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As we are staying in the townhouses right near the marina, which is one of the "lowest" areas in St James..... the storm has passed us at this point and is up past the Outer Banks already ( which got hit pretty badly ). WE had what I would call a "very heavy" storm with pretty high winds and sideways rain overnight and we only have small tree branches and bunches of pine leaves/needles scattered around outside. It's still raining and quite breezy but nothing out of the ordinary now, drove around a bit earlier and no damgae anywhere that I can see and "minimal" amounts of "flooding" ( inches at the road sides ) in some areas, they tell me that will be gone by tomorrow. Relatives and friends in NJ are bracing for what is still projected to be a direct hit late tonite/tomorrow.
As we are staying in the townhouses right near the marina, which is one of the "lowest" areas in St James..... the storm has passed us at this point and is up past the Outer Banks already ( which got hit pretty badly ). WE had what I would call a "very heavy" storm with pretty high winds and sideways rain overnight and we only have small tree branches and bunches of pine leaves/needles scattered around outside. It's still raining and quite breezy but nothing out of the ordinary now, drove around a bit earlier and no damgae anywhere that I can see and "minimal" amounts of "flooding" ( inches at the road sides ) in some areas, they tell me that will be gone by tomorrow. Relatives and friends in NJ are bracing for what is still projected to be a direct hit late tonite/tomorrow.
Thanks for the update!!
Hopefully, it will lose some steam as it trudges up the coast!
Well, most of St James is NOT in a flood plane, down by the marina and over by Beaver Creek is and the line is a bit squiggly here and there but in general the entire area is a low lying region but we did not do badly at all... in addition we did not lose power at all. My realtor and several others who have been here through 12 hurricanes in the last ten years or so say they have not lost power in any of them, all the power and cable lines are underground so downed trees on power lines ( which is the most prevalent cause for power outages ) do not bother us.... that's a good thing.
Just took a spin over to Oak Island, not much flooding over there either, some areas right at the beach are a foot or so deep but not what I had anticipated, everyone beginning to open up for business, food, gas stores are all up and running..... we were fortunate, we only experienced a big storm.
Just before all the storm prep and evacuations I had a nice visit with Stoney and his lovely missus. Looks like they are adjusting just fine! We had cocktails both inside and outside Tommy Thompsons.
I'd like to thank you for your hospitality! The bride and I moved on to Myrtle Beach for a beach wedding. Yes it did happen on the beach on Saturday at 6PM. The sun came out and the wind stopped just in time for the wedding. The worst part was late saturday night and early sunday morning while 60 or some Long Beach LI guests watched as the news reported that Irene was pounding at their home town. Glad to report that most guest came out of the storm with minimal damage. A strange fact is that much of the damage occurred more inland where low lying areas were flooded.
OK, so yes, we had a "meeting" with the canalslb´s at Tommy Thompson´s last week.... unfortunatley not much business was conducted at said meeting as the cigar smoking and imbibing of adult beverages kept getting in the way..... the belly laughing didn´t help the agenda either... apparantly you can meet some really nice people on this forum.... Gene, we shall keep a watchful eye on your lot for you and keep you informed as to its´well being.
At this moment though, we are not in St James.... after unpacking and living there for only about three weeks, unfortunately we are a bit south, just above Cancun at the Excellence Playa Mujeres resort. We return home next week ( after two punishing weeks down here, which I believe just may be a 6 -8 pounder for me ) to the drudgery of the life we have chosen for ourselves at St James. We keep going back and forth about one thing though.... which pools and beach do we like better, the ones at St James or the ones here at Excellence Playa Mujeres. The lovely commandant and I are in a quandry !
We had a chance to spend 2 1/2 days in SJP recently but between playing a round of golf and looking at property I am not sure we got a real feel for the community. We ate three time at Tommy Thompson's (with mixed reviews on the level of service) and once at The Reserve. The food was good in both places.
Since SJP is in a low lying area (although only a small part appears to be in a flood place) what experiences do homeowners have with flooding?
How bad are mosquitos? Is this an all year issue or just summer months?
If you were several years from retirement would you a) buy a home and rent it out b) buy a lot and wait to build or c) just wait until retirement to buy? My fear is waiting could mean higher home prices if real estate recovers.
Anyone have a feel for what kind of a rental market exists in SJP?
TRW.... as we only moved here the first week of August this response is only as a short timer.... BUT, regarding mosquitos, I am never bothered by them but my wife is an electro magnet when it comes to the little critters.... and we are both very pleasantly surprised that even with all the rain and high humidity throughout August and September we have not encountered many of them at all, as she just reminded me she can only remember one evening sitting by the pool that she had a few bites, which again is very unusual for her. Perhaps it is the time of year, I don't know, we also were told that we would be encountering large, marauding bands of mosquitos at all times, especially during the summer months in the heat and humidity, but we have not experienced that at all.
Regarding flooding, the morning after the hurricane passed through we drove around on an inspection tour of the area, especially the lot we have just contracted to buy, and we saw no flooding at all, large puddles creeping at the edge of many of the roadways that went away the next day but zero flooding that we could see, over on Oak Island in certain areas at the beach some roads were impassable, but we saw no flooding anywhere we looked in St James.
As far as real estate, and this is of course just personal opinion, it is a buyers market right now just like everywhere else in the country. Prices of land and/or homes can only go up in the near future ( "near" being the unkown word ). "Building costs" most likely will remain pretty constant, but the price of land or existing homes seems to be at an all time low. As far as a rental market, there are many condos and homes for rent, we got a nice one near the marina til we build, but I believe "homes" vs "condos" for rent are at a premium.
Welcome back Stoney. Did you buy the lot from the developer or as a re sale? If it was a re sale was the owner a speculator or someone who decided not to build? How much of a "hair cut" did they take on the "investment"?
We only considered re-sales. It was a short sale situation, owner in Brooklyn, I believe the husband passed away recently and that of course changed the plans of retiring down here.... they purchased the lot for $245K back in 2006..... we just purchased it for $102K..... unfortunately they took a big bath..... but that's the real estate game.
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Thanks for the update!!
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