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

So one of my first jobs in Sullivan County was painting the barn of Alexis Rockman, the painter, and his wife.  It marks the humble beginnings of Catskill Farms.  Even before I didn't know anything, I would pass this house between North Branch and Fremont Center, and say to the guys (Polish kids I picked up hitch-hiking) - that's a perfect house.  So I recrafted it, made it bigger, raised the ceilings, improved all the systems and structures and Called It Farm #1.  That was 100 homes and 10 years ago. I was just riding a bike loop with the owner of Farm #2 the other day, a purchase in 2004 that is still serving the same family - Richard said - 'it's the only thing that has remained the same' as they have changed jobs, changed apartments, had more children, etc...

I happened to be up in Hankins NY visiting one of first big renovations now that the family is back from a 5 yr stint in London, and I passed this old empty beauty the other day.  And I stopped and briefly reflected on this wild upstate sojourn.

Then I went to my local bank branch - Jeff Bank - and they are celebrating 100 yrs of community banking and lending.  We hooked up with them for house 1, where they gave me like 1/3 of what I needed (luckily I was too green to realize that and the inevitable problem of running out of funds - hello Credit Cards).  What was $100k one-off loan has probably now involved tens of millions of dollars loaned and returned, loaned and returned, loaned and returned.  I think it's my longest relationship ever.

The whole thing reminded me of 2002, when I moved out of the city, living in my 400 sq ft shack I bought for $23k on a credit card (notice the credit card pattern), with no running water, and no indoor 'facilities' for the first year, living with my Dog Bella, and my Cat Poker, who I don't think ever really did forgive me for taking over the home that she had all to herself before I came to the neighborhood.  It wasn't until the first or 2nd Thanksgiving where I had invited the folks up and they refused to come until I got a stove and a refrigerator - I had been cooking on a camping cooktop, and putting the food and perishables outside where it was cooler.  It's definitely one of those 'starting with nothing' stories, made even more unlikely because it was taking place in NY's 2nd poorest county, with power line battles, gas drilling battles, and a world-wide economic real estate collapse - all conspiring to undo the best laid plans (though, I by no means had any 'best laid plans' stashed away anywhere).  Considering all I've been through in this journey, it sometimes feels as if my perspectives and experiences have no parallel - not because they are that great - plenty of people do great things - but because the path was so darn unusual.  I'm definitely sure that the hurdles I've hurdled have given me a thick coat of armor of experience, strategy creativity and on-the-fly problem solving - skills I learned while everything hung in the balance - and when I say everything, I mean everything.  I think 7 of the last 10 years I've spent with everything wagered, doubled down, all or nothing.  It all creates a unique perspective.

I just rearranged my living dining room and I'm super excited about the reading nooks and reading lamps I've scattered around, as well as oriented the most used spaces and furniture towards the pond and woods and morning sun.

And now for the wood stove - I went with the one on the left.   Didn't realize the price tag was on it - how uncouth Petersheim.

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Above, the Painter.

Below, Spray foam insulation baby - resulting in the most efficient homes known to Man.

Fan letter below, from a new homeowner in Barryville -

"Just wanted to touch base and tell you how much we love our house. It's completely changed our lives. So, thanks again. "

Micro/Mini Barn in Barryville - 720 sq ft with a loft and crawl space on 2.5 acres.

Barn VII in Barryville with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths on 13 acres.

Cottage 45 in Barryville NY on 12 acres - 2 bedrooms and 2 baths.

Ranch V8 in Mt Tremper NY.  3 bedrooms 2 baths 3.5 acres.

Farm 24 in Woodstock NY - 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 6.5 acres.

I think the intelligentsia of Sullivan County is always saying 'that Petersheim, he doesn't even build in Sullivan County anymore', as a way to discredit my commitment to the community, but nothing could be more wrong (what's new, with these folks- being high-minded and wrong is their calling card).  No one is doing more construction and new homes in Sullivan County than us, and now that we are taking the time to list our homes on MLS, we are helping to support the entire Sullivan County real estate industry with our good prices, volume of transactions and augmentation of existing sales comparables.  A more apt comment would be 'that Petersheim, he doesn't mind doing the heavy lifting.'

It's been a crazy couple of weeks - the Woodstock Farm is moving towards contract, the Schwab Barn is moving towards contract, looks like we are doing a deal on Barn 9, yet to be designed, and the weekend has produced a few new solid leads.

In my 12 yrs up here, I don't think we have ever strung together 7 straight awesome weather weekends.  It's been amazing here, and the timing of the good weather has been perfect.

Houses are made up of systems, and just like a car, these systems have optimal performance settings that naturally need adjusted over time.  Be it air in the radiators, filters on water heaters or furnaces, screens on taps and faucets, settings on the furnace and hot water heaters, antifreeze efficiency in the heating lines, etc... - non-optimal settings can result in a lot of wasted propane use, or less than optimal water pressure in that favorite Sunday Morning Shower for Two with a bloody mary half drunk on vanity, and even at the far extreme, a bit of danger since there is some combustion involved in these processes.

So we are offering a full tuneup - actually our plumber is - come to your house and follow a yearly checklist - it will be under our supervision so he actually completes the tasks thoroughly.

Sign up today.  We think the charge will be around $300, plus any materials.

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