Time it takes to sell a house on STX?

Thanks Alana!!

And depends on the mortgage company. Some are great to deal with and others.. uggghh and want to charge exorbitant fees. I had one company take 8 weeks to get a commitment letter from and another 1 week and the fees were 1/2. Shop around and look at their reviews online. I usually do, but went with my realtors recommendation this time. Big mistake. But in the end it all turned out well.

Would you share the name of the "good" one?

My customers have had very good experiences with First Liberty http://www.firstlib.com
Also, First Bank, believe it or not.

This brings up a good question: Is it correct that lenders on the mainland will not write a mortgage in the VI? So we would need to find an island lender if we decided to take out a mortgage?

It depends.
I got my first mortgage thru Merrill Lynch.

I switched to Chris Papataros (he's on STT) with Cliffco mortgage. They are out of long island, but are licensed in the USVI which is a requirement. If you want the one to stay away from, PM me, I can also give you Chris P's # if needed. He was awesome to deal with and very professional. The other company sent everything to India to be processed. And it was impossible to get information from them and then I looked online and the reviews were dead on about them.

We went through First Liberty, and it was a very positive experience. They even went to bat for us and dealt with the red tape to have our property's flood plain designation removed, when they noticed it was incorrect. They were always reachable and kept us up to date on the status of the application. That was over a decade ago, so I can't say what the service is like now. But I'd sure go there first if I needed another mortgage.

(Mortgage is with Flagstar, which is mainland).

I've heard good things about Cliffco and Chris as well but haven't had any experience with them whereas I've had quite a few experiences with Rick @ First Liberty, personally and thru customers. All good, all positive.

I used First Liberty for our property on STX and they were great to work with!

I switched to Chris Papataros (he's on STT) with Cliffco mortgage. They are out of long island, but are licensed in the USVI which is a requirement. If you want the one to stay away from, PM me, I can also give you Chris P's # if needed. He was awesome to deal with and very professional. The other company sent everything to India to be processed. And it was impossible to get information from them and then I looked online and the reviews were dead on about them.

I second that. Chris is excellent.

Sunny, You are correct in saying that the lenders will not write up a mortgage, unless they are accredited her in the VI.

P.S sorry for th typos. The Captain and Coke is kicking in !! LOL Gotta love island life.

Thanks!! This thread and the participants are definitely helpful and everyone's time is much appreciated.

We are pretty conservative in our approach to major financial decisions, so getting clear info & advice so far in advance is incredibly helpful as we weigh our options.

We still have young kids, so we may or may not even take the plunge before they graduate HS, but...you never know. We're trying to understand the landscape fully so that, for example, if we did decide to move to the Caribbean while they're still school age, we'd be fully prepared. Another thread had some good info on private schooling options & costs, so that was helpful (and encouraging since tuition costs are less than half what they are here!).

We're coming for another visit (really it's a vacation, not a PMV) over the winter, and we may take some time while there to chat with a local RE broker. The ideal scenario/goal would be basically early retirement. We are trying to figure out if we could leverage the existing equity in our current home, businesses, etc. and "cash out" so we didn't need to rely on jobs on island. It may be within reach, given all the various factors. COL is high in the USVI, but for example, we'd be leaving the highest taxed county in the US, so our savings on property tax alone would almost pay for two kids' schooling.

Sounds like you need to consult a financial adviser before RE broker.

We have, but not one down there 🙂 Basically we already know what we could spend on housing, within a fairly wide range, either with a mortgage or without. It's more a matter of what needs to be shifted to what column, you know?

Sounds good ill check out First Lib and Cliffco as well. I think it's better to speak with a few different mortgage lender folks anyway right?

(tu)