Meet the Owners: John F. Gallagher And the late Susan J. Gilmore

Sadly, Susan Gilmore Gallagher passed away February 2008 after a long bout with stomach cancer.

Obituary on the late home owner Susan Gilmore-Gallagher

The 3 Stowe VT houses, 2 Bretton Woods houses, 2 villas in St. Maarten, and 2 houses on St. John are all owned by John and Susan.

Because we rent them ourselves (with no brokers or villa agents), we’re able to offer you prices often a $1,000 a week less than a comparable luxury house. (in the case of La Perla our magnificent oceanfront villa, the savings maybe be $ 2,000 a week or more).

John is entering his 50's. We’re the founders of East-West Mortgage Company a large lender in New England, which we sold to a bank a few years ago.

These days, we operate Gallagher Commercial Real Estate and Development a private lender on real estate and venture capital Deals which we’ve done for the past 20 years. Of course we’re always buying new vacation houses in trophy Locations and fixing them up with extensive renovations.

We both grew up in Massachusetts and now live in Manchester by the Sea on the north shore, 20 miles from Boston with our 3 little kids, 2 mini poodles (Pierre and Harrington) and 2 cats.

A little history!

John is a graduate of Univ. of Mass/Amherst and spent many of his early years in The radio business at WAAF and WAAB in Worcester, first as a DJ while in college and then as an executive. John grew up near Holy Cross College and lived in Worcester for many years until moving to the North Shore of Massachusetts.

After a decade in radio, he founded a number of business, eventually starting East-West Mortgage Co. and I sold my house.com in the mid 80’s. East-West became a mortgage powerhouse throughout New England and was doing $ 2 billion per year in residential mortgages when John and Susan sold it.

Within a year of John’s departure from East-West the company went from 324 employees to less than 50 so one can see what happens when a ship has no captain.

We always loved to travel in the Caribbean so we decided to buy a house.

Then we bought 2 six bedroom ski houses in Vermont with big views of the ski area and lifts.

Then we bought another St. Maarten house. And we recently bought six oceanfront lots at Dawns Beach on St. Maarten (possibly the best beach on the island). Maybe we’ll build on them and maybe just hold them for an investment. Not sure yet.

New Rental Houses Coming Soon:

On the beautiful island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands
We now own 2 houses.

The 5 BR on the east end has been totally renovated and has gorgeous Ocean views.  It’s nice and quiet on the east end of St. John which is about a 25 minute ride from Cruz Bay where the ferry goes back and forth to St. Thomas.

We also have a 3 BR house at Coral Bay (it’s about a 7 minute ride between our Houses) which we’re now renovating adding a pool and large outdoor patio with outdoor cooking built in.  This house also has panoramic ocean views of Coral Bay and the beautiful Caribbean waters.

Our properties are on the quiet side of St. John, where donkeys and wild goats outnumber people. If Jimmy Buffet is on St. John, this is likely where you’ll find him. (and don’t be surprised if you do)…(as well as his pal Kenny Chesney who lives on St. John full time)

When we buy a vacation house we look for a few basic things:

• Superior location
• Awesome views
• Proximity to activities (skiing, swimming, etc.)
• A big house that needs total renovation
• A private setting….quiet and relaxing
• No (violent) crime
• Friendly local people

With enough money you can do anything to a house. But you really can’t change the land.

After renovating the house, we then buy all new furniture at the big manufacturers in North Carolina usually. Then we have it shipped by container to the house.

For the Caribbean houses, we buy top of the line appliances, light fixtures, tiles, etc. in Miami and have them shipped over to St. Maarten.

Our ski houses we make warm and cozy with a lot of carpeting, heat in the floors when possible (we love radiant heat) and a huge fireplace.

Down in the Caribbean, it’s just the opposite. We make the houses cool with a lot of tiles, cross ventilation and air conditioning in all bedrooms. And a lot of outdoor living area with huge patios and comfortable lounge chairs.

When we used to rent others’ houses years ago, we could never understand the owners’ locking up the booze. Or arriving to an empty house on a dark Friday night. So we cured both problems by having our housekeeper buy first night staples for our guests such as milk, bread, coffee, cereal, beers, bottle of wine, etc.

Have a super time and drop us a line or a digital photo and be sure you have fun! Life’s too short not to.

Best Personal Regards,

Owners and Bon Vivants

•