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

Green, of course, has a lot legs these days. What magazine hasn't focused, highlighted, spotlighted, dissected and discussed green building, green products and a general green mentality? What is denied though, over and over, and with a straight face, is the fact that green means green (dinero, that is). Implementing green technologies throughout a house will raise the cost of that house 10-20%+, which is a lot of money. For a $300k house, that's over $30k. Now, I don't what's in the wallet of my clients, but I can assure you many of them do not have an extra $30k+ just laying around waiting to be used for some global cause. That's a lot of cashola. Since having some fancy green technology in a home doesn't affect it's appraised value, this $30k is pure cash, no financing. By accident, Catskill Farms is a leader in the green field, and all of our customers are beneficiaries. We build small and modest homes - even our big homes are only 1700 sq ft, 25% smaller than the size of the average american abode. Be as green as you want, if you build big the impact of the home's footprint begins the green race too far behind to ever catch up. There is nothing greener than limiting the size of a home - less devastation on the immediate building site, less fuels needed to heat and cool, less materials needed to build meaning many things among them less waste to the landfill, etc.... By being modest in our footprint and size requirements, our clients have made an conscious/unconscious choice to lead the green movement. Truth be told, being green means a few required major efforts and then a lot optional fringe benefits. 1. Build small. 2. Insulate the heck out the house. 3. Seal up small penetrations that can be overlooked during the course of construction 4. Use an electronic heat thermostat set to lower heat when you are not home. 5. Use florescent bulbs. They are simple items, and the only with a sizable price tag is #2, where foam spray-in insulation is without a doubt better than the traditional batt insulation, at about double the cost. What I consistently found was my clients weren't focused on all the green hype, mostly because the cost was high and the payback was long. That whole equation has changed now that oil has doubled again. If higher cost insulation was paid back in savings over 6 years when oil was $40 a barrel, now the payback is 2 years, and the savings are from thereafter. Now, that is something people can understand. That's real money - even an investment. Geothermal and solar panels are also avenues to explore, and although their expense can easily reach $40k, the payback is no longer 15 years, but can now reach as few as 5 years once the government tax incentives are factored in. As with any super hyped product, it's easy to buy something that has no real value other than the feel-good aspect of the product - however, with energy costs skyrocketing past any expected benchmark, the ROI (return on investment) is rapidly increasing.

Cottage 8 is just turning the corner for the final stretch. All the sheetrock has been hung and finished, all the wood plank ceilings have been installed, the wood plank accent walls, the wide plank floors, the cedar bath on the ground floor. All we got to do is 'trim her out' and then she's ready for paint.

Here's a pic looking up into the loft, with the wood ceilings before they are painted white.

Large rough sawn steps with open stringers leading up to the loft, and one of our signature hand hewn barn posts holding the house up.

The Owners have been experimented with materials and choices that we haven't used before so it's been interesting to see the result. For instance this chimney and foundation was covered with 'shale', creating a layered layed up stone look.

And from the loft, looking out into the living room below. I always like the way the sheetrock looks after it's polished but before it is painted.

And a taste of what this fancy little mini-house is going to look like upon completion. Green roof, cedar shake siding, shale stone on the foundation and front and back porches.

Pretty darn perfect country living in Yulan NY, just 3 miles from the Delaware River.

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Little Turkey, looking exactly like the foilage around it. When I saw Mother Turkey and litter crossing the road I stopped the truck and got out to snap a photo - interestingly, Mother Turkey started making all sorts of racket and cackles which I initially thought was an alert to 'get the hang out of here', but what it really meant was for all the 9 chicks to 'freeze', and not to move - which was extremely effective technique since you could barly distinquish them from the surrounding pine needles, leaves, acorns, ferns and branches.

I was in the Narrowsburg area so I thought I would stop by Tusten Farms Lane, the site of our first 3 home project, started in 2003 and finished in September 2004. Heres a good pic of Farm 1, holding her age pretty well. This house was the inspiration for the entire business - modeled after a falling down farmhouse in Fremont Center.

And then here, down the lane a bit, is Farmhouse #2, actually the first one that went into contract. Tremendously exciting design, all about simplicity, on a nice 6 acre plot with a huge lake out front.

And then Farmhouse #3 - really classic house, sitting back lazily on 7+ acres. All of these houses were surrounded by a few hundred acres of protected land.

Mother Goose, and her teenage flock, heading out to the pond to escape the guy with the camera.

And over Father's Day, my bro, Dad and wife and 3 of my bro's 4 children came up to visit. Here's Sarah and Marcus playing some sort of make-believe game on the porch.

And here's the oldest, Josh, keeping an eye on his brother and sister while practicing up for a future one on one soccer match against Uncle Chuck.

And here's my Dad and Lisa, talking loudly while everyone was trying to watch TV. Note the teenager on the far end of the couch.

and Uncle Chuck, explaining the finer details of the "Bee Movie" to little Sarah.

It's definitely official. I have gained some weight - I'm calling it sympathy pregnancy weight, and could be just a simple 'taking one for the team' during Lisa's runup to birth.

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"...You're sick of hangin around and you'd like to travel;
Get tired of travelin and you want to settle down.
I guess they cant revoke your soul for tryin,
Get out of the door and light out and look all around.

Sometimes the lights all shinin on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me,
what a long, strange trip its been."

Grateful Dead lyrics from an album long past. Friday nights on WJFF, our local independent hydro-powered cool ass radio station has the 'Dead Hour' every Friday night around summer sundown (it's actually an hour and a half). They also have a once a year 24 hour Dylan bash on his birthday. www.wjffradio.org.

Here's cottage 8, moving right along. The outside is just ready to pick up some steam - I wanted to try a new siding crew, and that meant waiting a bit. The inside is nearly done - pictures forthcoming.

Cottage 7 has passed some serious milestones - the inside is trimmed and painted, and within a week we will be doing the floors. Had a site meeting with Pablo and Ana yesterday to discuss some details, but for the most part it's smooth sailing from here. The paint colors are incredibly perfect for the interior of this house. They will be living in the house by the end of August.

Hate to say - but this is about the 6 straight house we brought in on-budget, and ahead of schedule. What's unheard of (on time, on budget) is commonplace for us and our clients at this point. So when people wonder how Catskill Farms is doing it (www.thecatskillfarms.com), it's very easily explained - my team is a bunch of honest overachievers - from the surveyors and engineers to the carpenters, painters and tile men. They take our mission seriously - our mission being, simply, 'to make the country transition easy - to raise the bar of what is possible for those itching to build/live a getaway..' Not 'kinda easy', or 'kinda painless', but really, actually, easy. The Big Easy.

And Cottage 5 looks better and better, with a great paint color, a great columned aesthetic, landscaping and sod growing quickly, and most importantly, a homeowner's caring touch.

Once Catskill Farms is done, the fun has really just begun - making a house a home. Some families do it overnight, some do it over a few months, and some take even more.