safety in st. croix

I live in a home just looking up the hill at Queste Verde. The site is very quiet. To get there is about 5 minutes from Sunny Isle and downtown C'Sted. No guard or gate. Get off main road to get there you need to pass subdivision that is very quiet.

Never understood why they named the place "Questa Verde"
That's the name of the housing development in the movie "Poltergeist."

Actually, there is a gate. A nice enough area. A little barren for my personal taste, but quite popular with the professionals on island.

From a distance Questa Verde looks like a hospital. Closer up, you see the cyclone fence topped with barbed wire and it looks a bit like a prison. You pass through the security gate using your electronic gate card and once inside, the residents seem to be quite happy in their quite, secure enclave perched upon the hill above Christiansted. QV is nicely located in that residents don't have to drive through downtown Christiansted during the peak traffic hours of the morning and afternoon if they are working at Sunny Isle or the Hospital or Hovensa, etc. The units range from 1-BDR up to 3-BDR, so there are a fair number of children living in the complex and most of them are driven to Country Day or Free Will Baptist or Manor School each morning and they also avoid the drive through downtown.

Questa Verde is one of the few condo complexes that allow owner-occupants to have pets... up to 2 pets totalling no more than 25 pounds, so make sure any pets you might have or want to get in the future are small. Only a few of the units at the complex have an ocean view, but the others do mostly have expansive views across valleys to hills beyond. The complex has a lot of stairs and is probably not a good idea for people with mobility issues. There is a large swimming pool and a cabana area with ping pong and maybe a pool table and some vending machines. Some of the units are flat-style... all on one story.. and others are townhouse style with internal stairs and bedrooms on a different floor from the kitchen/great room. They didn't originally have laundry in the units, but some have been retrofitted in addition to there being a laundry room at the complex.

For years, the condo complex was "self-insured" for hurricanes and that made it more difficult and expensive to get a mortgage to purchase a unit there. As of August 1st of this year, hurricane coverage was added and more mortgage companies are now able to finance properties being purchased at this complex without adding on a very expensive extra insurance policy to protect the mortgage company without actually protecting the buyer in the event the condos were destroyed in a storm. There are still at least half a dozen complexes on the island that continue to self-insure.

If you have any other questions about Questa Verde or other real estate options on St. Croix, feel free to ask!

I stayed in Questa Verde for a bit and liked it. I like the commune-style architecture, high ceilings in the units. The security comes with an isolated feeling, but that can be a good thing depending on what you're into. I liked it, like a little retreat.

Oh, I was going to say QV is a good choice if you are concerned about safety.

Thank you everyone for all the great information! My husband is a carpenter and is speaking with someone on St. Thomas about a possible job opportunity. It looks like St. Croix is a lot cheaper to live and also more accommodating to pets. I didn't find much on St. Thomas that accepted pets. However, looks like the employment opportunities are more abundant on St. Thomas. We are going to have to do a PMV and sort this all out!

Thank You!