Value
Big article in the Times the other day about falling prices of homes in the Catskills - I have only one thing to say about that - 'Duh!.' Or, actually, "Double Duh." Anyone with their nose to the train tracks and understood a little about economic history, and a little bit about regional history, knew when shitty houses on shitty property were selling for $300k that something bad was going to happen. I mean, houses that wouldn't have even been considered by a weekender were selling for $400k, doubling or more their price of just 3 years back. Luckily, we never got greedy, never paid more than $4k an acre for our land, never overpaid our labor and staff and never forgot to make the hard design decisions that kept our houses full of detail at the lowest cost. And, most importantly, kept the prices far below what our customers could build the house independent of our vertically integrated process. I think we may be the only company in the entire country that is selling our houses for equal or more than last year. For instance, we have had 5 of our houses appraised over the past 2 months in this tough climate in order for the buyers to get financing - all appraised by different banks, different appraisers - and all came back with values at or above our selling costs. Since appraisals are the biggest obstacles to getting deals done presently, I am definitely pretty proud our homes are not only retaining their value, but actually increasing in most cases. Real Value is always in demand. So is good taste.
Waiting for Mom
Here are Lucas and Me waiting for Mom to finish 'getting ready' on New Years Eve - Note his cool dude party outfit.
New Years Eve In the Country
Pics are worth 1000 words, so I'll let the pics speak for themselves. Lisa, Lucas and Me hit 2 new years eves' parties and considering we live in the middle of nowhere, it was pretty impressive both parties were only minutes away. Gavin and Emily continued breaking in their house at breakneck pace, first with the inlaws, and then with the New Years Eve party, which included a talent show in the basement movie room with built in disco ball effect. Here's a sampling of some of the raw talent outed last night -
Our hostess, fueling up the baby and herself (this routine was set to the pee wee herman anthem).
And here's the man of the house - Gavin, literally pulling an ace of hearts out of his ass (no pic necessary).
And the crowd - tickets were scarce.
The weird puppet show.
The weirder routine with these 2 people in contamination suits.
A gay dance routine to 'Gloria'.
The guests and the Christmas tree.
Trevor and a dog and a child.
James came on down from Livingston Manor with the wife and two kids. As seen in the photo - I brought my double chin along - no party is complete without that lively participant.
And then Lisa and Lucas and Me cruised over to Schumacher Pond Road where Pablo and Ana were kicking it with 2 good friends. We brought in the new year with them and a few bottles of champagne. Pablo told a great story of how much time him and Ana spent at the paint stores picking paints for the house. Only those readers who have spent every free moment for weeks debating, cataloging and dissecting 18 shades of red can share their pain - good news, though, in the end, since the defining red wainscotting was a perfect pick.
It was a big year - coming on the heels of a few previous big years - and at this point, we seem to be really hitting our stride. Not bad for a Depression.
Our 2008 sales.
Chapin Lot 45 - 6000 sq ft
Cottage 5 - 750 sq ft
Cottage 6 - 1300 sq ft
Farmhouse 9 - 1700 sq ft
Cottage 7 - 1300 sq ft
Cottage 8 - 1300 sq ft
Cottage 9 - 1300 sq ft
Gavin and Emily's House - 2700 sq ft
Cottage 15 - 1100 sq ft
Cottage 3 - 1100 sq ft
Not too bad all. With 3 sales set for the first 3 months of 2009, we are on track for a quick start.
Cheers. www.thecatskillfarms.com
Cottage 14 Nearly Done & Sold
Sure, I realize it's a bit unlikely, but we are getting ready for another closing in 2 weeks for this beauty of a Cottage - Cottage 14. I met Jeanne and Deb probably a year ago, and then they went away to think about it, and one day I get a call saying they are ready, and now here we are - days away from their new Catskill Farms Cottage. We used a blue roof, cedar shake accents and cedar clapboard. We still haven't decided on the final color for the siding - any suggestions from the peanut gallery? (I forgot, this is a one-way soapbox.)
This house has a pretty unique layout and the big lofty kitchen/sports bar really has it going. I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed with their choices of lighting, fixtures, colors and stains.
Here's a pic looking down from the bedrooms.
Another one of the Kitchen, stairs leading up the bedrooms and bath.
Big barn door separating main house from mud room and 2nd full bath. In the living room looking out into the mudroom and kitchen. Note the lowboy radiator.
And a bedroom photo highlighting the red chestunt floors and our handmade signature barn doors.
Every country house needs a cool mudroom and this mudroom is downright hot. Barn door, radiator, bluestone floor, great color and a shot into the bath.
And the fireplace, leading out to the back deck.
It's great to be bringing another one home. It's a good one, with uniqueness and modest elegance tatooed all over the place.
