May 30, 2023 | Island News
We are excited to see that tourism in the US Virgin Islands has remained very strong! The Caribbean Journal reported that ForwardKeys data shows the US Virgin Islands leading Caribbean destinations in international arrival growth, with a 22 percent increase over the first quarter of 2022. That’s ahead of destinations like St Maaten, Guadeloupe, Turks and Caicos and even the Dominican Republic. It also reported that since 2019, the numbers show an even more robust, sustainable jump: the US Virgin Islands has grown at a rate of 24 percent, the highest growth rate in the Caribbean. Read the full article here.
We have noticed that since beginning of the year, the island continues saw many many are visiting for the first time through the increase of cruise ship arrivals and stayover visitors from the mainland. It doesn’t surprise us that reports show in St. Croix, cruise traffic has increased by 150 percent! While the cruise ship season has ended here on St. Croix now that we are approaching June, our island arrivals by air are at an all-time high with visitors from all over the mainland coming to our shores for a taste of the island’s captivating energy.
We are so happy to also see the U.S. Virgin Islands has received top honors from several prestigious media companies for 2023. Porthole Cruise and Travel Magazine, Yahoo! Life and Frommers all underscored the territory for its ease of travel and new developments. Condé Nast Traveler highlighted the USVI as one of the Best Places to Go in 2023; Travel + Leisure ranked USVI as one of the 50 best destinations to travel to thanks to our beach vibes. We’re thrilled to share St. Croix with new and returning visitors in 2023.
Photo from The Caribbean Journal
May 26, 2023 | Island News
The Virgin Islands Energy Office (VIEO) broke ground on the construction of a 125 kW Solar plus 300 kWh battery micro-grid at the St. Croix Educational Complex last month and slated to complete at the end of August. According to the St. Croix Source, the micro-grid will enable the Educational Complex’s emergency hurricane shelter to function reliably during extended grid outages and significantly reduce the use of fossil fuel generators that have proven difficult to maintain and costly to fuel. Additionally, under blue-sky conditions, the solar microgrid will aid in offsetting approximately $6,000 per month in utility costs the school incurs under normal operation.
This is great news for the territory and in very timely for the upcoming hurricane season and start of school year!
Read full article here.
Photo credit: Virgin Islands Energy Office
May 18, 2023 | Testimonial
Full review from our clients the Wilson’s!
“We had travelled to St. Croix on several occasions specifically to check out the island. It didn’t take long, within the first 24 hrs we knew this was the place!
Moving to an island is not for the faint of heart. Luckily, Chris Powers crossed our path by way of a requested profile of what we wanted in a realtor – someone who has been living on the island for an extended time, someone that does the job full time, someone that supports and is active in the community, someone with some life experience, and someone who will “tell it like it is!”
When Chris contacted us we needed to have a quick conversation. I had seen the house, or at least I thought I had. We spoke at length on the phone. Chris asked us all kinds of questions, even what kind of car we drove… Yes! That is important. We told him about the specific house we saw online and rather than have us travel for that one house he set up a walk thru tour (Skype in our case) for convenience and to see if we really were interested before we took the time and money for a trip down. This was huge for us! We liked the house even more after seeing it this way and made plans to travel.
Chris and Christie met me for dinner the night before the scheduled viewing to continue to get to know me and what we really wanted in a house and a lifestyle. The conversations were easy and honest…and full of important information on any and every subject.
Loved the house! Within the few days of arrival, we had accepted an offer on our home in the states, and were under contract for our new island home. We flew in on the day of our closing … suitcases, dogs, and nervous anticipation… And Chris met us and drove us up to the house… and opened all the windows, got our bags in, got us settled and left us to watch our first sunset from our patio. Chris and Christie have been and continue to be a tremendous source of information and networking. You need this on island! You will need people. And luckily, we have great people! And friends … including Chris and Christie.
The best advise Chris gave: “do a little maintenance all the time”. There’s always some work to do. “It’s the price you pay for paradise”’
May 14, 2023 | Reports
Your monthly insight into the St. Croix, USVI real estate market! We have downloadable April Coldwell Banker real estate reports — available below for each category: All Properties, Condos, Single Family Homes, and Land! The sales data will be help you understand the number of listings sold, days on market, the median price listed and sold, and much more.
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:
All Property Types – April 2023 Area Report
Single Family Homes – April 2023 Area Report
Condo – April 2023 Area Report
Land – April 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.
May 1, 2023 | QA
Published on our April 2023 Newsletter
Question: “Why are many condos sales cash sales only?”
Chris’ Answer:
After Hurricane Maria in 2017, insurance companies paid claims which were sometimes substantial. This is why you have insurance and why insurance premiums are usually included in HOA Fees. 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. This caused some unintended consequences.
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 on some complexes until these issues can be resolved by the insurers and individual HOAs. Condo Boards, and often special Condo Committees, are currently reviewing these issues, and working with the insurers to make adjustments to their coverage so that lenders are satisfied.
Contact us with any questions about home buying on St. Croix. We have worked with many Buyers on and off the island to purchase their dream home on St. Croix. We can help you with every step of the process.
