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"Isle take it ", by Jayne M. Blanchard, STYLE, April 2004
Buying your own island isn't as difficult as you may think. You just need an adventurous spirit- and some spare cash.
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The view behind your house used to be thickets of trees. Now it is the hind end of a Super Wal-Mart. Children once played freely on your quiet suburban street. Today, even the squirrels hack up a tiny lung from SUV exhaust due to the constant stream of traffic. Fed up with the sprawl, you flop down on the sofa and dream about getting far away from civilization on your own private island. White, sandy beaches, the shush-shush of palm trees, waves lapping gently at your ankles as you sip a mango mojito to from a halved coconut.
Buying your own island is not as outrageous a notion as you might think. Certainly some are big-ticket items: the small paradise off the coast of Costa Rica that goes for $1.5 million; Florida's Blue Creek Private Island (five acres for $12 million); Hatchet Cove in Belize for $3.9 million; and Australia's Keswick Island, which can be yours for a cool $22 million. That's the territory of millionaires and movie stars-Nicolas Cage, Brooke Shields and Marlon Brando count themselves among the celebrity ranks of island owners. But there's also a one-acre island off the coast of Nova Scotia for a paltry $18,000, two acres off the coast of Maine that can be had for $269,500, a fixer-upper near Nicaragua for $450,000 (includes two rustic cabins, electricity and water) and the 186-acre Jenkins Island in British Columbia that's available for a little more than $l million. There was even an island in Maryland recently on the market- seven-acre Dobbins Island on the Magothy River, which sold for $950,000 last December.
[...] The problem with Caribbean and other sunny islands is not the price - because those who can afford such an island tend not to worry about money," says Farhad Vladi, president of the German company Vladi Private Islands (www.vladi.de). "It is that there is a limited supply of these properties. The Spanish coast, the French coast, Long Island, the Caribbean- islands there are very rare."
Island hunters from America, says Vladi, who himself owns an island in New Zealand, are discovering the pleasures of Nova Scotia. "It is an alternative to Maine and Rhode Island. Transportation has improved since Halifax now has a major airport. One client in Boston bought an island in Nova Scotia and told me he can go from Logan Airport to Halifax and be on his island faster than sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic driving to Cape Cod. And, his island cost one-tenth the price of a cottage in Cape Cod."
Robert Savage, of Shepherdstown, W.Va., owns Bayers Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia. It has more than three miles of pristine, white sand beach and is also a game sanctuary. The experience has made him something of an island-buying expert. "There are so many considerations beyond the usual house or property purchase," he says. "You have to factor in electricity, generators, whether or not there are bugs, erosion, all kinds of things."
Savage is in the process of selling his windswept paradise [...], sale price, $530,000, saying it was an investment he would like to turn over. "I bought it in 2002 after exhaustive research and I thought it looked beautiful and no way in America could such a place be for sale. I couldn't resist it - even though I first saw it in winter when the whole island was covered in snow." Savage's original plan was to build a lighthouse-style structure and house on the 79-acre island. "In summer, everything is in bloom and the wildflowers are amazing. I had never found anything this compelling." "The lighthouse idea faded when Savage was told by a builder that the best way to get construction materials on the island was by helicopter - which costs between $3,000 and $4,000 an hour. "It's not like just going to Home Depot."
Vladi, who has been in island real estate since 1975, believes that island buyers tend to be either dreamers or investors - but all are individualists. "They don't like to go with the masses, and they tend to be of above-average intelligence, because they have to improvise if something goes wrong on their island," he says. Many island buyers begin the process thinking that they can start their own country, The Republic of Me. What it comes down to, says Vladi, is being realistic. "In the beginning, my clients want the typical Caribbean or South Seas Island- white sand, palm trees. Then the real world sets in, he says. "In the end, it is not as much a question of affordability, but when are you going to use the island? When are your holidays? If you and your family are off during the summer, most tropical islands are too hot and you might want to look at the Seattle area. If you take December holidays, then the Florida coast might be an option."
His current favorite property is an island in the Seine, near Paris. "lt was a haven for the Impressionist painters and the views are indescribable," he says. "There is a house with a solarium, a swimming pool, utter privacy, and it is 40 minutes by car to the Eiffel Tower." The price for such luxury 3.5 million Euros or about $4.4 million. So is owning an island for you? Perhaps not if you're the practical sort. "Nobody needs an island, right?" says Savage, who admits there was a measure of whimsy in is decision to purchase his island off the coast of Nova Scotia. "You really have to be a little crazy to do it. lt is best not to think - just go with the dream."
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