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

A few years ago, I founded Lazy Meadows Real Estate.  Its purpose was to mostly allow me to list my homes on the multiple listing service of the hudson valley, gaining exposure to the real estate community without turning complete control of the listing over to someone else (a broker), an exercise that proved frustrating and expensive.

The real estate company also allowed me to save several thousand dollars on each land purchase I  made/make, which is not insignificant.  I buy a lot of land, so saving (or paying myself) 3% of $750k a year adds up.

Almost as a side thought, a few clients called us up and asked us to list their homes, which made sense since we have such knowledge of the homes and a direct line of marketing communication with a large targeted client niche - who we have been marketing to effectively since 2002.

Turns out, we are pretty good at marketing these resales.  For the first 10 years, very few traded, since families tended to hold onto them, and let's be honest, we moved at a much slower pace, thus just not that many out there.

Now however, with 200 homes built, they trade.  I wouldn't say they trade a lot, and when they do come on the market, they tend to move quickly, but a few are typically on the market, or at least 1 or two.

It's neat to circle back and help these families sell their homes.  Clearly no ones knows the homes better than me, and buyers like to buy direct, even on a resale.

So Lazy Meadows is just this sort of little annuity that produces a steady stream on income with very few expenses, since most of the administration is covered in our daily Catskill Farms work.

And finally, after many years, I partnered with an excellent new Agent, Caroline Akt.  And she's killing it, working hard, and taking it very seriously, thus having a good deal of success.

My friend Bryan bought a house from me in 2009, sold it, then built one himself (I mean himself, he did a lot of the work himself), and when he wanted to sell it, he gave me the opportunity.  We put a deal together quick and the deal closed last week.

My good friend Matthew built a house with us 6+ years ago, and when his family's priorities pivoted away from weekend jaunts to the country, he enlisted us to help sell it.  Lickety Split, within a week or two, we produced a buyer.  Turns out that buyer was kicking the tires of a new build Catskill Farms, but was excited to be able to turnkey move in, furniture and all, and get livin'.

The question at the beginning was always would the interests of Catskill Farms sales conflict with the interests of the buyers of resales.  I never thought it would - 1, not enough CF resales around, and 2, people who want to build, do so to scratch an itch of design you don't get with a resale.

So, it has worked out all around.

I've (Charles L Petersheim) been writing most of my life, studied journalism at U of Pittsburgh, wrote an unpublished novel, thousands of letters, hundreds of letters to the editors, dozens of newspaper articles, and the marketing copy for Catskill Farms, and all related entities for twenty years.  And I used to keep this blog very updated.  It was scandalous in its day, tracking my ups, downs, wins, losses, defeats, paybacks, etc..., all written well and on point.

Now that life has stabilized a bit on this entrepreneurial journey, it seems the need to express is less, less to confess, less to offer and less to reveal.  The blog was never like social media, where only the prettiest picture is painted of pretty beaches, athletic kids, all short and filtered.  The Blog was never filtered, and never 120 words or less and never painted with pretty pastels.  It was a mainline into my thinking, strategy, emotions, a counterintuitive way to market expensive homes for sure.

But, for better or worse, it set us apart as authentic and real, not glossy and overproduced.

But those days are over, those perilous over-leveraged, under-experienced days that produced an unlikely success story.  Now I struggle to be inspired by the daily outrages I encounter, struggle to be inspired by the wrongs hoisted on me - now we just call someone and solve the problem.  We may even yet fail, or achieve less over the next 20 years than we did in the previous, but that denouement would be more methodical and controlled than the wild stallion of the ride over the last 20 years and 200 homes, where every day brought some insurmountable issue that required cash we didn't have and experience we didn't possess.  Now I'm surrounded by professionals of all sorts, at all levels, and our cash flow is strong, our sales consistent, and our brand pronounced.

Had to head down to Miami to scout locations for my 50th birthday party, which will be attend by 20+ family and friends for 3 days of relaxation.

One of our favorite farmhouses that Catskill Farms built a few years back in Olivebridge NY is being sold and we are honored to represent it through our real estate company, Lazy Meadows Realty.

The youth football league I coached - 8-10 year olds - went 8-0 including winning the championship.  Lucas, my son, was the QB so that was neat.  He can be a bit ornery when it comes to Dad-coaching, so I'm glad and relieved to report that we pulled it off, relationship intact, trophy in hand.  GREAT group of kids.

Fun group of kids over for Lucas' 11 birthday party.  Fit all 9 in my car for a short drive.

Continue to improve my residence in Milford PA, this fall concentrating on the front hillside that was overgrown and untamed.  May Landscaping did a great job reclaiming the hill, carving a small path, and planting a bunch of wildflowers.  Next spring should be spectacular.

Having a large stone wall built.

And this past September did long road trip from Santa Rosa to Seattle with 2 college friends and one of their friends.

And even remembered to buy a card for my Ex for her birthday.

That's a small sampling of the events in the Life of Charles Petersheim. All is good, even for a 'restless and jealous mind' (John Prine lyric).

Sales continue to be brisk in this 19th year of business.  We are closing on a new home every 3 weeks or so, throughout real estate in the Catskills, recently Bethel, Olivebridge and Narrowsburg.

In Sullivan County, we just finished and sold Ranch 33 and Barn 31 in the small Birches subdivision in Bethel NY.

The Ranch, on Lot 19, has calming tree house feel to it and The Barn sits on a bluff above a pretty pond and open field.

These are our 8th and 9th home in this project that lay dormant for 12 years until we arrived on the scene.

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Barn 31 - Sullivan County Real Estate

Ranch 33, Sullivan County Real Estate

Then our mini-ranch in Narrowsburg was a big hit at 820 sq ft, sporting 7 acres and 2 bedrooms.  

Ranch 34 - Sullivan County Real Estate

We have this first of its kind American Four Square in Olivebridge NY

‍Farmhouse 53‍

Adding to our Ulster County NY real estate portfolio.

Ranch 28, Ulster County Real Estate

‍Also located in Olivebridge NY.

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.