2 weeks in..

Where are you finding the rental properties? Word of mouth, signs on the street, realtor, newspapers, or Craigs List?

what "horror stories" have you read or heard about

Where are you finding the rental properties? Word of mouth, signs on the street, realtor, newspapers, or Craigs List?

All of the above. Called every sign I've seen in area I want to be close to work. Craigslist. Did the realtor thing too. I'm narrowing down search. I've probably seen 30 places now.

what "horror stories" have you read or heard about

Read messages on this site for any length of time and some would lead you to believe you are moving into the bowels of hell

So true.......Dante's 4th level of hell maybe, but 7th? No way 😉

Will hit you up when we get back from vacation in Mich. Congrats at doing all the work to look at 30 properties, that is impressive searching.

well, the thing is-they are all true. but it is not any where near the bowels of hell.

They may, in fact, be true.. I'm still too much of a newbie to definitively say either way... but I'm not going to let little things bug me. I've seen goofy stuff here daily. Head scratch worthy but just like with the pack of dogs that chases the car every morning barking away.. I just smile and laugh it off

I have looked at so many units it's hard to keep track of them all.

When you say units, are you looking at condos? Which ones?

apartments. Have not seen any condos yet. Trying to focus search close to work on northside. May have found one today

Good to know on the rental sources and availability. I am doing all of the above as well when I arrive this fall. How many potentials after narrowing down? Are you looking at Northside, Charlotte Amalie, Red Hook, etc?

Ok thanks!

Good to know on the rental sources and availability. I am doing all of the above as well when I arrive this fall. How many potentials after narrowing down? Are you looking at Northside, Charlotte Amalie, Red Hook, etc?

I have places in mind right now. All Northside. Closer to work. Cooler. I will be sharing a car with my wife so she will be driving me to work and picking me up. Trying to make it easier for her. Places are all within 7-10 minute drive

head scratch worthy will get irritating soon. keep a good sense of humor. it surely does help.
enjoy your time here and i hope none of the really bad things happen to you or yours

head scratch worthy will get irritating soon. keep a good sense of humor. it surely does help.
enjoy your time here and i hope none of the really bad things happen to you or yours

Appeciate it. I'm not coming from a place that is immune to random bad things happening. Detroit ain't exactly Oz. We are level headed, working folks who keep to themselves so I imagine this issues are the same for us here as back in the states. I hope the head scratching remains just that... time will tell

"We are level headed, working folks who keep to themselves so I imagine this issues are the same for us here as back in the states."

Yeah. I know a lot of people who are like that, then came down here, and then their heads exploded. I've lost count over the decades of the number of people who showed up for a few months, intending to stay "forever", and then bolted.

I wish you all the best but please know that living here bears very little similarity to being "back in the States".

Cheers and good luck,
IT

Thank you IT. I have confidence we will be fine. Never have even discussed with my wife this would be a "forever" place. It is the right place for this time though and I'm thankful for help and advice here.

I once had confidence I'd be fine. Then this guy with a machete showed up at my door. But that's another story for another time.

IT

I once had confidence I'd be fine. Then this guy with a machete showed up at my door. But that's another story for another time.

IT

I'll have a bigger machete or I'll take necessary classes to have a shotgun for home defense. Yes I'm not naive to think there are no risks... there are risks anywhere though

I once had confidence I'd be fine. Then this guy with a machete showed up at my door. But that's another story for another time.

IT

howdy mr. Spartan. Michigan state is a great school. fiancé graduated from there. I, like you, found the dire warnings on these threads to be way overreaching and completely skewed.
there's a saying in texas, " if you see a cobra, don't poke it in the eye".
the only reason someone shows up at your front door with a big knife if you owe them money or you dissed them in some way. don't care if it's virgin islands or san jacinto, texas, you owe, you gotta pay.

to me, people here seem a lot friendlier than where in texas.
of course, you piss someone off, diss them or owe them money, only bad things will happen. for this lady, I. tramm, to conjecture that some dude shows up at her front door all mad as hell with a big knife for no reason whatsoever, I say, BUNK. she done gone something wrong to this dude to get him that riled up. don't have to be no genius to done figure that out.

IT you just made Sparty's case. Horror stories run rampant here. I could spend the 6 months telling you a 10th of the horror stories that happened in Atlanta just this year but that doesn't mean that's what it is like living in ATL. Reading the forums trying to educate myself on possibly moving to the island you guys had me almost dreading that I scheduled a vacation there much less that I wanted to move there. As it turned out we had a great trip and met a ton of great people. We felt safe whole time we were there. Before you beat me up too bad I know a week vacation doesn’t make me an expert on the island. I did speak so a bunch of expats who lived there from 3 weeks to 30 years and not one of them said crime was a big issue. Most of the long term residents knew of the incidents that are mentioned on this sited I brought them up, most of them knew people directly effect by them. If you are going to throw out there, “Then this guy with a machete showed up at my door. But that's another story for another time. “ First don’t leave it for another time. 2nd bother to tell why you stayed anyway apparently the island is worth it.

Good to see Spartan Nation representing.. I don't discount the idea that bad things happen to good people. It happens. But the vast majority of violent crime is not bad person v. innocent. Be smart anywhere and the odds are well in your favor. We have a 7 month old. We aren't going to be out late. We aren't going to be in wrong places at wrong times. Like I said... the dress lvl here being so much lower already makes it worth it

IT you just made Sparty's case. Horror stories run rampant here. I could spend the 6 months telling you a 10th of the horror stories that happened in Atlanta just this year but that doesn't mean that's what it is like living in ATL.

Atlanta and the USVI have roughly the same landmass, 133 square miles. Population, however, is roughly four times larger in Atlanta. Atlanta is roughly 450k people, vs the USVI's roughly 110k people. In 2010, Atlanta had 17.3 murders per 100k population vs. the USVI's 60.0 murders per 100k population.

Perhaps the "horror stories run rampant here" because the crimes are so much more common for such a small population.

The USVI is really four towns (Charlotte Amalie, Frederiksted, Christiansted, and Cruz Bay) vs. the one large city of Atlanta, so the comparison of the USVI to a large city is not fair. The USVI should be compared to towns, not cities.

Rarely, some people decide to stay once they encounter the underside of the islands first hand. Personally, I would like to live there again, but the alcohol and drug life is just too much for me to deal with.

If any reader is interested, here is a thread with a rundown on overall crime in the USVI:

https://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/read.php?4,226926

If any reader is interested, here is a thread with a rundown on overall crime in the USVI:

https://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/read.php?4,226926

Yes, you really had a field day on that thread which should have been been retitled, "noOne's blog".

I once had confidence I'd be fine. Then this guy with a machete showed up at my door. But that's another story for another time.

IT

I'll have a bigger machete or I'll take necessary classes to have a shotgun for home defense. Yes I'm not naive to think there are no risks... there are risks anywhere though

LOL. I *always* slept with a machete within reach. My stateside friends I don't think ever really believed me. If it wasn't the giant tree rats, it was the centipedes, if it wasn't the centipedes, it was the drunk homeless guy trying to scale my building ....

IT