We love St John. Planning our 3rd trip, in Oct. We even thought about buying something there, but the real estate is soooo high.
We are toying with a quick side trip to St. Croix just to take a look.
Is it worth leaving our little paradise for a few days???
Thanks for any feedback...

If you're seriously considering a purchase, it's absolutely worth a look. I've been suspecting that St. Croix condos are actually undervalued right now, as the island seems to be somewhat "out of fashion."

The beaches aren't as nice as those on St. John or St. Thomas, but the island does have more of a spread-out, laid-back feel to it. You'll need to pay attention to safety issues and see how you feel about the "vibes" between local residents and mainlanders.

If you have time, take a sail/snorkel trip to Buck Island while there.

We have friends who have had a home on St. Croix for many years now and they absolutely love it. We love St. John, too, but part of what we love about St. John is the accessibility of other islands. We've been to about 5 BVI's and St. Thomas, of course. We are very much looking forward to visiting our friends on St. Croix. I can't wait to go to Buck Island! To get to St. Croix, there are flights out of St. Thomas about $150. roundtrip, and I'm not sure what the high speed ferry is now, around $65? But that takes something like a couple of hours each way. Personally, I'll go for the 25 minute plane ride.

I had the opportunity to tour some available condos on St. Croix back in April, as my parents are seriously considering making the island their retirement home. We saw some beautiful units, mainly on the east end of the island. You can get a one-bedroom for around $100K and we saw some very nice two-bedrooms in the mid $200s. One thing to keep in mind though are that condo fees are incredibly high (ranging anywhere from $600-$1000/month) for the units we viewed, as often times the fess include insurance as well. I can put you in touch with a great realtor if you're interested. Have a wonderful vacation!

I'd be interested in the name of your great realtor along with contact info. Husband & I are going to rent a villa (for the upteenth time) in St. John this fall & were talking about taking a couple day side-trip to St. Croix to look at property. We've never been to St. Croix but love St. John &, like another poster, would love to buy there but prices are out of our range; we were hoping St. Croix might be almost as nice & offer something more in our range. We are concerned about the crime though. Realtor info & any insights would be welcome.

I don't know if anyone thought of this, but St. Thomas has some very reasonable real estate. It does tend to be a "hub" in the Caribbean, but it has some very nice spots too.

Thanks for all the feedback. We are still considering. I'll share this with my hubby & he will go thru the ceiling when he sees the Condo fees. Must be hurricane insurance.
One thing he liked was the tennis club at Buccaneer.Apparently it's highly rated.
Well, it's good to hear your thoughts about it.Gives a bit more impetus.

ParadiseLover, I'll email you directly with the realtor's name, contact information and web address. The condo fees usually do include hurricane insurance. The island was decimated by Hugo in 1989 and some areas still have not recovered. One scenario that the realtor posed was if you are just using the condo as a vacation property, you can work with companies on the island that will rent out your unit while you aren't using it to generate some income and offset the condo fees. Crime was not really an issue with us. We found many of the locals to be very friendly and helpful. There was one time my mom made a wrong turn as we were driving to dinner in downtown Christiansted after dark and ended up in an area that was a little scary. I think that if you exercise common sense and are aware of your surroundings, you'll do just fine.

Vacationed in St. Croix this past Dec. Love everything about the island. spent 2 weeks with the kids , rented a car and explored the island. Very pretty, had no problem with locals, no obvious crime. Thought real estate was worse then NY prices, but there sure are plenty of retired folks from the states living there. Hope the island does not lose it charm when the cruise ships start rolling in.

Barginhunter, what makes you think the cruise ships will start rolling in?

They used to roll in, in quantity, but all of the major cruise lines dropped St. Croix from their itineraries in the past 2-3 years.

Do you know something we don't?

They were getting Frederiksted ready while we were there. It was the talk of thier radio. All the shops along the waterfront are getting a facelift, they are redoing the roads there. It is no secret it is well publised and highly anticipated to some in the government that are pushing for it. Amoung the people there are very different views. If looking for property I would stay to the East end, which is breathtaking as well. I forget which cruise line it was but they were already looking to schedule more ships arrivals. In fact while we were there the first ship in along time came into port. Unfortunatly for those aboard the dock was not finished and they had to be boated in some groups at a time. So yes my information is firsthand, not what I heard.

There is a huge push right now to get cruise ships back to St Croix. Some stop there from 8pm - midnight and then leave. The cruise lines basically had pulled out since there is more crime in St Croix than the other USVIs. They are really trying to get their acts together there so more cruise ships will come in and for longer periods. This is not a rumor this is what is happening there.

Can you imagine after paying for a cruise which ports in St. Croix, to find your only to be there from 8pm till midnight. You would miss the whole beauty of the island. I guess it a good thing for the island though, cruise ships do seem to wreck the feeling you get while traveling. When think about any island you go to, where ever the ships dock that is where you tend to avoid. I know the island thinks it will help there economy. It is such a beautiful island with so much to offer I think more advertising would bring in more tourists without the ships.