Well I’ve been M.I.A. for quite some time on this blog… and I feel horrible about it. I’ve wanted to write in it so much, but throughout the last few years trying to buy houses, buy land, and move to St. Croix with one fail after another, I didn’t want to write another article until I was 100% sure about the direction we were headed. This last time I thought I was so sure we were building a house… and then TWO category 5 hurricanes landed in the US Virgin Islands. Boy did they turn the island (and our plans) upside down.
So you’ve already read the title of this article and know by now we’ve bought a house – but have no fear, while this blog is going to shift from a “building in St. Croix” to a “completely gutting and remodeling in St. Croix” journey, there is PLENTY to learn here none-the-less. We’ve basically bought, on the cheap after the hurricanes, a shell of a house with new plumbing, updated electrical, a roof that lasted through the storms, and an interior that hasn’t been touched since 1972, after two major hurricanes. Needless to say there is a TON of work to do here. But buying this property has saved us an estimated $250,000 to $300,000 in concrete, electrical, and plumbing costs if we were to have gotten this far (with a property this big) ourselves. In the end, this was the smarter move for building more equity quickly, and getting our dream home done on a tighter budget.
To explain why this worked out, when just a few months ago you couldn’t touch anything we were interested in for less than $750,000 (making building a somewhat feasible option), the Real Estate market tanked immediately after the storms came through. NO ONE was thinking of moving here in the last quarter of 2017 and thousands of people fled the island for the mainland leaving all sorts of deals to be had on cars, houses, and land. At the same time that the real estate market took a hit, construction materials and labor sky-rocketed as everyone on the island scrambled to start repairing their homes and businesses. Today the market is quickly recovering, and we were incredibly lucky to lock a home under contract and close on it as fast as we did. (A special thanks to Doane Dariah from Sotheby’s Realty and Michelle Nose of Leeward Island Mortgage – These ladies can get ANYTHING done!) While the market is recovering, construction materials and labor are still at an all time shortage and high.
The good news is that most of the things inside the home, such as paint, fixtures, light carpentry, tile, backsplashes and refinishing is going to be done by Shaleece and I. We’re still planning on using the contractors and draftsman I spoke of earlier in the blog to do some of the bigger items such as the pool, wrap around balcony, kitchen remodel (requires walls being removed), 2 car garage and 6th bedroom, however we aren’t in a rush to get many of these done which will help us on the costs as construction prices normalize over the next year or so. I’m also still planning to source all the materials myself to save as much as possible and GC the project overall for the most part.
I’ve got a lot to update in the next couple of days to catch you up, and if I wrote everything here this article would be the longest yet – so I’m going to leave you with some hints of topics to be covered in articles to come and some descriptions and photos of the place we’ve bought!
To be discussed in the next few days:
- The Story of Windchime and the Change of Our Villa’s Name
- $5k Already Spent at Home Depot in First 2 Days Remodeling
- Pool Design Sketched & Wrap Around Balcony Plans
- New Windows, Doors, and Shutters in the Works!
- Tiles, Granite, and Backsplashes Selected for Apartments
- Indian Furniture – Safe and Sound All the Way from India!
- Paint Colors Chosen and Painting Begun
- Meeting the Neighbors – Our First Monthly Neighborhood Brunch!
The House!
The house currently boasts a total of 5 Bedrooms with 5 Bathrooms and 2,950 square feet inside with another 1,500 square feet of living space outside. The main house consists of 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms upstairs, while downstairs we have three separate apartments, including two one bedroom apartments and one studio. The plan is to rent these units out via AirBnB, HomeAway, or VRBO when we’re all said and done with their remodel which should more than cover the entire mortgage on the property.
Estimates on the future value by multiple contractors after discussing our plans for the remodel are in the $1.2M to $1.3M range. The property was purchased for just $349,000, on a lot with this million dollar view, 200 degrees from North East to South West. We can see Buck Island, Christiansted Harbor and Round Reef, the North Shore all the way to Sugarloaf Hill and Goat Hill. Point Udall at these hills is the Eastern most point of the USA. The Featured Image at the top of this post is our Eastern view taken from our house. We can also see a large strip of the South Shore.
We’re surrounded by hundreds of acres of undeveloped land known as Windsor Forest in a community called Vista Concordia and Concordia Ridge. We’re located on the North Shore where we’ve always wanted to be, central to everything, on the “Scenic Route” of St. Croix upon the second highest mountain on the island; only second to that of the next mountain after us along the same Scenic Route. Multiple neighbors we’ve met have been on the island for 20 years, have lived everywhere from East to West, and swear this is the best location they’ve found yet. Our drive-way is about 300 feet long. The lot is breath-taking and the views this house has the potential of showing off upstairs are incredible. Most who I’ve taken to the home say that the views are of the very best they’ve seen on the island. We think so too.
Enough with the talk… Here are some photos of this horrendously dirty and out-dated house!
