trust

Can't really tell you about sketchy areas because it's really a mix of all kinds of housing everywhere. I would recommend renting a place from Ronnie at Villa Fairview for a month to get a feel for where you want to live. I have no idea who told you you wouldn't be able to find a place in August. I also wouldn't recommend renting anything from anyone sight unseen. I would never do that.

Possibly what you were told about difficulty in rentals in August was housing usually rented by students???

"I was told by some islanders that in August I will not be able to find anything, and even if I could, it would be double the rent of anything available now."

August generally has the most extensive inventory of available rentals because seasonal workers are elsewhere. Because inventory is so extensive at that time, there is no incentive for landlords to have superficially high rates. Landlords won't necessarily lie about a place but what they consider acceptable may not be acceptable to you. There are not specific areas that are better or worse; mansions are nestled among low income housing. I would recommend against renting here sight unseen, and even more so since you're bringing a child. Most landlords won't rent to you until they've seen you in person and the few that will are probably renting places they can't rent after someone has seen the place in person. I know you wanted tips on how to rent here sight unseen but the only trustworthy response, and I expect most/all residents will agree, is to recommend against doing so.

Hey fellow alaskan,
I'm happy to finally find another person who has gone to both ends of the world as I've been told. I live in fairbanks but have worked with my company in sitka sometimes and I do sympathize with you. I agree totally with your assessment of the costs of things. I worked as a nurse on st. thomas a few summers back as was pleasantly pleased with the price of things. good luck and enjoy the sun.

So sidnie, How was St Thomas? Did you melt or what? How was the transition from the last frontier to the island life? I am nervous, but not so much. Coming from Alaska it seems, has made me uniquely qualified for the virgin Islands. I may be just trying to convince myself here but check this out...

1. Everyone is put off by the cost of living. It can't be worse than here. I rent a dorm room for $1200 a month. I buy gas at almost $4 a gallon. I pay $200-300 in utilities a month to heat my house. I just bought a mango the other day... $2.00 for one. I could go on

2. People complain about the small size of the islands. Alaska is MASSIVE!! but most of it belongs to the animals. In Sitka we have 14 miles of road. The town is a thin line along the beach and can't be more than a block deep, into the mountains. In high school we drove from one end to the other all night long to waste time. If I can live through that than, this will be easy.

3. Violence. Now this one is a little different. Someone from New York may be more used to being held up at gun point, and yet I don't know anyother State that lets you bring your gun to high school so you can get out hunting quicker. As far as violence goes, the damage a man can do to another man, is nothing compaired to what a brown bear does. I grew up in the woods and if I was able to learn in elementary school to play and still watch out for carnivores, I think I should be able to learn to watch for bad situations. Plus, If you can't avoid it you deal with it. I don't know about Fairbanks, but growing up in Sitka had its rough points. Alaskans like to tussle. I know very few Alaskans that can honestly say they haven't taken a beating now and than.

I'm just doing whatever I can to convince myself that I am going to transition perfectly well. I can't wait. I love Alaska. But I can not stand the winters!!! I am so tired of the snow and the cold and the dark.

pbtn: hope you've been reading not only the message boards but also the cost of living expenses and extrapolations posted under this VINow umbrella, along with moving stories.

I agree whole-heartedly with poster "Trade" in that you should contact Ronnie at Villa Fairview to arrange for a temporary venue.

And I would also add that you have a wife and a three year old daughter, and I hope their interests are paramount?

Of course they are, but USVI living is not for everyone.

The best of luck to you

Also, remember that the pay scale is probably a LOT less than Alaska. Will you be working as well as attending school?

Hi Polarbearstoenails and Jessica,
If I am not mistaken you are both new faces on the board. Welcome!
Jessica you seem familiar to me, do you reside on STT by any chance?

Polarbearstoenails, it sounds like you have been doing quite a bit of research and it does indeed sound like your concern for your family is paramount.

I agree with Trade (who incidentally, has lived here for 25 years) and Dnt8wup (another well-established resident on island), that you probably should not arrange for a rental sight unseen.

Dnt8wup was absolutely right on mark when he said that:

" Landlords won't necessarily lie about a place but what they consider acceptable may not be acceptable to you."

I also would recommend that you begin with temporary lodging and look for something once you are on island, and I also agree that you should not have a hard time finding places to rent in August.

Everyone is very helpful around here, so please feel free to come back with any other questions any time.

Best of luck with your move!

Hey polarbeartoenails.
I pretty much agree with your assessment of sitka to stt. Sitka has the feel of an island and actually stt will feel large comparatively. You can't get end to end quite as quickly. Oh and the airport is a little larger on stt but not hugely, just a few more airlines than you are used to. The harbour is sitka is more similar to st. croix than stt. but you'll love the whole red hook area.
yes, cost of food is very similar to what you are used to. You'll also love the difference in the rain quality. On sitka it can ruin the whole day/ week. Not on stt. , it is gone before you know it and you are loving the sun again.
I may be on stt myself this summer. We should keep in touch.
Sidnie

Island View Guesthouse is also a great cheap place for a monthly rental. Excellent idea to rent at one of these place for a month and check rentals on your own during that time. Both are close to the University as well. www.islandviewstthomas.com

Try to avoid any places near downtown Charlotte Amalie, or near the "hospital ground", THey are pretty dumpy. As a matter of fact, you should just abandon the whole idea altogether. I'd rather freeze in Alaska than live in St Thomas again.

Eddie Chick,

What happened? why such a negative view of our Island? can you fill us in please?

Hi, polarbear...I am also moving to STT in August with my husband and a small child. Actually, my husband is already there, and is working at the University. Are you coming to work for the University or to attend?

I moved to the Virgin Islands with my wife…actually we were married after we got down there, on Cinnamon Bay Beach in St John. Our initial plan was to live on St. John, but it was so much more expensive than St Thomas, so we opted for the latter. Plus, we moved down there without either one of us having a job (scary!) and we thought we’d fare better on the bigger island. That part was not a problem (Thank you, Jesus!) because we both found jobs within a week…both within a five-minute walk from our apartment. Weekends down there were extremely fun. Obviously, you have your choice of the most beautiful beaches in the world. My wife & I are both partial to St John, so we would go there as often as possible. But the problem was during the week. All the things that you hate doing on a daily basis…laundry, shopping, taking out the trash…were so much worse for us down there. Part of that problem was due to the fact that we didn’t have a car. I had to walk a freakin half-mile just to toss my trash in the dumpster. We didn’t have trash pickup. Plus, you have to worry about the cistern constantly running out of water. We had numerous power outages. Etc. Actually, my biggest problem was with the locals themselves. The ones I met were so rude, and bigoted, and resented anyone who was from the mainland. They were pushy, had no manners, and were very impatient. Then you had the mainland transplants who moved to the V.I. for the sole purpose of never growing up…thinking they are Jimmy Buffett or something. It was really quite obnoxious.

Jeez Eddie Chick,
I cannot believe that these regular posters haven't tried to marginalize you yet, guess they are slow on the uptake this afternoon. The regular posters are quite often complete, judgemental pains in the @sses, always at the ready to jump down anyone's throat at having called their beloved fellow island citizens "rude, bigoted, pushy and ill-mannered." I'm sure most posters consider themselves to be open minded folks, I think that they are definitely open minded just as long as your social and political philosophies don't run contrary to their own.

In the recent past, I posted a message with sentiments similar but not worded quite as strongly as you just have about rude behavior in the USVI. The regular posters responded like I was Hitler or some right-wing fascist equivalent for even bringing up the subject of race relations in the islands. I suppose they spend their days in paradise wearing blinders and sitting on rainbow while holding hands and singing Kum bah yah.

It is difficult to believe some poster's beliefs that the rudeness in the behavior exhibited by the virgin islanders is merely a result of "cultural difference" and that I simply don't understand the culture. ..puleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease. I have traveled to: Puerto Rico, St. Martin/Marteen, St. Barth's, Antigua, St. Lucia and most USVI and BVIs, and in no other Caribbean country have I found the rudeness by the islanders even close to approaching the behavior of the USVI and BV Islanders.

Different strokes for different folks. Aren't you glad you left?

Gosh JLee, maybe being inundated by those Jimmy Buffett wannabes drives them all to rudeness! 😉

Eddie: I hope that you have written a moving story for Islander, as I think your point-of-view is helpful.

JLee,
It seems to me there is less of this rudeness factor on stx. I know exactly what you are talking about on stt....but it seems stx is a little different. Maybe all the obnoxious tourists have caused this situation on stt, but since there are not so many tourists on stx, it is different? Have you spent enough time on stx to be able to answer this?

I can understand you frustration with the power outages, there should be no excuse for that, Like beachbumbq, I find the people on STX to be very friendly, maybe that's the difference between the islands.
As far as the car goes, I don't see where that is a problem with STT. If you didn't have a car in Alaska, would you fair any better? I think that all of the three islands would be hard to manage without a car.

Hello again JLEE
Thanks for your response. I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one who had the same experiences. I guess some people are happy down there, but it just boggles my mind. I am so happy to be back in Philadelphia again. I lived there for 13 months until I couldn't take it anymore. And I knew other people who came down after me & were gone way before I even left. I'd like to think I am open-minded, and I'd definitely like to do a "big move" again sometime. I'm just not sure where I'd like to go. Anyone have any thoughts on Seattle???

Eddie,

I truly hope that I'm not opening a huge can of worms here, because I too think your view is valuable.

I think that what many new posters take for negativity on this board is just their observations of what people need to take into account, what they've seen work, what they've seen fail, etc.. Long time posters try to point out in advance the exact items that you found so frustrating (except for the rudeness, which I've never encountered in many, many visits to STX). In a way, you've validated those observations. It is frustrating ,even for longtime posters who don't live there (like me), to see newbies perceive anyone who tries to shine a light on potential problems as a negativist.

I do not live in the USVI, although I am close friends with many who do, and most locals think I'm a local too. As much as I love STX, I also know myself well enough to know that I would probably be a snowbird at best. In any case, your case should serve as a good example that the USVI is not for everybody - that's okay.

JLee,

Most of the local stt residents will agree with you - we have some extremely rude people on this island. I'm from houston - we have some extremely rude people there too. Rude people are everywhere.

Eddie Chick's statements were fine because he did not goup the entire group of st. thomians - he said "The ones I met were so rude, and bigoted, and resented anyone who was from the mainland." He missed out on meeting the sweet lady I buy my paper from every day, or the nice kid who takes my groceries to my car, and the post office worker who always carries out my boxes for me. We have so many nice people living here. People just tend to remember the bad, and forget about the nice.

Try to remember some of the nice locals. If you only remember the bad memories - you will have a miserable life.

Well, thank goodness not everyone loves living here or we'd be living shoulder to shoulder. Hope those who don't like it do find a place they enjoy.

As we (locals/residents/already here folks) have said frequently, most people leave in 3-6 months. We get a bad reputation for being negative, but that is the truth. As long as you don't sell all your earthly goods back home, you can always return, like Eddie, to Philadelphia. If everyone liked the same thing in the world, we would still be driving black Model T Fords!!

My old advice remains: Bring enough $ to keep yourself going for 3-6 months. Don't burn your bridges back home. Make goals for yourself. Have a period of time in mind and re-evaluate your goals at that point. Don't rent anything sight unseen. Try to get involved in the community. Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth closed for the first month or two.

My new advice: Don't bring small children and pets until you see the lay of the land. Get a car. If you can't abide power outages, water restriction, bugs, people with a different upbringing, lack of shopping, lack of Starbucks, lack of inexpensive stuff, waiting, Jimmy Buffett music... think twice! 😉

EE. Perfect! short and sweet. And totally true. We should tattoo this on our foreheads!!