Mid-Century Retro Ranch 2

I'm mean, you tell me this smiling family isn't worth a million pages of paid advertising pages. Laurie and Tony are one of those families that have been questing for an upstate getaway for a few years, with lots of competing (and changing) priorites. In the end, being a big fan of ours ('stalkers' actually - their term not mine), they decided the house, the design and quality, was most important - and that's why we are lucky enough to be welcoming them into the busting-at-the-seams Catskill Farms Family of Upstate Getaways.
This house is very unique, with a great open layout. You'll remember we built one similar last winter that Erin and Greg picked up - that one was yellow, this one is stained bluish green.

The interiors are open and high with lots of windows inviting in the long range views.

And there's old Pete Kestler, drilling another well for us.

In the end, the thing that makes us different, is the fact that we really do 'get it done'. I'm constantly pushing the team to keep the 'slack out the line' or else feeling the rawhide where the sun don't shine.

The other day while driving I was counting up how many homes we built this year - I think we built 15 - which is amazing from a few perspectives - the economy, and the scarcity of labor.

I love 'years in review' set to great music - so here's mine - just imagine some cool tunage to add to the list -
Cottage 14 finished up in January.
Cottage 13 finished up in February.
Farmhouse 10 finished up in February.
Ranch 1 finished up in May.
Cottage 18 finished up in May.
Cottage 21 in June.
Cottage 22 in Sept.
Cottage 19 in Sept.
Cottage 17 in October.
Cottage 23 in November.
Barn 2 in progress.
Micro #3 in progress.
Peter's Walton Gothic cottage in September.
Big addition at my house in June.
Cottage 24 in progress.
Cottage 20 in progress.
Ranch 2 in progress.

That's a lot of construction, by any measure. And amazingly, I still see some new problem once a week, something I've never seen before. One would think at some point you've 'seen it all' - but it appears not.

Some Saturday Lucas Shots

Glad he grew out of this phase ...


And his skinhead homeboy phase...

and his 'you looking at me?' phase....

and his "this will be my year book pose" phase...

and the "I'm really too cute for my own good" phase...

"I'm ready for anything phase"...

"Beach bum phase"...

"You can call him a dreamer, but he's not only one"... phase (name that tune and win a house, not).

"I'm trying out for the LL Bean fall catalogue"... phase...

"On forlough"...

Mr Demure...


So, sorry Clay - who accused me of posting great landscape and child shots in order to further entrap him into buying one of our homes.

What's Cookin' at Catskill Farms....

50's Ranch, Do Over for Tony and Laurie, up above Luxton Lake, Narrowsburg NY. I think we just started this house back in September. Windows in, tyvec on, and ready for the siding.



Cottage 23 off of Crawford Road in Eldred NY for Pedro and David. Closing on this house with these gentlemen probably the week after Thanksgiving.



Cottage 24, yet unspoken for, just after the sagey green cabot's siding was installed. Interior floors now going in.

Cottage 20, a 960 sq ft 2 bedroom on 6+ acres, that is in Contract of Sale to Susan from the City. Insulation complete, and sheetrock being installed.


Picture of the boom truck loading in the sheetrock. And below is the spray foam insulation just installed.

Bald Eagle nesting next to the Delaware River. It's like one of those games in the newspaper, Can you find the Eagle in this photo?




We are building a big 5 bay red garage out back at our offices, below of some footing and foundation shots. This place will be big enough to house our trucks, throw a party, play street hockey, full court hoops, etc...





Richard's Barn House is now under construction over on Tuthill Road, outside of Barryville. We hit some rock, and using some lessons from last year, we are pounding out the rock and then using the rock to build our driveways.




Footings...and foundation walls.

And Daniel's micro cottage on a couple of acres is under way as well.


The Dueling Excavators, or The Dance of the Big Machines. David L., can you help us out with a score for this ballet?
Well, there you have it. 7 houses under construction and a big bad barn at the offices.

Just Down the Road

The area upstate is pretty breath-taking at times, and there is a real nice stretch of road just past Port Jervis on the way to Barryville, where we are headquartered.

The road snakes high up on the hill with the Delaware River snaking down below.

Especially in the fall as the colors are visible.

And here's the old family waiting for me as I snap the pictures. Lisa then locked the doors, and started slowly pulling away as I ran after the card. She's sooo immature!

Value of Catskill Farms' Homes Debated

My friend David keeps a widely read blog that captures the flavor of the area and the trends of the region's real estate, in addition to being one of the top 3 grossing real estate professionals in the area. He is sort of the g0-to guy for any stat or trend analysis for the area - as well as having his ear pretty close to the tracks - he has nailed a few trends before they were visible to the naked eye. David consistently has an interesting point of view and is a very good, funny, and serious writer.

The problem is his blog was hijacked a long time ago by a few people posting under multiple names who disparage, talk down, and assault anything David or blog posters less inclined to think the world is ending. At one point, a few of them were posting under my name, saying stupid shit, and making me look pretty ridiculous. Although in the same breath, without those hijacking yahoos, the post volume would be pretty minimal which kind of makes you feel like you are shouting to an empty theater, although that's not really true because we can all read the visitors stats and analytics.

Currently, there is a debate 'raging' about Catskill Farms - you have Nick, the old house aficionado who thinks it's ok to buy a Catskill Farms house but he wouldn't (wink wink) because he demands authenticity (he's been renovating a house for what seems like years - many times I think that people who post how great their old house renovation process is are just rationalizing the huge mistake they made in the first place buying the damn thing), you have the German guy who wears hats of many nationalities and posts under a tiresome number of aliases but his perspective is the same - whatever is good with Sullivan County can be made to feel bad, you have the perennially depressed 'ar' who wants to cut his wrists and make everyone miserable because he bought something at the height of the market and can't stop thinking about how much money he lost - and then a few posters who, although never having built a house, are sure that it can be done very cheaply and Catskill Farms is not only taking advantage of silly and naive and not-so-smart New Yorkers, but counting the huge profits we are making the whole way to the bank.

Frankly, and to be honest, I wish the who thinks we are raking it in night and day was right.

All anonymously, of course. With the main premise that anyone buying real estate, period, is stupid, so, as logic would have it - since Catskill Farms is the king of sales, we obviously have the market on stupid people and families.

I think, actually, it's just the opposite. Very smart people buy our homes - not everyone who visits buys, but everyone who visits understands why it is a viable idea to consider. I actually believe we are the only company that plays with real estate that when someone takes the time to visit, it's actually better in real life than the website (which is saying something because the website is pretty good). Most times, the wide angle lens can work magic with an awkward room or house.

So judge for yourself - and if any of our fans are converted to the Catskill Farms idea is all smoke and mirrors and only for those without any soul or commitment to authenticity, you can migrate from the blog to David main site and he can help you find a house comparable to ours.

His blog can be found at Catskill4sale Blog.

I find the argument of 'authenticity' really a bogus idea - what's authentic about pretending you are a contractor in the middle of a place you just discovered undergoing one of the most stressful, life-changing processes one will ever experience?

I think it's 'authentic' to buy smart, help design the house, move in 5 months, pay exactly what you forecasted, and be celebrating years of holidays before the guy playing 'this old house' even moves in. It's 'authentic' to make a big life decision to 'getaway', and actually have it work out well - emotionally, psychologically, and financially.

Kickin' It In The Catskills

October 22, 2009.




November 10, 2009.

You got to see it to believe it - we move fast. And the inside is moving along nicely as well - with the plumbing finished, the electric finished, and the 'rough in' inspection from the Town of Tusten building inspector at 1:30pm. Then comes the soy spray foam insulation, and then we start covering the walls.

You can't fake progress like that. It's like a well-tuned symphonic melody, where any inefficiency is like an instrument out of tune.

5 Home Waiting List Details

One would think this whole selling homes in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the greatest real estate bust and economic upheaval would run out of steam at some point for us here at Catskill Farms, but one thing is becoming increasingly clear - it ain't going to be 2010.

I don't like to count my chickens (or homes sold) before the ink is dry on the contracts, and I've made my mark up here in the hills by never forgetting how difficult it actually is to develop, design, build and then sell (yes, it's all impossibly easy if you don't have to successfully sell it at the end) these homes of ours - the fear that "I'll never sell another", although one could argue that it's about time to 'get over it' since after 55+ homes in all sorts of implausibly daunting sales and business environments, that maybe I should just give us some credit and admit that whatever we are putting in the kool-aid is working well, tasting great to a wide-range of imbibers.

Successful imbibers, talented imbibers, extremely diverse imbibers - all part of our impressive client rooster here at Catskill Farms.

Looks like we are heading into the winter of 2009/2010 with a full list of persons signed up for homes - with any luck, we will have 5 homes in contract, under construction, and moving towards a late winter/early spring completion and closing. And that's pretty amazing - I wouldn't be surprised if Catskill Farms is selling more real estate than 4 out of 5 local real estate companies at the moment. My friend David keeps a widely read blog that tracks the average and median sales prices of area real estate, and nearly zero of our $15m of real estate sold has ever been reflected in his statistics because he only studies and tracks sales that happen through the MLS (multiple listing service) and we sell most of our homes privately. So one could argue that the most credible real estate stats available for Sullivan County are measurable wrong and misleading because our homes - one home a month for the last 18 months - are not included. The fact that homes sell for about double the average price for the area only reinforces the argument that without including our sales, the stats are measurably incorrect.

So, 5 homes of all different shapes and sizes - a big farmhouse (2400 sq ft), a traditional cottage (1280 sq ft), a traditional mini-cottage (960 sq ft), a loft like barn (1100 sq ft), and micro-cottage (800 sq ft). The diversity of what we are capable of, - the mix of what we offer - our desire to find a way for anyone who wants one of our homes - we take it serious, we find a way, we don't lose a buyer who gets what we do.

And the thing about the varying sizes, the driving design premise behind the idea is to not sacrifice any detail or quality with the smaller homes, -the prices are lower because the homes are smaller. Even the little guys have whole house audio, security, wide plank floors, fireplaces, porches and decks, soy-based organic spray foam insulation, and at least 2 or more acres.

These black and whites are composites of the homes that are heading into the ol' contract phase.

Cottage 20, a smaller version of Cottage 23.


Mid Century 50's Ranch II.

Micro-Cottage 2.

And Farmhouse 12.

And Barn House #2.

It's not easy keeping it real with new designs every month, but by keeping it real, we are keeping it alive - and that is more than most businesses that play with real estate can say at the moment. And, to be honest (surprise, surprise), it's how we built this business - we do it the hard way with constant new designs, constant elimination of the middleman and constant pushing the envelope of what is possible in terms of value.

Because, in the end, we sell value. Not value as we define it with savvy marketing and bullshit taglines and logos (although we have those as well)- but value as defined by our customers - who seem to the best and the brightest in their respective fields and vocations. They are the ones casting the vote and identifying our homes and processes as value-oriented - and it may be old-fashioned to offer value and play to our clients intelligence, but that's just the way we roll here at Catskill Farms.