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

4379 contracts signed over the last 5 years. $15m of money changing hands. 2469 lawsuit free days. I feel like Cal Ripken, keeping the streak alive. It takes a special customer not to be able to reach a compromise with Catskill Farms - because we know how to take a lot of abuse before pushing back. Today, we close on Cottage 7, and for all you 9 to 5'ers, that means we get a paycheck today. Depending on how many houses I sell in a year, that's how many times I get paid. So once every couple of months I get some money, and that's always a good thing. And then next week we close on Cottage 8, an 820 sq ft lofty cottage with a built out basement. This house is getting rave reviews, I mean really, people are flipping out over it - I think because of it's very intelligent use of space. We started framing Gayle 1100 sq ft 2 bedroom 2 bath house, started framing Dean's 1300 sq ft 2 bedroom 2 bath house, and we are backfilling Albert's house, and getting ready to pour the concrete slab for his barn. This weekend my old baseball coach is coming up to check us out. He runs one of the largest and oldest design/develop/build companies in southern PA, and he is duly impressed enough to come up and check us out. Maybe with an eye on helping us expand in to Woodstock, Rhineback, New Paltz, Stone Ridge and Marbletown. I played baseball for the longest time, from the ages 7-20, and we had a kick ass team that year after year took home the gold. And I wouldn't be surprised if those sports lesson don't continually help us compete hard and gracefully. A woman spear-heading our marketing just came, very concerned about the previous blog post and the harm she perceived it will do to her efforts. I told her 1, I don't accept excuses so work around it. Anyway, the emails have been coming in 4 to 1 congratulating me for standing my ground. I think people who have accomplished anything understand tough decisions. And if they don't, I can always go back to waiting tables or mowing lawns. It's amazing and discouraging we can exceed all expectations, finish projects on time, on budget with the highest quality, and still find we are unable to meet expectations. Really, the only answer is to sometimes let customers who want to be unreasonable deal with the local talent pool if only so I can add some perspective to how easy I've made it for them. http://catskillfarms.blogspot.com/2009/05/hugh-gran-farmhouse-9-followup.html

Lucas Richard Petersheim - that's the name of our baby boy to be born in just a few short weeks. Lisa's mom came up with her boating boyfriend Frank and did the mother/daughter trip to 'babies r us', and came home with a seat contraption, a 'diaper genie', and changing pad and a bunch of other unfamiliar items, that I suppose shortly will be very familiar. I'm not a big 'poop' fan, - don't like cleaning up after my dog or cat, but I guess that will change shortly also. Last week our friend Amy threw a party for us. Here is Kai, Darryl and Cheri's boy, holding court with James K and Zach, giving us some paper airplane pointers.

Cupcakes.

Me in the garden with the new generation.

The moon, after a few drinks.

Elilah, daughter of Joe and Viv, who own Global Home in Jeffersonville. This kid won 'cutest kid' awarded by Cookie Magazine.

Me, on the badminton court, striking a pose.

Zach, just about ready to get smashed upon, with the croquet set in the fore.

Lisa digging in, eating for 2, Vivian in white, Toby in jeans,

Cheri and Kai.

The boys (wow, talk about man boobs!)

Amy and her friend Lisa and Amy's chicken.

A birdhouse.

Amy's house. This 100 yr old farmhouse was the inspiration for Farmhouse 8,9 and 10.

Me, double-fisting after the badminton game.

Pregnant Lisa with Hanna and her mother. Hanna is one of her students at the Homestead School, a local montsori school.

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It's always hard to get hard and fast information when making a big decision but I have had two observations about our homes as of late - no one in five years has ever wanted to resell one of the homes they have bought from us, and after spending an hour today in my new restored farmhouse perusing area real estate websites at existing houses for sale between $225k and $335k, it's not a big surprise we are kicking it and killing it like we are. I mean, having nothing to do with our homes, it's not that rare of a story to find a family's situation change, it's priority altered, etc.... that causes them to rethink the country house idea. I have seen it a few times, where a nice house sells, and then in 6 months or so it's back on the market, - the purchasing family a victim of a romantic daydream that didn't match true priorities. However, our 34 homes remain with the original homeowners - you would at least think there would be a divorce or something, - It has been a question that has been popping up in some of the interviews we are having with folks hoping to get on our waiting list - has anyone tried to resell their home, and how did that go? Answer, simply - no, no one has tried to resell their home, but judging by the fact that we continue to sell all our homes (mini-houses, cottages and farmhouses) at higher prices than last year, I think the value proposition is pretty strong (as long as the sellers avoid paying 8% commissions like the local realtors think is fair - and don't ask them their advertising budget!!). At times everyone in my company feels like nobody likes us because we can't be perfect every second, but my god, we build houses ahead of schedule, on budget, stand behind our work, design with a ton of style and have passed along homes that are holding their value in a real estate plunge - I mean, OMG, what more can I do? For country folk, Lisa and I like to travel, although logistically it's not always easy, since the airport is 2+ hrs away. Although we have hit Poland, Berlin, Munich, Florence, Rome, Capri and California over the past few years, we return year after year to Tulum Mexico. I think we have traveled there 5 times over the past 5 years. 2 hours south of Cancun, it's quiet, it's beautiful, and it's close. Here's our hut on the beach. Rents for $140 a night, right on the beach.

Here's my best imitation of Evita or Lenin.

Picture of a Sullivan County rainbow snapped by Lisa.

And a picture of NYC ex-pats who started out as weekenders and eventually gave up the city life to make a go of it up here. That's me, end row, far right. I think this pic was taken at Lisa b-day party last year at Lot 45, Chapin Estate. Or measured another way, 3 houses ago.

And at the dinner table during the party. What's neat about Sullivan County is the ability to ignore everyone, stay close to home and cook at home, or on other days, venture out and find a very unique under-the-radar fast set of diverse NYC professionals.

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In the city ladies look pretty Guys tell jokes so they can seem witty Tell a funny joke just to get some play Then you try to make a move and she says "no way" Girls a fakin' ... goodness sakin' They want a man who brings home the bacon Got no money and you got no car Then you got no woman and there you are So don't just stand there, bust a move For all the real important business of the company, we rely on - Ken's Cans.

Now, it has been awhile since I posted but we have really been 'bustin a move' up here. I mean we are always busy but now we are jammin. Even for an 'overachiever' (james' words, not mine) we are building a lot. Building roads, building driveways, building foundations, roofs, installing siding, etc... Here's the beginning of Cottage 15, an 1100 sq ft home on 3 acres in Eldred NY.

And Cottage 14.

And Cottage 13, in the ground. Dean and I debated whether we should skip #13, like hotels do, but he said he liked the number, and if he is #13 in the scheme of things, he will make the best of it. This house is on almost 6 acres.

Then Albert's farm on top of the hill on 10+ acres with a 1/4 mile driveway leading up to it.

And the masons who have installed these 4 foundations in 2 weeks for us.

And Albert's approach, through the woods.

Perfect little Cottage 8 which is just a few weeks away from closing.

And Cottage 7, closing next week.

And James, kicking it at our new office. He probably on the phone looking busy with a 'personal call'. Lots of red accents in this space.

And a butterfly and bumble bee making nice in the parking lot of Catskill Farms International Headquarters.

Amazing, but this beautiful plant is a weed. And that's the bumble bee's butt sticking out from behind the cacti flower.

So there you have, a belated blog post because we've been bustin a move around the clock so more people can have more cottages and farmhouses quicker.

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