< back to all blog posts

Catskills - Sullivan County - Ulster County Real Estate -- Catskill Farms Journal

Old School Real estate blog in the Catskills. Journeys, trial, tribulations, observations and projects of Catskill Farms Founder Chuck Petersheim. Since 2002, Catskill Farms has designed, built, and sold over 250 homes in the Hills, investing over $100m and introducing thousands to the areas we serve. Farms, Barns, Moderns, Cottages and Minis - a design portfolio which has something for everyone.

May 30, 2009

Buzz Phrase

Funny, I was looking through some websites of developers, real estate flippers, etc... and kept noticing the same trend - a trend to put as many trendy catch phrases into one description as possible. It used to be an organization would focus in and master a direction, but these days, I guess you got throw the kitchen sink at it - Here are some examples - "A New Old Green Modular home" (this one catches every buzz word ever coined) "Architect designed Custom Rustic 2 story farmhouse style "- for anyone who knows anything about area real estate, Rustic/custom/farmhouses are a couple of buzz phrases that have worked for their respective originators - but for me, who would design it if not an architect. In the end, the same old mistakes - buzz words instead of a real product, marketing instead of a value, and houses priced where the spreadsheet calculations look interesting, instead of where the real market is. For us, we now know we have a corner on the market, because our homes are priced incredibly low for the value we are giving - look across upstate NY for similar homes, and 1, you won't find any, and if you do, they will carry a higher price tag. Good advice for our imitators - a good business model respects the customers intelligence, and by producing the best homes we can at the lowest price possible, we do what we can to create to most value possible - and as I repeat, our best customers are those that are most educated in the local real estate landscape. It is then, as Gayle said, a real 'no brainer'. If only buzz words and phrases got the job done. A cool mellow weekend planned up here in the Catskills - must of got 75 calls and emails after the Post article.

< back to all blog posts