For more pictures - Click Here
|
Sugar Mill Real Estate is a small real estate company based in the charming island of Nevis in the North-Eastern Caribbean. Founded in 2000, the company’s offices are in north of the island, in the development at Cliffdwellers between Pinney’s Beach and Oualie Beach. It is owned and operated by Suzanne Gordon from the United States, and she is assisted by two part time agents, Millie from Britain and a Canadian Shirley. The name Sugar Mill comes from Gordon’s interest in traditional architecture in the Caribbean. In addition to her work in real estate she is active in conservation and she has covered the subject as a writer for many years.
The company sells property all over the island. Despite Nevis’s small size there is a reasonable stock of good houses on the island, both in terms of the number of bedrooms and in their location. Homes are not only on or near the beach. In the same way as the Nevisian plantation houses, some of Nevis’s loveliest homes are on the cooler slopes of the mountains inland. There is also variety in their styles. Some of the new developments are extremely luxurious while the older houses tend to be simpler and more traditional. The real estate market itself has changed too in recent years. Where before people built their houses largely in order to live in them, now there is a much sharper eye on investment and putting houses onto the villa rental market. Interestingly, efforts have been made over the years to maintain an authenticity in the scale and in the materials used in the construction on the island (eg not allowing too many houses of more than two storeys or too much construction in glass), and so there is a prettiness and an unobtrusiveness about many houses that suits the island well.
Houses for resale, and the occasional empty plot, appear in the ‘early’ developments at Montpelier, Zetland and Golden Rock (high above Charlestown in the southern and eastern hills), but there is more movement currently in the ‘newer’ areas on the hillsides in the North and on the west-facing slopes behind Pinney’s Beach. These include villas in the Four Seasons development, at Jessups, in the Jones Estate area and behind Oualie Beach. Other areas are continuing to open up as Nevis develops, including Fern Hill and developments beyond the airport, at Nisbet Plantation hotel and at Herbert’s Beach beyond it.
Closer to hand, at Tamarind Cove on the other side of the hill from the offices, ten extremely luxurious 4-bedroom houses are under development on the beachfront. They will have some common amenities, such as a beach pavilion, a tennis court and gym. Finally Gordon is also selling property at the Cliffdweller development itself, where her office is based. These will consist of 44 villas in total, including 16 free-standing condominium homes and 28 villas.
As an estimate on price for real estate in Nevis, for the most basic three bedroom house in the island you should expect to pay around US$500,000. The newest luxury homes can fetch as much as $4 or $5 million and an acre of raw land costs upwards of $200,000, double that in prestigious areas such as Red Hawk Ridge.
Originally from Philadelphia, Suzanne Gordon came to live in Nevis in 1997 to work on a book about Caribbean architecture. A journalist by career, she took a year-long absence from the Philadelphia Enquirer following a vacation trip as a volunteer on a historic conservation project. Like many people she fell in love with the island and decided to stay. The book (co-authored with Anne Hersh) is called Searching for Sugar Mills – An Architectural Guide to the Eastern Caribbean and was published by MacMillan Caribbean in 2005. Gordon is secretary of the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society.
She covered real estate in her writing for a long while and then in 2000 she decided to become involved in selling it too, so she set up Sugar Mill Real Estate, a full service real estate sales, rental and property management agency. She says that the fun of the job is trying to match the people with the right property, bearing in mind that they might not know what they actually want and of course that it may not actually exist on the island. She feels that it is also important to let people know the differences in buying property in Nevis from elsewhere.
‘People are captivated by Nevis. They are enthralled by the smallness and the charm of the island.’
With her knowledge and love of Caribbean architecture, it is not surprising that she has strong hopes for Nevis in the future and the ways it permits people to build.
‘The challenge’, in the opinion of Gordon, ‘is keeping development in scale with the size of Nevis, so that it remains the charming island that it is.’
Suzanne Gordon continues to write in magazines and newspapers and she is also taking a Masters in Historic Preservation. Understandably, with a writer’s eye, the love of the place and a concern for the future, her dissertation is on the subject of the preservation of sugar estates in the Caribbean. |
| ^ back to top |
Buyer’s Guide
Buying a house on Nevis is relatively easy. Non-citizens are permitted to buy land and houses on Nevis. Current government policy limits the amount that can be purchased to one-half acre per person (over 18). There are exceptions: existing homes that are more than one-half acre and subdivisions with plots of more than one-half acre.
Once you've chosen a property and signed an agreement of sale, you must apply for an Alien Land holder's License. The license is granted by the government, and usually takes a month to six weeks. The fee for the license is 10% of the purchase price.
At the time of the settlement, sellers (as of July 1, 2005) will pay a 12% stamp duty tax. This is a new law passed in 2005. For sales committed to, or settled before July 1, 2005, the stamp duty — as has been the law in the past — is split between the buyer and seller, 6% each. This means that closing costs for buyers beginning July 1, 2005, will include the 10% Alien Landholders License fee, plus legal fees of about 2%, and the government fees detailed below.
Legal Fees for Buyers (as recommended by the local bar association)
• Preparation of Purchase and Sale Sale: 1% of purchase price
• Application Fee for Alien Landholders License: US$375
• Preparation of Memorandum of Transfer
- First change US$ price in to EC$: US$ price x 2.7 = EC$ price, then follow this formula:
- 2.5% of first $25,000EC = $625 EC
- 2% of next $25,000EC = $500 EC
- 1% of balance up to $950,000 EC
- .5% of amount exceeding above totals ($1 million) = X
- Then convert it back to US using 2.6882 to the US dollar amount
Government Fees for Buyers:
• Alien Landholders Fee: 10 percent of either the actual purchase price, or the
inland revenue evaluation if that evaluation is more than the purchase price.
• Registration Fee: $7.20 EC (US$3)
• Assurance Fund: 1 EC cent for every $5 EC of price
(something like title nsurance paid to the government)
• Plot Plans: US$375 per acre if the land has to be surveyed. If buyers opt
not to resurvey, cost of copy of plans (required to be originals done by hand)
is US$65 each if the property is less than one acre.
Once the house is purchased, taxes and other expenses are quite low on the island. Many houses, once purchased, are rented out by week or by month, as vacation homes, to help cover ongoing costs. Personal items and furnishings can on a one-shot basis be brought to the island in a container duty free if the items are used. Duty will be charged on new items.
The ongoing costs of vacation home ownership typically include a property manager, a gardener, and a housekeeper for routine maintenance. Property managers charge between US$100-200 per month; garden maintenance runs about US$150-200 per month; and housekeeping services run about US$4 per hour. There will be monthly electric, water, cable, and phone charges, as well as annual property taxes. Cost estimates are US$60 per month for cable service; about US$3.70 per 1,000 gallons of public water; and electricity run about US$200 per month.
Buying a lot and hiring a contractor to build a house is one option. In that case, buyers pay the applicable taxes and fees only on the land and not the house. There are a number of good contractors on the island. Construction costs range between $150 and US$200 a square foot, and construction can take 6 months to 1 year depending on conditions and the weather. Don’t forget that the cost for materials is higher than elsewhere because of shipping, duty and consumption tax.
Status of Non-Nationals on Nevis
Foreign or alien visitors and purchasers have several options available for establishing a status to spend time on Nevis.
Alien Visitors: Alien visitors (including homeowners) who have no other status (see below) must pay $50 EC per month for the first three months, then $75 EC for each subsequent month. Visitors must hold an outward bound airline ticket. |
| ^ back to top |
Currency Transactions
When buying property abroad, it pays to consider carefully the method of transferring the money. Do not assume your bank will provide the best rates or the best service when it comes to large currency transactions. By exchanging currency at commercial exchange rates it may be possible to save a significant amount. At DefinitiveCaribbean we have a good broker to recommend.
Currency brokers HIFX plc are based in Windsor in the UK, but they also have offices in San Francisco, Australia, New Zealand and Spain. Regardless of where you live, they are happy to assist you and – with their extremely competitive exchange rates - they should save you money on your currency transfer.
The price of Caribbean property is almost always quoted in US Dollars. However with floating exchange rates, the cost to you (in, say pounds or Canadian Dollars) will continue to change as the rate fluctuates between exchange and completion. HIFX can help you to fix the exchange rate, even if you don't have all the funds available up front. You should speak to their dealers to discuss this. On single transfers they have a minimum of £5000 or equivalent in another currency, but they have a facility for regular payments abroad, which works well in the case of a foreign mortgage or a pension transfer. This is via direct debit from your UK bank and carries no transfer fees.
HIFX consultants are consistently friendly and offer a good personal service to private clients and major corporate clients alike. Whether you are the Royal Mail or Mrs Jones from Devon, the company says, its job is to save you money and to keep the transfer process as simple as possible.
To read more about HIFX please use the banner below to link to their website, which also gives access to the online currency converter (there are just a few fields to complete before you gain access).
Alternatively, HIFX have assigned a dedicated broker to help customers that come via Definitive Caribbean. Her name is Polly Summers, you may reach her by email here. Just mention our name to get the best service. If you live in the UK you may also contact her on a dedicated number at 0845 3705227. |
| ^ back to top |
Villa Sales
Please see below for a selection of St. Kitts & Nevis real estate for sale. Do bear in mind that prices fluctuate and although we do our best to keep them up-to-date, please do check with Sugar Mill Real Estate.
| | | Broad Reach
This colonial style 2 bedroom villa is part of the desirable Seaside at Cliffdwellers community with its boathouse, fitness centre, communal pool, shops, tennis courts and restaurant. Broad Reach itself is a well-maintained hillside villa with Brazilian cherry floors, mahogany-louvered doors and windows, high-beamed ceilings and a large sundeck and infinity-edge pool that invites outdoor living to enjoy the spectacular views out to sea along the western coast of Nevis.
Price: US$995,000
submit enquiry to agent for more information
  
| | | Coccoloba
At Coccoloba you will find three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms and an open-plan kitchen and living room all within tight lines and finished with Casablanca fans, Jerusalem limestone, Turkish beige marble, Zimbabwe black granite - all surrounded by wide glass, bifold doors that give almost uninterrupted views over the Grade A Teak decking and 54 foot lap pool to the sea.
Price: US$2,400,000
submit enquiry to agent for more information
| | | Seaside at Cliffdwellers
Seaside at Cliffdwellers is a traditionally inspired group of 14 villas right on the beach on the west coast of Nevis. Facilities include a boathouse, a fitness centre, a communal pool and some private pools, shops, tennis courts and a sister restaurant to Marshall’s in St Kitts – Marshall’s Nevis. Only a few homes remain available.
Price: From US$795,000
see here for more information
| | | Starchaser
Originally a 3 bedroom property, Starchaser has been upgraded by its present owners to include a guest suite on the ground floor with a 2-car garage and workshop. Upstairs there is a master bedroom with adjoining bathroom, two guest bedrooms that share a bathroom, kitchen and living room with built-in bookcases and large French doors opening onto a veranda and pool terrace. The current owners have bought extra land around the plot to safeguard the privacy and idyllic views to sea.
Price: US$895,000
submit enquiry to agent for more information
| | | Random House
This two-bedroom, three-bathroom villa lies in lush gardens above the Four Seasons Resort in the upper Jessops area. The home is bright and airy, with good outdoor and indoor living areas, a 20 foot lap pool, cable TV, high speed internet, a fully-equipped kitchen, living room, sun terrace, 12,000 gallon water tank and the rare opportunity to buy economic citizenship as part of the purchase.
Price: US$450,000
see here for more information
| | | Casa Blanca
Built in 2005, Casa Blanca is in excellent condition and is ready to move into immediately. The ground floor combines two en suite bedrooms (one with large walk-in shower, the other with Jacuzzi bath), a large, modern kitchen with central island, living room with two seating areas, a small office, a west facing veranda adjoining the master bedroom and an east facing pool terrace. There is a lower level garage with a workshop, bathroom and storage area that could be converted into a guest studio.
Price: US$650,000
submit enquiry to agent for more information
| | | Sundowner
A rare opportunity to become part of the exclusive Mahogany Hill Estates at the Four Seasons Resort, Sundowner offers five bedrooms with three and a half bathrooms, gourmet kitchen, living room with custom bar, large living room with wrap-around verandas, indoor and outdoor surround sound stereo, infinity-edge pool amongst over an acre of landscaped gardens with many private sitting areas to enjoy breathtaking views south to St Kitts and north to Mt Nevis.
Price: US$4,500,000
see here for more information
| | | Tigh-Na-Mara
Tigh-Na-Mara is a 3 bedroom villa on a hillside setting with beautiful gardens, private rock gardens, stone-walled flower beds and pathways winding around the house, only a minute’s walk to Oualie Beach. This charming, split-level house comes fully furnished with two bedrooms upstairs, a ground floor one bedroom apartment, laundry room, porch and freeform swimming pool.
Price: US$1,100,000
see here for more information
|
|
| ^ back to top |
|
Print
page
www.nevishouses.com
