Home Purchasing & Neighborhood Advice Needed

Which island are you moving to? On St. Croix, there would be some properties that meet your request list within your price range. St. Thomas is generally more expensive than St. Croix, but you might come across a property there that would suit you, too.

The general home buying process in the islands is similar to what you might know from stateside. One notable change is that we do not have escrow companies to close transactions here. Instead, the buyer and seller (and mortgage company if one is involved) each are represented by an attorney who handles the paperwork involved.

The preliminary steps of research, selecting an agent to work with, home tours, writing and submitting an offer, counter-offers and negotiations, home inspections, etc. aren't significantly different from the mainland.

For a cistern, you want to know how many gallons it is. The larger the better, especially if you are looking in the dryer area of whatever island you select. Also try to find out if it has been cleaned in the last couple of years and if the seller has had to do any repairs due to leaks, etc.

For generators, you want to know how many kilowatts it produces, how much of the household can run on it at any one time, what kind of fuel it requires, when was it serviced last, how complicated is it to switch to the generator when needed, etc.

Best of luck with your PMV! Be sure to have some fun on the beaches along the way.

If you are moving to STX, I can't recommend Alexandra highly enough. we bought our condo thru her, and were very pleased with her service. especially answering all of our questions before we were on island. She also got to reconize our tastes and wants very early when we were on island. Her after sale service with ulitlies, etc. was invaluable.

Thank you Alexandra !

Hello all,

I have a few more home buying & insurance questions that I was hoping to get some advice on:

-Does anyone have any experience or thoughts regarding building vs.. buying an existing home on STX?

-How does homeowners insurance & Hurricane insurance work? are the costs similar to stateside (I live in Florida)? Are they on the same, or separate policies? Does anyone have a recommendation of a good home insurance company on STX?

-How does automobile insurance pricing, and policies compare to stateside? Does any one have a recommendation of a good auto insurance company?

Thank you again for all your suggestions, and recommendations ,they have been very helpful.
Regards,
Dante

The two larger insurance companies on STX are:
Marshall & Sterling 340-773-2170
St. Croix Insurance 340-773-5900

Give either or both of them a call and they should be able to answer your questions on home, windstorm, and auto insurance.

Auto insurance is a little different here. Lots of people only pay for liability insurance... since "island cars" probably aren't worth the expense of comp and collision coverage. The required minimum limits for liability are pretty low, which means you can insure fairly inexpensively if you only take the basic required coverage.

As for building versus buying... it depends on how familiar you are with being your own general contractor. It is rare to find a developer putting in a plat with pre-sale houses and construction contractors ready to build your home. You do most of the legwork yourself, including figuring out the permitting process, DPNR, CZM, etc. Then you get to find your sub-contractors and laborers, buy your building materials, and babysit the job to make sure that some work gets done. If you are new to the island and still getting used to things being done differently here, you may find it a very frustrating experience. If you live here for a while before diving into such a project, you may have learned ways to deal with the obstacles and have a list of contacts who can help you get things going.

On this website, you will see many posts from island residents encouraging new arrivals to try the island on for size before you dive into something too complex to handle. Things you wouldn't think twice about taking on on the mainland aren't always as simple to complete on an island.

In your situation, something that might be a good compromise between buying and building would be to buy a house that contains the most essential elements you are seeking (view, location, and other such things that can't be added later)... and then remodel or construct whatever else you want that it does not possess (possibly a pool or guest house, etc.) This approach would also save you wasting money on rent while you go through the construction process if you built something from scratch. If that project goes well, then by all means buy more land and build away! The island could definitely use more homes, both for sale and for rent.

Thank you Alexandra, you always have a great perspective, your advice has been very helpful.

Did you receive my email yesterday regarding the type of home that I am looking for? I will be on island 10/13-10/17, and would like to look at a few properties if possible.

Thanks again,
Dante