Preliminary Pics of New Masterpieces
It's been a beautiful, quintessential and glorious Catskills autumn for many reasons - the birth of my son, the weather has been out of this world, and all of future homeowners are more convinced than ever that they need an escape from that crazy world out there. Call me crazy, but we are building 6 or 7 houses at the moment, and a true test of putting my money where my mouth is - we are starting 3 new cottages in November - spec homes, ready for the spring (spec homes mean without a preordained owner). I am starting to smell the woodstoves burning in the morning and evening. Some Pics - Albert's farm on the hill. 10 acres, barn, house, stone walls, and now we are designing a garage for the cars and lawnmowers.
And here is Cottage 15 - 1100 sq ft, 2 bedrooms, living room, fireplace, 2 full baths, and this great wrap-around porch. Really coming together now that the porch has taken shape. Big ass bleacher steps out front for drinking the forties.
Side view on a Saturday morning -
Other side view - This color, which shall remain secret - is perfect for this cottage - where simplicity reigns, and modesty and subtlety rule the day.
And Cottage 9, with the exterior paintined a soft beigey color, which is set off by the main cedar tone roof, and what will be a rustic red metal porch roof.
The floors just got stained, and the interiors will be mostly finished by the end of the month. Stained window trim, stained doors, stained crown mouldings and an old school brick fireplace in this here beauty.
Bedroom, with the cathedral dormer wood stained, in contrast to the painted walls and ceilings.
Exterior stone steps, salvaged and found on the property.
And the 100 yr old stone wall complimenting and softening all this newness.
All in all, this land and house combo is probably the steal of a lifetime, because it is frickin perfect. I probably could sell it 14 times by Christmas. All for now. Have a nice weekend.
9.2 lbs, 22 inches long - 10-11-08
Lucas Richard Petersheim has arrived. Bare assed and happy, his big feet didn't even fit onto the footprint certification (you know what they say about big feet!).
Right after birth...
From the baby room to Lisa's 'suite'.
His first road trip.
Crazy Ruby in the baby thing.
And with his official Catskill Farms onesy.
Houses We Build
The Cottage at Highland Farms. Big Windows.
Double barn doors in the office.
Very cool black tile with white for the fireplace.
Since I am going to be out of commission for a few days or so while we bring a little baby boy into this cruel and confused world, I thought I'd do a post so you all don't forget about me.
I love this house - Cottage 7 - and the more it sits there aging gracefully, the better it looks to me. Grass growing in, red door, leaves falling on the walkways and drives.
And here is Cottage 15, now that we slapped on the green tone ('thicket') paint. On the inside we are just finishing the sheetrock.
And here's the roof installation of Cottage 13. That will be finished today. Dean the owner plans a trip for this weekend to check it out.
And a nice autumn picture of Bella Drive. Amazingly, this project was only getting started last year, and now the four houses are complete, and the owners moved in.
And Cottage 9, the next house on the schedule to close. Hopefully by Thanksgiving. Painting inside and out, and the floor staining begins next week.
Cottage 14 is moving right along, with the blue roof, windows in, electric and plumbing done and the insulation starting today.
Interior is lofty and open.
This cathedral space is the kitchen, which should make for some heavenly dinners.
Baloney
I say baloney. I say that the finanical panic and crash has very little to do with real life. I say all the headlines, media, gov't officials and the like scaring the bejesus out of us are mostly wrong, and all us normal people not dealing in commerical paper, financial ponzi schemes, get rich schemes, and short term bonus' for longterm disaster schemes are actually not too bad off. This past week I borrowed a bunch of money from my bank to continue building the 6 homes we have in contract, looked into buying a new truck ($7500 off sticker, with incentives) and received a credit line increase from Bank of America. Banks are lending, don't be fooled. Just the rules have changed - you got be qualified, you got to have good credit, and a steady job doesn't hurt. What I haven't seen is a denial of credit, a reduction of my line of credit, non-existent auto loans, etc... Forbes has an article out stating more bank to consumer lending occurred in Sept '08 than Sept '07. So what gives - the statistics don't even show we are in a recession. We definitely live in the era of hysteria and catastrophe. It's what sells, it's the new 'sex' (playing off the old adage that sex sells). Hysteria and catastrophe is the quickest way to the bank for many industries. So what does this mean to me, and my customers - I'm smart, and they are smart, and with our team of good attorneys, good banks, houses full of value, adequate comps, and well-qualified homeowners - I only have one thing to say to all the end of worlders - Eat my shorts. Life goes on. And if you got the dough, its a great time to buy something, or build something, because all the cocky salespeople and customer service reps are working harder than ever to make sure your process and purchase is satisfactory, and to anyone who has consumed or purchased anything over the past 24 months, it's a great change. The world has righted itself -
