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

I mean, I have big days, and then I have real big days when all our small efforts and successes really just come together in a grand old waltz across the southern veranda.

Here's Cottage 25 - Sold. Our last house on Tuthill Road, a 44 arce piece of pretty terrific land that I bought at the height of the Real Estate panic last March. We then went on to build probably one of the most architecturally diverse projects in existence, any where, Period. Big house, small house, a barn, a couple of mini-cottages, a micro, a few cottages and a farmhouse. As well as renovating the 1920's cottage that was already living on the property. Not bad for the biggest real estate crash in the history of the ole USA, not bad at all.

Lisa Lucas and I were in the city to take care of some business, which included stopping off at Google NYC headquarters in Chelsea in order to sign a big house contract. The Google was pretty cool with lots of micro-kitchens scattered about, a big game room with massage chairs and ping pong, and what I thought was pretty cool was this non-descript section of the building where there was a museum of sorts with an assortment of computers throughout the ages, with accompanying-sized floppy discs. It's just really amazing how fast computers have progressed.

Also, I got Lisa a Droid smart phone, our first smart phone in the family. While I was there like 40 people came in to get on the waiting list for the 4th Generation IPhone.

One of our favorite hotels is the W at Union Square. Room 1212. In the corner room please. Althougt I did get a frickin ticket, while next to my car, while loading up.

and I always wait to get my haircut til I go on vaca since half the time I can't get a decent cut up here. Ibiza, just off Union Square, is one of my favorite spots for my hair care.

Then off to the Javits Center for the other piece of Business that called to me from the Big Apple. Seems Ecotech Spray Foam, the insulation company I started last February, was awarded a Special Honorable Mention by NY House magazine, and they were giving out the awards at the NYC Building Show. The award we recieved was for "Green Product with Greatest Local Impact" - with the judges noting that this new business created more competition in a green industry that sorely needed it, and that our marketing and education increased the awareness of the importance of insulation when greening a building.

And then off for a quick nap, and then Martini-Time down at the Bar - Olives - at the W, with my friend Zach.

Then his hot Yale Dr girlfriend met up with us and we hit Matsuri for dinner, Buddakan for drinks and then one of my favorite haunts, Ino's, on Bedford Street for late night Paninis and wine.

My famous late night growl...

And then a few shot of the man who is growing up pretty quick -

So we closed on a house, signed a house-build contract, are working on a huge spray foam job, got a green award, and had a good time in the City. Not bad for a Wednesday.

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Since I have so many clients residing in the Barryville area, I thought I would give a shout out to the opening of a great new meeting place - an old school tavern that Lisa, Lucas, Theresa and me checked out last night. Bakers Tap Room II is awesome, casual, busy, with a great vibe. I recommend it without hesitation, especially since it is literally 5 minutes away for most of our customers. Add this to El Castellos, the Carriage House and the River Mart, Barryville is turning into the dining mecca of Sullivan County.

So, I get up at 6, fly to the office to pick a few things up, then head over to Thunder 102 cause they invited me to spend an hour talking about the DIY TV shows and my business - live. Then off the Center of Discovery to meet with the construction manager of Allison Devore in order to start a huge spray foam insulation job for one of the most cutting edge businesses up here. Then off to Cottage 25 for a final review, then off to Farmhouse 14 to check Alvin's painting progress on the front porch, then off to see Norm to lay out the house locations and driveway paths for Barn 3 and Cottage 30. Then off to see Dean at Ranch III, and check up on the guys at Cottage 28. Whew, then back to the office to pow wow with the James K, the bookkeeper and my assistant. Just got a call from a woman in Long Island who loved our stuff and asked a bunch of questions and couldn't help but comment that she thought the post about Cottage 2 was 'wierd' for someone just coming across the website. I couldn't agree more Kim. Although it's not me writing about that makes it weird. The fact on occasion a small group of homeowners have gone for this company's jugglar for years is what's weird, not me writing about. But in the end, like I have said for years, this blog is about how it really happens, not how I would like it to happen, or how I could make it appear to happen. In fact, in such a small community, the widely read blog becomes my best 'word of mouth' defense against a lot of bizarro behavior that is really detrimental to my efforts. What's odd is that anything that is deterimental to my efforts reduces the value of what I am building. I'm going on 400 posts, almost 3 years of tracking our progress. 150 readers a day. So that's cool. Also, I get a lot of email asking me why I'm such a 'pompous jerk' because the blog makes it seem like we do no wrong and have only victories day in and day out. Like I have said before, this blog is a marketing tool - and after reading Paul Downs self-pity blog in the NY Times Small Business section week after week, how annoying would it be if I tracked all the self-doubt, self-recriminations, second guessing and woe-is-me approach like he does? I hate the 'I'm a Victim' cry, and believe me, we've had plenty of occasions to play the victim.

We don't get many Catskill Farms resells - Gib McKean says the big resale point is after about 7 years of 2nd homeownership in the area, so a few of our homes are reaching that test age, remarkably. The owner of this Cottage was asking 20% more than what she bought it for, now I think it's 10% - but either way, pretty complimentary to our homes considering what has happened to the real estate market univerally over the past 2. I would think asking what you paid would aggressive, but who am I?

But most remarkably, this price appreciation is on a home that the homeowner constantly emails me (and copies the whole office as if the 'public humiliation ploy' by a few of my early homeowners wasn't so 2008) that she hopes my other buyers don't experience the level of problems she has had with this house - And yet still, it's worth more than she paid for it. Remarkable. It's only fair that if this is a house full of problems, buyers should know this, realtors should disclose all the problems, and it should be reflected in the appraisal. Otherwise, lawsuit for misrepresentation.

And now I hear she is accusing two of the best realtors in the region of conspiring with me to use her home as a model to upsell possible clients to my other cottages. I mean, how bizarro for many reasons, but oh, let me count a few of them (although it's always good when outsiders see what we are confronted with at times).

First, Bill, David and me are more ethical than that.

2nd - I don't rely or really even use realtors. We've been selling our own houses for years - and are much better at it than the local real estate companies, who we stopped using years ago when they couldn't sell more than 2 or 3 a year in a good year.

3rd - We haven't kicked as much ass in this world-changing recession and real estate crash because of black magic, sleight of hand or deviousness. We sell homes because the homes are great, and we spend $5000 a month marketing, positioning and branding our homes - probably more than most real estate companies up here spend in a year.

But, in the end, Thanks John for the great text after his family's first weekend - and I paraphrase - "Totally Unf%^&$*Kingbelieveable".

Touche.

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