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

Well water is fantastic and refreshing, and water from your catskills real estate can be fresh as the day is long.  But still, when something is drawn from 400' in the ground and then runs through a bunch of plastic, holding tanks and faucets, it's not hard to see how purity can be impacted (and fortunately, somewhat easily corrected).

Testing your water once a year by an area professional is never a bad idea.  They can test for 'potability', meaning safety (bacteria) as well as for hardness, softness, iron, sulphur, etc....

We like Titan Wells and Water Treatment out of Arkville for those who live in Ulster County, but there are others that probably do a fine job too, like Aqua Check (http://www.aquacheckllc.com/).   Valley Water (https://valley-water.com/) is a fine company for those with real estate in Sullivan County.

Anyone's who has been up here for any length of time, knows it's too late to order dry and cured firewood.  But everything else is still on the table.

Furnaces - regardless of the age or type - should be maintenanced each year.  The filters should be changed and the calibration and efficiency tested.  The cost savings of a good running furnace can't be understated, plus it's probably creating healthier air as well as prolonging the life of the furnace.

Radiators - for those who own our pre-2013 homes, you might have radiators.  If you do, these should be 'bled', which purges air and allows maximum water capacity and circulation.

Exterior faucet - unhook the hose to prevent freeze-ups that show up inside the home.

Low Heat Alarm - whether it be through one of our alarm systems or one installed post sale, they are a great insurance policy.  And don't neglect the 1-800# call when they phone if you do have a problem.

Turn off the water - when you leave for the weekend, turn off the electrical breaker for the well pump.  Doing this prevents any additional water than what is in the pipes (very little) from entering the home if a freeze up would occur.  This is actually a great thing to do year round, since it would protect against a burst fixture, leak, etc... in any season.

Plow and Sand - don't forget to renew that relationship before the first storm.

Charles Petersheim, founder of Catskill Farms (and writer of this blog, and a ton of letters to the editors) announced the creation of a donor-advised fund that will give back to the communities he works and lives in.  The Petersheim Fund, administered as part of the Greater Pike Foundation, is intended to give to organizations that I respect and play some part in, as well as finding a way to make micro-grants to kids in need of band instruments, sports fees, SAT prep, etc...

Quoting myself, "We've been giving as long as we have been earning. What we are doing with the GPF is organizing that giving a little better, as well as spreading the word a little further.'

See the local news article here - Pike County Courier Petersheim Fund.

Catskill Farms is a 9/11 story, as many of you know.  Working in Soho on the new Scholastic building on Prince, eating breakfast on the 11th floor with a clean shot of the planes hitting the towers, somehow getting a hold of my girlfriend although most cell lines were overloaded, gathering at bars to huddle and think, walking home to Berkeley Place in Brooklyn, where cars and stoops were covered with ash.  Making my way down to help out one day.   Losing my job.  Losing my lease.

Buying a $25k 300 sq ft house without plumbing or heat (or siding, etc…)  ‘upstate’ with a credit card check that arrived in the mail shortly thereafter.  Adopting a stray cat and stray dog, both that got pregnant and having 5 puppies and 7 kittens running around – surely a headline if the SPCA would have caught wind.  No car.

And starting Catskill Farms with no money, shallow experience, no connections, no talented labor supply and hardly a relationship.  With a simple idea that we still work at today – that buying upstate didn’t/doesn’t have to be a compromise, or a 2nd choice, and there was no reason that smart people wouldn’t buy good houses if given the chance.

That was 20 years ago.  And 200 homes. And we remarkably still remain far from perfect, even with our daily effort to keep improving.

Borrowing from Winston Churchill – “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

On behalf of my entire team, I would like to thank you each and every one of you who has joined us in this journey.  My biggest regret of this entire thing of ours is that I’m too busy introducing new people the Farm that I don’t get to know better all the amazing people we’ve done business with.  Maybe that’s the next chapter.

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