Chris’s Answer: In the US Virgin Islands, the long standing practice is for Buyers and Sellers to each be represented by attorneys to close the sale. We always recommend hiring an attorney who specializes in real estate to represent you.
The Buyer’s attorney will review all the documents to make sure “clear and marketable title” to the property being purchased is delivered to the Buyer. The attorney’s work includes, but isn’t limited to, reviewing the title commitment, survey, tax clearance letters, closing statements, Buyers statements of expenses and making sure that all the documents are in order for closing.
Sometimes Buyers and/or Sellers are present for closing. If you are off island for the closing, this is not a problem. Your attorney can have you sign a Limited Power of Attorney for some documents, so that the attorney can sign them for you. If there is a mortgage, those loan documents do need to be physically signed by the Buyer (i.e. the Borrower) and those documents can be sent to the Buyer through the mail. The closing usually takes place in one of the attorney’s offices.
Once the documents are signed and funds paid to the Seller and any lien holders — CONGRATULATIONS — you now own a new home, condo or land on St. Croix! The Buyer’s attorney will make sure that any relevant documents are Recorded at the Lt. Governor’s Recorder of Deeds Office.
Question: What is an inspection contingency, and how is it handled?
Christie’s Answer: Once an offer to purchase a property has been accepted and signed by all parties, the Inspection Contingency Period begins. Generally, this is a 2 week period, though 3 week periods are not unusual. It ensures that the Buyer receives vital information about the property from a Licensed Professional Home Inspector. It gives the Buyer the option to accept and sign off on the Inspection Contingency Period, OR potentially negotiate repairs, a reduction in the purchase price in lieu of repairs, or even walk away from the purchase with a full refund of their earnest money deposit.
Some people ask if they can waive the property inspection contingency. Our professional advice is to not do this. We feel it’s important that Buyers have as much information as possible about the property they are buying. It’s to the Buyers’ advantage to be present during the inspection so that they can ask questions of the Inspector on site, and learn more about their new home or condo.
After the inspection contingency period is complete and accepted by the Buyer, in Real Estate terms, their earnest money deposit has “gone hard” and is non-refundable. Then the purchase moves to the next phases of the process, which we will cover next month.
Question: What kinds of technology do you use to create listings?
Chris’ Answer: Because so many Buyers are shopping for property from off island, it is important to include as many details, documents, photos, and videos in a listing as possible. The technology available to us really supports our efforts to create thorough listings. Buyers have told us that they feel that they have already visited the property because of everything we include! Besides excellent photos, we take walk-through videos using a stabilizing gimbal and audio editing software to narrate the property tour. We also use a Matterport camera, which gives a high resolution 3D self-guided tour and a “doll house” view of the property. A floor plan of the property is created so that people can see the layout and flow of the rooms. Often we use a drone to take aerial photos and videos to show the surrounding neighborhood and the view from the property.
Examples:
Play drone video above to view the aerial footage of featured listing 29 L North Slob.Click on image above to launch the Matterport immersive virtual walkthrough for featured listing 14 Boetzberg.
Play video above to view aerial footage with narration for featured listing 86 South Grapetree.
Christie’s Answer: When listing a property for sale, we do a detailed walk through with you. We discuss your goals, and answer any questions you might have about the selling process. During that time, we may suggest simple things that you can do to help make your property more attractive to potential buyers. Then, we search for similar properties which have sold within the past year for comparisons so that we can recommend a listing price. Once a price is agreed upon, and we sign an Exclusive Right to Sell agreement, we create the listing. We include accurate and descriptive writing, photos, videos, maps, and documents. Your listing then appears in St. Croix’s MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Once your listing is in MLS it then is advertised and promoted on our website ChrisAndChristiePowers.com, Coldwell Banker St. Croix Realty’s web site, Zillow, Realtor.com, and literally hundreds of other syndicated real estate websites. Additionally, we market your property in our monthly newsletter, on all of our social media platforms, where we maintain a robust presence, and through paid on-line advertising including websites that focus on St. Croix like Go To St. Croix and Visit St. Croix.
Question: What are your favorite places on St. Croix?
Christie’s Answer: There’s a beach on the eastern end of St. Croix near Point Udall called Brown Bay. We call it “Straight 6 Beach” because there is an old straight 6 engine block rusting away in the brush half way down the path! Apparently, you could drive down to the beach many years ago. Now walking down the trail is the only way to the beach. It’s our favorite place to go with the dogs. We usually have that beach all to ourselves.
The St. George Village Botanical Garden is a delight! We love to go there just to walk around admiring plants, shop their garden area, and attend the different events. If you want more information about the garden, their website is https://sgvbg.org/.
Every Saturday we go to the Southgate Corner Farmers Market for local produce and plants. We love talking with the farmers! You can join the Market’s Facebook Group if you want, click here for the link.
Our home is our very favorite place. It’s half-way up a hill on a dead end road. The views are beautiful, it’s quiet and pastoral. We do love being home with our 2 dogs and 2 cats.
Chris’ Answer: St. Croix has moderate temperatures year ‘round. It doesn’t vary much more than 10 degrees from high to low on any given day. Currently, it’s between 72 – 82 degrees. As a holiday present to myself, I bought a weather station. We’ll be adding a weather page to our website in March and we’ll share the details with you next month. At any given time I can check the temperature, rainfall, wind speed and direction. As we watch the cold and snowy weather on TV, we realize that after 18 years in this moderate climate, we would be SO cold in the states! When the temperature dips into the low 70’s, we’re reaching for our light sweatshirts. We don’t even want to talk about what happens when it gets down into the high 60’s! Brrrrr!
