Super Bowl XLVII, Where Will you Watch The Game?

Today is the big game! Will you be watching ins the cold weather or warm?

Even in all three of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix St. John, and St. Thomas people are excited to see who will prevail the Ravens or the 49er's. It has been building throughout the season and over the past week or so even the commercials that won't be shown have been previewed. Commercials have always been my favorite part of the Super Bowl. Here is a link to preview them.
 
My favorite so far this year is the Budweiser name the Clydesdale commercial.

If you are lucky enough to be in the Virgin Islands, two great places to watch the game in St. Thomas are:

Kokopelli's Cafe Caribbean Salon Sports Bar

St. Thomas, Just listed, Great Investment for 2013

This three bedroom two bath home on St. Thomas has just been listed and is a steal of a deal. Located on the South side of the island in cool and breezy Bonne Esperances, not far from the university, the airport and town. This new listing on St. Thomas is a solid concrete home, with views of the Caribbean Sea and it has a studio apartment to help with the mortgage or provide maximum privacy for visitors or a nanny should you have one. Some 2660 sq. ft. of interior living space situated on .55 acres of land. There is a lovely courtyard surrounded by a blue bit rock wall which also lines the driveway. The property could easily be gated should you so choose. There are parquet floors throughout the house and corian counter tops in the kitchen. A large master suite with a walk through dressing room. With the extraordinarily low price of only $375,000 you can make this your Caribbean Jewel with your customized updates.

Home for The Holidays in St. Croix, St. John or St. Thomas

Whether you live on St. Croix, St. John, or St. Thomas, in the Virgin Islands this is the time of year that people expect children, friends and relative to come home for the holidays. Whether it is to stop in for a drink of guava berry wine or an extended stay of grown children along with grandchildren. Villa owners often want that extra pop for the high season too. In preparation, people often do home improvements. If you are looking to spruce up a bathroom or kitchen with fixtures or new faucets or cabinets: On St. Croix - Caribe Do-it Center at 30 Castle Coakley 340 778 5280 Ka-MA-KRIS Sales Inc at 50 A Hannas Rest at 772 0670 East End Lumber a 1 Gallows, Christiansted 340 773 1034 St. John - St. John Hardware 4-A Enighed 340 693 8780 St. Thomas - Ace Hardware at Red Hook 340 779 1717 or Crown Bay 340774 0495 East End Lumber in Anna's Retreat 340 775 3993 Home Depot in Market Square 340 7771077 One of the quickest ways to make a space look brand new is to give it a new coat of paint. Most of the hardware store carry a good selection of paints; additionally some specialty stores are: St. croix - Colorama at 86A Castle Coakley 340 778 5961 Shwerwin Williams 35-36 Castle Coakley 340 9877 St. Thomas - The Paint Depot in Al Cohen Plaza 340 775 1466 Sherwin Williams at 118 Contant 340 776 0836 Good luck with your projects on St. Croix, St. John or St. thomas!

Home on St. John - Open House

                                               Nick greets Donajen on the steps

Home for Sale on St. John - open house - Amarilla Villa

St. John is the smallest of the three  main U. S, Virgin islands. Historically the value of homes for sale on  St. john  have been high due to the fact that the majority of it's land mass is protected and will never be developed. This also creates a quieter atmosphere than the more urban feel of St. Thomas.

As the economy has changed more homes on St. John are becoming more affordable and are excellent buys for the quality of home your can purchase in such a prestigious setting.

Another  brokerage (Sea Glass Properties) hosted an open house in Coral Bay for a home they have listed. Five people from St.Thomas hopped on the ferry from the East end of St.Thomas and took the 25 minute ride to St. John. It was a lovely day, to view a home for sale on St. John. The hosting company had someone (thanks Chris) meet us at the dock and shuttled us to a lovely three bedroom three and a half bath home with an Easterly view that was simply breath taking.  The address of the home for sale on St. John is 6A-1-B Rem St. Quaco & Zimmerma. St. John, Virgin Islands. The home for sale on St. John has approximately 1'920  sq. ft. enclosed  and  approximately 2,570 sq. ft of decking. This home for sale on St. John has Spanish tile roofing with Caribbean stonework ( a topic for another blog), copper gutters, Mahogany wood work, a heated pool and an 180 degree view of Coral Bay and the BVI's. The home sits on .61 acres and  is offered at $1,990,000. I understand there is an adjacent, undeveloped lot (.81 acres) for sale as well at a very reasonable price. Why not scoop them both up?

Everyone seems to be going solar, it is particularly important with homes on St. John and St. Thomas as the cost of electric can run quite high when you use air conditioning and other appliances like pool pumps.  This home for sale on St. John  has 32 new solar panels to reduce the energy costs. An investment that will pay for itself many times over; and a true assets to the lucky buyers of this wonderful property.

Click on the blue MLS number, 12-2161, in the widget below to view all 78 pictures of this home for sale in St. John. if your are interested in viewing this property please give me a call at 340 344 2959 can assist you.

 

Do you do business on a wing and a prayer? Probably not, so why would you buy property that way?

Upon taking a new listing, in the Virgin Islands, I like to gather as much information in preparation for the closing. One item I like to have is a Land Title Survey or As Built Survey. This lets potential buyers know in advance where exactly the dwelling sits on the lot relative to the boundaries.

There are a number of good surveyors on the island, an icon in the community is a firm called Brian Moseley and Associates, Inc. Land and Surveyors and Consultants. Their office is located on Rahpune Hill in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. They work on St. John and St.Croix also.  Ryan Wisehart is the principle and David Starshark is their CAD technician. The office is open and welcoming when you walk-in you will be greeted with a smile and the manner is always gracious. They will supply copies of surveys and send you a copy in a PDF which is great for attaching them to your listings.

Brian Moseley & Associates is a members of the National Society of Professional Surveyors and the Virgin Islands Board of Architects - Engineers and Land Surveyors.

When selling a home or lot of land in the Virgin Islands, owners are normally required to expose the "four corners" of the property, usually indicated by flagged stakes.

When buying a home or lot of land in the Virgin Islands, it is wise to have a full survey done. It not only documents the quantity of land being conveyed but many times it will expose any encroachments or easements that could exist and may not be apparent without the survey. The survey will also indicate the location of utilities, buildings and access, if any, relevant to the parcel. If your are financing the property the lending institution will require a Land Title Survey.

If you purchase a vacant lot and you decide to improve your land, plans for homes usually start with a Topographical Survey. It helps the architect understand the features of the land. A Topographical Survey shows the elevations, contours and substantial rocks (prevalent in the Virgin Islands) trees, roads and drainage. All of this information is essential in determining where the home, driveway and drainage will work best on the lot.

Investors in the Virgin Islands who purchase larger parcels of land and want to subdivide it into multiple parcels will hire a Professional Land Surveyor to assist in determining the potential for dividing the property and preparing plans for developing parcels and roads.

Another area a Professional Land Surveyors is useful is determining if your property is within a flood prone area. It will determine if you will need to secure flood insurance and determining the appropriate insurance premium.

Surveys cost anywhere from several hundred dollars to thousands depending on the type of survey, terrain, location and ground cover. As with any service you should discuss costs up front and get an estimate. Keep in mind it is similar to an insurance that will protect you against costly problems in the future.

The conduct of a Professional Land Surveyor in the Virgin Islands is governed by territorial laws and professional code of ethics. A Professional Land Surveyor is an expert at interpreting descriptions of property and is uniquely qualified to accurately and precisely locate property lines.

When buying or sell property in the Virgin Islands, you should  make a Professional Land Surveyor, like Brian Moseley & Associates part of your real estate team. They can be reached at (340) 776 4090. or e-mailed at visurvey@visurveyors.com

Reichhold Center for the Arts, Virgin Islands

The Reichhold Center for the Arts, is an open air venue associated with the University of the Virgin Islands located on St.Thomas.

This past Friday night I had the pleasure of attending a preformance of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and the Rising Stars Youth Steel Orchestra.

The Puerto Rico Symphony's  inaugural concert was held in 1958  in Mayaquez and  was directed by Maestro Pablo Casals. The current musical director is the Chilean Maestro Maximiano Valdes. The symphony has a long and elustrious history.

The Rising Stars program was started in 1981 as a vision of the Honorable Judge Emeritus, Verne A. Hodge as a way to positively engage youth on island, keeping them in school and out of trouble. Since their inception the group has become Goodwill Ambassadors for the Virgin Islands traveling as far as Taiwan and Japan. They have preformed in many spectacular venues like the Lincoln Center the Capital building in Washington D.C. and on the Skyline stage in Chicago. They are my favorite part of Carnival each spring here on St.Thomas during the battle of the steel bands as well as the parade.

The program Friday, included:

J. Brahms - Academic Festival Overture Ob. 80

Rimsky Korsakov - Procession of the Nobles

Von Suppe - Light Cavalry

Tchaikovsky- Marche Slav

Mozart - Figaro

Love on Top

Gracia por la Musica

L.V. Beethoven - Symphony no. 5

Please notice that the Rising Stars do not have any sheet music in front of them.  They played from memory.  This is an outdoor venue, so you will hear the frogs and crickets give their own concert along with the musicians and my photograpy skills leave a lot to be desired.
 


If you would like to explore being a buyer or seller in the Virgin Islands please give me a call at 340 344 2959

Building or Renovating in The Virgin Islands

In the virgin Islands, like in most place, home owners are constantly working on their property.  With all renovation  you have to consider the impact on the value of your home. We have recently decided, to update the decking system on our home. Well, correction, it was a decision made a long time ago, the logistics of making it a reality was a bit challenging in the Virgin Islands.

We purchased our home in 2004, prior to our purchase the deck on the home was torn off by a hurricane.  Although I have lived on St. Thomas, in the Virgin Islands for almost nine years, thankfully,  I have not experienced a full hurricane. After seeing the damage created by hurricane Sandy, I know our home would not have been here to purchase had the storm that took the deck been close to the level of Sandy. But I digress.

To restore the deck on our home, permits are required in the Virgin Islands. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources requires architectural drawings rendered or approved by a local architect, as well as a copy of the as built survey of the home.The licensed contractor who is going to do the work is required to  attach an estimate of what it is going to cost to do the work.  Once you have obtained these and submitted them and paid a fee, it takes a few months for the review to be completed and if there are any issues you may be asked to alter the drawings or make a further explanation of what you want to do. This may take a while depending on what else you are asked to submit and then that documentation starts the review process anew. Once started in earnest, this process took us 5 months.

Once your permits are in hand, (you should make a laminated copy of them and post them prominently the closest electrical pole works) the job can begin. There are stages which require inspections to make sure building codes are being adhered to. The slide show is a pictorial of the progress of installing our decks. I still have to order the stainless steel  cording to complete the banister and of course the staining is left to do.

If you are interested in building a home in the Virgin Islands I can help you with locating the perfect lot. Building cost vary from $200 per sq. ft to $500 per sq. ft. depending on the level of finishing you select.