Realtor Recommendations

That's a big one in St. Croix. Pretty popular. That's all I know.
Ronie

I sent questionnaires to about two dozen realtors on St. Croix -- received only three responses, which surprised me but also helped to rule out those who didn't want to/weren't able to start the search process by email and phone prior to our move.

I one of the folks who quickly replied was Chris' mother, Jan, who started the agency. She is now retired but said she still takes on a few clients now and then. She was very friendly and fast to reply, but I didn't select her becsaue she said she travels extensively and you would need to work around her schedule.

Instead, I am working with Linda Stamper and Amy van de Wilde. Amy owns the Coldwell Banker agency on St. Croix. Not only was the the first to reply, her answers to my extensive list of questions were very thorough and indicated that she would provide a great level of support and knew her stuff well. Have already received several listings from them, and Linda is currently out touring some prospects for us so she can take additional digital photos to send us by email. I can give them nothing but raves for their service so far. Should you select them, please tell them you were referred by The HipCrip -- they should easily be able to figure out which client I am!

(BTW, the other agent who replied told me quite bluntly that she never represents buyers.)

Good luck with your search!

Without saying names, we've been very disappointed in how the realtors deal with us. The realtors we've talked too have seemed very very helpful at first and highly encourage you to visit / view islands and properties. But when you get down there, if your not willing to make an immediate bid, the attention you recieve decreases. At that point it is hard to recieve follow-up on questions and information you may need to make the ultimate decision of buying a certain property. We are very excited about making the lifestyle change but as everybody knows life is complicated. We are looking forward to Cruzan Time!!!
We're ready to put our money were our mouth is and leave everything behind but selling out stateside is a complicated process and it seems that the realors in the islands want you to have your money available (liquidated) before they will help you.
The crux of the matter is: we don't want to liquidate all our assets (property) until we find what we're looking for and it is 90% a go.

Diana Robinsonn of paradise properties I would HIGHLY recommend she is who is helping us on our search. we were going to work with David Fedeles from Farchette and Hanley and when we went to his office while intown on a cruise he was NO where to be found Diana dropped what she was doing to help us . we jsut got back last night 3/14/04 and worked exrtensivly with her. I would recommend her over any one esp over
the other ones since she does it all her self adn no sale is too small or big for her. most places arent interested in a little sale and would rather sell only the million dollar properties adn let the smaller sales sit and wait til they are ready to ablidge them withh thier services.
her address and phone number is:
Paradise Properties
#54 Kings Street
Christensted St Croix USVI 00822
her number is 340-773-8444

Tell her Allen and Doug from Michigan sent you and She will take Fantastic care of you she has with us . Is is not a pushy salepersona dn will find you what you are looking for
Good Luck and let me know if you have any luck
please feel free to email me driectly with Any Questions kavanaugh77@hotmail.com

Hi all...can't say how much I enjoy this board....LOTS of info!
We, too, are searching for a realtor on St. Thomas. When we were there in Feb, we spoke with 2...as you say, they were very helpful when we were there, but have yet to respond to any e-mail questions! Is it me, or are they not interested in helping??? Hubby is getting very frustrated with them!! ( One even told us she thought we were looking at a property that was too expensive for us! How does she know what we can afford??? We certainly did not tell her!!) We are looking to relocate in about a year, and have to get some "lines" on what is available in our price range. We regularly look at the "Houses" web site, as well as individual realtor sites. Any other suggestions??

Thanks all...
Vicki

I find you almost hate to complain because you know the community is small and you don't want to start out on a bad note. My uncle is a realtor in Pa. We called him and asked him to go through the network to get opinions. It turns out that the person we started with is a must to keep. From what I understand, You can not sign on with a buyers agent. The realty system does not recognize it. By agreeing verbally to view with a certain agent you have already "signed" on. I believe that is on a property basis only though. If you go through another agent to buy a property you saw with person A, person A has the right to go after you (the buyer) for money she lost on the commissions. blah, blah, blah.
It was highly recommended from my Uncle (who was told this by Hanley) that we sign on with a local real estate attorney as our physical 'buying agent' in the islands- to work directly with the real estate agent on the details and watch out for our best interests. We're thinking that this could be a good investment and show the real estate agent that the intentions are serious.

Post Edited (03-16-04 16:58)

I am in the mortgage industry in the states and deal with lots of realtors and I too will be looking for one in May to purchase a home. My word of advice to everyone on this board looking to purchase a home is that no matter who you choose, just make sure if they are the listing agent, that you request another realtor to write the sales contract. Most realtors will take you straight to their listings no matter what you may have found investigating the MLS boards on your own and of course they represent the seller and try to get the highest price possible since their commision is higher if they are the listing agent. If anyone has any advice for me on a mortgage company on St. Thomas that may be hiring, I would appreciate any info. I have been in the industry for ten years and am relocating to St. Thomas with my wife and her company. I understand it is best to be on the island to interview and I will be there by the middle of May but would like to do some preliminary leg work before I arrive. Good Luck to all with your search for real estate.

Bravo David! Your recommendation on not having the same agent represent the seller and you as he buyer is critical -- the agent will always lean in favor of the seller, who is the one paying the commission.

However, I have had a horrible time getting anyone to agree to not do this dual representation. As Eve mention, the concept of being only a Buyer's agent isn't recognized -- in fact, one of the Realtors mentioned above (David Fedeles) sent me this in an email reply to my questionnaire, which asked if they would agree to hand us off to another agent if we decided to bid on a property listed by that individual:

" Buyer's agency is just getting started here... we
find that it is not that well founded on St. Croix since we have enjoyed
putting buyers and sellers together for so many years... and done so
successfully. In fact, we do not compensate Buyer's brokers from our
seller transactions."

I was told by three other agents that they have always been compensated as a Buyer's agent, but it should be a heads up to others who are buying to ask the agent you work with if you will be required to pay any fees, etc. if the seller's agent won't split the sales commission with them (which is how it works wherever I've lived). That's also why I chose not to work with Mr. Fedeles.

The HipCrip