Oct 23, 2023 | Island News
Mortgage rate is an important topic for many home buyers and also for those looking to refinance their property. Many are keeping a close eye on the trajectory of interest rates as they plan their real estate purchase.
Freddie Mac started recording mortgage rates in the US in 1971. The median 30-year mortgage rate is 7.41% since the April 1971 according to an article from US News & Reports. The fluctuations from historic highs and historic lows during this period has been dramatic. According to Bankrate’s recent article, “Historical mortgage rate trends can give you a sense of how economic conditions influence the rates available on the market today. From the 1970s to present, mortgage rates have fluctuated up and down. Overall, the annual average 30-year mortgage rate has trended downward since 1972, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.”
To learn more about historical mortgage rates over time, we highlighted a few articles that would be helpful to understand:
- what have the mortgage rates been historically?
- what factors effect mortgage interest rates for homebuyers?
- what factors effect mortgage interest rates for home refinancing?
The articles are:
Bankrate’s Current and historical mortgage rate trends: 1970s to 2023
US News & Reports’ Historical Mortgage Rates: See Averages and Trends by Decade
Oct 19, 2023 | Island News
Condé Nast Traveler announced in October the results of its annual Reader’s Choice Awards with the U.S. Virgin Islands recognized as a top island in the Caribbean.
The USVI has been recognized by other publications this year. Here are a sample:
- Condé Nast Traveler as a ‘Best Places to Go in 2023
- Travel + Leisure has ranked USVI as one of its 50 best 2023 destinations in its For Beach Vibes
- Yahoo! Life listed the USVI as one of the top 10 tropical islands to get to in under three hours from the U.S. mainland
- Travel Magazine voted USVI as the Best Caribbean Cruise Destination for 2023
- Frommer’s gave the territory top billing in its annual Best Places to Go in 2023
- Condé Nast Traveler editors voted USVI as having the Best Airbnb in the Caribbean
There is no better time than now to visit St. Croix! If you’re still considering what homeownership in the Caribbean can
look like for you, let us help you navigate this process. Our current listings include several exceptional properties sure to have you envisioning life’s next chapter living in America’s Paradise. Give us a call to discuss your options and schedule a showing or two; we’d love to hear from you!
Oct 12, 2023 | Island News
On St. Croix, breadfruit is something very familiar to us. We see beautiful breadfruit trees on island, and breadfruit used in restaurant menus, snacks, and cocktails. We love breadfruit and all of its uses. According to a recent Forbes article, “With its immense potential for food resilience and security, breadfruit or Artocarpus altilis is being celebrated as a staple crop with the opportunity to boost global climate smart sustainable development.” This article highlights examples of how breadfruit is being used in products and menus (such as in an episode of the National Geographic series, Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted). St. Croix’s Mutiny Island Vodka which is made of a combination of breadfruit and Caribbean rainwater is also featured. Read the full article here.
Nutritionally, breadfruit is an energy-rich food and a good source of complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Here on St. Croix, USVI, it is an ingredient common in West Indian and Latin cuisine. It has potato-like consistency when cooked, and a good source for gluten-free and vegetarian recipes.
According to The National Tropical Botanical Garden, breadfruit is an important component in traditional agroforestry systems and can be grown with a wide range of plants. Trees begin to bear fruit in three to five years, producing for many decades. The trees require little attention or care, producing an abundance of food with minimal input of labor or materials, and thrive under a wide range of ecological conditions. The ethnobotanist Diane Ragone from the NTBG said in a NPR interview, “compared to other food staples, these fast-growing perennial trees require far less labor, fertilizer and pesticides than crops like rice and wheat. They’re also more productive. A single tree yields an average of 250 fruits a year and can feed a family for generations.
For some ways to use breadfruit in your meals, take a look at the Cruzan Foodie’s blog article about how she uses breadfruit!
Oct 10, 2023 | Reports
Find the monthly sales data, inventory, and days on market for the St. Croix, USVI real estate market! We have downloadable Coldwell Banker real estate reports — available below for each category: Homes & Condos, Condos, Homes, and Land!
If you are not familiar with with the implications of the data, please give us a call or email us directly with any questions. We are Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR) and Seller Representative Specialist (SRS) and have the experience and local knowledge to help you in every step of the process. We can help you narrow down neighborhoods based on your priorities. We can also advise you on the market trends in your desired neighborhoods.
Open reports by clicking on links below:
Homes & Condos – September 2023 Area Report
Homes – September 2023 Area Report
Condo – September 2023 Area Report
Land – September 2023 Area Report
Note: The average sales price and the average days on market could be skewed greatly by only one sale or because of the small number of sales
Sep 29, 2023 | QA
Published on our September 2023 Newsletter
Question: “Why don’t so many condo complexes qualify for financing?
Chris’s Answer:
Currently most condos on St. Croix must be purchased for cash since they don’t qualify for financing. A condo complex is warrantable if it operates as closely to a residence as possible and is not seen as a “condo hotel” and complies with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Mortgage guidelines. When lenders are considering loans on condos in a specific complex, they look at many factors: some HOAs, while insured, don’t meet the lenders guidelines for coverage, the number of vacation rentals in condo complexes is increasing, and a couple of condo complexes rent office space to agencies that rent condos inside the complex which can appear to lenders that the complex is a condo hotel.
After Hurricane Maria in 2017, insurance companies paid claims which were sometimes substantial. Many insurers decided to raise their premiums in subsequent years. Condo complexes handled those rate increases in different ways. Some passed them along as either increases in the monthly HOA fees or as special one time assessments. Some HOAs reduced their premiums by increasing their deductibles or by lowering the amount of their insurance coverage.
Lenders want the properties they finance to have a certain amount of insurance coverage. Some lenders have become unwilling, in the short term, to lend into some complexes until these issues can be resolved by the insurers and individual HOAs. Many of the Condo Boards on St. Croix are currently reviewing these issues, and working with the insurers to make adjustments to their coverage so that lenders are satisfied.
Do you have other real estate questions, contact us!
