Blue Sky Real Estate is all About St. Croix and the islands!  We are sharing the island life with you - so bookmark this page or like us on facebook.

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I came across an interesting statistic today - over the last 12 years, the net worth of the typical home owner has ranged between 31 and 46 times that of the net worth of the typical renter!  Now I always knew owing a home far outweighed renting but had no idea of the degree to which owning outweighed renting. 


With interest rates so low, historic lows actually, owing a home makes even more sense.  For example, if you financed $200,000 for a home with a 30 year fixed mortgage with a 5.5% interest rate, your monthly payments (excluding taxes and insurance) would be $1,135.58 and your total interest paid over the life of the loan equals $208,806.90!  But if you were to finance the same amount today at a 4.1% interest rate, your monthly payments would be $966.40 and your total interest paid over the life of the loan would amount to $147,901.64.  That's a savings of $60,905.26!!!

If you already own a home, then it makes sense to think about purchasing investment property. Property management has its own challenges and isn't for everyone. But for those investors who have the capacity to either hire a property manager or manage a property themselves, the attractive rates of return from rising rental income is a strong lure. Rents rose at a better than 3 percent annualized rate in the third quarter of 2011, according to government data, and private data sources suggest even faster rent growth. Nor is there any reason to believe this rent growth will cool given the favorable demographics of a rising number of young adults over the next 20 years and a high number of "foreclosed" homeowners who cannot buy in the near term. If annual rent gains remain near 3.5 percent, rents will double in 20 years. If the rents rise 5 percent a year, rents will have doubled in 14 years

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Blue Sky Real Estate's Loni McGackin - on Fire Hooping

Fire hooping was something that had never even occurred to me to try.  Sure, as a child I mastered the art of keeping the hula hoop around my waist for a seemingly endless amount of time (as all time seems for children), but adding fire to a ring around my body?  Not so much.  In fact, the first time I had ever seen anyone play with fire (on purpose) was not until I was living in Sydney, Australia at the age of 28.  Street performers in downtown Sydney often wowed passers-by with acts that seemed to defy human capability.....or so I thought until now.  When I picked up a hula hoop a week and a half ago at Cane Bay beach with wicks attached, all I could feel was excitement coursing through my body.  Never before in my life had I done anything so potentially dangerous (ok, maybe that is not entirely true but never before in my life had I danced with fire), and my friend/inspiration looked so fluid - so exotic dancing with fire that I could not help but be enamored. So, after an hour of hula practicing sans fire, I felt that I needed to try.  Before I knew it, I was standing in a ring of fire and hooping away!  It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before and I knew then that my life was forever changed. After that night, I participated in three performances with Kiki and the Flaming Gypsies and have continued to improve with each movement and performance.  I am looking forward to continuing with this newfound passion of mine and I hope I never forget the day that I gave my life over to fire. Kiki has open hoop practices for anyone daring enough to play with fire or simply have a fun work-out!  We meet on Wednesdays (not every Wednesday) around 6 pm at Cane Bay beach.  For more information and to find out when our practices or performances will be, give me a call at 340.642.5488.