Island dynamics/bad economy

Crime always escalate when there is an economic down turn.......Yes we are in a crisis, with the way things are going in the US all those job losses yes it will trickle down to us......we've not been hit as bad but it is coming......tourism will slow down as many are holding on to what little cash they have......As with everything else there is always something positive that can come out of this crisis......hopefully those ridiculous rates of real estate will drop as it has in the US here, people in STT who do not own any to them it seems impossible or should I say a dream......I say lets try to remain positive and watch our spending.....I've noticed a few companies on main street with little inventory which is always a sign that they are going out of business......

To all please invest wisely.........All members keep us posted on what you notice going on in your are...ALL USVI

to show you how bad the things seem to be on the mainland:
Jimmy Buffet tickets went on sale for his May show in AZ on Feb 9th at about 10Am. His shows usually sell out in a couple of hours, In fact it is said that his shows holds the record for the fastest sellouts. I forgot to call and finally called on Wednesday. Theyt still had tickets!

Or perhaps people just realized they didn't want to pay money to listen to elevator music 😉

Things have slowed somewhat on STX, but, I guess because our economy is more diverse that STT, we seem to be ok for now.

well on face the nation right now the talking heads said the economy is going to get worse over the next 3 months and then slowly get better,who knows, buy oil etfs and stocks, summers coming and you know the price is going to go through the roof again. fast money talk show on cnbc

I don't know if it's any indicator, but Las Vegas (whose entire economy is based on tourism) is really hurting right now. Like mentioned above, the housing market has fallen apart, and it's a great time to buy real estate IF you have the money to do so. Thing is, jobs are getting slashed every day, and what was once the fastest growing city in the nation is now at a standstill because people aren't visiting anymore. I have no idea how the economy is down there, but I know there is a dependence on tourism, which is why I brought Las Vegas up.

On the plus side, the optimistic projectors say we may see overall economic upturn in as little time as a year from now, and as mentioned already, there is good that can come from crisis.

congasan,

what would any human beings be thinking? whatever you'd be thinking, we are thinking. we are on the same planet.

I still really believe that some day, someone will have a post on here that Betty doesn't have something negative to say about it. Of course I still am hoping that they will find the Loc Ness Monster and a Big Foot. Probably a better chance of the latter ones.

A friend told me when I moved down here that St. Croix experiences the same economic conditions as the mainland, but delayed by about two years. I arrived here last April, and was discussing (hypothetically) buying real estate here, and he was making the point that the housing prices hadn't fully tanked here yet (as they already had in parts of the States). In fact, I don't know if prices have dropped much here yet, or if inventory is just building up. When we look at real estate in the mainland, it seems that inventory has been accumulating on the market for over a year, and that prices are about to really start plummeting. Good time to buy up there, but maybe still a good time to rent down here.

Just my (friend's) two cents!

I have noticed that since a year ago, that home that belonged to Moureen O'Heara started at 1.5 million. It then went to 1.35, then went down to just above 1 million. It is now at $890,000.

i know that real estate in the florida keys has been tanked for about 2 years already.

The land the o'hara place is on is wonderful, the house is a little run down. It went on sale really when the market started to decline. So it had to get in line with the new prices. As we all know most buyers do not want to move in and do rehab, not in that price range, always better to do the work yourself.

terry
jimmy played in key west over the weekend for free at his bar. people do love his "elevator music" down there too

People like clay aiken and barry manilow too. There concerts also usually sell out, don't mean its something people usually admit to liking without expecting to be teased about it. 😉

nothing wrong with barry manilow, come on now. who do you listen to.

I prefer "Tina Turner" "Temptations" "Four Tops" "Marvin Gay""Smokey Robinson", Motown Lives!

Hey, nothing wrong with any of those... I listen to post grunge like The Black Angels, Filter, NIN, Bad Brains.... Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead, Cold Wars Kids, Rage Against the Machine AND Barry Manilow and Andy Gibb, etc, etc, nerd music. LOL.

As for the economy... I think tabra and I live so far below the poverty line, it will take a long time for us to feel the crunch. Family=wise, back in the states, my sister and husband lost their house in California, my father just got laid off from his high paying job at Citibank and my unle, who has worked for the same factory for twenty years, just got laid off.

Things are tight all over and getting worse.

i love motown jazz blues metal led zepplin a bit of country especially the older stuff . i like most everything except rap.
wow beth, your family is having it real tough. i am so sorry they are going through all of that. i am thankful i have food and a place to eat.

Well I would have never put Jimmy Buffet in the same category as those two.

Maureen O'Hara's home is in a fantastic location as far as view! After staying in the same area last year for a month, I'm wondering if the noise from the bypass that's being dug out below her area has any bearings on it not having sold by now. (along with it needing updating, maybe) The noise was IRRITATING to say the least for us! We loved the place we stayed, but it sure wasn't relaxing because of the trucks and boulders being moved. After that road is finished, I'm wondering how noisy the traffic will be in that area. Might be something potential buyers are looking at.

You must also realize that some people were just fishing for a big buyer. They were not really looking to sell their house but saw the prices sky rocketing to unheard of prices.
and thought they would get in on the catch.
Yes many did and still do want to sell. Here in AZ, many were just buying homes and reselling to make money. One friend of mine sold his house for $100K profit before it was even finished being built. That particular area of homes had to be purchased on a lottery system. Only the lucky ones were allowed to buy.
However now, many people owe more than what their homes are worth, and are losing them because the big balloon payment is due and they can't refinance at a lower interest rate.
Of course our great saviour will save them with his bailout package. He just forgets that he was one of the people who demanded that the banks loan money to the poor people who could not qualify under normal conditions. Now we will have to pay to bail them out.

Sorry terry but I have to disagree with you. It isn't the 'poor people' who may be losing their $120k rambler who are the problem. It's all the lower middle class who were able to stretch and buy a $300k home that ran up to $800k+ who cashed out ALL of the equity in spending splurges along the way (I never met so many uneducated people driving new BMWs until I moved to Southern California early in this decade.) These are the folks sitting on exploding ARM bombs that are going to cause a massive decline in home values as soon as the economy finally picks up and their interest rates finally start to climb again.

We would all do well to work to build cash now because the real fire sales on houses have yet to begin (caveat: if the President or Congress decided to make banks convert ARMs to conventional loans capped at say 5% then none of this is an issue but that won't happen because that's a solution that could be enacted without spending hundred of billions in taxpayer money.)

where can you find a 120,000 rambler

Lots of places.