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

The Beauty of New.

Of course, tear downs aren't nearly as feasible up here where a house is 90% of the purchase cost, as opposed to the Hamptons where the land is probably a majority percentage of the all-in cost.

But new, or fully gutted and renovated, does offer some compelling advantages, which we - and our clients - have known for years.

And now the NY Times and Hamptons have lent us humble country folk their credibility.

I don't know who this happened but it looks like I forgot to post this Sold blog about our house up in Woodstock NY.  It's a good one for sure.

1800 sq ft, 6+ acres, about 1 mile to downtown Woodstock.

The mudroom is nothing to sneeze at with salvaged wood, a simple schoolhouse light, a 9 light door and some locally harvested bluestone.  It's the type of area where a whole family can hop around trying to take their boots off without knocking into each other (unless you have a 5 yr old, or someone who acts like a 5 yr old and they purposely hop around and bump into you).

Add in a big strap hinged cross bucked barn door for another fun accent.

A shot from the front door through the house.

From the living room, through the dining room, a 1st floor bath and bedroom on the left.

Nothing fancy but all so functional and good looking, especially with some treasured dishes and the like on the open shelves.

The kitchen seques right out onto the deck and the screened porch.

One of my favorite rooms in the house is this upstairs sitting area.  With lots of light, a solitary radiator and the wide plank floors, it's a comfy spot and I look forward to seeing how they use it.

This piece of land was a real diamond in the rough, and with our ability to navigate a lot of hurdles and roadblocks, we were able to add this awesome home to the Woodstock NY architecture landscape.

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Per Reader -

"Chuck. Happy New Year. Wanted to thank you and your clients for improving our property value along the Upper Delaware River. We didn't have to lift a finger since since 2001 you chose the Upper Delaware River valley for your portfolio of houses and your customers followed. Natural beauty with no fracking go hand in hand. Many thanks Chuck. on Hudson Renovation"

The silly thing about this comment is it assumes that because I disagree with all the propaganda, ends justify the means, outright truth distortion of the anti-domestic gas leaders and crowd, that I somehow want an local unregulated, gas drilling free for all.

That's the type of tactic these folks have been using since 2008 to bolster their 'domestic energy means the end of the world' hysteria and if you disagree with us, you are immoral and greedy.

To think that local town boards consisting of mostly retirees and high school grads do not have the tools to intelligently weigh in on an international energy issue - energy, by the way, that we all are using with abandon - is not a revolutionary position to take, regardless if it goes against the knee-jerk crowd-pleasing grain.

I use energy.  I don't see why the environmental degradation and other good and bad impacts should be hidden away from view.  And actually, if they weren't hidden away from view, maybe conservation, instead of hypocrisy would be seen more often.

Someone should commission a study to quantify the new amount of residential solar or geo-thermal being used in NY since the local gas drilling scares started in 2008.  My guess, no measurable jump in orders for these clean energy sources, which is really my point - saying no to energy, but using it like you always did, is just sort of - I don't know - selfish.

Anyways, there aint no gas drilling happening around here, so all the hoopla at this point is money raising scare tactics, which is the way it's been for years.

Although Highland (the town I live in) just got sued by a large land owner, though I think that's more about principle than actually drilling for gas.