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

I've been told more than once that I have a good head for marketing.  Actually, some people use the word 'genius' but since I'm trying not to play into the hands of those who want asshole validation, I thought I would tone it down a little.

I guess I do have a knack for it since we have branded ourselves like no other company in the Catskills, possibly the region and maybe even the country.  It's a brand that stays fresh, understands its market and stays true to its mission.

I mean we don't go for the lowest common denominator - we aim to skim the cream off the top.  We are picky who we want our message to reach, and by consequence, those who the message is not for are not engaged in the least.  It's a laser-like message with a sweet small niche of a target audience.

I've been riding around in my car with hundreds of buyers and would-be buyers over the past 10 years and I got to know them well.  I get what they are looking for and it's not just a floor plan.  It's an idea, a sophisticated thought, an inspired ambition.

So when I tell Brandi off, or I joke around about being an asshole, I know who I'm speaking to, who I'm aiming for.  And our brand has always been to connect uniquely, personally - in our message, in our process, in our goals and product.  I know my clients can take a joke, get some raw humor, understand a business journey, appreciate the unvarnished reflections.

In the end, our brand is intensely personal, to both me and our clients.  And that is a very hard thing to pull off, and nearly impossible to feign.

And the proof of our success of marketing realness would have to be the proof in the pudding (or possible the new bay front condo in Miami Beach I just bought).

Scott and Erika over at Yankee Lake sent us over a nice note today after we did some punch list work -


Dear chuck

Thanks for sending the guys over. You have the most professional people working for you. Brian is terrific and Tito is a real perfectionist. Again we love the house and after hearing all the horror stories from our friends with reference to their contractors we feel really truly blessed to have found you to build us this fantastic new home!

Our best

Scott and Erica

The Big Big Barn in Narrowsburg is just finishing up Phase 1, the house and barn project.  With 17 acres and a lake, I expect Phase 2 to center around the grounds.

That's the house up above and the garage down below.

It took us about a year to put these babies up and considering everything that went into them, that's pretty speedy.

The 4 door garage with space upstairs turned out real nice.

Lots of deck, some covered, some screened, some elevated.

With 17 acres there was a lot of different places to put the house.

Here's the mudroom, with a bench, a roof panel backsplash, double closet, local stone, natural ceiling.

The hole house is about openness and light.  We used 3 residential garage doors that operate real smooth as the defining house accent.

Lots of stone on the inside and the outside.

This is a shot of the master bedroom, which is open to the rest of the house.

Stainless steel hanging orb..

And a swanky shower.  We used 3x6 subway tile with black grout in all 6 bathrooms.

From the bath, the barn.

Drawers from the vanity out cause we just did templated a concrete countertop, which turned out really good.

Here's the upstairs of the garage.

And a frontal on the garage doors.

Floor to ceiling subway tile.

And a phone pull string toilet.

2 good bedrooms on the first floor, each with a bath.

And a kitchen that sprawls in a few directions.

We went back and forth on the garage design  - glad we ended up where we did.

Master Bath toilet.

Exposed spiral ductwork.

Going down in the basement...

With polished concrete floors, a pool, wine room and media room.

In a way, it's harder to build a small home than a large one.  But we had a lot of fun here and really turned out an architecturally unique and modest homestead to be enjoyed for years to come, I'm sure.

Resting before kayaking...

And here is something that happens more often than it should - I lose shit, at least misplace shit.  Nothing worse than gearing up for a bike ride, getting the hot tight stretch pants on, the gloves, the helmet, the jersey - get the bike down from the racks and go to get the tire and the tire is nowhere to be found.  Cause twice now, once I put the bike on the roof rack of my car I forgot about the front tire.  last month I left it at the bike store after a tuneup and last week at one of my job sites after going for a little ride.

It's embarrassing to call people up and say 'hey, did you see my front wheel?'  Plus it's annoying to get all mentally amped for a 20miler on these hills 'round here only to have it fall to pieces CAUSE I LOST MY FRONT WHEEL.

Then I was down at my folks and like has happened at least 4 times I forgot my toiletry bag which is bad enough but half the time now I have in it lucas's dumb thomas the train toothpaste (he won't use anything else), or his dumb spiderman toothbrush, or his 75 baby spray on SPF suntan lotion - so then I'm dealing with his meltdown or not brushing his teeth or running all over creation trying to find thomas the train training toothpaste.

Though by Dad's wife did send it back accompanied by 4 Lancaster Cty whoopee pies.

And lucas is always leaving his shit laying around too, so not only do I have to keep my things together, I have to keep his things together, and his things are small (like his 9 superhero figures) and he gets around so we have to a frickin' inventory every time we go someplace.

But at least I have these 3 deer relaxing outside my office this morning.  All bucks with little furry horns.