Move to USVI

well, if I had that much money, I would buy one on each island! Then have my personal pilot fly me on my sea plane back and forth.

Hello Scott,

In terms of where condos, homes, apartments are built... not too many are on beaches.

On St. Thomas you can get a "condo" at Secret Harbor Beach Resort property and Sapphire Beach Condo Association (the condos there are a short walk from the beach)... there are many with beach views or ocean views??? St. Croix I believe that are more oppurtunities for closer to the beach condos... St. Thomas has a strong economy based on tourism. St. Croix has an economy based on tourism, oil refining and agriculture. You best bet is to order the Settlers Handbook and read about each island, what is offered, the government, ecomony, situation on each island so you can make an educated decision based on your research. Also a good idea to visit.

I am from St. Thomas- can't really give an unbiased answer as to where I would live!! Perhaps others will share more on this part of you question. I think some will say St. Croix offers more quiet and development - a better combination.... others might say St. Thomas has more going on, St. Thomas has nicer beaches, St. Croix has great diving..... But Ill stop quessing there and let others share their thoughts with you.

--Islander

it seems that a lot of the posters on this message board will be moving/retiring to stx sometime this summer.we hope to be there permanently by the beginningof july. wouldn't it be nice if some how we could get together at the end of the summer to share our stories???

I just spent over a week in St Thomas, one of the best things to do is look up listing on the MLS website. You can get to the MLS from most realtors websites. There you will get a lot of great questions answered, you can sort by waterfront, condo, price range, bedrooms, etc. The settlers handbook is a great resource and very comprehensive about the island life. I went house-shopping fist on my own just driving around and looking through the houses for sale magazine. Then I met with a real estate broker and we narrowed things down. She gave me a list of houses and I went and looked at the outsides and narrowed it down further. We then went and looked at the house I wanted to, this worked best for me. It can be hard to find some of the houses, roads can be poorly named or no signs can be found, but it was also a great way to see other parts of the island. If you are in St Thomas, Liz Sanchez is a great real-estate agent. She works for John Foster down town. Tell her "Garett" sent you! She will take great care of you. She is a transplant from New York, so she knows what a change from a big city to island life is like.

Condos on the beach...
Well there are very few beachfront available on St thomas that are not tied to resorts. But they are a possibility. On St Croix there are several options. Near Christiansted there is Colony Cove and Sugar Beach. You can buy a beachfront condo here for around $100,000.
The downside is that there are very high maintenance and insurance costs. Something around $12,000 or more per year. These condos are on a gorgeous beach but your back door neighbors are all government subsidized housing that seem to spawn crime and drug trade. The beach also occasionally has problems when the government lets the sewers overflow into your front yard.

There are condos on St Croix from the $20,000 range to the $300,000++range. There are lots of choices around (+-) $100,000. I only mentioned the two above because they should be the best on the island. But due to government incompetence they are not.
I love St Croix...

Thanks for your honesty. Actually the real estate person I'm working with confirmed everything you just said. What a bummmer, those condo's looked so nice!