Belonging to heart of the community:
Local Realtor and international Rotarian

Jeremy Hurst, President
of International Relocation
Group at a development site.

Jeremy Hurst discusses a lease agreement with
Martiniano Coronez.

Jeremy Hurst discusses the door installations on a
property with Kenton Power and Denton Clarke.

Jeremy Hurst reviews listings with Jessica Bodden.

Craig Nixon, Jessica Bodden, Jeremy Hurst and
Karen Coles at a sales meeting.

Jeremy Hurst has been working in Cayman’s
specialist real estate market for more than 18 years
and he feels a strong bond with the community. Not
just through his business, which has been a great
success, but through his many years working with
Rotary.

by Shurna Robbins

Monday,  August 22, 2005

When he first arrived in the Cayman Islands fresh off the plane from the United Kingdom in 1987, Jeremy Hurst expected it to be a short trip eighteen months or so he thought. 

Almost 18 years later, he has become part of the fabric that is Cayman. 

He is president of IRG, a boutique real estate firm catering to high net worth investors, developers and corporations. 

He is also a partner in Grape Vine, a combination wine bar and gourmet coffee shop with a picture window view of the harbour. 

But it is his work with the Rotary Club that has brought him the most satisfaction and a sense of belonging to a community and a community belonging to him.

“Life is an adventure,” said Mr Hurst. “I will not be lying on my death bed and feel that there was something I should have done. I take chances and I have no regrets. At least regrets I am willing to talk about in public.”
After earning his degree in Lands and Survey, Mr Hurst got on the fast track to management with a British multinational firm, working on special projects for blue chip clients. 

“Honestly, I didn’t fit in,’ he recalled. “I was too independent for the management track and I had my own ideas.”

Then a co-worker gave Mr Hurst a phone number of a man he met at a cocktail party from a recent trip to the Cayman Islands. Three weeks later after a telephone interview with Ian Wight, Mr Hurst was in Cayman to head up the office equipment refurbishment business.

A few years later, he got back into traditional real estate and partnered up with Bobby Bodden, before going out on his own in 1995 with IRG, (International Relocation Group) and it was just the right time. 

At first he started with a consultancy company, he had just become president of the Rotary Club and his first child was born.

“The key was that it was a fairly low overhead business and I didn’t need a large staff to make the business work,” he said. 

One of its specialties was creating a comprehensive feasibility study for developers. It was an exciting time. He recalled Sea Launch, which converted a large shipping and oil barge as a launching pad for telecommunication satellites.

After a few years, the company had to move its operations, but it is still one of his favourite clients.

“The key to a good property is to understand the market and the significant statistical trends that affect it. It is not just a gut feeling, but careful analysis.” 

He explained that estimating commercial office space, you can’t just look at today’s trends but at factors that will impact office space needs two years down the road. 

For example, hedge funds and captive insurance business are in high growth mode, but if there might be changes in the law that will impact the business either negatively or positively you must be able to predict absorption rates one to two years in the future, he explained. 

At the same time Mr Hurst was getting his company off the ground he served as the president of the Rotary Club and that would become an integral part of his life.

“The model is so effective, you can see very quickly the result of your efforts” he said.

“You see where the money is going. And it is rewarding to see peoples’ faces and to be involved in the lives in the country. Rotary is not only effective in Cayman, but in countries across the world.”

During that year Mr Hurst helped start the Batabano festival, and planted the Christmas palm trees at the airport, donated wheel chairs and park benches. The Windsor Park was refurbished and a scholarship was established. 

Later he would become part of the Rotary Foundation programme that is working on the eradication of polio through the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

“After Hurricane Ivan, the Rotary Club raised $1 million from friends of Cayman,” said Mr Hurst.

“But the club has a multiplier effect. That cash was turned into $2 to 3 million in value because members donated their expertise and materials. And that went directly into the hands of the people.”

In the workplace Mr Hurst is equally as committed and knows his business. Talking about the changes in the market for luxury homes he explained how sophisticated the Cayman islands real estate market has become:

“In the early 1990s, you could count on one hand how many million dollar homes there were in Cayman,” he added.

“And the average luxury home was 4000 to 5000 square feet. Today the market is more sophisticated and there is a broader range of homes and office buildings. The quality of the construction is on par with the highest quality available worldwide. And these days the average home is 7000 to 8000 square feet with price tags between $2 to 5 million.”

He acknowledged that a year post Ivan, the market has been slow. There is less product on the market because people are not willing to sell their homes in distress and he believes that it is taking a long time to get those repairs done for a host of reasons including insurance settlements, hiring a contractor, as well as obtaining materials and supplies.

“There is not the volume because there is less supply,” he explained.

“And we are in the hurricane season and people are being cautious. But there is no drop in prices.”

Even in this relatively slow market, Mr Hurst notes that there have been some record prices set. 

“A lot of investors in Cayman come for the lifestyle. Residents and developers who come here are rarely wild with their money but they are prepared to pay over market for the right opportunity.”

One reason is the rapid recovery of the Island, which he suggests represents the resilience of the people. 

Eighteen years after thinking he would be done here in 18 months as he was facing a limited market, he now says the market has tremendous potential. 

But he prefers to keep the company small to ensure all his clients are well looked after.

He said the reason for the growth is the combination of lifestyle and services.

“People are interested in the lifestyle that Cayman offers,” he added.

“The number of restaurants has grown. The infrastructure is good. There are high quality schools and other services available. And there is the underlying safety of the Island.”

He said the recent crime wave hasn’t put off the individual or even the corporate investors.

“The community is small enough to solve the problem,” he said. “The Cayman Islands has 40,000 plus or minus. A large proportion of the increase in crime is from individuals who came to the Island after Ivan. We were between a rock and a hard place and we had to loosen immigration controls to bring in people to help the recovery.” 

But he believes that Cayman has the capability to solve this problem. 

“This issue is not new to the Island and it will respond to this issue like it responded to the Hurricane,” he said.

“At the end of the day we are not on an island, we are on a boat and if you rock it too hard it might sink. The truth of the matter is you can’t segment your life. So the more successful you are as a community, the more successful you are as an individual and business person.”

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