Safest & Best Areas on St. Croix?

Read, read, read. Check every publication you can find and then decide for yourself. Most will tell you " just stay out of the bad neighborhoods" or "crime happens in places where you would not go anyway". St. Thomas had 30 something homicides last year and St Croix was not far behind. Chances are you'll be fine. But then there's the Coki beach incident last July that left a 14 year old tourist girl dead that go caught in the cross fire of a gang related shooting. That is supposed to be a safe area.

You can learn much by "searching" old posts on this website. Go to 'search at the top of the page, put in the topic you want and be sure to go to 'search all dates". Your post sounds like you have not yet visited st croix. If that is the case be sure to come for a visit before making your decision. Crime is not a big problem, but there is crime probably out proportion to our population. Schools and teenagers adjusting might be more of a concern. We do not have any big cities, the island has only 50000 people. There is nothing like a city or city center, though Christiansted has more commercial property.Do not consider buying until you have lived here for a while. Real estate moves very slowly here and you need to be here to know where you want to be.

The east end could be considered the safest, the best is open to interpretation

Rent at first

i live in christiansted, i feel very safe there. But, during jump ups and other events that take place in the night, we do drive so as not to walk back in the dark. you never know!

I'm not sure what your price range is. If you are looking for nice middle class accomodations I would very much consider something in the Tulipan/Flamboyant/Mahogony Welcome area near Canegeta ballpark. I live in Tulipan and love it for its location and safety. It's a very safe little area filled with working folks. I bought my house over 3 years ago and have heard of no crimes in our neighborhood. On my street everyone looks out after each other.

Because these neighborhoods are technically part of Christiansted you get trash service and city water if your cister runs dry as well as mail service to your door. You can walk to the ball park and into town (about 1-1.5 miles), into Gallow's Bay (< 1 mile). You are close enough to town to be "near the center of action" and far enough away that crime is less of a concern.

Houses in Tulipan sell for $200,000-300,000 and most have rental units downstairs that can generate income or serve as guest houses..

Flamboyant is next to Tulipan. The houses are not as nice, they are closer together and the neighborhood is a little "louder," but again I haven't heard of any crimes. Mahgony is on the other side of the ballpark closer to town. They are townhouses. I actually have a friend trying to rent his out right now, I think it's a 3 bedroom that goes for $1500 per month. This is also a safe spot and is a bit closer to town if you don't mind living in a townhouse. You can PM me if you are interested, I can put you in touch with my friend who is renting.

If you are looking higher end you will probably end up out East.

Sean

Lifeatsea:
Did you find any landlords willing to take pets?
Jen in Atlanta

First off, thanks for all the info. It's a shame the job my parents are being considered for is towards the south side of the island, but it's still a relatively short commute, so C-sted is okay for us. East End does sound nice, but F-sted has lovely houses as well. Any comments about F-sted? 🙂

And as to the last poster--we're actually looking at buying instead of renting, but I saw several listings for rent, and none of them mentioned anything about no-pets-allowed.

Everyone will tell you do not buy your first year. Most people leave after a year or two. I know moving to a Caribbean island is extremely exciting but wait, you will not regret it at all. Just finding out which part of the island you like best takes at least 6 months or so. Its a very different way of life and a very expensive way as well. Come and learn about it first before you commit to buying a house.

Yes landlords on stx do take pets. I've always preferred renters that had pets. The pets always do a lot less damage then the humans.

We are definitely looking into renting, more specifically, we like a leasing option, so that might be a good option. We are certainly going to rent before buying a house, whether finding a good area/favorite area takes a few weeks or a few months. 🙂

how is life on the islands for teenagers? our kids are fairly social and handle themselves very well for their age, they get along with adults perfectly fine, but do teens have a lot of presence on the island?

Hi there... I've lived on STX since I was ten... Now 44 :(... time sure does fly when you're havin fun... I went to school here and graduated from Country Day in 1985. I have two children here 9 and 10 yrs old.....I would be happy to share my thoughts with you anytime. I am a Realtor and have assisted hundreds of people get acclimated. I would be happy send you info on rentals and/or sales and give the low down on life on St Croix.... The good the bad and the ugly.

There are no lease to own options here and buying here is harder in general. You're going to have to have at least 10 percent to put down for a loan company to look at you. And there are only about 5 loan companies, more brokerages but they are the middle man.

But seriously do not buy for the first year, after the honeymoon stage is past, a few weeks does not even begin to cut it.

Not sure by what you mean what's life like for teenagers, especially don't know what you are looking for by presence? What are you trying to find out specifically. Of coarse there are many teenagers here, what do you want to know about them? There are no where near as many things to do for them, but that's the same story for the adults. There are no real sports leagues, UIL, etc...

@Dollagon--when/if we get news of the status of the job (so far looks so good) we will definitely consider contacting you, thank you!

@Hiya!--Oh, no lease? I saw a listing somewhere online with a lease option available. Well, either way, we've looked into the loan companies and we should be able to do it, but we are definitely going to get accustomed to the island before anything. As for the teenagers--I mean, what do teens do for fun on the island? Do a lot of teenagers hang around Christiansted or Fsted? I've heard a few problems about alcohol and weed on STX; but our family is from NoCal/SoOregon area, so we have that here as well, and our current town has a very high crime rate. . .so we're used to dealing with it. also, our kids are already enrolled into what's called 'advanced education', where they take community college classes in place of high school; we're planning on continuing that for them when we relocate to St. Croix, so they'll be doing that online. Will it still be easy for them to meet other kids? & they're big on the artsy scene as well as scuba diving, one of them is very into yoga...I've heard STX is good for that stuff. 🙂

thanks, all!

No artsy scene and I think you really really should do a PMV (pre move visit), not a vacation but looking into and checking out the things you are concerned about. Drugs are so super easy to get here. I know it's not hard stateside but much easier here. As for what people do, well it's very limited. There's the beach, snorkeling, scuba. Some parents may argue with me but there's not much of anything in the way of sports leagues or the like. Basically there's plenty of active things to do during the day but at night there is little to do but go to dinner, bars or hang out at friends houses. And the drinking age in the VIs is 18.

By 'artsy' stuff, I meant that I had heard St. Croix has music festivals and the like, which we like; of course we'll do a PMV/scout before buying or renting.:) Well, that sounds nice; we've always liked the water and the beach, so I assume we'd be into it.

Best and Safest are big topics. There is more than one family friendly section on the island. Best is something each family needs to decide for themselves as everyone has different needs and desires in how they will live and spend their time on the island. If your job comes through, you will want to visit the island and get a good tour and lots of questions answered. Most people figure out pretty quickly what part of the island feels most like "home" to them and can zero in their search for rentals available in their favorite areas. There is quite a lot available at this time of year. The best vacancies fill up in the fall as people arrive for the winter Snow Bird season, either to work the season or to kick back and enjoy it.

There is quite a social swirl for teenagers on the island. Even if your daughters do not enroll in one of the private schools, they can look into taking part in some of the extracurricular activities and get to know other kids their age. There is a community theater and a swim team and some other things like that where they can quickly meet other teens.

I came from Seattle with two teenage boys 8 years ago and they settled in pretty quickly. We are all scuba divers and sailors and that helped keep us busy and out in the sunshine. It sounds like your daughters might enjoy the experiences available to them here.

There are landlords that allow pets, but those rentals are often in high demand and harder to find. Most condo complexes don't allow pets at all and that limits options for preliminary housing when a pet is part of the family. There are a few hotels that allow pets and will give you a weekly or monthly rate to give you time to transition into a long-term rental if that is necessary. Most people here will help you if they can and offer suggestions to make your move easier.

Thanks for the advice, Alexandra! We appreciate all the suggestions and information we're getting.

Still no word on the job, but we should know by late this week/early next week.

We're relocating from American Pacific Island to VI in couple of months time. Looking for family accommodation, rental apt./condo in budget price (2 bedroom) and safe neighborhood. This forum is providing good info for new movers. I guess, we've same question, which private school is best for 6th and 9th graders, a safe place to stay, want to buy used vehicle (Toyota Outlander preferred or so..).
Any information/tips is appreciated.
Thanks,

If you are coming to St. Croix, you probably want to look into Country Day School and Good Hope School.

It's hard to recommend possible rental properties without knowing what your budget actually is.
I have a 2-BDR, 2-BTH condo available at Schooner Bay (yes, a safe area) at $1500 per month plus power and water. It includes cable tv, pest control and some other services provided through the condo association. Location is at the east edge of Christiansted, so convenient to pretty much everything.

We're relocating from American Pacific Island to VI in couple of months time. Looking for family accommodation, rental apt./condo in budget price (2 bedroom) and safe neighborhood. This forum is providing good info for new movers. I guess, we've same question, which private school is best for 6th and 9th graders, a safe place to stay, want to buy used vehicle (Toyota Outlander preferred or so..).
Any information/tips is appreciated.
Thanks,

You interest me when you use the term "American Pacific Island". I was not familiar with that designation. Is it specifically Guam? Samoa?Marshall island,Mariana island or micronesia or melenesia or somewhere else? You learn something everyday. Good luck with your relocation plans. Ask lots of questions and read all of the older posts here.

Not sure if you are still doing rentals, please let me know.

My wife and I are looking for a 1 month rental.

We are thinking June of this year.

From what I have read so far ST Croix seems to fit what we are looking for.

Would like to have some nice views, places to eat, 2 bedrooms, TV, kitchen ( we would be cooking some as well) easy access to beach by car or walk, rental car if you think we would need one.

I also need WIFI, as i would be working a few hours a day.

Have no idea what a month rental would be so if you can share some idea of that it would be great.

Please let me know if you can assist.

Lots of options on STX although may be a little hard to come by nowadays due to FEMA/Maria recovery workers on island and refinery starting up.  Ball park average $5-6000/mo in low season for nice condo.  Gentle Winds Condos, Pelican Cove Condos, Villa Madeleine Condos,  Reef Condos, Coakley Bay Condos,  Pink Condos

stcroixrentavilla.com can help with information on many of these.

Rental car is a must on STX.

With FEMA still here & all the additional employees at the refunery, rental cars very are hard to get. We made our Avis reservation for Jan 2019 in MAY 2018. When we arrived 1/10/19 we got their last vehicle. So reservations for a vehicle should be made several months in advance.

Advance car rental reservations are a must however availability has typically been showing for only a few weeks out.  Of course the rates are higher for a few weeks out and the car class you want may not be available.