Team Fedeles, Author at David Fedeles, St. Croix Real Estate

We ❤️ St. Croix

February 14, 2018 by Team Fedeles

Love is in the air. Last week’s Valentine’s Day Jump Up was filled with wonderful energy, bustling vendors, fantastic music, and smiling people. The island’s many top-notch restaurants are serving special menus featuring wine pairings and tantalizing desserts. Our friend Wendy of GoToStCroix.com recently shared her love letter to St. Croix and is encouraging others to share what they love about St. Croix on Facebook this month.

Speaking of our incredible restaurants, St. Croix was included on Caribbean Journal’s list of The 18 Best Islands to Visit in the Caribbean in 2018, in large part due to our food scene. The feature mentions some of our favorites, like Zion Modern Kitchen, Uptown Eatery and Savant, as well as a shout out to The Fred. Caribbean Journal also showcased The Fred in The Renaissance of Frederiksted, St. Croix.

David spent a few days in January in San Juan for the Region 5 REALTOR Leadership Conference. He was inspired by Elena Delgado of the Puerto Rico Association of Realtors who talked about our resilience persevering through Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The state leaders prepared more than 50,000 meals that were delivered to families in the mountains where they are still without power or water.

In early January, the New York Times ran an article with the headline: Power Is Restored to Most of U.S. Virgin Islands After Hurricanes, Officials Say. The article had some fascinating statistics about power recovery. The background photo here is of Keith from Atlantic City, the lineman who restored power to David’s house!

If you follow us on Facebook, you’ve seen that we’ve had some fabulous new listings hit the market. If you’ve been thinking about selling, now is a good time as buyers are eager to see new inventory and, as you’ll see on the Market Watch below, homes are selling for more compared to last year.

Finally, if you’re planning your next visit to St. Croix, check out the St. Croix Calendar for where the fun is on island. Coldwell Banker St. Croix Realty recently took over the calendar. You can even subscribe to receive weekly emails listing upcoming events.

Warm regards,
The Fedeles Team

Winterizing Your Home in the Caribbean

January 8, 2018 by Team Fedeles

Inspired by this home improvement article — Don’t Put a Freeze on Home Maintenance! Your Handy Winter Checklist Is Here — on Realtor.com, we thought a blog about winterizing in the Caribbean would be fun. Well, to be honest, at first we just thought it would be funny! But after reading the article, we realized they have some great tips, even for the Caribbean. We don’t necessarily hibernate here in the winter, but carving out time away from the beach for these tasks is just as difficult!

The first point in the article is the most pertinent — Get ready for (more) ~~winter~~ storms. Our reasons might not be the same, but getting ready for future storms is important. And the best time to prepare for a catastrophe is before it happens. Especially now that hurricane preparedness is top-of-mind, think about the ways that you could have been more prepared. Make a checklist of the things you’ll want to do real-time when you’re anticipating a storm in the future and purchase the supplies that you might need now, rather than waiting. Trust us, it will be much easier to buy or order a tarp now!

The article specifically mentions making sure your generator is working (which most of us surely know at this point in time!) and to stock up on batteries for flashlights and lanterns. It also recommends a solar- or battery-powered weather radio — another necessity for island living.

Of course, we’ve all been removing broken limbs from our properties. Not because we’re worried about them getting too heavy with snow though! Making sure that no broken or dead limbs can fall on power lines, your house, your belongings or your neighbor’s property is a good way to prevent unnecessary destruction.

Per Realtor.com’s suggestion, now is a good time to remember to clean your oven. Again, we may not need to do this in the winter for the same reasons, but it should be done on a regular schedule and what easier time to remember than at the start of a new year. For the same reason, and definitely not because we’re worried about our space heaters, you may also change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

Whether you run an A/C and keep windows and doors closed or you prefer open-air living, checking for allergens is also a good idea. Cleaning dust build-up on fans and alleviating any opportunities for mold are two good steps to take. Allergen-resistant mattress and pillow covers are also effective ways to protect your home from potential allergens.

As for blocking drafts and preventing pipes from freezing, we’ll leave those tasks to our stateside friends, who might also want to consider adding “plan a trip to St. Croix” to their to-do lists!

Holiday Cheer from the Fedeles Team

December 14, 2017 by Team Fedeles

This year on St. Croix, holiday cheer has more than one meaning. In addition to the spirit of the season, daily we see fellow islanders cheering when their power is restored! WAPA and Governor Mapp are steadfast on their goal of 90% restoration by Christmas (they’re at 50% now).

We’re delighted to welcome Stephanie Schoyer to Team Fedeles. She and I have a long history as friends and colleagues, and she has an even longer history with St. Croix. Her knowledge of the island and experience as a professional photographer will be wonderful assets to our team.

On November 30, we closed on the sale of the King Christian and Company House Hotels. The properties are part of the Caravelle Hotel & Casino’s commitment to the revitalization of downtown Christiansted. We’re looking forward to seeing their renovations over the course of the next year.

American Airlines is expanding their service to St. Croix. Effective December 15 there will be two daily flights from Miami.

So, as you can see, no hurricane can take away our holiday cheer. Thank you for being part of our year-round cheer through your business and referrals. Wishing you a lovely holiday and the very best in 2018!

New Addition to Team Fedeles

December 13, 2017 by Team Fedeles

It’s the holiday season and this year we received a wonderful gift: the addition of Stephanie Schoyer to Team Fedeles. Stephanie and I have known each other for a long time and I’m just thrilled that she’s joined our Coldwell Banker St. Croix Realty family.

Stephanie’s Bio

Stephanie Schoyer has a long history with David Fedeles and an even longer one with St. Croix! Born and raised on St. Croix, she attended Miss Porter’s School for Girls in Farmington, CT, and after graduation returned home where she raised a family.

In 1998, she began working with David as his licensed assistant for 10 years. She then went on pursue her passion for photography full time and eventually moved to Lake Charles Louisiana to be closer to one of her sons and grandchildren.

After three years (and with another winter fast-approaching) Stephanie decided to give into the urge to return home, packed up her cameras, bug spray, flashlights, sense of humor and hopped on a plane.

Stephanie is thrilled to be a part of the Fedeles Team again. She is so proud of how resilient her fellow islanders are, eager for the re-building/powering-up process to continue and ready to share her vast knowledge and love of St. Croix with both buyers and sellers.

Caravelle Hotel Expanding Operations in Christiansted

December 6, 2017 by Team Fedeles

As part of their commitment to the revitalization of downtown Christiansted, the owners of Caravelle Hotel & Casino have acquired the King Christian Hotel and Company House Hotel. Team Fedeles was honored to have been part of the sale and are thrilled with Caravelle’s role in making Christiansted even better.

CRG Holdings, LLC, acquired the 44-room Caravelle Hotel in 2015. They underwent $2.5 million in renovations and opened in February 2016.

Also in 2016, they partnered with VIGL Operations, LLC, to manage and operate the addition of a casino to the hotel. One requirement of the casino license is that the hotel have a minimum of 75 rooms. With the recent purchase, the hotel now offers 124 rooms

VIGL plans to undergo further renovations from May through September 2018 to repair damage caused by Hurricane Maria. For now, all three properties are open and accepting guests.

King Christian Hotel

King Christian Hotel, located at 59 King’s Wharf, Christiansted, St. Croix. The 44-room hotel overlooks the Caribbean Sea and historic sites including the Scale House, Fort Christiansvaern and the Customs House.

Company House Hotel

Company House Hotel, located at 2 Company Street in Christiansted, St. Croix. The 36-room hotel is steps from the Steeple Museum, Fort Christiansvaern, and the park.

Caravelle Hotel

Caravelle Hotel & Casino, located in historic Christiansted, is an easy-access Caribbean destination for U.S. citizens. Following a $2.5 million renovation in 2016, the waterfront hotel’s fresh new look incorporates natural stone flooring, bright open spaces and an on-site casino. The 44-room European-style waterfront hotel blends Old World elegance with 21st-century service and amenities including complimentary WiFi, an outdoor swimming pool, sun decks and an award-winning restaurant. Call 800-524-0410 to make a reservation or to request information.

All three hotels, Caravelle Hotel & Casino, Company House Hotel and King Christian, are walking distance from shops, restaurants, galleries, historic landmarks, as well as adventures including fishing, diving and sailing charters which depart from the boardwalk that both Caravelle Hotel and King Christian overlook.

Giving Thanks for all we have on St. Croix

November 20, 2017 by Team Fedeles

This year our list of things we’re thankful for may sound a little different than usual. We’re thankful for cell service and the internet. Leaves returning to trees and flowers starting to bloom. The hum of our generator. The thousands of aid workers helping our island recover. Hot soup and cold showers. The linemen who are working tirelessly to restore power. Some of us are even thankful for power!

The conversation around our Thanksgiving dinner table may sound a little different too. Animated stories of that fateful night — everything from “Remember that sound?!” to “Yes, I actually did doze off…” Memories from just last month when we stood in line for an hour to fill a 5-gallon gas can for the generator. The joy and awe we have for lush green landscaping that seemed impossible just two months ago.

There are now more than 700 linemen from the States in the USVI working to restore power. Downtown Christiansted and Frederiksted are both energized, as is Gallow’s Bay, where our office is located. The Virgin Islands Water & Power Authority (WAPA) does a great job at posting frequent progress reports on Facebook and their web site. Last we heard, more than 17,500 customers have had service restored territory-wide.

A few weeks ago, I shared an article on Facebook about government negotiations for a multibillion-dollar energy investment from the Chinese oil and gas major player Sinopec that would bring thousands of new jobs to the US Virgin Islands and Texas. This week, The Virgin Islands Consortium is reporting that Limetree Bay is seeking a permit to expand their marine terminal to accommodate very large bulk fuel carriers. This is very good news (dare we say “huge”) for St. Croix.

As for the real estate market, we’ve already welcomed “new lookers” to St. Croix, who hope to take advantage of some new “bargains” as they come on the market. We are patiently waiting to hear from insurance and FEMA adjusters, as it is a slow process. This will have some impact on pricing as we gauge how it might impact a Seller’s bottom line if they suffered some damage. We did get our first price reduction as a result of some minor “scrapes and scratches.” Check out The Aerie, which was just reduced to $299,000, and is being sold “AS IS.” As I said in our last E-News, I still expect some slight dip in pricing, probably by as much as 15%.

The Frederiksted Pier is home to a cruise ship housing a few thousand recovery workers. We expected our first tourist cruise ship on Saturday, November 11, but it was diverted to St. Thomas. We were pleased to welcome the Viking Sea, kicking off our cruise ship season on Wednesday, November 15.

We’ll leave you with this stunning video of Shoys Estate that includes one of our new listings. See for yourself how nature has rebounded! And, if you’re in the market for a property that weathered the storm beautifully, check out 165 Anna’s Hope. There’s another video that shows the incredible beach that’s a short walk away. If you’re here on St. Croix now, we hope you feel thankful for the beauty that surrounds us. If you’re elsewhere, we hope you can feel our warm well wishes from wherever you are.