Oct 27, 2020 | Island News
Chris Powers: Yes! There are multiple local resources for everything you need in office supplies, and office furniture. Whether you’re looking for mahogany furniture, rattan furniture, or just a comfy chair and table, there are several furniture stores on island. We like shopping at Sweet Lime Furnishings, Ashley Furniture Home Store, and Royal Furniture and Appliance. Office supplies are easy to find at Office Max or Cost-U-Less. If you can’t find what you need on island, Amazon ships via USPS to St. Croix and couldn’t be easier.
For occasional power outages, battery back ups with surge protection (UPS) are important. Many homes and condos have generators which will provide constant backup power. There are a number of small IT support companies, for both software and hardware, on island. Our Brokerage, Coldwell Banker St. Croix Realty, uses Reach Communications for IT support.
Christie and I also use Reach Communications for our home office networking, hardware and internet support. They also provide VOIP and high speed broadband access in the downtown Christiansted core over their own network.
Internet providers include Broadband VI and VIYA. St. Croix is the hub for three of the internet’s largest data cables: the South American Crossing (SAC), the Pan America Cross (PAC), and the Mid-Atlantic Crossing (MAC). This represents one of the largest concentrations of internet bandwidth in the world.
Oct 27, 2020 | Island News
Christie Powers: Everyone’s home office is as individual as they are. Some people just need a laptop, mobile phone, and an internet connection to work and stay connected to the world. If this describes your work style, then a hammock or sitting on the beach could be all you need to add! Other people will need a desk or work table, they might dedicate a room in their home or condo as an office, where there’s more space and a door to close.
In our home office on St Croix, we’ve set up two large mahogany tables as desks in the main room so that we have plenty of space for all of our projects. Chris uses a computer and multiple monitors, I just use a laptop. We have a networked printer that we both easily access, a scanner, a short file cabinet and two small rolling file cabinets to keep us organized. Two comfortable ergonomic office chairs, and space for our animal family members (who like staying close, sometimes too close), complete our tropical home office on St Croix.
It’s an open and airy space which allows the tropical breezes and beautiful bird songs to flow through the house. It’s inspirational to view the garden, Caribbean Sea, and blue sky with white puffy clouds while we work!
Oct 27, 2020 | Island News
From Instagram to Pinterest, tropical style has been a hot decor trend. Cheerful design with bold color accents, natural woven materials, and greenery transform a home into a tropical retreat. As many people are working remotely, have you thought about incorporating this decor aesthetic, or perhaps relocating your home office to the real thing?
Here are Decoratorist’s gallery of 47 amazing tropical offices for some inspiration.
Oct 27, 2020 | Island News
According to the Chamber of Commerce in St. Croix, St. Croix has a strong economic hub for any type of working professional. The island offers a diverse economy that can support emerging tech gurus, financial professionals, and productive agriculturalists alike.
Christie and I have been working in St. Croix for over 16 years. Though we enjoyed working and living in Oregon prior to our move to the sunny island, we just can’t imagine living anyplace other than St. Croix!
The Chamber of Commerce has useful information for anyone interesting in knowing what it’s like to work in St. Croix. Read more here.
Sep 29, 2020 | Island News
“What do you think is the future of remote work on St. Croix?”
Chris: We agree with NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun’s recent comments: “The coronavirus pandemic greatly accelerated the number of workers who are able to work from home . . . Possibly a quarter of the labor force may be permitted to work from anywhere outside of the office even after a vaccine is discovered—compared to only 5% prior to the pandemic—and this will greatly change the landscape of where people buy homes”.
With interest rates at historic lows, the real estate industry is closely watching remote work trends as they’ll be a big influence on people’s future home buying decisions.
Many of our off-island buyers are taking to heart a quote from this Entrepreneur article: “Remote work is here to stay”.
“Work From Home is more accurately titled Work From Anywhere — a cafe, a beach, a different country.” St. Croix has the cafe and beach part covered, AND we’re a U.S. Territory!
Think about moving your work life to our island, and having St. Croix be your “Anywhere”. You’ll have one of the best foregrounds to get your work done, and one of the best backgrounds for your Zoom calls!
Sep 29, 2020 | Island News
“Are people moving to St. Croix to work remotely?”
Christie: We are having more discussions with Buyers who are adding a home office to their purchasing decision – whether it’s an extra room, a space for a desk, or a covered outdoor space where they can sit with their laptop. It all depends on how much room they need. We are getting more and more questions about this from our clients. We’ve discussed some very creative ideas with them, which are different from traditional office spaces.
While this Forbes article we’ve linked to primarily focuses on two large metropolitan areas, we feel that the trend of working from home is more wide-spread geographically, and it will effect cities and markets much smaller than those mentioned, including St. Croix.
According to a recent article from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), as remote work policies are extended during the pandemic, more workers are rethinking where they call home—and their companies may even be urging them to do so.
