General Questions about living in St. Thomas

Lots and Lots of questions.....
I am a little short of time but I may e-mail you this evening.

Just a note on water. Yes the rain water is stored usually under the house and yes if you use water without water savers you will run out and have to have a delivery from a water truck. That can be expensive for sure. There are areas to avoid if you are buying a home. There are also different areas according to your price range. Many people are so surprised as to the differences in the cost of living here. It is very expensive but as my family does....do without. Are you looking for a condo or home? Maybe build?
There is no state taxes like on the mainland and there is no sales tax to you. Homes are expensive, House taxes are moderate and Homeowners insurance is through the roof. I pay $404.00 a month over $5,000.00 a year for insurance as I need it for my mortgage. The hurricane area we are in is why I guess. I hear that may go up almost 100% if the insurance co gets its way and they usually do. So a budget is necessary unless you are rich.

Rhonda,

Thank you for your reply, and I would love it if you'd email me with more info. I would like to have some 'contacts' for when other questions I have come up.

We're not rich by any means, but I think that we should be able to afford to live somewhere on STT or at least in the USVI. It's hard to forsee exactly what our financial situation will be in 10 years, but if we were to be looking for a home down there right now I suppose we could manage something in the 200-300k range. If our financial situation and the real estate prices remain in sync then I'll be in the same situation in 10 years.

Again, I appreciate your time and look forward to whatever additional info you can provide!

Thanks again, and all other replies are welcome!

Chris

Chris: Re: your questions about housing...Neighborhoods are very subjective. There are "Northside" people who would NEVER live on the East End, and Fortuna residents who wouldn't stand Bakkeroe, etc. These choices have to do with desire to be near (or far away from!) certain places- stores, work, schools, beach, cool temperatures, certain views, etc. During your April-May visit, I'd recommend a visit with a local realtor who could give you an idea about neighborhoods which match your needs. About condos vs houses- I guess that has to do with your lifestyle. If you like the idea of closing the front door and going away for a weekend, you might be a condo person. A small idea...there are many condo associations which allow buyers to rent out their unit either on a long-term basis or short-term through a hotel plan, so you could buy early, have a place to vacation while you are dreaming of retirement and a place to live when retirement comes! Condo fees vary greatly, as do quality of condo associations!

Re: shopping. So far, there is no one-stop shopping on St Thomas! You'll find yourself making rounds-Cost-U-Less, Price Smart and K-Mart for staples and liquor, various grocery stores for...well, groceries, and perhaps some of the specialty stores like Marina Market and Gourmet Gallery for fruits and vegetables as well as fish and meat. Stuff is more expensive because of shipping charges, but you get used to it!

Re: Poverty...you can get into long discussions about this one! You might want to read up on recent news on one of the on-line papers: www.virginislandsdailynews.com or www.onepaper.com and catch up with the 2000 Census info as well as the recent Kids Count report. Why is it that a territory with a population of 120,000 has a debt of a billion dollars? Why is it that in a budget of $460 million there isn't enough money to buy school books for the kids? These are questions you'll get to debate when you become a bonafide resident and Virgin Islands voter!!!

East Ender,

Thanks for the input.

Regarding housing/neighborhoods, I really wasn't referring to subjective opinions on where some people might find it more convenient, temperate, etc.

What I was referring to, I was hoping, was actually a quasi-objective point of view from a resident (based on statistics) as to, for example:

1. Which particular areas, for example, would have the higher concentration of drug sales/violence (I'd like to avoid these!)

2. Are there particular areas that are known more as 'slums.' I know it can be an uncomfortable thing to paint a particular area as a 'slum' or 'high-crime/drug area,' but I know that they exist. I'm a police officer!

3. Certainly there must (I would think) be areas where, if your children were going to go ride their bicycles or something, that you wouldn't feel comfortable with them 'hanging-out' there...sure, that is subjective, but can't it be made somewhat objective by the use of crime statistics?

As an example, and keep in mind I was only in STT for a week:

1) There appeared to be a couple areas of what looked like obviously 'state-housing/projects' down near/in town. Besides them being too close to town/congestion, I do not want to buy a home in a public housing project. I realize that they are necessary, but I also think that they are there for a reason and for people that generally cannot afford housing elsewhere. I plan on trying to save enough so that I am not one of those people, so I will leave the housing in those areas (if I know where they are) to those who need them more.

2) This was just a 'gut-feeling' I got, but from the area of Nadir in the South up 32 to Tutu, I felt a little bit less safe. Nothing happened to me, so I could be totally wrong, but I nevertheless felt differently there.

When I was house shopping recently up here on the mainland realtors told me that they were not allowed to say that certain areas were 'undesirable,' etc. Therefore, I would imagine that I won't get the info I want from the realtors down there either.

For better or for worse, this isn't a classless society. There are poor, there are middle-class, there are wealthy...and in real estate there are generally poor areas (which just seem to be more crime infested, based on my work experience), generally middle-class areas, and generally wealthy areas. It may be a touchy subject, but I'm not looking to label a particular person as being a certain way for living in a certain place.

I hope everyone understands and doesn't take offense.

Thanks again for any input,

Chris

Chris: Believe me, there is no way you will be buying a house in a housing project... so that being said...what is it that you are interested in?? There are extraordinary subjective views of the island...this is why I suggested that you come back and look at living places. I like the EAST END, but that has to do with familiarity...others will offer their sections of St Thomas...when you come spend a week or two, you will figure out where you want to live....

Yes Chris, and I can't possibly live anywhere else but in town! The realtors here will show you where you will want to be based on what you tell them. They will show you the undesirable parts of town, if you care, I don't see why they wouldn't. Maybe the laws are different in you state. They want you to buy here!
Ronnie

Okay, thanks everyone.

When I came down last week, since it was my first trip, we were really just 'feeling it out.'

When we come back in April/May we will stop at a realtor's office or two. Any suggestions on which ones?

Also, do you think that it is worthwhile to buy that Settler's Handbook for the USVI? Does it offer truly worthwhile/honest information?

Thanks again,

Chris

Hi,

Regarding the condo associations, etc. I have a summer home/cottage up here in PA that I'm going to be selling next summer and there is a strong possibility that I will be interested in buying a condo down on STT within the next couple of years.

Eastender, you had mentioned about condo associations and renting out the condo while I'm not there, etc. Can you point me to anywhere/anyone in particular for more info on this idea?

I'm wondering how much it would end up costing me if I rented out the condo for most of the year other than several weeks for myself and family, etc. Sounds like that might be a good idea for me.

Also, does anyone here have any info on ways to get good airline fares from the mainland to the USVI? My brother used to work at Delta, so last time I came down and when I come down in April/May I will be on a Delta buddy pass, which makes the fare outstanding (I think it was about $175/RT from Pittsburgh, PA and I even got 1st class for my STT to ATL trip home!).

Thanks again. When I went back to work today it made it just a bit more bearable after having experienced what it is I'm working toward!

Chris

Renting out a condo varies from association to assocation. In some you can rent it yourself, in others you must put it in a pool and rent through the assocation. Talk to owners in both...For the condo market Fiona Stewart at John Foster Realty: 775-9000 and houses, etc. Rosie Nichols 776-9292 (both AC 340). There are some realtors with web sites, too.

I bought the old Settler's Handbook before I moved and the most helpful thing was the phone listings. You know moving somewhere has a lot more to do with how you personally experience the move. No one can tell you about that, but the nuts and bolts of who-what-where-when...that is a different story.

Re: airlines. I had always used American, but I hate changing planes in PR. Took Delta through Atlanta recently and was very impressed. Have you looked at US Air if you are coming from PA?

greetings, ok you got interested in this topic too ! i was interested in moving there, should i relocated, for employment purposes.

what about the cost of rent for a one bedroom apartment. NO studio's and no beach front rental. just a nice decent apartment. how much do they start off as??

Everyone interested in moving to the USVI, with general questions on prices, availability of goods, cost of living, employment.... should go to the new moving/reloction guide on this site - it will answer many of these concerns and questions - you can find the link in the top navigation on this page, it says Moving Guide OR you can go to http://www.vinow.com/move

There is a section on that site that contains a table with cost of rentals on all three islands.

--Islander

Chris--Came accross your message, and wonder if you received any good information back? My family and I are also considering relocating to VI, sometime in the next 12 months, and have a lot of questions about crime and neighborhoods. I have become a bit concerned about high crime after reading some recent articles in local newspapers--more so it seems in St. Croix. But, I can't tell if this is crime like in any other American city, or if it is a bit high? I'd love to hear more from islanders about crime. I'm moving from an urban area with a fairly high crime rate, and I'm looking to settle into a neighborhood where I can feel a bit safer.

Greetings,
I was just browsing this website and noticed lots of questions/answers regarding St. Thomas living. Currently, I am living in Ohio on the mainland and have been contemplating moving down.

My friend got accepted to study abroad at the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas and will be doing a "student exchange" in August 2003 and will be living there for a year. She has invited me to come with her and we are planning to get an off campus apartment together. She will also be working and I will need to live on the island in order to obtain residency for a year before I enroll in the university there. (I would like to finish my university education as well eventually). I am not eligible for the same program because I am not a full-time student at this time.

I have been on the lookout for employment, affordable housing and reasonable airfare. We are trying to prepare as best we can so that when we get there, the transition will go smoothly. I currently am working as the Administrative Assistant in Human Resources at a health insurance company and going to university classes in the evenings at Kent State.

I thought this would be a good place to start to find out if they have any cheaper apartments and what our best avenue would be. At this point, both of us do not need anything glamorous. We would both be happy in a shack on the beach!

At this point, any advice or thoughts on the basics would be appreciated. Please feel free to email me at jstanke@hometownhealthnet.com or jillianstanke@hotmail.com.

Looking forward to island life,

Jillian