready for a lot of water
and wind so things go flying around.
Anyways, I would say that that could be a con as well.
All cities and states have pros and cons.
I shared with you some of my favorites and least favorites
but there's nothing that I would change about Key West.
It's been nearly 11 years and we look forward to many more.
Stay tuned for next week's video!
We'll be someplace else in Key West.
Bye for now!