< 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.

August 31, 2009

My New Friend Jack

So like I have mentioned on several occasions, Saturdays are busy. We usually have a full construction team pounding away at something, a bunch of subcontractors are working away, and then to top it off, it’s our main day for customers to visit. So, two weeks ago I have appointments set - one at 10, one at 12, one at 2 and one at 4. So, I’m in and out of the office and some yahoo calls and wonders if he can ‘stop by’ and see some houses. Now, most times this would be out of the question, in fact, James and I would look at each condescendingly and ask rhetorically ‘what are they thinking’?

But I had a little time (15 minutes) and I liked the guy’s message energy so I called him back and said I had 15 minutes and that wasn’t a lot of time but I certainly could run him up the street to look at one of our homes. He shows up in a bad rental car, and we’re off right away to a house so he can see for himself whether this works for him - so he’s asking questions, quizzing me, I’m giving my off the cuff answers, and he really likes the work he sees and so we get back to the office and we have a few minutes to spare before the tell-tale sound of tires on a gravel drive.

Jack then gives up his game. He’s out scouting the area for the next season of a pretty big home show and he was just about ready to blow town (depressed at what he had seen over course of 2 days) when he came across our website, called up, visited and was quite impressed with moi (not sure if that‘s the correct spelling of moue, that damned French word). I showed him about everything - Cottage 17, Cottage 13, Cottage 14, Cottage 19, Cottage 22, Modern Retro Ranch, Cottage 18 - a true tour de force.

So that was pretty exciting, but we are busy, so it’s not that exciting, and since I always freeze up in front of cameras, I could definitely see negative results as well. Plus I’m sure all the hot TV talent would be trying to get in my pants and I’m a happily married guy and who, frankly, needs the aggravation? So Jack goes back to NYC, then to Nashville to meet with the network bigwigs. No, Jack’s great idea of profiling the construction of one of our new old homes won’t fly, but why don’t you work with the guy to find a great remodel project?

That’s where my good friend David Knudsen of Catskill Buyer’s Agency comes in - local real estate guru, real estate blogger of some renown, man with great knowledge of what’s for sale, where and when.

So Jack wants to see all the ugly ranch houses and similarly challenged pieces of architecture on great settings that Sullivan County has to offer. Dave pulls up a list of 25, he and I narrow that to 10 and we all roadtrip on Friday around the county to see some seriously distressed real estate.

Turns out, between Davids knowledge and Jack’s thoroughness, we found a great lake house remodel potentate that just might be coming to the big screen near you.

And you all can say you knew me when.

$10 bucks Cottage 23 gets an offer this week. You snoozo you loso.

< back to all blog posts