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

So, on Cottage 9 we had two guys who signed up real early and signed a contract and all that jazz but just before construction one of them professed a dying ember of emotion for the other so since they were breaking up, they didn't want the house. Because it was so early in the process (before construction started) and since I have no desire being part of a fight over assets, we gave them back their earnest money and began remarketing the house. In 2 hours it was sold (going into contract) at full price. Now that's pretty amazing.

Groovin' loose or heart to heart

We put in motion every single part

Funky sounds wall to wall

We're bumpin' booties, havin' us a ball, y'all

Shake your groove thing,

shake your groove thing, yeah, yeah

Show 'em how we do it now

Shake your groove thing, shake your groove thing, yeah, yeah

Show 'em how we do it now

We are really shakin' it now, probably building more houses than anyone else in the county (definitely more well-designed houses than anyone else). It's an amazing thing to say since 1, we are in an historic recession, and 2, we thought we were just a small little boutique business with a good taste. Well, what did we know? Obviously, not a whole hell of a lot. Or else having good taste is rare these days.

Here's Cottage #9 - the only house we have under construction that is not spoken for and reserved. In fact the first house in more than 14 months that we've been able to secretly construct so some deserving person or family could buy a nearly complete home. This house has been kept more secret than the Republican VP pick, and hopefully, more fully vetted and thought-out.

Cottage #9 is a lot of fun, since we have no constraints or limitations on our creative bents, and this house is really going to be perfect - 6 acres, 1300 sq ft, 2 huge bedrooms, fireplace, big ass deck, front covered porch, walk out frickin basement, security, whole house audio, and a dozen other things that make a house perfect. And yes the land is included for the offering price of $338k. And so are the 120 yr old stone walls, the perfect setting, the circular driveway, and brand new everything.

The whole house has been wired, plumbed and heated and we are just waiting for the windows and then off to the races.

And the stone wall I was braggin about, seen from the house's rear.

And now some pics of houses in motion -

Dean's Cottage 13, just a wooded lot 3 weeks ago, just a foundation 2 weeks ago, now nearly a beautiful cottage on 6 acres, tucked nearly perfectly in the trees, rocks and ledges.

And the last cottage in our small project named Highland Farms.

Here is Cottage 14, Deb and Jeanne's house, on 5+ acres, outside of Yulan, NY. Foundation in, lumbered delivered, retaining wall of huge stones selected and placed pretty perfectly, and we are off to the races on yet another pretty perfect home.

I mean seriously - 1350 sq ft, 2 bedrooms, fireplace, 2 porches, wide plank floors, picking out colors and stones and faucets, and vanities and kitchens and colors and stains. 4 months from lonely piece of wooded land to sleeping in the bedroom and bringing your laundry up from the city for some clothes washing in peace.

Lumber load delivered, ready for the framers tomorrow.

And then up to the top of the hill, on 10 acres, sits Farmhouse 10. This house, modeled after Farm 9, which was modeled after Farm 8, has been really a favorite - so much so that I had to turn someone down the other day who wanted a similar design.

Foundation in, lumber ready, sun setting. On your marks, get set, GO.

And then lovely Cottage 15, just taking it's first baby steps. First come concrete, then comes frame, then come the roof in a baby carraige. This house has it all, except waste, redundancy, and boring spaces like a 'bonus room' 'grand foyer' and all those suburban nonsense terms.

Now, if you want to do a little test, track back a few blog posts and you will see how quickly we really do move - how we really do 'shake our groove thing'. It was just 2 weeks ago that none of these foundations even existed, and now, within 10 days, all of them will be framed and roofed in.

I mean, no wonder people hate me - that's a lot bullwhippin', slave-drivin', no nonsense, no excuses, no bullshit, take no prisoners approach to building homes. How else do you build 40 country homes in 4 years in the middle of nowhere with no selection or depth in vendors/subcontractors/suppliers, and introduce over 100 adults to country living at its best?

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3 yrs ago, the week Katrina hit, Lisa and I were in Poland, via Berlin for my friend Boogie's wedding. Boogie was a friend I met my first year in business when I picked them up hitchhiking, -he and his friends previously blogged about. I mean, it's pretty amazing, this free market system, - I start a business, hire boogie and his friends, they work hard 7 days a week, 15 hours a day (still less than me) and leave the country at the end of the summer with a pocket full of cash that goes a long way in Poland - enables a marraige proposal to a girl named 'delicious', the purchase of a small apartment, and a real jump start on life. Here's Boog, Delicious and Lisa at a cafe in Lodz, Poland.

Same with Juan - my right hand man who has been with me since the very beginning - 7 years. During his stint with us, he has mastered the english language, supported his family at home in Guatamala, invested his american money in building an apartment complex in his home city. All the result of my gamble and perservence. Edwin got his green card and his family is coming over, spent 3 years nurturing 2 country carpenter and turned them from dishonest hill country carpenters to responsible young men (who in the end screwed me - can't change a tiger's spots), and a very large number of subcontractors and supply houses have benefitted from the boat I float - remarkably, until 7 months ago, the boat was leaky, large, lumbering, and for the most part, a very tenuous proposition. Oh, how many times have I been screwed, cheated, taken advantage of, fixed other people's mistakes during this business building experience - let me count the ways. Well, maybe not. Let's just say focusing on the big picture is not the easiest task when confronted with a weekly barrage of bullshit coming from all direction. But, as Lisa has often remarked, it was that ability to look past the country spite and sometimes lackluster performance in order to keep my eye on the ball - the ball being paying my bills, and developing/designing/building & selling perfect country houses. Here I am in a consignment shop overlooking a square of Berlin.

Train trip from Warsaw to Lodz, very hungover after a big night out in Warsaw which included some accidental eastern european strip joints, which let me make clear, are different from the ones in Reno.

Golden Gate bridge and Chuck the builder in the fore.

And Lovely Lisa in our suite in Berlin.

We promised boogie we woul be there for his wedding, and lo and behold, we were - come hell, high water, and no money.

We did, however, fly first class, since there are some frequent flyer advantages to buying hundreds of thousands of dollars of lighting, lumber, doorknobs and flooring.

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The final weekend of the summer. Most of the Catskill Farms homeowners up for the weekend, stretching out and cooling it for an extra day this weekend. Barbeques, wood splitting, a little gardening and landscaping. My weekends start out at 5 or so on Friday, leaving work a little early. I was a NY Times guy for over 15 years, but about a 1/2 yr ago I began augmenting it with the the WSJ weekend edition - both, at least for the moment, are a lot of fun and a great compliment to the weekend, filling in those hours between golf, work, strategizing, and the inevitable honey do list. Lisa usually makes a good weekend dinner, even in these late months of pregnancy and serves it up hot to me, the breadwinner and man of the house. Lisa and I prefer and are more comfortable in the traditional roles of man and woman - me earning and bringing home the bacon, and she barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. Just got some bad news - Lady Storm, the dog we adopted when her old owner passed along, has cancer and is slowly fading out on us. I mean, we knew this was going to be the drill since she was an old dog with bad legs and sordidly bad breath. But she's been good to us - low maintenence, fun to be with, awfully touchy about the cats playing with her tale - little ruby and big storm - reminds Lisa and me of the show Rob and Big. I'll post some pics of the two of them shortly. It'll be sad, but jeez leweez, I can't think of a better way to go out then being pampered by Lisa for the last 9 months of your life - much better than what was going to be her fate - slowly starving as neighbors forgot to feed her, or sent to the pound to fend for herself. Old Storm - a real good dog. It's been a great month of weather of here. Since the beginning of August nighttime temps around 45 and daytimes never exceeding a sunny 80. This is prime time Catskills - beautiful weather, no traffic, no noise - just the family, the house, the pets and a little well earned respite from all the overachieving I'm sure most 2nd homeowners do most days of their lives. Cheers - happy Labor Day and hasta luego Summertime.