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

It's late November, and too be honest we had a great run of 12 months of weather. Last winter was a breeze, pretty dry most of the year, and a great fall. But now, everyday is overcast, cloudy, rainy - Construction is like movie-making - dependent on a LOT of factors - labor, weather, schedule, lots of people and temperments, lots of dinero. It's a constant battle against impending and imploding chaos. Cold and wet - the ground is soft, everything gets muddle, trucks get stuck, dozers and excavators can push around dirt, house framers sit at home waiting out the rain. In all, in multiples more difficult than dry weather. And the real problem is now that it's November, it won't dry out until the spring - there is no purpose waiting for a sunny day and stiff breeze. It complicates things for us because we have a lot of dirt to move and push on our new project. If we don't get it done (especially septics) before the ground freezes, then I can't sell the house when I am finished in February - have to wait until May when the ground unfreezes and the mud dries up - since this is unacceptable both to my clients and my pocketbook (I would be paying interest on finished houses - big bucks). Friday we are trying to power through it and 'er done.

Saturday early evening in November - our living room at Chapin Estate, Lot 45 after closing 2 deals fireside.

Crazy kitten lounging in front of her first home. A 'friend' dropped this kitten off at our home when Ruby was only 3 weeks old - she had been found in a 'have a heart trap' in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Our houses are warm. They are warm because we insulate the heck out of them, seal up any penetrations, and install a thoroughly efficient heating system. While we get a lot of small requests and comments, how warm our houses are in the depth of winter is always a compliment.

Here are some of the options our homeowners have -

Whenever we need to cut down a tree, we chop up the wood and leave it for the new homeowners to enjoy.

A woodstove is a great way to supplement the heat of a house - burning longer, hotter and more efficiently than a fireplace. This is a vintage modern (circa 1940) woodstove at our house in Chapin Estate.

Fireplace ain't a bad way to go either - especially when resparking that romantic flame.

Old school radiators, manufactored in Canada and shipped down here (the shipping costs as much as the radiators).

Lisa and I enjoy the winters as much as the summers - snuggled up by the fire, trying to make it through some Russian literature, not stressing about the garden, the grass or anything else on the 'honey do' list.

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Wow - who would know that a major real estate and mortgage crisis is on hand? Saturday was a good day for Catskill Farms, signing up a gentleman for our first mini-house at $195k, and most likely signing up Anna and Pablo for a cottage on 5 acres (we sold all our land so we are looking for more). If you lost count, CF now has a 5 house waiting list, which should give some comfort to the entire Catskill Farms family. It's an enviable position for us all - owning real value, - that appreciates ahead of the market and depreciates behind it - in front of the fire, drink in hand - a toast to good long-term decisions the entire family has made. When the market was overheated, realtors were arrogant, tradesmen non-committal, and the enBusy Saturday and Market Profiletire sales process bogged down by too much activity. Now, I get 5 calls a week from people looking for work (good people), realtors are bombarding us with listings to buy, land is becoming more reasonably priced. At the moment, CF is negotiating to buy a bus garage in eldred, where we would hope to build storage units and build out the large garage into lofty open office space, so small businesses have a place to go when they out grow the garage and basement. We are also actively looking and buying small and large parcels of land (we are still a small business so large overpriced parcels are still out of our reach). We hope to buy the entire price slide down, so we can continue to offer affordable getaways at all price points.