Cottage 2 Resold

I mean for all my thrice weekly bloggin' bluster about the value of our homes and how all these smart folks do a bunch of due diligence and then decide we offer real value - I mean besides passing that test over the past two years (and boy what a test that was), there is something independently legitimizing about Catskill Farms resale efforts.

For instance, when the Carr's wished to sell this farm house, they found a buyer who had an appraisal done that verified the worth of the house actually increased since they bought at the top of the market in 2007 or 2008.

And then this Cottage #2 (photo below) just sold for 10% MORE than the woman paid for it in 2007.

These are incredible facts - that our homes, maybe the only homes in the country, in the nation, are selling for more than people paid for them at the height of the biggest real estate value bubble in 80 years. It's totally validating and great news for all of our existing and future homeowners.

I think that means two things - 1. We are charging fair prices for the value of what we are offering and 2. good thoughtful design at reasonable prices can hedge the downside of real estate risk.

I mean, our customers don't have trouble refinancing since the homes hold their value, and our new customers don't have trouble getting their 4.3% financing. I've said it for years when prospective customers ask about resale and value - I have always said that while we can't predict the escalation of value, we do seem to believe that we have hedged the downside - and that's a pretty good pitch in this day in age of complete catastrophe regarding real estate value.

Now, granted, these resales didn't exactly fly off the shelf - but that's the hard lesson I learned early - if your real estate rep doesn't spend money on marketing the home, it's gonna take some time. Here at Catskill Farms, I probably spend in a month what most regional real estate companies spend in a year on marketing, and that possibly provides credibility to the old adage 'you need to spend it to make it'. I remember waiting for months, after months for some of our first homes to sell and in the end decided if selling two or three homes a year was going to be considered a success by my real estate reps, I wouldn't be in business long. My definition of success was much bigger than that. I mean, I love McKean Real Estate as much as the next guy, but should you really be broadcasting the fact that you sold a house after all this time? Seems a bit counter-intuitive, but you never know I guess - maybe some people are impressed with 14 month sales cycle.

Now, of course, none of our homes, or actually a lot less homes in the entire county would be selling, if Catskill Farms would not exist anymore, or suffered the same fate as real estate focused companies nationwide by disappearing, because by god, I swear our previous sales are used in nearly every sale in the county over $200k as sales comps.

So, congrats Cottage 2 owner and congrats McKean and congrats Catskill Farms homeowners, It's all good for everyone when a new house of ours or an existing house of ours sells.

And on that note, it appears Farmhouse 14 is heading to contract. That's not a bad thing at all.