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

Farmhouse #9, tucked away on 4 acres in Barryville, NY, is moving right along. With the siding completed, the house is really taking shape. Lot of porches, lots of windows, lots of privacy, lots of gracious country livin'.

This design was inspired by a 1870's farmhouse in Cochecton NY, owned by my friend Amy. Really classic and simple lines. The Cottage Red siding gives a nod towards Arts & Crafts. The walkout basement with windows gives the owner lots of choices for future use.

This house has over 650 sq ft of exterior covered porch space.

Like I said before, this house should be finishing up in late February. Next week we install the electric switches and lights, then the floor sanding and finishing begins, and from there we install all the toilets, sinks, kitchens, doorknobs and the million other pieces and details that make it perfect.

The race between the birth of a new baby and the completion of the house was garnering a lot of interest, and Vegas was reporting the odds on favorite was the house completion - 3-1 odds for the house, with an over/under of +2. However, since some things are more important than others, we've decided to delay the closing of the house for a few weeks while this family welcomes a new addition.

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It's not everyday we install a dual glowing red heatlamp in our modern houses, but the Owner of Cottage 6 has visions of running from the steam shower to the clawfoot and wants a little heat along the way.

Cottage 3, entering contract. Cool, modern cottage on 6.5 glorious and private acres. And only 5 minutes from a quart of milk or kayaking on the Delaware River.

Fancy Cottage 2, designed with Autumn in mind, with tree bark colored siding, horizontal horse fence porch rail design, and interior colors like pumpkin, forest green, stained pine floor and simple bird chandeliers.

Arts and Crafts #1, with exterior colors found only after 12 paint samples. Everytime I would go by this house a new 2'x2' square of paint color was woven into what was becoming a pretty interesting patchwork of neat colors.

Anyway, I think, in the end, Katrina and Crystal hit the nail on the head (to borrow a construction phrase).

And me, after I jumped off my galloping and totally out of control horse doing a wild barn dash. (Addidas paid me to wear this shirt on this blog post - Catskill Farms going commercial with subtle brand placement - it actually changes if you stare at it long enough).

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The key to our vibrant Catskills real estate sales activity over the last 16 months comes down to 3 qualities - Quality, design, and price/value compared to other properties for sale. Quality - while by no means perfect, our construction team is producing high quality homes. Not gaudy, not over the top - just a well-designed, thoughtful use of space and materials. Considering the homes also come with real warranties (almost unheard of in this area), we are also dedicated to helping our customers transition into their new homes as painlessly as possible. Design - usually, the current prevailing home design consensus consists of more, more, more. More size, more boring details, more outdated ideas. Catskill Farms has taken a different approach, thoughtfully using simplicity as our modus operandis (sp.?). Elegance through simplicity, value through simplicity. Restraint is probably the most unachieved design element in homes today. Price/Value - I am a student of the regional marketplace. I know what other properties sell for. So when we sell a 2700 sq ft restored farmhouse on 30+ acres with an historic barn on the property for $650k, we know it's worth it. 2700 sq ft @ $200/ft = $540,000. 30 great acres @ $7,000/acre= $210,000. Historic Barn @$40,000 - total value comes in at $790,000. Further proving the proposition is a quick look around at other properties for sale. 15 acres and an average home in the Beechwoods listed for $650,000. Nicely restored 1600 sq ft farm on 8 acres in Cochecton - $549,000. Same goes for our Farmhouse at Chapin Estate - 3500 sq ft @ $200/sq ft - $700,000. 2300 sq ft pimped out basement @ $100/sq ft, 5 acres of land inside the gate of Chapin - $185,000. Total Value - $1,115,000. Sales price - $760,000. Same goes for Farmhouse #6 - 8 acres of great land ($100k), 2400 sq ft new old house ($480,000) - total value $580,000, sales price $475,000. The amazing fact is we can make money and we can give our clients a lot of value by leaving a lot of money on the table - a true win-win situation. Drastically undersell the 'competition', make money, and give our clients value. A super recipe for selling homes. The reason we can do this is because we are committed to the 'long-run', meaning we do not need to hit the homerun on every sale. Every client we introduce to our homes and the area is a good thing for me, local businesses, and the local tax base. The value of our cottages is also easy to see - land ($65,000), house/driveway/electrical infrastructure/well/septic ($280,000), architect ($20,000), real estate fee ($25,000) - Total value $390,000, we sell them for the low $300's. And what's more, with every house we build, we are finding more ways to give the customer more without raising the prices. As a 12 year veteran of home building, I know of no other design/build firm who uses the phrase 'no problem' to customer requests as frequently as we do. The more common refrain is 'that's an extra', or 'that's an upcharge'. Our last 4 homes have come within 1% of the contract budget, and even that 1% is because the customer fell in love with something I just couldn't include. So, for all you smart, sophisticated, research oriented readers and customers (more or less everyone we've sold a house to), there you have it, broken down to its most basic ingredients, our recipe for providing great homes at very fair prices.