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

I've seen a lot of downright crazy developments as this natural gas thing played out upstate, but I don't think I've seen anything as ludicrous as Sean and Yoko Ono (with Sean, after a lifetime of anonymity - one picture I saw even had him in a suit like his dad's famous white one) coming out vocally against domestic gas exploration at the last possible moment, when the spotlight of the press is the hottest.

Add that to the 'can't make this stuff up' collection I keep in a drawer at my office.  The more I see the celebrity train attempt to rush the stage and jockey for the limelight, the happier I am to have stayed off that bandwagon.

Move over FarmAid - here comes SamAid (Singers against Marcellus).  Where we can serve our Marcellus Ale that a client and I are secretly brewing in his basement.

We do a lot of post-closing work for our clients.  Build a garage, finish a basement, help with a new building they purchased.  Below is Barn 1, just repainted, 7 yrs after the sale.  One, it looks great.  Two, it's amazing we've been doing this that long.  Oh, if only those lonely country roads could talk, they could certainly tell some sorry stories about my first years doing this Catskill Farms thing.  Lonely, hard, doubtful, steep learning curve.  Wearing way too many unfamiliar hats - developer, designer, builder, employer, salesman and probably the hardest, customer service.

Now, I think we've mastered most of those, with customer service being about as important for us as it is for our clients.  When I travel, purchase, shop, - I am subconsciously comparing our process with those I'm encountering and I have to say we rank up there pretty high, regardless of the hotel chain, car dealership, suit maker, realtor or bureaucrat I encounter.

Considering our clients are about the pickiest, most demanding, discerning demographic one can target, it's a high achievement.  that caliber of expectations is all we know so we always had to deliver a product and process that met that set of high expectations.

Lucas wearing my boots, his superman shirt, his skull and crossbones thermals and his batman mask, at my office, waiting for some clients to show.

And adding the helmet for good measure.

Here was a run I was on in Saugerties out to an impossibly cool old lighthouse, through the high grass and marshes just after the Hudson high tide.

Our Sullivan County projects are going great, with Farm 20 in Barryville currently getting the exterior siding installed and insulation.  I believe at this point it may even be sheet rocked.

And Cottage 39 in Eldred, a 2 two bedroom 1.5 bath home that just went into contract.

And Farm 19 in Narrowsburg NY on 10 acres is moving right along.

Wasp in the spider's nest.  Kind of like our prospective clients when they learn what we can deliver in terms of quality and design, and at the price we can do it.  It's a value and lifestyle offering that many find compelling indeed.

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"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

                                                 By any other name would smell as sweet."

But with Marketing, sure, definitely names matter.  That's why we don't call our homes the "Bennington", or the "Chatham" or the "Wentworth" - we are more down home than all that.  But I was thinking this over the other day with our Arts and Crafts line of homes.  One, it's a pain to write and say.  Two, lots of folks don't know exactly what it means, unlike the visual one gets with Cottage, or Farmhouse or Mid-Century.  And three, it just doesn't have that zing that I strive for.  So we decided to rename it, but then I couldn't decide between 'Craftsman' or 'Farm 21'.  I like Craftsman, and of course I like Farm 21, but whichever, I think the issue has been resolved.

And holy frickin' mackerole, now this house seems to be going into contract which will leave up completely sold out in Ulster County AGAIN.  So, it was only 15 months ago we entered the Ulster marketplace and one could say "Veni, vidi, vici" if one was so compelled.

I came, I saw, I conquered.  Not bad for a guy from the sticks.

The pics are a little dark regrettably, but we did some old school Morning Dew paint on the walls, salvaged red planking, whitewashed ceiling planks, early american floor stain, and host of our most legacy go-to choices.

And there is Tito, the master painter.

And from the rear... (very hard to not say something clever here)

...but I'm growing as an individual and hence kept such impulses at bay.

It's a dreamboat of a house - modeled after that winner Cottage 1, which started our path to fame and fortune, way back in 2007, when the local real estate community scoffed at the idea of a 2 bedroom 1300 sq ft home.

For under $330k, this home is rocking outside of Barryville NY.   We have a new strategy in Sullivan County with our spec homes (homes whos construction began without a buyer signed up) this year and that is to build the home, carve in the driveway, put the roof, windows and even the siding on so it can really be visualized by potential new homeowners, but leave the interior completely unfinished so the new homeowners can put their stamp on it.

And the Man Shed.

So congrats Todd and Tomoko.  You're gonna love it up here.

And the The Shack - that adorable little 500 sq ft 1 bedroom house up on Lucky Lake Road.  The house everyone wanted to see, the house I've owned for awhile.

Wow, the Shack, Ranch V - small 1 bedrooms that were built as the market and the magazines and my market information were pointing to smaller and lower price point.  Then, just like that, at the end of 2010, bam, the market changed for us and 2011 was not the year of the tiny house but actually the year of 3 bedroom 1500 sq ft farmhouses.  Just makes you value being a company that can turn on a dime, keep its ear close to the tracks and pivot into the prevailing winds, however slight and modest they may be.

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