There are a lot of visitors to sunny St. Croix during the winter season. If you are visiting, and hoping to buy a vacation home (or a forever home), contact us! We can show you listings that fit your lifestyle and meet your desired characteristics while you are here. If you are thinking about selling your home on St. Croix, it is a great opportunity to list now as there is small inventory on island at the moment, especially condos. Whether you are interested in buying or selling, we encourage you to take a look at the January Coldwell Banker real estate reports — available below! 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 have any questions, please give us a call or email us directly.
Whether it’s your first time, or you are dreaming of a revisit, this is a great opportunity to visit St. Croix (for less). Escape from winter cold weather and snow and take advantage of the air credits and discounted room accommodation rates now available for a vacation to sunny St. Croix! The V.I. Dept. of Tourism introduced discounted air and hotel packages for travel to USVI that provide travelers with $200 per person air credits and 10 percent savings at selected hotels and resorts with a five-night minimum stay. Bookings made through March 1, 2023, for travel through April 30, 2023.
Why visit St. Croix?
The U.S. Virgin Islands has received top honors from several prestigious media companies for 2023 and accolades for a successful 2022. 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.
Since the USVI is an American territory, no passports are required to enter St. Croix. Major airlines, including American, Delta, Spirit, and Jetblue, offer direct daily flights from the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico to St. Croix’s Henry E. Rohlsen Airport (check airlines for the latest itineraries).
Winter Air and Hotel Package Details (book by March 1, 2023!)
Bookings must be made through the participating hotels using the VIBE2023 promotion code. This offer is for people over 16 years of age, does not apply to current reservations, and must be packaged as air and hotel together with back-to-back room nights. Bookings without purchase of a flight to St. Croix do not qualify.
For full information of the package offer details and all the participating partner hotels, go to https://www.visitusvi.com/vibe. Reported by VI Consortium in this article.
Here are some of the participating hotels and resorts’ contact information:
Question: “What are the basic qualifications for a 1031 Exchange?”
Chris’ Answer:
Your new purchase also needs to be an investment property and not a primary residence. The new investment property must be of “like-kind” to the property being sold.
Vacation homes or condos can qualify.
Key Considerations:
To achieve the maximum tax benefit, the reinvestment must be of equal or greater value.
The Qualified Intermediary must ensure that all eligibility requirements are adhered to. The investor must not have access to the funds from the sale.
There are limitations on the amount of capital gains that may be tax deferred.
Did you see our other article about 1031 exchanges and how can you benefit from them? Read it here. *For more information on 1031 Exchanges, their requirements and additional stipulations, consult a licensed tax professional before making arrangements to begin a 1031 Exchange.
Question: “What is a 1031 Exchange, also referred to as a Like-Kind Exchange? How could I benefit?“
Christie’s Answer:
If you have owned investment or rental property for at least 2 years, a 1031 Exchange enables you to defer some of the tax liability from the sale of that property by reinvesting those proceeds into a similar kind of property of the same or greater value.
With the sale of your property, the funds go to a Qualified Intermediary who will hold those funds until you purchase the next property. Usually you close the sale of your current property before you close the sale of the new property. Although, a “Reverse 1031 Exchange” can be done.
There is a 45 day period after the sale of your property to identify up to 3 properties for your new purchase, and a 180 day period, which runs concurrently, for you to close on your new investment property.
In addition to deferring capital gains taxes, other advantages could include:
The potential to increase investment income by moving to more profitable real estate markets.
Property consolidation; combining multiple investment properties into a single property.
Diversification; dividing one investment property into several properties.
For the basic qualifications, visit our other article here. *For more information on 1031 Exchanges, their requirements and additional stipulations, consult a licensed tax professional before making arrangements to begin a 1031 Exchange.
Dream of owning a home?Are you in a moderate income household?Do you need help in financing a mortgage?
Back in October, we mentioned a collaboration with Governor Albert Bryan Jr, the Office of Disaster Recovery, and the EDA in partnership with local banks and mortgage companies to help residents a new home loan program for moderate income Virgin Islanders. Starting January, the V. I. Economic Development Authority (EDA) has opened the V.I. Slice Moderate-Income Homeownership Program. The VI Slice program aims to help residents who wants to be a homeowner and need some help to make their first home purchase. It is a homeownership assistance program created to provide eligible, moderate-income families with up to $200,000 in gap financing on a down payment, closing costs for buying or rehabilitating a home, or the cost of constructing a home on land the resident owns.
To be eligible for Slice, applicants on St. Croix must have at least an annual income of $43,501; on St. Thomas, $45,000, and on St. John, $47,000. For residents who are interested in the program, we encourage you to visit the new VI Slice website: www.vislice.com, where one can find information on how the program works, its eligibility requirements, and how an applicant can use the program’s funds.
The website also includes a directory of participating local banking institutions and mortgage companies (below are the organizations listed on January 24, please see the www.vislice.com/lenders website as information may change over time).
