where to move

A gated community in Ft Lauderdale is very comforting. There are just a few "gated communities" in the USVI. On St Croix Shoys (aka Anna's Hope)and Judith's Fancy both have guards who monitor entrance. Both of these places have very nice single family houses that sell from about $500,000 to several million.

There are also several condo developments from rather inexpensive to VERY expensive that have security gates.

I do not know enough about St Thomas to comment specifically. Others can help you .

When you are "out" of your gated community you will find both St Thomas and St Croix much LESS threatening than Brazil or Fort Lauderdale. The difference might be descrbed as Enormous...Hope this helps...

STXER

Dear Stxer,
Thank you very much for your time replying my question. As per your comment , I heard you say it is not a dangerous place as I imagined, and that's promissing.
Any comments about Internet broadband and mobile phone coverage?
Thanks again
Homero

Homero,
The comments from STXer are accurate.

Regarding internet and broadband... My office has a T1 broadband connection which works everyday. The business line is about $250.00 monthly and the residential line is about $60.00 monthly.
For cellular, I recommend buying a GOOD Sprint telephone. I have both Sprint and Cingular wireless, and have better success more consistantly with my Sprint line. Your international business communication should not suffer (other than the time difference).
Lee.

Does St. Thomas have Verizon Wireless? How much do the plans differ from the US. If you will be calling the states often is it better to have a cellphone or a home phone in st. thomas? thanks for your help.

No Verizon. Sprint is the best answer atthis time, you can get nationwide calling that gives you no long distance!
Ronnie

Dear Lee
It is looking better and better everyday. Thanks for the info. So far my understanding is:
+ fantastic weather
+ less crime than Rio or Fort Lauderdale
+ No problem with Comunications
+less stressed life style
+Better tax treatment than in the mainland

-Higher prices for housing
-less availablily of products
-more corruption on the public sector
-Public services ineficient

What else I am missing in my positive/ negative essencial list?
Thanks for your time
Regards
Homero

Homero: While communications may be better than they were a few years ago, you have to remember that we still have power outages at a higher rate than in Fort Lauderdale, and one must plan for that. And as to whether there is more or less stress, you will have to be the judge of that.

Boa noite, Homero:
I lived in Rio for 6 months and trust every one who has responded so far:
The crime on St Croix and St Thomas combined, does not at all compare that in Rio.
We have people struggling financially, but not the extent of the violence that is often associated with poverty.
Also, no favelas. The housing projects here look like little condos.
Boa Sorte, Onik'a

Dear East Ender
Thank you for your reply. I am really enjoying this board. It is making me fell already more connected to the people and the Islands.
Since Internet/broadband is vital for my business, would you say a self starting generator is a MUST if you need to be connected all the time? Those power outage are weekly issues or only when storms happens?

Bom dia, Onika. Greetings from Germany.
I left Brazil 15 years ago and crime at that time as already bad, now it is so bad I really think twice before travelling there. Too sad.
A year ago when I started investigating the possibility to transfer my business to the USVI, made some research reading for weeks "The Virgin Island Daily news". I guess it was a mistake, becasue the impression I got was crime, drugs, corruption and extremelly high cost for the quality of the housing available, but I guess that's the fuel of most newspapers around the world.

This time, I am getting a much different impression reading the messages from this board and are planning a trip at the end of may with my wife for investigating In Locco.
All the best and Muito Obrigado
Homero

I agree, if all you read is the on'line version of Daily News...
In a small town, all they got to fill an everyday paper is some national headlines, crime, and politics. Its a very skewed perspective. I noticed right away that there are articles about crime that get headlines and paragraphs written, that in Toledo would only be located on the police blotter section of The Blade.

You can expect short power outages on a weekly basis. You give up trying to keep the clock set on your microwave and VCR. They outages are usually are short in duration. Things happen though. Recently salt spary coated utility poles causing them to catch on fire which resulted in longer duration outages on portions of St Croix. Battery back up would keep your computer going. The issue might be if your had wired connectivity to the internet if it would still be working even if you had power.

With a major hurricane power could be out for weeks if not months. A generator would be a must. You still will need battery back up as it usually takes a generator 30 seconds to come on line and stabilize.

Jim

Excellent, Jim.
Will start my list list of backups.
Thank you very much.