Hello.

I seems that my family and I will be relocating to the French part of St.Martin at the end of September this year. Could you please give me an indication of a possibility to rent a house for a long term? All websites advertise the holiday rentals only while we need a family place to live. We are looking for a 2/3 bedroom house with an access to the swimming pool, unfurnished but with fitted kitchen. Are any such places around? How much do they cost?

I would be eternally grateful for any scraps of info.

Monika

There are Remax realtors on the island that may be able to assist you. I believe they are on both sides of the island. If you need an e-mail address, I can provide you with one and a person you can speak to. They would most definitely help in your search.

you could subscribe to The Daily Herald, full online version, and browse the classified section, I think its 119 a year. Or work with a realtor, I'm sure they handle long term rentals. Good luck

I think the OP said "the French part of St Martin" so I don't beleive the daily Herald would be any help in finding a rental on the French side, neither Remax which is more Dutch side oriented and Maike who'is the Remax Person in charge of long term rental handle only the Dutch side.
I would recommend to get in touch with a Realtor on the French side like Cap Caraibe, Sprimbart,or anyone listed on the link I am attaching.
However be ready to realised it would not be so easy to find something at reasonable rate, specially if you are not French Citizen (and even if you are European or come down here under contract whatsoever, it's another topic), because you won't get access to the defiscalisation house rental program, and the very large majority of the long term rental now on the French side are under this program. Why you won't have acces to it, just because they ask proof of FRENCH income tax receipt from the two past years and you must be under (and above..) a certain level of income. Anything else outside this program is relatively expensive. Under this program you can get a two bedroom house with yard and a pool for 950 Euros (about $1550 with the actual rate exchange). Contact those agent they all speak english, sure you will get your answers. But shop around, don't jump on the first offer...

http://www.sxmsaintmartin.com/locations-saint-martin/agences_immobilieres.php

Kind Regards,
Philippe



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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2008 09:00AM by Tabba Khady.

Thank you, Kim.

Indeed it would be great to have an email address and a name of a helpful person. Can you post it for me?

Thank you in advance.

M.

I wanted to add that Appartement are usually cheaper than house, and sometime, paradoxly, furnished is also cheaper than un-furnished (for the only reason is that furnished rental are short or medium term rental contract renewable as many time you and/or the landlord wish, than the unfurnished is automatically long term (3-6-9 years) contract.)

Kind Regards,
Philippe



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Monika,
Do consider living on the Dutch side. May be cheaper than the french side. I know lot's of French people that live on the Dutch side and travel for work.
From Cole Bay it is only minutes to Marigot.
Cheers
irina
Try Simpson Bay Yacht Club.
Contact Dieter at Sunshine-Properties.com

Thank you and merci beaucoup.

Seeing that you know much more than I do about this corner of the world I should probably explain my situation a bit and then ask for advise. My husband is to lead a brand new WHO/USAid project in the region of Caribbean. We are to choose a location ourselves as long as a place is both within Caribbean AND EUropean Union. That gives us the choice of Martinique, Guadeloupe or St. Martin. He (being English) does not speak any French at all and fears dealing with totally French spoken environment. I do speak French rather fluently (although I am Polish, practically bilingual with English as the second language) but not enough to feel comfortable while confronted with any type of officialdom. All in all St. Martin looks like a better option. Especially that it offers education in English which is something we are looking for for our 4 years old child and which we could not find a trace of at the others COM/TOM.
So what do you think? Martinique, Guadeloupe or St.Martin?

PS. I do realise that no rental will come cheap over there as the area is this attractive for tourists. We are not French so we will not get any price reduction-on the other hand we do get a subsidy from my husband's employer so the rent may prove bearable. Anyway at the moment we live in the South of England and the property prices here are mad so we are kind of used to..

Thank you for all the help until now.

M.

I think that St martin will be the best option for you then, than Guadeloupe or Martinique. the very large majority in St Martin French side do speak english, since Historically the islnd is an "anglophone" island. Education is in both language, French and English, and I do understand that you want to give an English education to your child, however, on the otherhand, realise that at his age it will be a great (and easy) opportunity to learn right away a second language. At the age of 4, children are like "sponges" they learn very fast and it is definitly the best time to learn two language. Keep that in mind. He would be able to speak English at home and with friend and familly, and at school he will be able to speak French, which could open him a lot of doors in the future. I take for example many sxm children, including my niece and nephew who are born here, they are French speaking kids because they went to french school adnd because we are French, but they also speak fluently English because the language is spoken everywhere in the street at local levels, and many of their friend are English speaking primary (but do also speak French) so exchanges in both languages are very common. this is what make St Martin a very unique and interesting place to live.

Kind Regards,
Philippe



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Just out of curiosity since I am not familiar with this, does this mean that the Dutch side of SXM is not part of the Eurpoean Union? Maybe Philippe, you can clue us in. And thank you Monika for clarifying your situation. It makes things easier to help you if we can.

And yes Philippe you are so right. Learning a second language at that age is painless. Not like me who has been trying for 3 years now and all I can truly say comfortably is Bonjour.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2008 11:44AM by John.

The Dutch side if SXM as it is currently is a semi-autonomous art of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. We have our own currency and our own laws. We carry a Dutch passport but as a semi-autonomous entity and part of the Netherlands Antilles we are not technically part of the EU.
That may change within the next year or so as we work on a new separate status.

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Thank you again.
As Barbara says above Sint Maarten are not a part of EU due to their autonomy status.

When it concerns the child: she already does speak two languages (Polish at home and with my family, English at school and at other out of the house situations). Our wish to offer her the education in English stems rather from the fact that none of us would be able to help her out with the French one. As I said my husband does not speak it at all and I do but I would not venture as far as writing or doing anything official. Additionally we have only 5 years contract and then probably will be moving again, most probably to an English spoken place. We thought that it would be better if she had an English school and just picked up French in the streets or from her new friends (at least we hope she will have some).
Is it possible for us as EU citizens to have an office in the French part but a house in the Dutch one? Would it be officially allowed?

And one last question in this post: can one live on this island without a driving license? I cannot drive but if it this necessary I will try to learn..

M.

Thanks Barbara...I always like to learn at least 1 thing new each day so you've helped me with my quota.><

If you are officially legal on the French side, I don't think it would be a problem if you live "un officially" on the Dutch side. I said "un officially" because you won't be legally a resident of the Dutch Side since your paper will allow you to live legally on the French side... Sounds complicated, but it is two different country, that's why. I know many of french Legal Resident who "reside" un officially on the Dutch side and even sometime own property there. I was one of them for many years and never encountered any problem in this regards. Legal resident of one side have freedom of movement on the otherside. As long as you belong to one side, they really don't care (IMO) where you really live physically. NOw sometime, some professional contract impose for some reason the obligation to "reside" (live physically) on a particular geographic area for substancial financial aid. I though it may have been your case. If your husband employer don't really care where the house they are paying for (or at least a part of the rent) is located, then I don't think you should have any problem.
Now about the driving license... well, the island is small, but public transportation, even though it improved over the years, is not a perfect system, and the distance are not so short. You always can have the solution of using a scooter, but I wouldn't recommend it, since it is not really sfe to be on two wheels on sxm roads, and that scooter are being stolen pretty easy. If you have the opportunity, I would recommend that you learn how to drive and get a driving license. It will be also easier for you to bring (and pick) you child to school. But after it's all personal choice. I cannot see myself living here without a car.. Barbara ..do you? (I know you like to drive over the hill when that's rush traffic hour ...)

Kind Regards,
Philippe



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live on SXM without driving?? hardly!
it is next to impossible unless you have an extremely willing husband (like my girlfriend has) or other family members who will escort you where and when you want to go.
Public transportation is not reliable nor timely.

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