I am finally a homeowner myself here in the beautiful US Virgin Islands.  AAAHHHHHHH…the wonders of homeownership.  The cleaning, the spackleing, the painting, the renting…Oh, did I mention I now have apts to rent?  Well I do. 

There is a very nice 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment on the lower level.  It has a large kitchen and is about 1000sf.   It will be available to rent Nov 1.

I am fixing up the 3bedroom, 2.5 bathroom main unit now.  It will be ready mid to end of Nov.  It also has a large kitchen, wrap around porch on the main level and a balcony on two of the bedrooms.  It is about 2600 square feet. 

Both have beautiful views from Inner Brass off Magens Bay all the way to Tortola and St John.  Windows on all sides, so there are great cross breezes!!  The house is on 8/10 acre and is mostly fenced at the end of a dead end road.  Both come fully furnished.  I will accept pets, but if the pets are not taken care of, the owner has to go!

Contact me at islandrealestate@joimail.com for more info!

When a seller puts his home on the market, he signs a listing agreement with a Realtor.  This agreement spells out what is to be expected of the Realtor and states what the seller will pay for the Realtors services.  The amount paid to the Realtor is usually a percentage of the sale price if, during the time of the listing, a “ready, willing and able buyer” is brought to the table .  A “ready, willing and able” buyer is one who wants to purchase the property after all inspections, signs a contract of sale, and is able to pay cash or obtain financing in order to conclude the purchase.  The seller is obligated to sell the house and the buyer is obligated to purchase the house once the contract has been signed by both parties if all conditions are met within the timelines set in the contract. 

The seller puts up his house as collateral and gives the buyer the right to have it inspected.The buyer puts up an earnest money deposit usually (10% of the agreed upon price) that is held in the Realtors escrow account.  An escrow release form must be signed by both parties if the sale does not go through.   Once in a while either the seller or the buyer has a change of heart and decides they do not wish to go through with the contract. 

If the SELLER does not want to sell and the buyer is “ready, willing and able”,  the buyer may request his earnest money deposit returned or, if the buyer still wants to purchase the house, he can sue for specific performance.  Specific performacne is a legal action to compel a party to carry out the terms of a contract.   The seller will still have to pay the Realtors a commission because they performed as to the listing agreement.

If the BUYER decides he does not want to purchase the house after the deadlines in the contract have expired, the seller has the option of making him purchase the house (specific performance) or keeping part or all of the earnest money deposit (minus the Realtors share) for the time the house has been off the market.  He may then put the house back on the market to try to sell to someone else.

There are certain “outs” and time restrictions built into the contract.  These were mentioned in the previous post.

There are several ways the contract to purchase a house may be cancelled.  Certain deadlines must be met and several ways of determining value that may be negotiated.

The seller must have the bound posts marked to show where the property lies if requested to do so.  I recommend Brian Moseley & Assoc www.visurveyors.com A survey is standard in the US Virgin Islands and required by lending institutions and title companies because there were no building codes or zoning laws until the 70’s.  An owner could literally have built part of his house or fence on a neighboring property. 

The buyer must have a survey and “as built” performed within seven to ten days.  An “as built” shows where the house is in relation to the rest of the property.  This is done to show there are no encroachments (see previous post) and the buyer can have clear title.

A buyer, as an option, may have a home inspection performed within the first seven to ten days of an executed contract.  I recommend Adrian Bishop at The Home Inspector abishop@homeinspect.vi This would make the buyer aware of possible faults with the house.  The buyer then has the option of requesting the seller correct the faults, renegotiating the price, or backing out of the purchase and having his earnest money deposit returned.  The seller has the option of fixing, renegotiating the price, or saying take it as is.  This clause is in consideration to the condition of the house, it is not related to encroachments and clear title.   

Next is the appraiser.  Having your house appraised is always a good idea especially if you are not familiar with prices in the Virgin Islands.  I recommend Tripp Torcia at Appraisal Associates tripptorchia@gmail.com If you are in need of bank financing, an appraisal will be required.  If the appraisal comes in at the agreed upon price or higher, the bank will probably fund the loan if you qualify.  If the appraisal comes in significantly lower than the agreed upon price, the buyer may try to renegotiate the price to satisfy the bank.  If the buyer is unable to obtain financing within the specified time (usually 30-60 days), he will have to cancel the contract.

If the seller and buyer cannot come to an agreement and both are within the timelines set in the contract, the contract may be cancelled.  If either party is outside the timelines set in the contract, the parties each have their different recourse.

 When you come to a beautiful island, you just want to relax and play in the sand and turquoise water.  No worries about making beds, cleaning dishes, cooking, or finding a place to eat out all the time with enough room for you and the kids. 

Welcome to the Ritz Carlton Club Suites.  At the Ritz Club Suites you have two bedrooms - in the master suite, a king size bed and in the other bedroom are two queens.  Twice a day maid service, and three meal presentations a day so you dont have to find a restaurant for every meal.  If you do find yourself with leftovers or if you feel like cooking, there is a bistro kitchen in the unit.  There is even a washer and dryer since you will be staying for two weeks at a time in the winter. 

Just imagine being steps from one of the most beautiful beaches on St Thomas.  When you wake up in the morning, your view is of palm trees, white sand, and water so blue and clear you can almost make out the fish swimming in the shallows from your room.

 Come on down and see what the Ritz Carlton lifestyle is all about.

For this post I would like to define two terms.  Encroachment-when a structure of any kind (a building, fence, or wall) or portion of it extends beyond the land of the owner and illegally intrudes on land of an adjoining owner.  Easement-the right given to use the land of another for a specific purpose.

A closing date was finally set for last Friday.  All three lawyers, the buyers, the sellers, the listing agent, the selling agent, a rep from the title co, and a rep from the bank were all available.  All final bills had been submitted and the HUD statement was sent out.  Thursday afternoon I received an email from the sellers atty that the seller did not want to pay the commission to the real estate agents.  Since the seller became mysteriously unavailable until Friday evening, the closing was called off.

Over the weekend the listing agent had a chat with the seller and it was my understanding that the closing would take place on Monday or possibly Tuesday at the latest depending on everyones schedules. 

On Monday the seller decided that since he still had to pay the commission, he would try to have the buyer pay for the cost of removing the encroachments to the tune of about $12,000.  In the contract it states the seller must give clear and marketable title to the buyer.  This means the property has to be clear of encroachments.  The seller is now claiming that the buyer said they would pay for removal of the encroachments.  I have a few issues with this.

1. The buyer NEVER said they would pay to have the encroachments removed. Why would the buyer offer to pay for something that was not their responsibility? 

2. This language was never written in to the contract for sale, added as an amendment to the contract, and is not in writing from the seller or the sellers atty.

3. The buyer was never given estimates, consulted as to cost, or allowed to interview the company to do the work.  Why would the buyer give the seller carte blanche with their checkbook?

4. One of the encroachments was to be given an easement.  This means that the owner of the property to the north was going to say on paper that it was ok for the rock wall to be on their property and that that part of their property now technically belongs to the owner of the property to the south. 

5. The seller spent unnecessary money he is now trying to charge to the buyer for removing the wall that was to be granted an easement. 

6. The removal of the wall reduces the value of the property.

7. When the closing was scheduled for the week before and the bank requested all final bills to be submitted, there was no mention of the buyer owing the seller $12,000+. 

8. And finally, THE SELLER IS ALREADY SUING HIS TITLE COMPANY FOR THE MONEY SPENT ON CURING THE ENCROACHMENTS!!!   He is claiming his bank allowed him to purchase the land with encroachments without telling him.

You would think the seller and his lawyer would have remembered about a bill as large as $12,000.  It was only after the seller saw the amount of money they were receiveing from the sale of the house and the commission that was to be paid that the attemt to not pay the commission was tried.  After that failed,  the seller and his atty brought this bill up.

The problem for the buyer is that even though seller put his house on the market knowing about the encroachments, and the buyer has been waiting for the encroachments to be cleared for 7  1/2 months (they are still not officially cleared),  and the buyers have kept to everything on their side of the contract, the buyers cannot make the seller sit down and sign the paperwork.  The seller can tie up the buyers earnest money deposit that is held in escrow.  The only recourse the buyer has is to sue the seller.  This means going to court and could take years to settle.