Farm 15 - Sold

You know, we have a lot of great customers from a lot of different backgrounds and a lot of different professions. We also see a lot of reasons and rationale for building and buying with us. It's personal, it's a big investment, it's a big lifestyle change, etc... And we take our part of the transaction very seriously. I mean, it's a delicate situation to be in - half the people I know up here I've done business with - not just small potatoes business, but like the largest transaction of their lives and that comes with some responsibility on our part to do our best. We've sold 80 +/- homes, we've renovated and restored another dozen - I can't go around the corner without running into someone who has exchanged 6 months of their lives and hundreds of thousands of dollars with me. And for the most part, we've successfully navigated the nuances of big business in a small town. Not entirely, but mostly. Chris came to us a year ago or more and liked our stuff and fell in love with Farm 12 and now here we are - it's no longer my baby, it's hers, and they closed on Friday of last week. Which was annoying. I think of my 5 closings this year so far, 4 of them we the days of big snowstorms, where you didn't really know how it was going to play out until the morning of. And considering it takes a lot of scheduling gymnastics to get the bank and the attorneys and the clients and the title people all to the table, it's all terribly stressful for everyone.

Farm 15 is cool. It sits on 7+ great acres, a few miles outside of Narrowsburg. The exterior will have black trim, and we are installing a big stone patio out the back. The exterior painting, final land grading, seeding and patio has to wait until Mid-May or so, so the ground dries out. The kitchen is getting rave reviews. Superb design and layout and a little experimental with the low slung cabinet depth/height refrigerator. Everyone I take through there is always looking for the fridge. But it's got all of our famous tricks - black rad, open shelves, nice range hood, island with cantilevered top, farm sink, lots of light, white washed wood plank ceilings, fan to keep things cool, polished stained wide plank floor.

and even our trademark barn door.

Any time I can create a little extra elbow room upstairs, I do it. Walking up the stairs to light and open-ness is a lot different than walking down an alley of doors.

Pretty classic -

Rads and a fireplace. and a good paint color.

Wood burning fireplace and salvaged barn beam mantel accent.

Catskill Farms has pretty much perfected the clean open simple floor plan look.

6 light 2 panel front door.

2 light, single panel, wood ceiling. This door is like 8' high.

One of the bedroom with lots of light and 5 panel interior doors.

Painted wainscoting, double sinks and mirror.

The guest bath with a nice gray.

BIG shower.

A neat small radiator, painted gloss black.

And a very unusual site at our homes - a garage!

So there you have it. Chris and her mom (who I enticed to the area by subtlety mentioning the Catholic church down the street) and her brother and the Catskill Farms team collaborated and made it happen. Another beauty, on time, on budget. Nice work team. Life goes on, and so does the work at Cottage 35, who had a really interested viewer over the weekend, so we will see how that pans out.

And little old shack, looking sharp. Still unspoken for.

And then a renovation we started at Yankee Lake. Taking her down the bones, adding a lot of windows and bring the whole house into a more modern sensibility.

Sooooo, Cottage 29 in contract, set to close next week. Farm 12 just closed. Cottage 34 closing very soon. Cottage 35 looking real good, although dateless at the moment. Shack 2 is awesome, also waiting to be asked to dance. Cottage 36 is in contract, and we are starting in a few weeks. Cottage 37 is moving towards contract. Farm 11 is moving towards contract. Micro-Cottage 4 is just starting, and is unspoken for. Ranch V is just commencing as well, and is unspoken for. and the Yankee Lake renovation is full steam ahead. Not a bad performance for the Great Recession.