US Virgin Islands: St John, St Croix, St Thomas
The basics – St Thomas is the second largest (approximately, 32 square miles), most well-known and most visited of the US Virgin Islands. St John is the most expensive, smallest of the big 3 islands and has the largest percentage of protected land (approximately 2/3 of the island). St John has the added benefit of 5,650 submerged acres protected in addition to the roughly 7,000 acres of land. The island of Saint Croix is larger in size than all the other U.S.V.I islands put together. St Croix is located approximately 40 miles south of its smaller siblings. While St John has become very expensive over the past ten years and St Thomas has recently seen significant price appreciation, St Croix remains relatively undiscovered. As all three are United States territories, the currency is the US Dollar and mail services are by US Post. English is also the official language, though local "patois" or creole is common. The US Virgin Islands are also somewhat easier to visit given recent changes to passport and immigration rules governing travel to and from the United States (never a bad idea to check with tsa.gov or state.gov for updates). There have also been recent (federal court mandated) changes to tax provisions - offering Virgin Islanders the same protections against the IRS as mainlanders and removing a territory tax on imported items over $1,000 (e.g., cars, appliances, etc.).
Charlotte Amalie at night (photo courtesy Jamie McKee)
St Thomas is roughly 12 miles long and 3 to 4 miles wide in the center. It has numerous picture-postcard beaches and lots of hilly terrain (the open-air taxis that run around the island can feel like rollercoaster rides on the narrow roads, frequent switchbacks and meandering routes from place to place). It also has more than half of the total USVI population and gets significantly more tourist-visits than the other islands. Not coincidentally, it also has the busiest airport. St Croix is approximately 23 miles long west to east and ranges from a 1/2 mile wide (north to south) in the far eastern end of the island to about 8 miles wide in the central west. Topography is rolling hills with a few “mountains” with heights up to around 1,165' above sea level in the northwest central area of the island - also home to a significant area of tropical rain forest. St John is quite small at roughly 20 square miles and has similar topography to St Thomas. It is much more sparsely developed and, due to the limited available private land, all costs of ownership are significantly higher. There are few real multiple-dwelling-unit/Condo developments here.
Weather throughout is Caribbean predictable – highs from 75 to the upper 80s (23-32 degrees Celsius) throughout the year. September can be hot when the trade winds don’t blow as much and September to November is the official rainy season (usually short duration showers) - e.g., STX averages around 40 inches per year. All US Virgin Islands are located in the Atlantic Standard Time Zone, which is one hour ahead of Eastern Standard except during daylight savings time when they are the same. The USVI has a permanent population of about 110,000.
St Croix beachside
The capitol (and center of everything) of St Thomas is Charlotte Amalie with significant development in the Magen's Bay and east end/Red Hook areas. Cyril E. King International Airport (STT) is located just a few minutes west of Charlotte Amalie. The two largest cities on Saint Croix are Christiansted, the capitol, in the north center of the island and Frederiksted to the far west. The airport is located in the south, southwest and there is a large Hovensa refinery located just to its east in the south center of St Croix. As you might expect, neither area is popular with homeowners or land investors (including the editors of this e-magazine) due to impaired views. St John's major town is Cruz Bay with most development being between Cruz Bay to the west and Rendezvous Bay to the southwest. The northern half of the island along with the majority of the central and southern parts of the island are all within the Virgin Islands National Park boundaries.
Accessibility/Getting there – The USVI are located about 1,000 miles from the southern tip of Florida. St Thomas and St Croix each have international airports offering direct access (significantly more traffic and flights come in to St Thomas). St Thomas' airport is Cyril King (airport code STT) and in St Croix is Henry E. Rohlsen International (airport code STX), both of which are about average by Caribbean standards. Flights from North America come directly into both - with limited, direct service from Miami (American), Atlanta (Delta) and Charlotte (US Air) coming into STX and much more regular traffic from the New York area, Dallas, Houston and Chicago into St Thomas. You can also connect-in to both via San Juan, Puerto Rico, Antigua or St Maarten. Recent improvements have been made to both airports and there is considerable development of the resort/hotel infrastructure side of the equation in the works (mostly complete or underway on St Thomas and just getting underway on St Croix). As more of these resorts come online, the airlines will no doubt increase their direct flights into STX. [There has been an ongoing, economic game of "flinch" going-on between hoteliers, the government of St Croix and the airlines as to who will build-up which service first. Airlines don't want to expand flight service before more hotel rooms are available and hoteliers and the government don't want to build-up the number of hotel rooms without guarantees of more flight service to fill them.] St John has no airport and access is via ferry from either Red Hook or Charlotte Amalie on St Thomas to Cruz Bay (or contract service direct into the Westin property for their guests). Many arrive into St Thomas or St John from the neighboring British Virgin Islands by boat.
St Croix is increasingly becoming a regular cruise ship stop, though the government is acutely aware of the crowding and infrastructure strain put on by too much cruise ship tourism on its sister island of St Thomas - which may have as many as 11 ships in port at once, according to one local and 8 ships at once is not uncommon at all during cruise season. St Croix has invested considerably in its infrastructure at both the airport and cruise ship terminal area in Fredericksted. Once on the island, rental cars are recommended as the island is fairly spread out and the various tourist spots and activities are scattered around the island. Remember to drive on the LEFT side of the road – British style. You may also visit nearby islands via high-speed ferry or short flight from STX or by float plane from Christiansted. On St Thomas, rental cars are less useful than taxis unless you spend weeks at a time there and on St John rentals are not of much use near the Caneel Bay or Westin areas, but more useful for homeowners.
OTHER ISLANDS - There is a new development pre-selling on Water Island (500 acre island just south of Charlotte Amalie on St Thomas) though very little infrastructure exists on the island (no hotels, developments, etc. and a permanent population of less than 500). For the ultra-wealthy, you can also buy Thatch Cay off the northeast coast of St Thomas. It is 230 acres in size and, last we heard, was available for $24 million. There are a few other islands, which are primarily available for day-trip snorkeling or sailing adventures, but they are unimportant for most prospective investors.
Desirability for investment – Aside from the usual Caribbean beauty and activities, the USVI have the many advantages of being US territories, including the currency, postal system, immigration and customs and the fact that there is no state income tax for those who reside here (similar to Florida, Texas, Tennessee or the like). The road system is very good by Caribbean standards, though the topography often makes for some interesting stretches of roadway, like "Scenic Road" on St Croix, which often runs atop the mountains and is frequently no more than a single-lane dirt road virtually impassable after heavy rains. Infrastructure - including electricity (primarily US 110 volt, 60 cycle), telephone, architects, developers, builders and such - are above average for the Caribbean in general. Water is typically drawn from cisterns and telephone and electricity are widely available, though known to have periodic outages. Conventional mortgages are available, though at slightly higher rates than for mainland US investments. Typical down payments are 20-30% of the purchase price.
St Thomas northern shoreline (courtesy Jamie McKee)
Activity-wise, St Thomas is well-known for its beautiful beaches and the bustling Charlotte Amalie shopping, restaurants and entertainment options. St Croix is among the very best Caribbean dive and snorkeling destinations with a good variety of conditions, including wall dives at Cane Bay. Many of these sites are protected areas ensuring the preservation of many pristine diving, snorkeling, day excursion, beach and other activity sites - among these are Buck Island, Green Cay and Point Udall. St John has its gorgeous beaches, national park areas for hiking and sight-seeing and protected areas for scuba and snorkeling activities.
ST CROIX - Several new developments are purportedly in the works for St Croix... including one by Foxwoods (the Mashantucket Pequot tribe) slated to be a 600-acre resort and casino including 400 hotel rooms. Additionally, the resort would house a marina and myriad residential options, including lots, condominiums, two golf courses, botanical gardens, etc.. There is also a projected development by a large, Russian investor rumored to be well on its way. Of note, Marriott (under its Renaissance brand) has taken-over the Carambola Resort, offering the first significant, branded resort on St Croix in some time (there is a Divi property at Carina Bay, but Divi does not enjoy the same notoriety as a Hilton, Marriott, Ritz or similar property). We believe this is particularly significant as branded resorts seem to lead large gains in infrastructure, development and overall real estate growth (e.g., Grand Cayman, St Maarten, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, etc.).
ST THOMAS - Notable condo developments and/or timeshares are Point Pleasant, Sapphire Village at Sapphire Beach, the Ritz Carlton at Great Bay, the Mandarin (golf course oriented development) east of Magen's Bay, Frenchman Bay, etc.. There are a number of high-end residential housing developments (e.g., Mahogany Run) and a fair number of - mostly less than one acre - plots of raw land available for purchase. St Thomas is in a clearly "soft" market and opportunities for buyers are definitely improving in quantity and quality.
ST JOHN - Residential options are primarily villas and homes with very few remaining raw land lots available (usually carved-out of a developed parcel). Prices are much higher evidencing a premium for the more laid-back, more pristine environment and for the scarcity of land - and for those who like the access to St Thomas' activities without all the bother.
photo courtesy Jamie McKee
The tax and land use landscape of the USVI:
Closing costs, legal fees, title insurance and the like are approximately the same as mainland US closings. There are property taxes (in theory) of about 1.25% of assessed value per annum (assessed value is fixed at 60% of actual value, so figure on about $750 per $100,000 in value). Implementation of the taxes has been haphazard at best and typically run a year or two behind. Examples of most recent taxes are $30-40,000 lots having a most recent annual assessment of $120/year.
There are no sales taxes nor state taxes (including personal income taxes).
Rental: Numerous condo developments, fractional ownerships (timeshares) and subdivisions have been springing-up on St Thomas over the last 7-8 years. Most notable are the Ritz fractionals near Red Hook, Sapphire Beach and Yacht Club developments to the northeast and in East End. Villas and homes are also frequently rented and there a number of rental management companies available to represent your condos, villas, houses, etc.. There are few significant condominium developments in St Croix and most are of very sub-standard quality by mainland or more developed island (e.g., St Thomas, Grand Cayman) standards (note: rumors of a new 20-unit development are circulating). Houses are more the norm and are available in a broad price range and location from $300,000 up. On any island, spacious, beachfront mansions garner a substantial rental rate and are often rented direct from the owner with no management fees. It is more common, however, to rent through a realtor or other agency, which may take anywhere from 20-40% in fees and offer services from simple key delivery, to full maintenance, housekeeping and marketing services.
OWNERSHIP AND TITLE INFORMATION
Ownership is typically in fee simple and very similar to typical mainland US transactions. Occasionally, one will encounter a long lease, but these are infrequent. Title can be insured, again, as is typical in the US.
Differences from one area to another - "Neighborhoods":
Realtors/MLS:
There is a fairly good MLS system on the island, though it is sometimes lacking in up to date information. A good online version is available at US Virgin Islands MLS. The largest realtors appear to be:
St Thomas - Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ReMax, David Jones, etc. (many to choose from and a good MLS);
St Croix - Farchette and Hanley, Coldwell Banker and ReMax, though a number of others have interesting listings and relationships;
St John - Holiday Homes, Islandia, ReMax, St John Properties, Cruz Bay Realty and John McCann.
Like most places, there are good and bad neighborhoods and everything that comes with them. Some areas of the islands have very little land for sale at any time - notably all of St John and the northwestern portion of St Croix. St John is just plain expensive, regardless of where you look and the variation is more mild. On St Thomas, variations tend to be from quieter to busier areas, ones more or less accessible from the airport, Charlotte Amalie and the most desirable beaches. Prices tend to vary more in St Croix and often appear virtually random in their ranges. By way of example, Judith's Fancy is a rather expensive development on the north central part of the island. It does have nice, near-constant breezes, but commands a significantly higher price tag/acre than most of the rest of the island for no apparent reason (nice neighborhood, but is not 2-5 times nicer than others, in our opinion). There are also areas around Frederiksted, which appear to be priced below market, simply because the area is not as touristy, developed or "busy" as others. There have been some reports of "bad elements"and crime in the William's Delight area in the southwest.
Homeowner's association dues and utilities are VERY expensive when compared to mainland properties (expect over $1,000/month) at most places - largely due to hurricane insurance and the higher cost of all services.
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