Mainlanders With Some Questions Healthcare Career Related

Re: radiology...Contact http://radiology.vi/. They have a lock on most of the radiology equipment and services in the VI (and possibly Tortola).

If you are tired of capitalism, why not try Vermont? LOL

About living in a bus... This is prime hurricane country. I'm pretty sure a bus would never be permitted for occupancy. (This is also one of the reasons building costs are so high. You have to start with a big concrete cistern...)

I hope you will consider a week long visit to check out the island first hand! 😉

You definitely need to come here for a PMV, I personally own a condo on STX which I bought to live in while I am building my home here. My condo fees are around 850/mo plus utilities. Building costs are between 250-350 per sq ft, if you do most of the work yourself...

You definitely need to come here for a PMV, I personally own a condo on STX which I bought to live in while I am building my home here. My condo fees are around 850/mo plus utilities. Building costs are between 250-350 per sq ft, if you do most of the work yourself...

Do you mean to say that your HOA fees are 850 per month, or that your mortgage payment plus HOA fees is 850 per month?

Yep.

Most of the condo fees go to paying for the windstorm insurance.

My HOA fees are 850/mo, I don't have a mortgage. Also, since I like a/c, my average electric bill is another ~250/mo.

For comparison, I recently sold a 1,000 square foot condo in St. Pete FL and the HOA monthly fee was $700. This condo association is extremely well-managed and maintained, which is a selling point.

The electric bill averaged $175 per month.

I'm kind of curious about the rumored poverty level in the USVI and the fact that condos have 8-900 dollar hoa fees. How does anyone live? I'm a medical professional and my partner a successful hospitality manager, and we wouldn't be comfortable living with fees like that, and we are by no means in poverty.

I'm kind of curious about the rumored poverty level in the USVI and the fact that condos have 8-900 dollar hoa fees. How does anyone live? I'm a medical professional and my partner a successful hospitality manager, and we wouldn't be comfortable living with fees like that, and we are by no means in poverty.

Government subsidized housing for one. Second of all the renters I know here, no one is in a condo, of all the owner I know here, no one is in a condo. To me condos here are for people w/o any mortgage. Some places have much lower HOA fees too. Actually I've seen some higher as well. How does anyone live? Well many have 2 jobs or a hustle. It is that simple. Start adding in costs of private schools here and you can see why the population is so transient. I don't want to sound doom and gloom. We are still here so it's not that bad. Actually we love it here. It isn't for everyone though.

I'm kind of curious about the rumored poverty level in the USVI and the fact that condos have 8-900 dollar hoa fees. How does anyone live? I'm a medical professional and my partner a successful hospitality manager, and we wouldn't be comfortable living with fees like that, and we are by no means in poverty.

Government subsidized housing for one. Second of all the renters I know here, no one is in a condo, of all the owner I know here, no one is in a condo. To me condos here are for people w/o any mortgage. Some places have much lower HOA fees too. Actually I've seen some higher as well. How does anyone live? Well many have 2 jobs or a hustle. It is that simple. Start adding in costs of private schools here and you can see why the population is so transient. I don't want to sound doom and gloom. We are still here so it's not that bad. Actually we love it here. It isn't for everyone though.

Our small condo association on STX is about 50/50 renters to owners. Some owners have mortgages, some do not. We have a smattering or retirees, and a few snowbirds, But most are employed here. Our condo fees are low (500), but we pay our own windstorm. The fees are for grounds keeping, lighting, swimming pool maintenance, paving, maintaining the outsides of our units (painting, roof sealing, etc), taxes and liability insurance. These are mostly things you or your landlord would pay for or do your own (with possible exception for pool) on a smaller scale, outside of an HOA. We have one apartment style building and the rest are single family condos. I'd call the residents here middle class.

So, if you're cool with living without the amenities, you can rent outside of a condo association and live on less.

The poverty here is not rumored. We have upper, middle AND lower class. There are many who rely on government assistance to survive. And plenty who hold down multiple jobs and live paycheck to paycheck.

Windstorm insurance drives the prices up. My modest house insurance runs $9500-13000 per year. Real estate tax is low however. For comparison my homeowners insurance in suburban Philadelphia run $3000 and RE tax $19,000. The problem in VI is that there are not many choices as far as economizing or residence. Safe, quiet, convenient to downtown residence with the breeze, view and a dipping pool costs as much as Mcmansion or more in US.

I have seen small condos for $120K by the beach but they were more like efficiencies.

Suffice to say there's a Catch-22 to living on any island in the Caribbean- In general living expenses are higher and wages are lower than they are for comparable places/positions on the mainland US. That's why many people work 2 or 3 jobs just to get by. It is one of the main reasons why the responders here keep telling people that like going here is much different then being here on vacation and that before making the leap you come down for a pre-move visit so you can experience what island life is literally me first hand. It is not all palm tree, beaches and pina coladas.