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

Says Wiki - "Glasco's name was taken from a glass company located in the mountain area several miles inland. The glass was carried by horse down the "Glasco Turnpike" to the banks of the Hudson where it was shipped on for ports of sale. The settlement along the river where the glass was loaded became known as Glasco."

So, you all know how fond I am at saying how talented, precise, tasteful our clients are - Well, Carl, this Bud's for you.  I'm not sure if Carlos and Carl read this blog (no one admits to it), but they know what I'm talking about - attention to detail, ha ha.  And it turned out frickin' pretty darn nice.

(Also, I like to write these 'end of project wrap-ups' after a martini or two, but here I sit all mature in the cool corner bookstore in Saugerties - so if my humor falls flat, that's why-)

These guys are veteran home owners - a lot of our clients are first time home owners.  They may have a place in the city or something, but haven't purchased anything in the real world (NYC process being unique onto itself), so that's always part of our job - helping them navigate the world of mortgages, lawyers, surveyors, building inspectors, zoning regs, etc... We are like upstate concierges.

So these guys are veteran homeowners, having previously owned on the oldest houses in Ulster County which probably dates back to the 1600's or so.  Super interesting that they chose 'this new old house' after living in 'that really old house'.  And super cool that we were the team that got to do it.

We were hired at first to take a piece of land and make it build-able.  It was a smaller piece of land, right on a little creek, right off of Glasco Turnpike.  Our challenge was to take this house and make it fit on the land, with the septics, streams, driveway, building footprint, well/septic separations - each of these details have 'setbacks' set by the town, state, DEC, etc... and anytime you have water, you have an added set of rules, and oversights.  So we had the Woodstock stream guy involved, and the surveyor, and the septic guy and the driveway guy and the town highway guy - all these folks with their rules to enforce and we had to insert this house right perfectly just so-so so it fit.  It's the type of thing that you really rely on the professional relationships developed over dozens and dozens of homes, relationships that keep you out of trouble and ask the question you forgot you ask.

These guys knew what was important to them - lot's of porch, with an area gated for the dogs to go wild.  We build dog gates, kid gates, cat gates...  Whatever it takes...

So we leveraged on this professional expertise as a one-stop shop for these owners.  We do that a lot - help people figure out what to do where, and what not to do, and since we are typically pretty 'on it', we help navigate the sometimes conflicting information coming from the disparate professionals.

This 1300 sq ft 2 bedroom 1.5 bath home was inspired by Cottage 38 over in Stone Ridge.  Boy was that a good house, and boy does this one pick up where that one left off.  We also finished off the 600 sq ft basement but more on that later.

Clean with the light floors and light paint and delicate spindles and french doors and crown moldings.  This is the living room, with the kitchen and dining to the right.

Front door, stone entrance, book shelves, wood burning fireplace, wide plank floors.

First floor half bath with half wall, wainscoting, dueling sconces and stone floor.

I think there were 4 sets of 5' double french doors, 3 sets in the kitchen.

They had these cool pain in the ass to install cabinet clad covers over the refrigerator and dishwasher.

Upstairs foyer leading to the two bedrooms and bath - we used a lot of pocket doors in this home, which is an unusual treatment for us.

Bedroom 1 over looking the stream.

Very good-looking bath, overlooking the stream.

Bedroom 2.

And the basement buildout with gas fireplace and lots of light - overlooking the stream.

Well, another success story.  We are uncommonly consistent in our ability to deliver on our promises - and it's not like we don't encounter problems - both unforeseen and of our own making - but the trick is to identify them and fix them without missing a beat - that really is an important trick to learn - how to look good while being imperfect.  Most of clients are pretty savvy, and have had plenty of lackluster consumption experiences, be it a shoe purchase or a home purchase, so it's not like they don't expect to have a hiccup or two.

The key is the quick recovery.

"I live in Eldred Ny, love my town and the people in it, but Chuck from catskill farms is a really mean, bad, lier..."

onCatskill Farms hits the Small Screen - HGTV's Selling NY"


What I love about this comment - what is most symbolic of the writer and at times, the area-  is the mis-pelling of the word 'lier'.  What I also love about this comment - and believe me, a lot of people agree with the sentiment, is that it just must be really confusing as to why we continue to prosper and grow - and the reason is simple, we are straight shooters who suffer no fools (especially when they can get in the way of our basic business premise, which is to provide a drama-free seque into country living.)

It doesn't matter if it's Randy Florke, Steve Dubrovsky and myself,  success (no matter how modest or well-earned) and the tactics and tools required to achieve it, are unfamiliar to many in the area.

Client after client after client have come to see us, have built with us, have kickstarted a new chapter of living large with our facilitation - it's a rewarding way to earn a living, although there has been a campaign for years to discredit our achievement.

I get a lot of flak, and generate a lot of ire, because I won't join the 'gas drilling in NY is going to kill us all and sink the planet once and for all' charade.  I mean I get a LOT of flak, I get totally harassed and even ostracized among the civilized folk, and the only reason I can pull it off is because our homes are that good that people keep buying them even though I'm rooting for the end of the earth, destruction of the world as we know it, poisoner of people and their pets, polluter of aquifers, organic farmland, vineyards and micro-brews.

But the bottom line is, I refuse to entomb myself in the campaign of fear being used to mobilize people. Sure, back in 2008-2010, gas drilling would have sucked because Big Gas wanted to have their way with us with no rules, checks or balances.  That would have sucked, and it was a stressful time indeed.

But those days are over, and nowhere would drilling gas be more regulated and controlled than NY State, after 5 years of successful grassroots concern.

Maybe it doesn't work or fit in Sullivan County, but to drive across the huge empty State of NY where property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes are the highest in the nation, where there is zero economic activity and not think we are smart enough to figure out a way to do it - well, my point is simple -  I think we are smart enough.

Try and find the local population between 25-35 - you can't because they leave because there is nothing here for them.  A community without youth is no community at all.

So my point is simple - I think we are smart enough to figure it out, and I don't appreciate the harm the anti-gas folks cause to the area with their fear-mongering.  It's their only tool, and they use it well past the point of believability - because once you don't fear it, then they have a problem.  

Call me an ogre - that's fine and dandy (especially since ogres are now made loveable since Shrek came on the stage), but I believe in 15 years NY State will have a dynamic gas harvesting industry (like many other states), a model for the nation and world, and it will be to the credit of those who fought to bring its dangers to light, and those who fought to not have those dangers be exaggerated.  Those who refuse to use their intelligence, savviness and sophistication to help bring it about in the smartest way will probably find themselves on the wrong side of history.

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So, I'm in Miami Beach, so there is no reason to cry for me Argentina, but I have timed it uniquely perfect with a cold front coming in on Thursday, the day I arrived, and continuing on till Tuesday, the day I leave.  52 degrees this morning and I've been wearing the same sweat shirt for days.  Every one is walking around with sweaters right off the racks, with the store folds and hanger marks embedded on them.

Lucas below trying on my ski wear before our ski trip two weekends ago.

This is one difference between Miami Beach and Sullivan County - here I was just walking around minding my own business and came across this big model shoot party on the ocean right off Ocean Ave.  I'm sure I could find other differences if I tried hard enough.

And for all you Scarface fans, up there on the 3rd floor behind the blue bubble is the chain saw scene room.  Funny story about Scarface movie.

So, when I was like 16 or 17 I was dating a girl out of my league whose dad was a pretty straight and narrow Naval Academy grad who was raising 3 cute daughters.  So they humored me even though I was swimming in water above my head and asked me to bring over a movie we all could watch together on some Saturday night.  So I bring Scarface - I mean, within 30 minutes there were like 125 'fucks', that beautiful scene where tony's friend does the 'tongue thing' as a come on line to some muchacha, a chain saw scene, a murder and it was just getting started.  Totally inappropriate, and that was before it evolved into a cult classic - which in a way, validates my 'ahead of the times - ness' that I still deploy today.  

However, thinking back on it, at the time it was more like Taxi Driver, where the clueless DeNiro takes his date to the porn show.