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

What a gorgeous weekend we just had up and down the Hudson Valley and beyond.  Lucas and I made the most of it, hitting Hunter, Saugerties and Hudson over the weekend before heading back through Woodstock and then Stone Ridge this morning.

That's me on the right, and that's actually a computer case not a fanny pack I'm carrying.

Here's a guy named Chad that it posted up in the tiny bathroom at Love Bites, a local hole in the wall restaurant in downtown Saugerties.

Here's Saugerties in the early morning hours.  My apartment up there gets great morning light.

Lucas cooling it after a long day of exploring in his glow in the dark skeleton shirt.

Saugerties has a great local independent bookstore on the corner of Partition and Main.  They got toys and books and every once in a while a yummy mummy.

In Hudson, I picked up on an inadvertent orange theme that we have going - between his sweater, the bricks, his pants and paint.

Airplanes hanging from a wire.

It was a big weekend for my typewriter collection, finding two good ones in Hudson and then Joan who does the books and more found one at her parent's home in the Rockaways (which was badly damaged).  I've been collecting these bad boys since 1998, have about 30 of them.  Kind of annoying that now typewriters are hip, since it drives up the prices (used to be no one wanted them) and makes them harder to find.  My only rule is I can't buy them online - too easy.  Have to scout them out, or have them given to me (hint, hint, Xmas ideas!!)

Just minding my own business when I came across this common country scene.

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Building a house is tough.  Everything about it - finding the land, being sure the land is what you think it is, designing a house, selling that concept to someone, compiling all the info for the build permit, going through 6 months of trials and tribulations, inspections and appraisals, and finally reaching the finish line and needing that final piece of paper, the Certificate of Occupancy.

Now, imagine doing that in 6 different towns with 6 different processes and 6 different inspectors and 6 different set of rules, where the minorest infraction can set you back time and money bigtime.

They are such innocent pieces of paper -

The unassuming building permit -

And the little more sexed up Certificate of Occupancy.  2 pieces of paper that mark the beginning and the end of the road of home building.

Had a closing yesterday on Farm 19, a closing tomorrow on Cottage 39 and Farm 21 next week or the next.

Breaking ground on now 4 new ones right after Thanksgiving.

Closings are always nice and it's actually a main reason we are in business.  In fact, it's one the things that separate our company from others in our line of work - we sell what we build - too often it just sits on the eager-eyed balance sheet of some poor sap who thought it's a good idea to go build houses that no one pre-signed up for.  

But that's how we make our livelihood, and we do it pretty well.

So like I was saying, we had a closing a couple of weeks ago, and now we got 3 more coming up.  I was noticing a lot of my website pics were WAY outdated, so I'm working hard bringing all the homes up to date.

Farm 19 is a winner - awesome floor plan, 10 acres, right outside Narrowsburg NY, selling for less than $400k.  Should have it wrapped up next week.

Then Cottage 39, inspired by our very first cottage back in the day, 2007.  It's on 5+ acres outside of Eldred NY.

As part of the deal, I agreed to put a screened porch on for them.  Everyone loves a screened porch.

Always crowded the last few days of the job.

Then, wallah, it's empty.

Here's a Cottage up in Woodstock NY.  This is pretty neat house, long on detail and modest in size.  Probably almost as much porch as house.

Here's a beauty - Farm 21 (fnaanc - "formerly known as arts and crafts).  No, I mean it, it's a beauty.

Nother pic of the casualty from the Storm.  Boy, if that doesn't loosen up the old bowels I don't know what would.

Have a nice weekend.  I noticed as I was writing this it will be my 666th blog post.

It's always great to see a bully get their due, and no finer moment has been recently seen than on election day in Narrowsburg when Ned Lang defeated Andrea Reynosa (and the The River Reporter) for Town Council.  Like a stake through their lily-livered self-righteous, self-idolized hearts, Ned - the antithesis of the rabid my-way-or-the-highway attempted 'liberal' thought leaders of this small community - dealt a heavy blow to both the idea that you can fool all the people all the time and the idea that they (The River Distorter) are the only conduit to disseminate information.


With the help of their alarmingly shrinking weekly newspaper, The River Reporter tried to stack the deck in favor of their favored candidate - editorials, political influence, lack of coverage of Ned's continued and consistent contribution to the community.  And they lost.  The people - old, young, red, yellow black and white - rejected the baloney that passes for news in that paper.

I always love it when people underestimate the intelligence of their customer.  It's always a great opening for a competitor.

So, if you see a River Reporter, buy one - even if it's to get a fire started - especially during this holiday season when charity is at the forefront of your mind.

Below are some pictures of the community projects spearheaded by the Tusten Town Council, funded by our local assembly woman, trumpeted by our local paper and specifically spearheaded by the Council member Ned defeated.  It cost over $14,000 of taxes.  This is Narrowsburg's Community Garden, its defining taxpayer funded triumph.  It's very easy to mistake the good guys for the bad guys and the bad guys for the good guys.  Believe me, I was fooled for years.