Bascom Grooms Blog

Summer in Key West

Summer Vacation in America’s Caribbean Paradise You can see a different side of Key West in the summer when the weather warms and the crowds thin out. The days are sultry and often punctuated by morning showers and sometimes thunderheads rolling in off the water. Summertime starts the island’s rainy season, with June and July […]

Changes are Afoot in Key West

COVID Inspires a New Take on an Old Favorite This spring is bringing rumors of change to Key West, with plans in the works to reimagine Duval Street. Duval is the defacto main street of our island city, and the last few blocks where Lower Duval ends at the Gulf of Mexico waterfront have long […]

Key West Real Estate 2022 Outlook

Key West Property Market: Onward and Upward in 2022 As the Key West property market exits the pandemic years and settles into 2022, 1st Quarter action indicates that the trend remains firmly upward. The situation is largely unchanged since Florida Keys real estate went white-hot following the June 2020 post-lockdown reopening of the island chain […]

New Condo Safety Laws Affect Transactions

Tragedy Leads to Condo Transaction Troubles At nearly 1:30 in the morning on June 24, 2021, disaster struck Champlain Towers South, a beachfront condominium building in the Miami suburb of Surfside just north of Miami Beach. The north-central section and eastern wing of the L-shaped 12-story building collapsed suddenly, killing 98 people and injuring 11 […]

The Key West 200th Anniversary Celebration

Key West Celebrates Its Bicentennial Next month, Key West is celebrating 200 years as America’s Southernmost City, and the town is already busy with plans and preview events. Its an exciting time to be a conch, and local attendance at the celebration’s many events is projected to be very strong. Key Westers are inviting everyone […]

Florida Homestead Exemption

Keys Homeowners Save on Property Taxes Key Westers and visitors rang in the New Year with festivities that were bright and busy despite a few minor omissions and restrictions. The weather was perfect as usual, there were more than enough special events to fill the evening, and the city’s diversity of iconoclastic “drops” went off […]

Key West Real Estate: Naughty or Nice in 2021?

The Seller’s Market Rolls On In June 2020, when the Florida Keys re-opened from the pandemic shutdown, a phenomenal Keys-wide run on residential real estate kicked off then continued through the year and into 2021. When residential inventory fell short, vacant land sales took off, and the commercial property market also responded positively to the […]

The Most Tropical Time of the Year

Thankful for the Island Lifestyle There is something about seeing the first snows hit the Midwest that makes Key West feel more tropical than ever, and as fall rolls into winter and the holiday season comes into view, we have a lot to be thankful for here on the island. The perils of the pandemic […]

Fantasy Fest is Back!

Fall Fun is Back on the Island One of America’s most legendary parties emerges from lockdown this Friday, October 22 with a full 10 days of festive fun, friendship, and freakiness. The 2021 Fantasy Fest theme is All a Daze for a Holiday, a nod to the urge to get out and celebrate, play, relax, […]

Fall Into Key West Autumn Fun

Get Here As September rolls around, it’s a great time of year to be in paradise enjoying a season that always brings on a lot of pleasant anticipation. September 22nd marks the official first day of autumn, and even though islanders generally can’t look for a real break in the hot weather until sometime in […]