St. John Economy on Downhill Slide

[PA Girl]

http://www.vipropertyrevaluation.com/

Caution, it can be a HUGE time waster. I spent one afternoon looking up all sorts of houses!

I'm threadjacking this a little bit, but how do you find the parcel information and stuff so you can look up a property? I don't know the addresses of the rental properties we've stayed at. I know them as "Make a left at the chicken and go up the hill"

It is hard to explain, sort of.

The property that we rented in 2008 is listed for sale, as are several others in the neighborhood. I found the tax parcel number for one and started searching from there. One listing had a copy of the tax map.

Because I worked in/around the assessment business for several years, I know (generally) how parcels are numbered and how the data bases work. Once I had a valid parcel number, it was easy for me to use a combination of PIN and addresses to review property records.

If you are really bored/noisy/interested (like me), I can try to find one for you. Once you see how to enter the information (addresses are tricky), it is easy.

[pipanale]

PA Girl, you sound like my kind of lunatic. And, to boot, I'm in PA this week.

What do you need? I'd like to see the valuation on the villa Peace O'Heaven. It's on Pocket Money hill, more or less across the street from Cruz Views.

I'd love to see what the property is worth. I have a friend with a stack of lottery tickets!

[Lulu76]

I was thinking that less building on STJ wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, myself...

Of course the economy is in the dumps. It's in the dumps anywhere that takes the U.S. dollar, which is barely worth the paper it's printed on.

I do want the St. Johnians to succeed, just like everyone else. But super-rich people building their mega mansions aren't the answer.

[tjwgrr]

I do want the St. Johnians to succeed, just like everyone else. But super-rich people building their mega mansions aren't the answer.

But us mainlanders renting the super-rich's multi-million dollar villas and spending our money on the island do help the residents of St. John.

[Lulu76]

Oh, don't get me wrong. I was just doing my budget for our trip, and I'll be pumping plenty of money into the economy. I just think that if people don't slow the new construction down that the island will become dreadfully over-developed and commercial and not much of a respite for any of us.

[PA Girl]

Pinanale - I narrowed down the map number but need a physical address, owners name, or the name of neighboring properties, one in the area listed for sale would be especially helpful as I can often work backwards from a listing.

the tax records generally don't have house names in any of the fields. I did find a few exceptions like 2B in Peter Bay, which is how this whole lunacy started.

[Berlingirl]

Agree with sailorgirl...it will be getting worse in lots of places before it gets better, no place is immune. I know that the folks who can afford to build on STJ probably aren't taking big hits like the majority of us who are more in the boat of paycheck to paycheck, but the proof is certainly there. The numbers of sales and building permits are down, but they are down everywhere. Maybe the prices on STJ have peaked. Who knows? Prices on the Maine coast haven't taken a hit, but anywhere out of sight of water, the prices are way down and nothing is selling or moving. I know lots of people are getting ready to go into survival mode soon here in New England. Just paid off one winter and another is coming around the corner...

[pipanale]

Pinanale - I narrowed down the map number but need a physical address, owners name, or the name of neighboring properties, one in the area listed for sale would be especially helpful as I can often work backwards from a listing.

the tax records generally don't have house names in any of the fields. I did find a few exceptions like 2B in Peter Bay, which is how this whole lunacy started.

Jeesh...it must have an address,but all I can say is "Make a left right before Cruz Views". However, it is right "above" some complex that, from the sign, seemed to maybe be for Jehova's Witnesses...or Masons...or something

The owners are Ruth Ellen and Captain Magic.

With that blast of uselessness I shall show myself the door.

[PA Girl]

The owners are Ruth Ellen and Captain Magic.

Hmmmm. Nothing under Captain Magic but I did find information for Spider Man. Sorry, I couldn't help myself!

I found two possibilities, one at $968,900 (built in 2005) and the other at $1,064,000 (built in 1969)

BUT since I have no idea how they set the assessed values, I caution anyone to use AVs as a price gauge.

In my local area, a number of counties recently reassessed (sp?) and assessed value was set at 100% of market value. The values, with few exceptions, were very, very close to reality.

On STJ, I would have my doubts.....

[pipanale]

If you're in the neighborhood, it's the 1969. Since I stayed there in 2004, I doubt it's the 2005 unless I had some weird dream vacation or something

[petepie]

I quickly looked at the database and maybe I'm missing something, but some of the tax bills didn't look so bad--around $2000-$2500 per year?

[dehman]

You are right, the tax bills aren't bad at all yet.. they are tryng to raise the rates substantially so we will see. After finishing our (I have a bunch of partners) building project I would love nothng more than all building to cease!!!!- how selfish is that?! Not all people that build houses there are rich millionaires- they may just be adventurous nuts like us! Any tourism, no matter where they stay is good for the island and maybe it will prevent some more of the businesses from closing and create some tax dollars. It sounds like the head of tourism is working to keep it going so lets keep our fingers crossed.

[petepie]

Figured out that you can use the % sign as a wildcard in searches, so if you search on "%CHOCOLATE HOLE" it will return all parcels with the name "CHOCOLATE HOLE" in them.