Villa Devine, Fish Bay closed last week

I am still a firm believer that you cannot build a house in this current market for less than you can buy an existing structure. Don’t get me wrong, if you want to invest in a piece of land to hold on to, well this is clearly the time to invest in land. But if you want a house and are considering building, I just don’t think you can build for less than an existing structure. Maybe you just can’t find a house/view you like. Well than building new is a good choice for you. I strongly suggest taking a good look at the houses currently on the market and make sure there is nothing out there that will do. Let’s take the Fish Bay property that just closed last week for example (above photo).  New construction, lots of square footage in this 5 bedroom, 6.5 bathrooms with pool and smaller view into Fish Bay with interior square footage 4,317 & exterior 4,600 for a total of 8,917 square feet and we’ll use the price divided by the total sq ft just for a general, baseline comparison. This property was first listed 11/08 for $3,200,000 or $360 psf. It was reduced to $2,100,000 at the time it went under contract or $236 psf and it closed for $1,830,000 or $205 psf.  I’m not a contractor but I don’t believe you can build something today on St. John for that price. Still not convinced??? lynngiovanna@gmail.com  cell phone 340-344-1825.

From beautiful St. John, USVI, have a sunny day! Lynn