Real Estate Agent Man: The Podcast
Secrets of Florida Real Estate That Should Not Be Secrets
Season 2 Episode 9 (Transcribed for the hearing impaired: Transcription below by artificial intelligence software - errors are inevitable)
Kevin 0:00
There's two addresses here, 500 and 504. But this is a single residential property. With a main house and a guest house, I actually have a Airbnb company come and look at both houses to do a corporate Airbnb, on the homes and it has a tremendous rental value, because of his location, but also the way it's set up. It's very conducive to having one house be a working house for people and the other house we asked they're staying
Steve Martin Smith 0:31
in. So you have something here that most people will never be able to have. Kevin from Avanti development group, thank you for being in my pocket studio today. And tell me what we are here to talk about.
Kevin 0:45
Well, we're here to talk about 504 Hillsborough Street in Palm Harbor. This is an absolute beautiful gem. Right here on the picture you're seeing, we are standing at the boat dock, and you can see the boat lift there that's brand new, we completely redid that it has an 11,000 pound lift, brand new cables, and brand new control. It also has a remote control that allows you to raise and lower the lift remotely. So you can start the to lower from the house. Look at that beautiful sky and the birds. It's just a fabulous property.
Steve Martin Smith 1:22
Are you throwing that sky and the birds in with the purchase of this?
Kevin 1:26
Absolutely.
Steve Martin Smith 1:27
Okay, can they get the water too,
Kevin 1:28
they can get the water too?
Steve Martin Smith 1:30
Well, for the listener, if you're just hearing this on the audio pod version of this podcast, you probably want to go to real estate agent man on YouTube, or rumble or Vimeo so that you can see the video footage that we're talking about here. I still am going to put it out there on the audio podcast for those who are just driving in their car and don't have the opportunity at least if you're driving in your car. You shouldn't be watching the video. Let me say that. So we're out here taking this video. I also noticed on this dock, the smaller left? What What's that for? What's that about?
Kevin 2:00
That's a jet ski lift, and it swivels around and lowers into the water so that you can, if you've got a jetski you can lift it out of the water. And that allows you to host it off, keep it clean and have it ready to go for your next fun outing.
Steve Martin Smith 2:13
Oh, excellent. So you can actually have a jetski lifted and an 11,000 pound boat at the same time. Exactly. Okay, very good. And the as you're pointing out there at the water, and we're looking at some markers popping up, what are those markers for
Kevin 2:31
the markers are where the water the where the bottom has been dredged a little bit deeper, and it allows your boat to be able to go in and out of there. If there's a lower tide, which is really important. Across the way you'll see the trees there and a natural barrier. When you go right around that barrier. You're in the Gulf of Mexico. So the barrier does a couple of things. For one thing, it keeps the waves down, which makes it really nice to get in and out of your boat lift and you're not dealing with waves there. The other side of it is in the event that there's some type of a storm that takes the brunt of the storm, which makes it a whole lot nicer for the property.
Steve Martin Smith 3:09
So also looking around here, I do not see many other boat lifts on docks,
Kevin 3:15
I'm so glad you mentioned that this boat dock was put in in 1999 with the lift, and those are no longer permitted. And I'm not sure when they stopped allowing that. But our boat lift is one of the few as you look around the area there. It's one of the few that actually has a boat lift. So it's a very, very nice feature.
Steve Martin Smith 3:36
So you have something here that most people will never be able to have. Yeah, money can't buy it. So here we're standing on the dock looking towards the houses and we're seeing all these beautiful mangroves. Now, you know people who have done any research at all understand that you know mangroves are protected. You can't just go in and just get rid of them all and you wouldn't want to but how is this maintained because they look beautiful right now
Kevin 4:00
they are beautiful and we do have a company that maintains them. They come in twice a year and trim them and you are allowed by the state of Florida to trim them and maintain them. You just can't cut them all out and take them away. So we keep that all manicured and it looks absolutely beautiful all year round.
Steve Martin Smith 4:19
I understand manatee like mangroves.
Kevin 4:22
We've seen a few Manatees are one of the other things you'll see quite frequently at the dock or dolphins. They will be swimming up and down chasing other fish and it's just it's absolutely beautiful.
Steve Martin Smith 4:34
Oh speaking of fish, you did send me a couple of pictures of your son holding some of his own catches.
Kevin 4:40
Yes, yes. He's he's had so much fun. He loves fishing and it is amazing the fish that you can catch literally right off of this dock.
Steve Martin Smith 4:50
So that's about it for the dock, I suppose except that I think we did want to mention that there's electric and water out there, right freshwater?
Kevin 4:58
Yes, yeah, there's freshwater and The Electric which is really nice for refilling your boat, and also for hosing it off whatever cleaning it. And again, you can see a beautiful view of the house there. It's just fabulous. Yes, right here, right by the gate, there's about a forefoot area that is on the neighbor's side.
Steve Martin Smith 5:17
Gotcha. And here's the first of many air conditioner units. Tell us about the ACS on this property?
Kevin 5:24
Yeah, there's actually six ACS on this property. The one that you see in the video there is for the guest house, the guest house has one AC in it. And the main house has five, I said, Can I just get two big units and put in and he said, No, no, no, they're way more efficient this way. Essentially, each air conditioner runs a different floor.
Steve Martin Smith 5:45
Okay. So as we're walking by these doors here on the right now those are to the basement, so to speak of the guest house.
Kevin 5:53
Yeah, that's where the to the to two car garages that are on the guesthouse. The really nice thing about that is that those two double doors have a really nice storage area, although it's open right into the garage. But right inside is a great place to keep your fishing poles at any tackle. Anything that you want to take out on your boat. And that's
Steve Martin Smith 6:16
not the only like patio space, you've got that patio space down there that you could put a table chairs, whatever you want to do out there and hang out. But there's another one right above that, right? Yes. So when we look up, and we see that those that wood ceiling, that's actually the floor to the deck,
Kevin 6:31
yes, the deck upstairs, which makes it really nice. If someone from the guesthouse perspective, if, if a family had this and they want to invite another family member or family to come over, they can stay there and they've got total privacy. It's completely self sufficient and makes it really nice for guests.
Steve Martin Smith 6:50
We're looking at a fence right now. Now, whatever it is that fence, close it, that fence
Kevin 6:55
actually closes in the pool. And so from a security standpoint, it does two things. One, it protects the any kids from going into the mangroves, but it also keeps anyone from getting into the pool without access.
Steve Martin Smith 7:13
Okay, so coming out from the breezeway, we are now looking at the grand entrance. From the house view.
Kevin 7:21
There's lots of parking. So there's the gate from an entertainment entertaining standpoint, if you bring guests in, there's plenty of room for everyone to park, not only off of the the Circle Drive itself, but on the Circle Drive, and lots of access, you can see there Oh, yeah, to be able to park, you could do quite the party here. You could definitely,
Steve Martin Smith 7:44
oh, let's talk about all those glass blocks. I know that there's something kind of special about those that unless you're there at the right time of day, you wouldn't know it. So tell us
Kevin 7:52
about that. Yeah, the architect that designed this was kind of quite a brilliant design. But the the that particular tower that you see there, that's the staircase that goes from the basement all the way to the master bedroom, but they put these glass tile or glass blocks all the way to the top. And it's very interesting, because between five o'clock at night, and about eight o'clock at night, anytime you're outside, specifically later, seven to eight o'clock, you can stand outside, and those, those blocks literally are fully illuminated. And it looks like there's light behind them. And that's the sun coming through from the other side of the house.
Steve Martin Smith 8:35
You can also see there's a lot of deck around this place. The drawings for this, it appears to be over 4000 square feet of deck space.
Kevin 8:45
Yes, it's absolutely amazing in every room from the dining room to the two bedrooms, off of the main level, as well as the kitchen and living room area all have deck all the way around them. And so from this side that you see, which is the side that faces the garden, which is the nice circular drive, absolutely gorgeous.
Steve Martin Smith 9:08
So here we go walking up to the main house front door. Tell us about the front door.
Kevin 9:14
Yes, this is a lock system that actually has five separate locks. So when you from a security standpoint, when you lift up the handle, and then you turn the lock, it actually locks five separate locks into the door, which makes it virtually impossible for anyone to get into. So not only hurricane rated but burglar rated. Yes, exactly. So being on the ground level, we're walking out to the area where you could easily walk out to the swimming pool. It's actually listed on the public records as storage area. But we've done some very nice upgrades here that will make this home just a wonderful enjoyment for for your family. And when
Steve Martin Smith 9:55
you're you know you're partying out of the pool, you don't necessarily want to have to go up into the main house now To be able to come inside and either you know, sit down, relax, watch TV have something to eat, just get out of the sun for a little bit. Yes, you know,
Kevin 10:07
easily room for a pool table for a little dry bar area, sitting area, whatever. And nice air conditioner there that that makes it really nice to get in out of the
Steve Martin Smith 10:19
heat. And you can also go straight through to the garage from here as
Kevin 10:22
well. Yes, correct.
Steve Martin Smith 10:23
But you may also just decide you want to go to the theater. Yes,
Kevin 10:27
that's exactly right. And this theater room is absolutely incredible. We've spared no expense on this. Top of the line. Digital surround sound system that is just it's amazing. The screen is incredible. And the sound is absolutely incredible. But full reclining leather seats there seven of them. So you can sit back and relax and enjoy watching a really nice movie. Have a great time with your family.
Steve Martin Smith 10:55
Yeah, I'm kind of thinking Nemo.
Kevin 10:58
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Great for the kids.
Steve Martin Smith 11:01
So let's step out onto the pool deck. Yeah, this is
Kevin 11:05
one of my favorite parts, the pool and the hot tub are just incredible. We completely redid them brand new coding, we updated the pumps, as well as all the lighting the lighting is LED, it changes different colors. We have the pumps, both on the swimming pool and on the hot tub that are controlled with a wireless remote. And so you literally can turn on the hot tub from the upstairs. And you can preheat the hot tub so that it's ready when you are out there to jump in it. But it doesn't run all the time. If you want to save energy, you don't have to leave it on. But it's just really, really a neat setup. And there are two waterfalls, which you don't see in the pictures there. But there are two waterfalls, one on each side that are also controlled by the remote control so you can turn them on or off.
Steve Martin Smith 11:53
So this is reminiscent of a Lucas lagoons pool. Yes, yes, it is. And so when you had this all resurface, do you know what type of surface? Is this a pebble tech? Or do you happen to know the type of surface? It's
Kevin 12:05
a pebble tech? Yeah, it's a pebble tech. That
Steve Martin Smith 12:07
is what people want to see these days. Yes, it is. It also looks deeper than usual.
Kevin 12:13
It is it's actually feed on one end so which makes it really nice.
Steve Martin Smith 12:18
So the kind of pools you used to put diving boards.
Kevin 12:22
And you could just about do this with this pool.
Steve Martin Smith 12:24
Yeah, yeah, this whole back space is just amazingly tranquil. You know, designed for large gatherings. If you're a swimmer like me, who likes to take laps. This pool is to
Kevin 12:37
die for. Yes, absolutely.
Steve Martin Smith 12:40
Tell us about this flooring, Kevin, because you did a new flooring through most of the house. But you didn't replace the I
Kevin 12:47
did not replace this flooring or the flooring going off of the kitchen area into the main area on purpose. The original builders of the home actually went to Italy and selected this Italian tile to be able to use they wanted a certain thing. And they actually had the geometric circles that you see there in the floor. Those were all hand cut in Italy and then assembled here in the US and they're just gorgeous. The quality and the craftsmanship is amazing. They actually flew to Italy picked it up personally, and had it flown back. The little light there that you see. That's the elevator on the ground floor. And the elevator actually goes all the way to the master bedroom. So the top floor, the only thing that is there as the master bedroom and so it exits literally to the master bedroom.
Steve Martin Smith 13:36
And have you had any work done to this elevator.
Kevin 13:39
We had it checked out we had a letter elevator company come out and take a look at it. I went all the way through the electronics as well as the hydraulic aspect of the elevator. And they said it looked like it had hardly ever been used and that it was in perfect condition. As we go up the stairs there you'll see the staring the wood that's done there. We had all of the wood floors replaced and all the stair nose on those stairs, we had to have that all handmade in Tampa because we couldn't find sternos that would match the wood on the trim. So that was all done. It's all handmade and they just did a fabulous job.
Steve Martin Smith 14:20
Now when we get to the top of the steps are at the first floor is this tile also from Italy?
Kevin 14:27
Yes, it's also from Italy. And they also pick that out while they were there, the original the original people and it's gorgeous. It's something that you just don't see today.
Steve Martin Smith 14:38
So here we are in what would be the main living area of the main house and the room size I think is like 24 by 24 Yes. And then you also have all of the expanded space once you open those French doors and go out on to some of your 4000 square feet of deck space you know overlooking the water there And yes,
Kevin 15:00
the other cool thing is not only that, I mean that we have the wood burning fireplace there, which is unique. There are a few a few people around in the area in the neighborhood there that have wood burning stoves. But most of them for the for the last few years everyone's gone with natural gas. Well,
Steve Martin Smith 15:16
you did say wood burning stove.
Kevin 15:20
Fireplace wood burning fireplace,
Steve Martin Smith 15:22
I mean, I suppose you could throw your pizza in there and see what happens. Yeah, it's wood burning fireplace.
Kevin 15:27
But I do have, we do have natural gas on the property and it runs the stove in the kitchen, and also the heater for the hot tub downstairs. So if a person wanted to, you could run gas over to that and actually convert it to a gas log if you wanted to.
Steve Martin Smith 15:47
And some people may want to do that. But you know, I've ran into quite a few people that are happy to find an actual wood burning fireplace in Florida because there's just not that many of them.
Kevin 15:57
Now there aren't and just to hear that popping sound when the when it's a real fire and to smell the smell the natural wood is incredible. This room is incredible when you go in it as well, because when you look up it literally is 30 feet to the ceiling. It's completely open. And so it is just a very grand look off to the right here. We have two bedrooms. Yes. And to Jack and Jill correct to two bedrooms with a Jack and Jill bathroom. That's correct.
Steve Martin Smith 16:26
So if people are on this main floor, and they need to use a restroom, and there are a guest, there's also a restroom for them as well.
Kevin 16:34
Yes, there's not only the Jack and Jill restroom, but there's actually a full restroom. All the restrooms in the house are full bathrooms.
Steve Martin Smith 16:43
And at the recording of this podcast, not all of the windows have been completed yet.
Kevin 16:48
Right. That's a that's a work in progress. And you know, as the windows come in, we're installing them. And of course, that will be included in the contract that all the windows will be completed.
Steve Martin Smith 16:58
And so I point that out because in this room that have already been Yes, yes, they had. And I think there's over 100 windows in this.
Kevin 17:09
Yes. And when the two houses and all the new and all the new windows are all hurricane rated windows, which means you don't have to worry about putting up hurricane shutters or anything like that if there's a bad storm. So it's very, very secure. The other thing is they're low E glass, which reduces the amount of heat that comes in from the sun. So it's a natural energy saving thing as well.
Steve Martin Smith 17:31
Right. And we have a commitment from the the installer of the new windows that this will be done within the next couple of weeks. So by the end of July, all of the windows should be in I would
Kevin 17:42
we're hoping that that will be the case. Yes.
Steve Martin Smith 17:45
I see new cabinets, new sinks, new faucets, new tile. Is that what you've done for all the bathrooms? I think this was eight bathrooms total Yes, property every
Kevin 17:55
bathroom. We carried the same cabinetry from the kitchen through the entire house. So these are all solid hardwood cabinets with soft closed doors. There's no particleboard anywhere. Our sinks, the sinks and the faucets are actually Swiss made. They're just incredibly well made. They have a brushed nickel finish, but they are solid brass. So incredibly well built.
Steve Martin Smith 18:19
And you did a similar tile look throughout with the showers
Kevin 18:23
and yes baths, brand new tubs brand new showers, brand new toilets.
Steve Martin Smith 18:28
So going into the second bedroom here off the the Jack and Jill was set up like an office when you had had it staged.
Kevin 18:36
Yes. And this would make a great office for someone or you can you know easily make it a bedroom as well. But when you go in that room and you look out at the water, you realize what an incredible view that is. So if you were working from home, what an amazing view you have sitting at a desk looking out at that gorgeous view.
Steve Martin Smith 18:58
And as we're looking at the wood kind of seating there, so to speak, and we see the debris, that's just because they were just working on these windows. Before we were walking through to do this.
Kevin 19:12
Yes. And that's and that's a work in progress.
Steve Martin Smith 19:14
So let's talk about this beautiful piece of technology.
Kevin 19:18
Yes, every room has a has in the intercom system. And the intercom system is very cool because you can set it up actually to monitor the rooms. So if you have kids upstairs in a particular room and you want to listen in and find out what they're doing, you can do that. But it's mainly designed to communicate from room to room. And for mom to say hey, dinner's ready, come down for dinner or hey, there's someone here to see you at the front door. But on the relaxing side, the music you can literally pick any channel you want and listen to music. It also is is Bluetooth.
Steve Martin Smith 19:58
The the viewers have This podcast are not getting the full feel of this because you were playing some Phil Collins while we were walking through That's
Kevin 20:06
That's exactly right. Yes. Yeah, that was just
Steve Martin Smith 20:09
just made it that much better. Here's a little glimpse of the deck space off the main area, main living area, and you can see the dock out there.
Kevin 20:17
Yes. And while you while you're there, it'll be good. It's a good point to comment on this. There's three sets of double doors here that open onto that deck, which is incredible when you open all three sets of those doors. And then you have the 24 by 24 area, it literally feels like you're just walking right out onto the water. Those doors are also being replaced. You won't see any of the French, the little French cross pieces in there. It's all one solid piece of glass. Oh, that's gonna even improve the view more. Yes, yes, we wanted it to be unobstructed and give it a more modern look. But again, Hurricane rated doors.
Steve Martin Smith 20:55
Okay, let's talk about this kitchen because I looked at some of the old pictures of this property before you owned it. And it doesn't even look anywhere close to the same kitchen.
Kevin 21:05
Now it's not the same. We completely redid it from top to bottom. Again, all new cabinets. Everything's top of the line. Commercial grade appliances. We literally doubled the amount of cabinets that were in the house, because of the design when you walk in the kitchen. To the left side from the living room to the left side. There were no windows looking out to the water. Yeah, you doubled the view to Yeah, and we doubled the view. I mean, we we looked out there and it's like, why didn't they put windows here you've got such a beautiful view. And so we put windows in and we ran cabinets all the way around there. And it is so gorgeous.
Steve Martin Smith 21:41
And that's the door out to the breezeway between,
Kevin 21:44
between the two houses between the main house and the guests. So it's not where the utilities are. No, no, no, it can actually be a seating area. One of the cool things about this stove is of course, it's these are GE Monogram appliances, which we looked at Wolf and we looked at several other brands. And these were rated just as high and quite frankly, we're just as expensive. But the double Yeah, truth be told, but the the oven, the specifically on the double oven here, it's actually Wi Fi controlled, it connects to the internet, and it also connects to your phone. So you literally can, if you head off to a movie and you realize oh no, I forgot to start the stove. Or let's say you're at church or some kind of an outing, and you left a roast in the oven and you forgot to shut it off. You can literally turn it off and stop it. But it's got just some tremendous features. The shelving unit is unique because they're all ball bearing rollers. On the shelving, they're designed to handle Extra Heavy pans, and they roll completely out which makes it really nice to get your hot dishes in and out of the oven. And those doors are also soft closed doors. So you literally can take the pan and just bump the edge of the cabinet and or the edge of the door and walk away and it will close itself. Yes range. Same thing, top of the line. The Super thing I love about the ranges is that everything is completely sealed. So when you take the burner pieces off to clean it, there's literally no way for anything to get below the surface that you see there. So it's super easy to keep clean and super easy to run. And then above it, you'll see the pot filler there we did that so that it makes it so much easier. If you've got a pot on the stove and you want to add water to it. It's right there. Stainless steel dishwasher again, it's all everything is all high tech, top of the line, the shelving in the in the dishwasher, it's a commercial dishwasher, so the shelves actually raise and lower, which is really a nice feature because so many of them if you've had a dishwasher where you have a tall pot or pan or something and you go to put it in and it won't quite fit in the dishwasher, and you end up hand washing it. You don't have to do this with this you can just raise or lower the shelving so that it fits right in the farmhouse sink against stainless steel and commercial faucet. With the soap dispenser. They're really nice.
Steve Martin Smith 24:23
So let's go back to the high tech topic for a moment because some people want the smartest house they can find. Other people want the dumbest house they can find so when when you're looking at a new person coming in to use the appliances, do you think that they have to use the technology aspects of it.
Kevin 24:47
I'm so glad you brought this up. When we shopped for appliances we looked at Wolf we looked at several other high end brands and then we looked at GE Monogram and one of the things we liked about the GE Monogram not only the quality, the warranty, the all the different types of things, this thing's crazy with it connected to the internet, it'll even send you a message on your phone saying the lower heating heating element is only working at 70% efficiency, a service repair person will contact you shortly to come out to take care of it. So there's some really huge high tech things there. However, unlike the other brands, GE if you do if you never connect a phone to this appliance, if you never do any of those things, you literally can turn it on and off. It's a touchscreen, but you can turn it on and off like any normal appliance. And you don't have to use any of those features if you don't want to. So
Steve Martin Smith 25:43
even with no Wi Fi connected, you could just use this like an old school.
Kevin 25:47
It's like an old school oven. double
Steve Martin Smith 25:49
oven. Yes, that will be very beneficial to some people. Yes.
Kevin 25:53
But you can see how tall the cabinets are there. They're all 42 inch cabinets. When we bought the house, it had 30 inch cabinets in it. And there just was no storage. And before when you were standing at the kitchen, or at the stove looking out. There were six glass blocks in the wall. And that was your view to look outside was six block glass blocks. We eliminated that. And we completely made that we filled that in and then we put a window in. So that it just it just opens it up so much more. All the lighting you see in there, throughout the entire house is all recessed LED lighting. So everything is super high efficient. Every light is got a 50 year life expectancy. And we're in the dining room. And again, look at that view. Doors open up out onto the deck. And you've got a beautiful view of the garden at the front of the house. And you can see all the lush vegetation out there. And it's so peaceful and so beautiful.
Steve Martin Smith 26:56
So here's the view from this floor.
Kevin 26:59
Yes, absolutely incredible. And to the left there, you'll see the two docks with the boat lift. The one is ours, the other one we share with the neighbor. But you'll see if you look at the the red colored dock to the right hand side there, you'll see that there's a boat dock there but there's no lift. That house was built after they stopped allowing the boat lifts. So those people do not have a boat lift. They just have to pull their boat up alongside and step down in it. And in Go, there's no way to lift the boat out of the water
Steve Martin Smith 27:32
kicking it old school. Yeah. So now we're walking into the dressing room.
Kevin 27:38
Yes. And this thing is absolutely incredible. We've got a full dressing room that's bigger than most people's bedrooms, quite frankly. But you've got room for everything there from hanging clothes dresses. Women will love this because there's extra long. There's a whole section for full length formal dresses and that kind of thing. I'm looking
Steve Martin Smith 27:59
at spaces for my sport coats, though. Yes, yes, that's what I'm seeing. Yes, Katrina will have to get her own closet. She doesn't listen to my podcast.
Kevin 28:09
She is the shoe racks right there. There's a place to for not only the cubbies to put shoes in but also the rack itself for high heat or no the cubbies are for purses. Ah, I didn't know that. See, I learned something new. That's well,
Steve Martin Smith 28:25
according to my wife, that's what they're for. Okay. So yes, the shoes go below and
Kevin 28:31
happy wife happy life. So yep, that's for purses.
Steve Martin Smith 28:34
Let's go up one more flight of steps.
Kevin 28:36
This is awesome. One of my favorite things about this house literally is the sanctuary. It's a place to just totally relax. You've got complete privacy. But you have the most incredible views from up there. Yeah, it's just amazing. And
Steve Martin Smith 28:53
although we just walked up those steps, right to the left of this entrance here is the elevator door. Yes. So one of the cool things I noticed as soon as I walked in here is from this floor.
Kevin 29:02
Yes. And that is the Gulf of Mexico right out there.
Steve Martin Smith 29:05
There is a loft up here. Yes, you could actually pull that. That door down and climb up into the loft climb
Kevin 29:13
up into the loft. You could set a couple chairs up there with a little table and sit and watch the sunset.
Steve Martin Smith 29:19
You could probably also if you wanted to make that more of a permanent and decorative staircase.
Kevin 29:26
Yes, there's plenty of room in the master bathroom is probably our pride and joy. It's absolutely gorgeous. Obviously you can imagine sitting in the tub looking out and those windows are not hurricane rated. The ones that are coming in are with the low E glass you literally can't even see in those windows from the outside. So anyone outside is not going to be able to see in but you've got a beautiful unobstructed view to sit and relax in the tub and there's a little shower one there as well. Which makes it really nice.
Steve Martin Smith 29:56
I'm always concerned about pirate ships and then
Kevin 29:59
go Well, we didn't want to put I didn't want to put glass in there, that would totally obstruct the view. Now you got to have this whole view because the view is just incredible. The tile there is really cool as well, because that's not just normal tile. That's actually marble. And it is Italian marble. And the floor matches the walls in the in the walk in shower. We just wanted it to be a first class experience for
Steve Martin Smith 30:26
someone multiple water sources in the shower. I see.
Kevin 30:30
Yes, we have a one on the ceiling and then one on the wall there. And then we have a separate handheld, which would really be nice. If you're sitting on the bench and you want to use that shower. We widened that area. That entry was so narrow, and we widened it and opened it up and raised the ceiling in there as well. So that it opened it up and gave it more room.
Steve Martin Smith 30:51
I did a video of me going down the elevator. Oh, okay. So this works to prove that it works. Yes. To prove that it works.
Kevin 30:59
Oh, that's a good thing.
Steve Martin Smith 31:01
So here we go. Capacity. 700 pounds? Yes. Okay, for sure. That's why it handled me. Well. I felt like I was stepping into an old movie. I got it.
Kevin 31:14
Yeah, it is an old school elevator. When you walk in, you say wow, the whole house is so modern looking. And the elevator looks old school. But here's the plus with that. Those those gates that open are solid metal. Everything today is either plastic or fiberglass. And he said, you know, those are designed to last forever. That's an elevator that that will still work 100 years from now. That's what it's made to do. The lift system on the elevator is all hydraulic. That's a big deal. Because if you ever lost power for some reason, the elevator will automatically go to the ground level and open. The other aspect of it is for some reason anything would ever develop a leak or there'd be any kind of a problem. This is not like a cable breaking when it's on the fourth floor and suddenly coming down. It physically can't do that because of its design. Well, that's comforting
Steve Martin Smith 32:05
to know, actually. Yes. So now we are walking out on the breezeway, this was off of the kitchen. Yes, yeah. And we're on the second floor. And so you're getting a firsthand view here of the space that you have, like this is the guest house over here that we're looking at right now. And you could certainly do round table and chairs with an umbrella if you wanted to out here, right? Yeah, absolutely.
Kevin 32:29
Or some other seating of some sort. And of course, the stairs go down not only to go out to the boat dock, but also to the pool. And to the downstairs level.
Steve Martin Smith 32:40
You could also do some sort of reclining outdoor furniture. Yes. Just lay out there and get a tan. Yes, absolutely. Okay, and I see some recessed lighting out on the decks as well. So I bet this place lights up really nice. Oh,
Kevin 32:55
it's gorgeous at night in New Hardy board siding. I don't know if we talked about that all the siding on the house has all been replaced. It's new Hardy board.
Steve Martin Smith 33:04
Now for the people who have not heard of Hardy board.
Kevin 33:09
Yeah, well, the big thing was with Hardy board is it's actually almost a cement board. But it's not only weatherproof from a standpoint of rain or water, saltwater, that kind of thing. But it's also very much windproof. So this, again, is Hurricane rated so that it's not going to come loose. The old siding that was on the house was vinyl siding, which in 1999 was acceptable today. They don't allow it on any houses. So when we went in to redo it, we decided let's just replace everything with Hardy board. That way, if you're putting in new hurricane windows, the siding should also be hurricane rated as well. Right. So
Steve Martin Smith 33:52
you could have left the vinyl siding on there and still past all of the permit.
Kevin 33:57
Yes, it wouldn't. It would have been okay, but it's just we knew that it would be better to do the Hardy board.
Steve Martin Smith 34:03
Excellent. So now we're stepping into the guest house.
Kevin 34:07
Yes. And again. Double doors entry into the guest house that makes
Steve Martin Smith 34:11
it a lot easier for moving furniture in and out. It does.
Kevin 34:15
It's also nice and again I understand this is summertime but in the fall and in the winter, you can open those up and create a natural breeze through from the front to the back because this also has a balcony that wraps around the back of the house. You can easily create a beautiful breeze through there and it's just unbelievably cool.
Steve Martin Smith 34:34
Well and that's what most of us live here for Yes, yes. Yes. As soon as the weather breaks in like mid late October. All of these doors are open.
Kevin 34:46
Just really a lot of fun redoing the guesthouse because everything literally was replaced. You can see brand new flooring. All new all new paint all new trim, news, new ceiling fans. New counter chops, new cabinets, again, solid hardwood cabinets, soft closed doors throughout the entire thing. The spiral staircase is awesome, because it has an amazing view deck up top. And of course, that was completely redone as well.
Steve Martin Smith 35:14
Yeah, I couldn't wait to walk up there and see that view. That was fun. But then also being up there and looking down at the you know, the rest of the place from up there. Yes. was also really cool. Yeah. So the kids will have a blast on that. Oh, yeah. No, they'll
Kevin 35:27
have so much fun.
Steve Martin Smith 35:28
Now, I noticed that there weren't any photos of this kitchen. In the photos that the staging company. I noticed that too. And I don't know. I mean, the kitchen was done already. Right. Yeah, it was all completely there must have felt like, well, we didn't stage it. We're not taking photos. Take any photos. Okay, well, that's what that's unfortunate. And you can see it now in this video, of course, but it has like some stuff on the counters, because you've been still in the process of doing a few things.
Kevin 35:55
Yes, yes. Both houses, the laundry rooms have new appliances. The kitchens are all new appliances, is a fun, fun project. Oh, that's good. I just saw that. I completely missed that in the other videos. Most of both of the laundry rooms as well as a couple of the bedroom off of the main house as well. They all have an ironing board that opens up and drops. Yeah, I noticed quite a few of those aren't, which is Yeah, which is really cool. It's just a great way to touch up your clothes and, and keep everything looking sharp.
Steve Martin Smith 36:29
And the view from the kitchen is amazing. And this house is also amazing.
Kevin 36:34
And you'll notice all the way across the front, we carried the bar countertop, in the kitchen there all the way across from one side to the other. So there's actually room for six bar stools across the front, which makes it really nice.
Steve Martin Smith 36:48
Right? And then there's also a space for like a breakfast nook table.
Kevin 36:52
Yes, there is. Yeah. And that door goes out to again, another deck that overlooks the garden at the front of the house.
Steve Martin Smith 37:02
Oh, this is a nice shot from outside the kitchen door.
Kevin 37:05
Yes. And you can see there from the this is the guesthouse where she can see the main house across the way there. But everything has the wraparound decks, which is really, really nice. I mean, it just creates a very peaceful atmosphere, but also very open.
Steve Martin Smith 37:23
So here I am at the top line, these windows are about
Kevin 37:26
to be replaced, right? Yes, that is correct. They're going to be replaced why we didn't
Steve Martin Smith 37:29
need to have them cleaned. Right. So tell me about this wood trim that we're looking at here on the side.
Kevin 37:38
That's actually Brazilian warm, warm wood. I can't say I know it's good stuff. All I know is that one of my one of my painters, who was a commercial painter, he said do not touch that wood. Don't paint it. Don't stain it. Don't do anything with it. He said that wood is not only is it very expensive, but he said it's incredibly beautiful. And he said let me just let me do the accent around it. And you'll see what I mean. And he was exactly right. It's, it's just gorgeous.
Steve Martin Smith 38:09
And so from here you can see across the house there and the steps that come up and then go to
Kevin 38:14
the other two beds, the other two bedrooms and and a bathroom up there as
Steve Martin Smith 38:17
well. Up there as well. There's three full baths in this house. Yes. And five in the main house,
Kevin 38:24
correct? Yes, yes. And you'll see the door straight across there that actually goes out to another balcony. As if there weren't enough balconies, but another route to look out. Yes. All right. Yes, you'll see all the parts on the floor there. That's for my locksmith. We were playing we replaced all the locks. They're all the locks on the house all the way around will be brand new rekeyed and brand new doors, door locks and deadbolts
Steve Martin Smith 38:52
you know, watching the video of me walking down the steps. I actually got a little dizzy, but it was fine when I was actually just walking down the steps. The master suite of the guesthouse?
Kevin 39:02
Yes. Nice big room with nice closet or gorgeous views. Yeah, another balcony, private balcony. And yeah, I noticed there See that little little cutout here. That's one of our little things that we do at Avanti development. We did those in every shower. So you're gonna have plenty of places to keep your shampoo and conditioner because there's never enough room for those things in a bathroom. Beneath his house, there are two two car garages so this house actually sits on up off the ground on with two garages underneath
Steve Martin Smith 39:37
the garage to the right, that's the one that they actually they tiled that and put AC in there right? Yes previously, that's a previous owner was using that for a gym
Kevin 39:48
kind of a gym workout area. It also make a great garage for your Ferrari under air and on a nice tile floor. There's two addresses here 500 And and 504. And that's because of the utilities and the original owner set it up that way. And we talked about that already. But this is a single residential home. So it's listed that way on the MLS. It's a, it's a single residential property with the main house and a guesthouse.
Steve Martin Smith 40:20
Do you happen to know anything firsthand about the restrictions, if there are any on renting it?
Kevin 40:27
There are, to my knowledge, there are no restrictions on renting this, it's in an area where there are no deed restrictions. And there's no HOA fees or anything like that. So makes it really nice that you can kind of do your own thing here and not have to worry about getting permission from someone.
Steve Martin Smith 40:44
So to the best of your knowledge, you could use this as a, you know VRBO, Airbnb
Kevin 40:49
actually have a or Airbnb company come and look at both houses to do a corporate Airbnb, on the homes and it has a tremendous rental value because of its location, but also the way it's set up. It's very conducive to having one house be a working house for people and the other house. We asked they're staying. And
Steve Martin Smith 41:11
so if anybody was interested in gathering information like that, we could provide that contact information to the company who was providing you that information? Yes, yes, we sure can. I love to have people get it firsthand from the source. And instead of hearing it from me or you, absolutely. So for those of you who have stuck with us through this entire podcast, congratulations. Your endurance is amazing. Thank
Kevin 41:33
you for hanging with us. It's a great is. There's a lot of home to talk about here. It's just a beautiful home. There's so much about it that I love and I could I could talk about it for a lot longer. The truth is, is that we put our heart and soul into this for the last 13 months and everything that we saw that we felt like we should replace that. What would I like if I were going to live here full time? Can I get by with what's there? Should I do what's right and replace it with new? Well, we took the right turn, turn and we did it the right
Steve Martin Smith 42:05
way. Kevin, thank you for joining me in the podcast studio today.
Kevin 42:09
And thank you so much for your time, Steve. It's been a pleasure. You are welcome.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai