We still live here in CT with no intentions of moving but we did very seriously consider buying a Sint Maarten home once upon a time. A wise friend who already owned there pointed out many of the pitfalls we hadn’t considered and that was all it took to convince us it wasn’t the right move for us, much as we love the island.

It also didn’t help that on our way down that year we struck up a conversation at JFK with a couple who was making their third trip to the island in two years solely for the purpose of surveying the damage done by the latest break-in at their island home. We had already had a second home in SC and knew firsthand of some of the things that could go wrong and sadly, that ‘what if’ side of me decided there were more negatives than positives for us.