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

There’s been a lot of activity with FH20 over the past month.

Let’s start with acquiring the land. The play we ran was fairly simple but looking back, we definitely got lucky. This is basically how it worked: (1) I would scour web sites, individual broker listings, and MLS aggregators for land listings I thought looked interesting and fit within my budget. (2) After compiling, culling, cutting, I had a “top 5” or “top 10” list of possible build sites. I sent these to Chuck and he ran them through his various filters. (3) Chuck and/or his contacts would typically know something already about these properties or know someone who knew something about these pieces of land. Many of these properties had been on the market for some time, or they were represented by certain realtors that dominated listings in certain developments or local towns.

I was amazed at the various factors that made plots suboptimal or even unsuitable for building. Tiny road frontage and railroad-car, cookie-cutter layouts. Wetlands or poor drainage. Road noise. We even found an amazing, secluded plot with sweeping views, varying elevation, gorgeous old trees, and an attractive offering price. Perfect, right? Too bad that small creek and gulley that ran alongside the property line meant no direct or easy access given the property lines, and building a “bridge” of sorts might require months or even years for DEC permits and cost tens of thousands of dollars! There is no way anyone could have done this by themselves – even with the help of real estate agents, who might have a whole different set of incentives. It was critical to rely on Chuck’s eyes and ears, many years of experience, and local contacts to whittle things down to possible build sites.

Since I think the farmhouse building and planning parts are a lot more interesting than the land search, I’ll just fast forward and say we’re in contract on a good-sized plot with lake rights in Sullivan County. Chuck even helped negotiate the asking price down to what I’d say is a pretty fair level. Could we have squeezed another thousand or two if we really tried, given this economy? Probably, but what’s the point? The effort, hassle, and bad-blood weren’t worth it at that time... we’d be past the point of diminishing returns. This was the best, most appropriate plot we found for our purposes, and it’s entirely possible I’d still be out there searching if we didn’t find this piece. So we got lucky. I think we found great land and settled on a fair price where both buyer and seller are eager to move forward, and I’m excited to close in the near future and get started on FH20.

Lessons learned:

* Web sites and MLS aggregators are great resources, but I found the best listings were “broker login” listings from their respective MLS. Many times those listings would have exact addresses, maps, clearer photos, tax info, and other details not on public sites. I generally had good success contacting selling agents and asking for these pages; as you can imagine, they all preferred working direct without a buyer’s broker.

* Again, you’ll have to go local for the best info and advice. Chuck has your back.

‍

Barn V is a winner, complimenting a long line of Catskill Farms - Homeowner collaboration winners. It's been a week since my last post - very busy, especially with the early dry spring that has allowed us to accelerate our Springtime playbook. Brand new look.

Kind of mixes the old fashioned farmhouse with small 2nd floor windows, with a barn, complimenting both without being snarky or cynical or self-righteous.

The land it sits on is nothing to shake a stick at either. 5+ acres a few miles outside of Narrowsburg. Veronica and Bill didn't miss many details on this house with the foundation clad in modern stone, a dining corner of windows and a back deck/porch.

This is the dining room window corner, presently a backdrop to the custom barn doors that will be scattered around the house.

One of the Bedrooms... The tubing coming off the right wall is the air conditioning supply for the 'split units', which are localized lower cost a/c alternatives.

And the Man Shed, Miami style.

Just finished walking F20G's new land, - the boundaries just got marked so it's always exciting to get out there and check it out. 25 acres. And Farm 19 boundaries just got marked so I'm gonna go walk that piece in the morning. My two new pieces of land in Saugerties flew through the planning board in two months and we should be under construction of Barn VI and Arts & Crafts II before long. 4 houses in Ulster County under construction, 7 in Sullivan County.

Ranch VI owners are friends of Ranch V owners, and like many of our latest clients, are coming from a demographic a bit younger than we are. I mean, I used to be that young - early to mid-30's - but I'm not anymore. It's comforting to know that I'm still cool, able to design and build and brand homes that have cross-generational appeal. Ranch VI is a bigger, badder version of Ranch V. Ranch V is 700 sq ft, 1 bedroom, 1 bath, no basement. Ranch VI takes the idea to the next level, without going crazy with the cost. We added a basement, finished some of it, left plenty of storage space, and just tweaked the first floor enough to make it perfect for these new owners.

Above is the cool ranch with ultra-cool, mid-70's, Berkeley style ranch house. I'm audio reading Steve Jobs' biography at the moment, and they talk about the Ranch houses out there. I'm also reading Keith Richards' autobiography, Life. Just finished a biography on J. Edgar Hoover written in the early 70's when such writings were still frowned upon, and then the audio book The Big Short (I'm a big Michael Lewis fan), and before that a tome on WWII. I read the New Yorker cover to cover most weeks, scan New York Magazine, read Crains and scan another half dozen magazines. Also, there's a cool blog the NYTimes does on the Civil War, daily, since it is the 150 yr anniversary, called DisUnion - it's been going on for more than a year.

Ranch VI is fun and for the select bunch who go this route, the homes have a lot of design appeal. Modern country ranch, small, on a big piece of land in the woods. It's a nice package (that's what she said).

Just finished the insulation, and from there the sheetrock. Next the wall-coverings and then the trim. And before too long the paint, kitchens, tile and wallah, even the new homeowners.

Here's the big storage space for the mechanicals, bicycles, kayaks, etc...

This basement space is coming in real handy with a media area, and then a bedroom and a bath.

And the big views out in to the Tusten hillside forest outside of Narrowsburg, NY. We see that happen quite often - one of our homes inspire someone to buy, and while it may not be that home specifically, the concept, aesthetic and process gets them off the bench and into the game - which in today's market, is a serious accomplishment.

‍

(below is an exchange between a new client in Woodstock and James, and is just to show the process a little better. every home owner has their priorities, and their concerns)

Hey James,

First, thanks so much for your quick responses and patience as we go through all of this. Also, I apologize for the brain dump in this email, but not sure how else to do it as things pop up in our heads.

So based on your feedback, we've landed on the palette reflected in the modified Google SketchUp attached to this email. It's basically a darker version of Dean's cottage with the "rusty look" metal roof we're after. Specifically, it's Cordovan Brown siding, the rusty look metal roof, and white windows and trim. Still thinking of the front door. Is there a particular brand or budget range we should be looking at?

Here are some more general questions/thoughts that have come up as we've been thinking and dreaming...

1. Fireplace...Since we are not getting the double fire place, would it be possible to move the firebox into the exterior chimney and have the fire place more flush with the interior wall, so as to reclaim some of the floor space in the living room?

2. Would it be possible to get a floor outlet in the middle of the living room in front of the fireplace? We imagine setting up a couple of comfy chairs facing the fireplace with a lamp on a table between them.

3. Would it be possible to make the window in the front dormer a little smaller, so that the frame doesn't go all the way to the edges of the dormer?

4. Would it be possible to have the stairs come off the front of the porch instead of off to the side (like they are in cottage 36). Would it make sense with the house's orientation?

5. Looking ahead, we like the idea of the stained wood ceilings on the porch and throughout the interior as well. Like this pic from your website:

6. How much of an additional expense would it be to have the interior stone of the fireplace go all the way to ceiling?

7. I think we'd prefer french doors going from kitchen to back deck, as opposed to sliding.

Thanks James!