All Forum Posts by: Christos Dimopoulos

@Carolyn Morales

Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience in St. Thomas that day. I do not think its fair to judge the entire island off of one day and night's airport experience. Let's not badmouth the entire island based on this and be reasonable here. There is so much more to offer! Some of the most exclusive and beautiful experiences right down island in St. John and the BVI are right at your fingertips in St. Thomas. That is something St. Croix will never be able to compete with. I wouldn't be holding my breath on Fredrickstead coming close to the level of cruise ships that Charlotte Amalie brings in anytime soon either despite the steps they have made on the tourism front.

I would feel much more comfortable counting on Hovensa and the potential telecom hub bringing jobs to STX though (eventually), and I do think it has the potential to be a great opportunity for single-family home investors. Nonetheless, here is a word of caution to any investors: things tend to move very slowly in the VI, so do not expect that simply because there is talk of these businesses coming to the island, that they will come in any sort of timely manner. That is just the way it is in our beautiful islands, we move on island time.

Disclaimer: Biased St. Thomian here (haha)

Good points on Hovensa opening back up and bringing jobs to the island Carolyn. The question is how long can St. Croix keep them there this time around. Also regarding the tourism portion being there, it is not close to the degree as St. Thomas and St. John right now. It is speculative to say that it will back around in St. Croix when the island continues to see cruise ships skip the island as a port of call and St. Croix's recent track record in the tourism department.

With all that being said, people who live there love it, and the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands is attempting to right the ship. I am rooting for St. Croix to live up to its great potential, but it is just not as sure a thing as the already established industry in St. Thomas and St. John.

Also, I am unsure of the timeline on the communications hub coming to St. Croix, Bart. Things tend to move very slowly in the VI, so I would not bank on that happening in the near term from an investor perspective.

@Bart Libsock Property in the USVI is considered like kind from a 1031 exchange standpoint. I grew up in St. Thomas, and would recommend investing in St. Thomas or St. John over St. Croix as a long-term investment. St. Croix's economy (mainly tourism product) has not been as strong as the other two islands.

@Roy N. Fair enough. My apologies on reading too much into your post there. I hope it cycles back around sooner than later for you and all of our other friendly neighbors to the north!

@Roy N. That seems plausible, but also speculative to me as no one knows how long it will take for oil to come back around. You are adding risk to the investment by banking on this occurring, or at least, the timeframe in which this would occur. I think the answer here comes down to how long-term of an investment this would be, and your risk tolerance. There is certainly a potential major upside due to the favorable exchange rate taking USD and converting and investing with CAD but with that brings additional risk.

My opinion is that the safer bet is USD, but I tend to be more conservative in my endeavours. To each their own!

@Account Closed What statistics you are looking at? This 10 year historical graph of the USD vs the CAD shows a clear trend that the USD is gaining value over the CAD now:

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=CAD&view=10Y 

I personally have worked with numerous real estate investors that live in Canada that prefer to invest in the US.

Nonetheless, investment decisions are your own and I wish the both of you the best of luck in your investments wherever they may be.

I feel better about the US Dollar long term vs the Canadain Dollar. Thus, I would feel much better about investing in the US. You wouldn't want to end up in a situation where you are wanting to sell and the Canadain Dollar isnt worth much and you lose some of your return to the exchange rate. It can be a significant hit.

@Eddie T. They continue to rise (15%+ this year!). It of course all depends on the type/size/location of the house you are wanting to buy. Everyone has their own preferences on the area they like depending on their own situation. I would say the median has now gotten to $175k - $200k.

Dallas is a great market even though prices seem to just keep going up here due to the shortage of housing. The job growth over the long term is driving the increase, in my opinion, and it is sustainable growth. Texas, in general, has proven to be a good state for real estate investment over the long term.

I think this is a great idea. I would look for a duplex deal that would potentially pay for your side of the duplex and be able to live for free. If you could cash flow beyond that point, that's an added bonus. This will give you some experience in real estate investing and is a great way to learn. With the experience gained, you could then move on and start investing in more real estate and start cash flowing more! Good luck!