House for Sale in the Florida Keys

Owner is interested in obtaining land within a five hour radius of Knoxville, Tennessee. Parties with land in this area that are interested in real estate trade please contact owner.

NATURALISTS PARADISE! Energy efficient solar home on DEEP canal. Large home with SEAWALL, BOAT RAMP, FENCED YARD, and of course CENTRAL AC. Very secluded, quiet area great for wildlife viewing. Lagoon at end of canal for big boats to turn around. Dome shaped roof designed for optimum wind resistance. Additional land included. Bedrooms: 2.0 Baths: 3.00 For Sale: 1868 No Name Drive No Name Key, FL 33042 Built: 1991 Solar Powdered, Dome House Price: $799,000 Interested Parties Phone: 865-274-6121 or 800-638-6655

Why did I buy a dome home?

Answer: I didn?t know a thing about dome homes. When I found this one I was primarily looking for a home on a good boating canal. Our canal is second to none. We are in the gulf within a couple of minutes and into the Atlantic in about 20 minutes. The opening is about 5 feet at high tide. Large sailboats have gotten in and out of here.

The more I learned about dome homes the more I thought that this was the perfect home for the keys. There is a lot less chance of it being torn up by high winds. In fact it was one of the few homes on the island that didn?t sustain significant damage from hurricane George. We did get a little water damage from Wilma (6 inches above the seawall)but that was easily repaired.

What is special about this home other than its dome configuration?

Answer: As you will see, it is very roomy. It will hold and sleep a large group(we have had 12 stay there at one time) yet very little space is wasted when only my wife and I are there. It has all the electronic conveniences without the electric bill. It has hardwood floors and is nicely decorated with a lot of wood trim. The electrical system requires very little generator back up even when running central air. It is the largest solar system in the keys, rated at 6.8kw and it has a large bank of Rolls batteries now in their 5^th year with a 15 year guarantee. The cistern has been cleaned and is large enough (14000 gal with 1000 in green tanks for gardening) that we have never run out of water.

Although the house is rated as a two bedroom house, it is actually much larger. Two rooms are used by us as offices which could easily be converted and both have bathrooms handy to them. The first level of the house is not counted but contains a laundry room, large workshop with a screened in porch, bedroom and bath and storage along with room for the electrical system. Additionally there is a large loft for overflow sleeping room.

The first level is around 1250 square feet. Not counted is the deck, two large areas of which are screened in with ?no-see?um screen?. We spend a lot of time on these porches and it is nice to have one on both east and west sides so that we always have one in the shade. It also makes it easier to leave the three sliding doors open during times of moderate temperatures.

This house requires no re-modeling that I know of. It has new Anderson sliding doors, new cabinets and corion counter tops in the bathrooms and the dome roof has just been caulked and painted. This is a requirement about every ten years based on the home?s history.

There is ample seawall (70 plus feet and a separate dock for a small boat plus your own launching ramp) and if you fish you will like the fish cleaning shack which is well lighted, in the shade, cool and bug free. A 350 gallon diesel storage tank provides fuelling for fishing boat and generator.

The yard is easy to care for and there is a fenced in garden for veggies and orchids which keeps the iguanas out. The entire yard is also fenced. If it were not, the key deer roaming outside its confines would eat our plants and trees.

If you are a boater you will enjoy the lagoon at the end of the canal (we are on its neck). It is large enough to turn around in with a large boat.

The grounds are easily kept and include a lot of palms, bananas and citrus trees. Included are some fruit trees-key limes, mango, avacado, carambola and grapefruit which are starting to bear. Two lemon trees produce well. The garden area is surrounded by pineapple plants which usually provide about a half dozen pineapples during the summer and fall.

Why are you selling your home?

My wife and I both have serious health problems and need to live closer to our physicians in Tennessee. We wish we could keep this house but it is becoming impossible.

Visit us and see how nice it is to live ?GREEN?.

We moved to no name key because of the location and the availability, knowing little about solar energy or what it would be like to have cistern water. ????It helped a great deal that our neighbors were willing to coddle us for a while as we learned the ropes of conserving energy and water.

At the same time we were learning to conserve we also improved our water supply and our solar system. The result has been ahving all the modern conveniences and not having to listen to a generator except occasionally on cloudy days.

No Name Key is an island approximately two miles square. It is a part of the key deer refuge. There has been a moratorium on building homes for about 10 years and it is expected to remain. This means that the 35 homes on the island do not fill but a couple of small corners of the island and most of the homes, including ours, enjoy much more privacy than would be expected on any other key.

Although connected to Big Pine Key by a large concrete bridge, electricity and aquaduct water are unlikely to come to the island because of federal law. Many of the residents have fought to keep things as they are for fear that electricity and water would inevitably bring development. Once you have a functioning solar system such as ours, lack of ?store bought? electricity is not an important issue. Most of the year we have excess energy and at one point used some of that excess to power an electric truck.

It?s the same with the cistern. Most of us filter and drink cistern water which is much better tasting than tap water in the rest of the inhabited keys and compares to bottled water.