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Hello Everyone!
We just accepted an offer this morning to sell our house in Boston!! We're not sure of the closing date yet, but will definitaly be down in STT no later than October 1st - my fiance will probably be down a bit sooner. We are so excited to see our dreams get closer to reality!
Some quick questions, some silly, some serious:
1. What moving companies do you recommend?
2. We're thinking of bringing our couches (we've bought a home in Mandahl that will need furniture). I would like to just bring little stuff and buy stuff there, but my fiance wants to bring some large items. We're coming down with less money then we had hoped (thanks to real estate commissions) but I don't think we have to furnish right away. Would it be best to ship large items or just buy on island?
3. Silly question #1 - these mongooses (mongeese?) I've read about...are they aggressive? We're bringing my cat with us and I'm afraid she'll have a run in with one? Like racoons up here, would they rip her apart if she started trouble? She had a run in with a skunk a few weeks ago, she didn't try anything with the skunk and fortunately, he didn't spray her (although he might have been out of spray, as he had just hit our dog).
=(
4. Because we need to pay $$$ for real estate commissions for our house in Boston (we had tried to sell it ourselves with no luck and had to fall back on a realtor, so we weren't originally planning on that) - we'll have to find work fairly soon after arrival. How hard will it be for myself to find work as a bartender/waitress and for my fiance to find work as a handyman? He's thinking of starting his own handyman business there (that's what he currently does here in Boston).
5. Is it important to have a bartenders license when I arrive? I have minimal experience with bartending and no license. Is the license recommended? I also have a college degree in mangament, would it be easy to find an admin job in the hotel industry?
Thanks so much!!! Can't wait get see you all in the fall!!!
Posted : August 6, 2004 2:18 pm
Re: furniture. I am ordering all of my furniture off-island. I think it is partly a matter of taste and finances. Most of the furniture is not my style (read: glass and laminate) or my style (Mexican and Indonesian) but way over-priced. I find it is cheaper for me to find exactly what I want on the WWW and have it shipped to Miami and then forwarded to me by my shipper.
My .02c
Posted : August 6, 2004 2:29 pm
In answer to the mongoose question - don't worry they are more like squirrels without fluffy tails than racoons. They run from the cats.
There is not license required to bartend. With some experience you shouldn't have a lot of trouble finding work. Hotels should be hiring around that time too.
Pamela.
Posted : August 6, 2004 2:45 pm
Pamela - so happy to hear that about the mongoose!
Onika - what online companies have you found that will deliver to STT?
Thanks in advance! Your help is greatly appreciated!
Posted : August 7, 2004 1:07 pm
S&J--There are a few companies out there that do ship smaller items (less than 70lbs) to the USVI. For example, I have used Pottery Barn, Victoria's Secret, Brylane Home, Crate & Barrel, Macy's, and LaRedoute to great success.
However, for furniture, I have it shipped to CaribTrans in Miami and they charge me like $2.00 a cubic foot plus $35 per transaction for shipping to the VI. My last shipment was for approx. 8 large boxes and my total shipping was $120.
Posted : August 7, 2004 2:59 pm
Stu & Janelle,
I found that a lot of furniture companies that I found online when planning for furnishing our house in STX that don't ship directly to the USVI will ship to CaribTrans in Miami as long as you've made the arrangements with and paid for CaribTrans to get the items to you from there. Several offered free delivery within the continental US, so having them ship stuff directly to CaribTrans meant that I would only have to pay the costs of getting it from Miami to STX -- and that was a nice cost savings.
Onika, have you ever been required to pay the 4% excise tax on personal goods that are shipped here and are valued over $1000/shipment? We were talking about this relatively new tax when I first came to the board earlier this year, and at that time no one seemed to have any personal experience with it. As it turns out, we did not have to pay it for the belongings we shipped here as part of our move. (There was speculation during those earlier discussions that customs might charge us the full 4% of the total value of our belongings, less $1000, at the time they were cleared. ) Since that never panned out, I'm wondering if customs is assessing it on items like furniture, appliances, etc. that are bought off island.
Hope this isn't too much off topic from the original post!
HC
Posted : August 7, 2004 9:45 pm
