Cottage 17, 19 & 22

Cottage 22 on a foggy morning, late July. The bucks county ledgestone chimney stone is nearing the top. We started in late May, and by the end of this month the house should be real close to being finished - which by any measure, is pretty extraordinary. Add in the fact that this summer has SUCKED in regards to rain, and one can get the sense how seriously we take our deadlines. No excuses. The interior of the house is trimmed out, with the handhewn logs set over the weekend. The painter started yesterday, and Tito - being the master painter- will probably be just about finished by the end of the week.

The Barryville cottage, which was the home on the land I just purchased, has a pretty funky bathroom, already installed. We repainted this little house, added some smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, raised some ceilings, repainted the whole thing, fancied up the kitchen and refinished the floors - in sum, made it look fan f$%&*king tastic.

Juan and Joe emerging from the foggy morning.

Cottage 19 - in contract, and 75% finished.

Thom and Bryce came up yesterday for a big day of decisions - they stopped by the kitchen store to say hello to Paul the kitchen guy, stopped by the tile store (Cornerstone Tile in Monticello) to say hi to Denise, then down to the job site for a review of the wall coverings (sheetrock, wood, wainscotting, planking), and a host of other decisions to 'keep the job moving'.

We are hoping to close all 4 of these house in the next 2 months - the Barryville Cottage in the next week or two, and Cottage 17, 22, and 19 in late September. Still not much of a problem finding financing for these homes - we have started using smaller, local banks, we require our clients to be very qualified with 20% down and plenty left over after the transaction, and we are always keeping our eyes on comparable sales. The person who called me an asshole in a comment I posted a few weeks back struck again this morning, reiterating their opinion that I'm an asshole - which like I said, really hurts my feelings especially with exclamation points and what have you. He commented that 'no one cares', exemplified by no comments, which is really low - in my opinion - because you all know how much I dream of a comment filled blog, where everyone asks my opinion and defers to my knowledge and expertise and generally sends well wishes and the like. I guess I have a few thoughts on the matter - 1. what a loser!!, 2. I definitely have to employ the 'asshole technique and method' on more occasions than I wish to in order to keep the business running, and 3. success is the best revenge. And we are having plenty of success, hence sipping frequently that sweet nectar of accomplishment (only after 5pm of course).