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

So I scheduled a model home tour de force today at 21 Willow Drive, aka Lawsuit House, and within 4 hours of the eblast, had covid-safe appointments every half hour from 9:30-3:30.  Could have done 7am to 9pm but have to draw the line somewhere. (update - seemed to have signed up $3.2m of buyers today).

I don't often get to spend a whole day in a house we built, mostly because by the time we are done pounding the last nail, the mattresses are coming in the front door.    But it's nice to get up close and personal and spend some time quietly in a finished home, see the talent of the team, and the inspired work of the client.

Of course I get up, and I bring the Benz E400, and what do I find but that it has snowed, then iced/hardened since we were here last on Friday, creating all sorts of complications for driveway access, slipperiness, etc….

Telling indicator the market is still strong (understatement alert) that a simple Model Home Tour fills up in a couple of hours.  I think that it’s clear that normalcy is still in the distance, and the fact that NYC continues to deteriorate in terms of quality of life, and the fact that so many buyers have not been able to find a home yet will continue to put heavy pressure on the homes for sale inventory.

It has opened the door for more builders and designers to get into the game, but they seem only interested in the high end market, selling ‘design’ as much as quality and square footage.  We’ve always been able to hit all three boxes - design, value, size - in a way others have had a hard time doing.  This helps weather the storms that come and go.

The homes we are currently selling, that were priced back in April and May, are at least $100k under the price they would fetch now, and sometimes more.  It’s a little frustrating, but we’ve calibrated, and more accurately priced our homes, while still being some of the best priced, most sought after stuff on the market.

Our homes are art.   I’ve said it for a long time.  And with this little bugger selling for $500k (I bought it and sold it for $250k)

Cottage 22 in Barryville in Sullivan County

and this one that was sold for $535k and built for $425k

Barn 16 in Bethel in Sullivan County

and these two which went for $800k+,

Farm 12 in Barryville,

Farm 33 in Rhinebeck,

the proof is in the pudding that our process - creative yet disciplined, fast yet controlled, flexible yet bordered, has enabled us to provide ourselves as a tool for a very talented set of people who have then proceeded to design and build really amazing spaces.  As I’ve said from Day 1, the clients we work with, who are attracted to us, are talented, are creative and are smart, no two ways about it.

Did you know that The Great Gatsby just entered to public domain, 90 years after it was written?  Meaning, anything and everything about it can now be used without any permissions or costs.  I’ve been a Fitzgerald fan for decades, even finding myself in lamp lit university libraries over the years, reading literary criticisms of his work, shadowed by the bulging bookshelves neatly ordered and cataloged.  I own an early addition of Gatsby that a girlfriend gave me back in ’98.  I bring it up because Planet Money, the neat all things money podcast, is spending 4 1/2 hours reading it online, narrated by the voices of the program that we are all familiar with.  I have to say, luckily my interest in the book is great enough overcome their nerdy readings - I don’t think Audible will be knocking any time to narrate Walter Issacson’s biographies of Steve Jobs, Leonardo Davinci, or Ben Franklin.  Welcome to the Public Domain, F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Sad to see you go.

This home in squatting in today, like many others, had a problem getting their appliances.  It’s not just new construction, but a lot of people are spending more time in their homes, eating in, are realizing their appliances are lacking, and are insufficient.  Hence, major supply issues.  Nothing more disruptive to our process than a multiple day install.

Just finished a book  -“James Baker, The Man who Ran Washington”, focused on a man who played a part in every major event USA was involved in from 1976-2010, often at the behest or the side of a Bush family member.  Reagan, Bush, Iran Contra, losing to Clinton, fall of USSR, 2000 election debacle.  Interesting for sure, if a little nerdy.  I was reading about the Republic of Georgia overthrowing their government in 1990’s by marching on the capitol just as parts of our citizenry was marching on the capitol.  Let’s be honest, a lot of governments have fallen with marches on the Capitol.  

Amazing how amazing the print version of the WSJ is compared to their TV efforts.  Unfortunately for America, more people watch stuff than read stuff.  One of the billionaire English Barclay’s brothers died last week.  He and his twin built up a business empire.  What caught my attention is they started out as house painters, as I did.  I get it - it’s a skilled job somewhat easily learned where you can make money and the cost of entry/setting it up is minimal.  As an entrepreneur, I see opportunity everywhere I look as I think about how to mentor my son.

Looks like I’ve already sold 3 homes today.  Amanda and the rest of the design staff are going to be pissed - I told them every year for the last 3 we were going to ‘take it easy and scale back some’.  If I’ve practiced ‘deceptive business practices’ like Nerko tried to say when his out of bounds demands were rejected. I’ve deceived my hard-working team to think that the ‘easy year’ is ‘the next year that never comes.’  For 20 years, I might tap the brakes, but not for long.

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You don't have to be uber rich to give money away.  I've felt the tug to give really from the beginning of earning money, even when flush with debt and uncertain prospects.

My guess is over the lastr 20 years I've given $150,000 or more to various people and organizations.  There have been successes and failures and they encompass little things like $100 here and there to fire departments and similar, paying for and building dugouts for a little league, non-profits like Sunshine Library in Eldred, anything Tannis Kowalchuk is part of.  We more or less paid for the rehab of a Veterans' Home in Liberty NY for a local church (B.A.T.S.), which turned out to be almost a fraud in my books, or at least so little actual assistance to veterans it felt like fraud.  There's been local people with health issue, communities with holiday festivities, etc... and so on.  We also advertise in local newspapers where the benefit is nearly undetectable to us, other than to support local journalism, a passion of mine.  Catskills Center, Ashokan Center, Homeless Federation in Monticello.  Giving has always been part of what I do.

3 Years ago, in order to get better advice and be part of a community of giving, I set up a donor-assisted fund with the Greater Pike Community Fund.  What they do, through the help of the tax code, is offer an umbrella 501c3, so small fry funds like the Petersheim Fund and others don't all need to have tax code compliance expertise, grant committees, accountants, check writers, etc...  It's a great way to reduce the administrative burden, to share it, in a way.

For me, I'm as drawn to the organization as well as the person who runs it.

We've just announced this years grants and they are as follows, sharing $10k of gifts -

GAIT, a place in Milford PA that uses horses for a wide range of therapeutic needs.  This is lead by Martha Dubensky.

Ecumenical Food Pantry, which provides a food pantry to NE PA for decades.

A Single Bite, run by the Foster Hospitality Group, and provides balanced meals and education across Sullivan County.  This is run by Sims Foster and his wife, Kristen.

Farm Arts Collective, an organization run by Tannis Kowalchuk, which combines theater, farming and creative thinking.

Kyle Pascoe Memorial Fund, which was founded in 2018 after the auto-accident death of a 17 year old, backup quarterback sophomore at Delaware Valley High School

We wish a happy new year to all.

I know some things, more than some less than others, having lived on the edge for 20 years.

One thing is true, among many, and that is idea that you get more out of people, and more bang for your buck by expecting less, not pushing for more, all the time.  Like a car hitting a corner and strategically slowing into the curve only to accelerate as physics allows, deceleration actually produces better results than the pedal to the metal syndrome.  Which is a tough trick to stick because to modulate the effort and production without tempering the vision or goals can seem to the uninitiated to be working at cross purposes.

I wrote a published article about it last year -

How To Retain Employees

Another thing I know is our little business niche is a niche that has continued to give through good and bad times, through healthy times, through virus times, for 2 decades now.  This New Yorker thing we have, that narrow lane of folks who believe what we offer is cool and has value, has been a tree we have picked fruitfully for nearly 20 years.  Rarely is a niche so resilient - typically the story would be, sooner or later, the niche would hiccup and fail to deliver, and then all the commentary on our failure would be 'too many eggs in one basket' type of things.  But so far so good.

Another thing I know is how fortunate I feel that our school district successfully held in-person classes for the entire fall school year, which was a gigantic relief since many schools didn't even try, and I think it's safe to say it's becoming abundantly clear how detrimental zoom schooling is to a wide range of kids.

Another thing I know is how grateful we are that my 76 yr old mother got covid and survived without a whole lot of trouble, though it was worrisome nonetheless.

Another thing I know is few things tested my metal more than the assorted trials of 2020, and my ability to steer my corporate ship through the typhoons of turbulence.  Day by day planning, see and decide, act and execute, clear-eyed even when sight distance is narrow and limited.  The pandemic was tough enough, but as I've written, we had some real black swans like a 2x4 alongside the head at really the worst times.  Head down, rise early, solve each problem with a step by step process of inching along, jumping, inching some more, leaping, repeat.

Back in the day, I used to complete these tests not knowing how absurdly difficult they were, and how unprepared and unarmed I was for them.  At least now I know when I'm doing something pretty damn hard.  And when I notice it's a hard task, you know it's a hard task.

We have an amazing team of 11, all cross talented, eager to help, and committed to the effort.  It's not an easy thing to accomplish, but accomplish it I did.

Merry Christmas -

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We sold 3 homes in the last 4 weeks.  The farmhouse below in Olivebridge NY, and now a Ranch in Milan over by Rhinebeck, and a mini-barn in Narrowsburg.  We get around fo sure.

Most of these homes were started during the uncertainty of the beginning of the pandemic, and built during the daily changes of rules, regulations and lock downs.  We got it done, and now have a pipeline of about 12 homes we need to deliver over the next 6 months.

Lumber prices have more than doubled, products like windows now take 10 weeks when they used to take 3, appliances are mostly unavailable as showrooms are unable to source product.  It's been challenging, and I'm thankful we have a full staff and a deep bench of trusted suppliers who are working hard to do their best to get us what we need and our clients want.   But it's harder now, a lot harder.

What happens as a small business person is that big problems need big solutions, and typically they aren't able to be delegated, even though I'm a very good delegator, when possible.  So what happens is the business owner's life gets hijacked, and all things must fall away and delayed until the problem is solved, and sometimes that takes months or more.  There is no other path, and most times it's completely unexpected, except as a small business owner, the unexpected is always expected.  Your life is not really yours, it's your business'.  

We had the pandemic, truly a disruptor.   Then we had an employee with a health emergency take 3+ months off without warning, we had a deleted website and the need to hire a web designer to rebuild the site (without warning),  a complete shit show of disappointing vendors in my 3 house project in Phoenixville PA near Valley Forge and a host of other things.  Now that I'm on the back side of fixing each of those issues, beginning with the first step and seeing it through to the end, I see the drain and stress and tolls these tasks took on me.  It takes a seriously hardy constitution and ability to meet the challenge, or challenges.

And more importantly, to solve these issues without letting your current clients feel/take the brunt of the unexpected disruptions

A 2600 sq ft 3 bedroom and 3 bath Ranch in Milan NY, sold for just under $700,000.

A 960 sg ft Mini-Barn in Narrowsburg NY sold for under $350,000.