Living in STX

Come down and stay somewhere cheap for a week or two while you look for an apartment. There is no "safe" or "unsafe" areas per se. You really have to be here to pick out a place.

For example, we live out in the country on the northwest side of the island. Nice house down a long drive. Two apartments in the house. Isolated some might say. And, although we feel safe, many might like being so far out.

Come down and take a look.

Bou'ya,

Weren't you talking about taking a taxi tour of St. Thomas? Why don't you just do the same on St. Croix. You can readily see what neighborhoods appeal to you.

I can only speak in generalities. The east end is upscale and perhaps the safest area. The area around the Sunny Isle shopping center in the center of the island is densely built up with housing. It's about the only dense residential area on the island. Everywhere else, the housing is more scattered, often with undeveloped lots, farms, savannah, and forest mixed in.

I think you're more likely to get peace and quiet living upstairs or downstairs in a house. I've lived in apartments and condos and in my opinion, they're often just places where people get together and torture one another with noise.

One caution: Listen for wild roosters when looking. They can crow in the middle of the night and wake you up.

FOG,

I'm impressed. You remembered that I was going to tour STT. And I will tour STX in the same manner, but it's good to have a little insight before going. Get your barings, know what I mean? I'm so familiar with STT and areas there that you'd think I'd been before! I had planned where we were staying during the pre-move visit and so on...now I'm discombobulated! (Can you tell I'm part project planner? 😉

The reason I'm a little frantic, my fiance put his resume on Monster.com and said he wouldn't mind moving to VI. A total fluke - he got a call from a company in STX and has to fly down next week for an interview. Maybe it's premature to think this, but if he gets the job, I will not have time for a recon visit like we had planned to do in March.

Nix the apartments, huh? Much the same stateside, I imagine. Good to know there are alternatives. I don't want to live amongst the party scene or in a loud neighborhood. I'm too old for that.

I had planned to do more walking and riding the "bus" in STT to get around. Do I have the same option in STX? So many questions, so little time (and in this case, this is so true).

Cock-a-doodle-do, buddy. Any advice is welcome!

I'm kind of interested in this topic too. 🙂

I've spent hours browsing realty sites and the MLS and found a few houses that might be in my range...and more condos that are in my range. I'm kind of torn because a few of the decent condos are right on the beach or close...but I do like my privacy and being able to do more that neighbors wouldn't complain about ...like if I turned up my stereo or something (not that I'm a partier so much anymore, but I do like to turn up the tunes sometimes).

Bou’ya,

I’ve heard that the buses aren’t very reliable on St. Croix. As far as walking goes, remember that the island is about 25 miles long. Housing is very spread out, so you can’t cover a lot of territory this way.

Hoosier469,

Are you taking condo fees into consideration? These are often high. As far as a condo right on the beach goes, remember that a bad hurricane making a direct hit will bring a 20-foot storm surge. Also, there is the remote possibility of a tsunami. Here are two links with information that looks reasonable:

http://www.irf.org/irhazmit.htm

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:cwGe3NXAtjgJ:www.uwiseismic.com/SRU_Site01/Documents/Workshop/tsunamis%2520for%2520workshop.pdf+%22st+croix%22+%22virgin+islands%22+topography&hl=en

Hmm...walking, not an option. As for jobs - would I have a better chance of finding something in Christiansted or Frederiksted? Or elsewhere? (in general, of course) I guess I'm looking for a "city."

Hoosier469:

I, too, thought of a condo on the beach there because it is more affordable than some of the housing elsewhere (I got the real estate guides when I ordered the Settler's moving kit). But ya know, having lived through many hurricanes and my fiance living through many tsunamis (Okinawa) we've learned - Beach condos are nice places to visit, but ya wouldn't wanna live there 😉

I'm afraid the nearest CITY is San Juan.

Bou'ya,

What kind of work are you looking for? There is also Sunny Isle in the center of the island, which is a strip mall area.

If you move here, I hope St. Croix doesn't disappoint you, because it has a very rural feel. Christiansted sort of has a small city feel (it's only a town), and theoretically, you could live and work there, if that's what you mean. This, incidentally, is another place where you may not want to buy a house. A tsunami damaged it in 1867, and it is built on a landfill and loose alluvial soils. It could sustain heavy damage during the next big earthquake.

Wow FOG, I hadn't even considered hurricanes or tsunamis into my thinking. Some of the condo fees I saw didn't look like too much of a problem, but sea water in my condo would definately be a problem. 🙂

Thanks for the head's up.

Back to looking for a nice little fixer upper...inland.

Thanks for the tips, FOG.

I can do administrative, technical, and clerical work or project planning. Thus the reason I'm looking for that "city" type of town. Don't want to get stuck on some farm milking cows! (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Although I can already tell STX may not exactly suit me...hey, it's an island in the VI. I'm sure I can get over any little disappointment I may have 🙂

Seriously, you really need to come down for a pre-move visit. If this isn't the place for you, better to know it before you uproot, spend a lot of cash and end up miserable.

Even though much of the island is rural, it doesn't mean that you won't be able to do that kind of work. Most occupations that people have are modern, so I assure you, you won't be "stuck on a farm milking cows", though you could do that if you wanted, lol. All I'm trying to say is that the setting is not a "city"-like environment, but you can still find the type of jobs you're looking for.

Good to know, Dominic. I have lived in rural places where jobs and housing were hard to come by - not impossible, but scarce. Just figured if there weren't too many options, I may have to buy myself a milk-maid outfit and practice my squeezing technique 😉

FYI, while a pre-move visit is idealistic and what we had originally planned (on OUR dime), we already decided that if a company is willing to move us out (on THEIR dime), we will go. Don't look a gift-horse in the mouth, I always say. Besides, nothing ventured, nothing gained...and nothing is forever. If we don't like it, nobody says we have to stay. I lived in the Lake Tahoe area for 16 months, and while some may consider that paradise, the only good I could find in it is that it sharpened my survival skills. I'd sure rather shovel sand than snow!

Bou'ya,
We moved to STX about a month ago. One major point of frustration for me pre-move was the desire to find a place to live. I had a friend send me the paper, searched endlessly on the realtor sites, etc. I finally had to accept that I was wasting my time. Linda J is right- you have to be here to make an intelligent decision about where you want to live. Trust in a couple of things- there will be something available when you get here that you can live with, though it may take a few weeks to find it; and, as you said, you are better off renting for a while until you know where paradise is for you. Three and four bedrooms are extremely limited and expensive. I called every realtor on St. Croix once we got here, and ended up with one house to look at. The house we did rent we found in the Avis. Be aware that just about everything (except liquor and cigarettes), including rent, is substantially higher. I would guess that my grocery bill has gone up 30% (we brought three kids with us). Make sure that job offer is going to allow you the financial freedom to enjoy living here. They should also cover a transition period of four weeks- hotel, car rental, and meal stipend- until you can get settled. Don't bring much; just about everything you will find for rent is furnished.
Good Luck!

Hey Cleric,

When you say, "expensive" for a 3-4 bedroom, what does that mean? I was looking at several real estate Web sites and found the list prices pretty reasonable. 'Course, we aren't looking for perfection either. All we need is a 2 bedroom and there seemed to be quite a bit more of those listed.

Something else I had wondered about is vehicles rusting. Sure, I live in FL with all the humidity and close enough to water that salt air could damage an older vehicle, but at least we have about a 4 month break from the extremes here. Have you found that vehicles take a beating from the weather in VI? I would prefer to find a place to live that has at least a carport or area to build a make-shift garage/shed for a car.

BTW, we moved from a 2700 sq. ft/2 acre home, to a 1600 sq. ft, to a 950 sq. ft. apartment in the course of 2 years. We purposely downsized for this type of move - so we have nothing but personal effects to bring with us. My fiance has moved all over the world so we're used to not getting attached to things. Like you said (and I totally agree), "Happiness doesn't come from having what you want... happiness comes from wanting what you have."