Time is on my Side
I went to order some swim trunks the other day, and I guess I’m fancy now because a lot of the trunks being offered were nice, and expensive. Like north of $100 expensive, maybe closer to $200. But with a 3 week sojourn to Sardinia, Corsica and some still undefined places, I thought ‘what the heck?’ So I order a pair or two, and work my through the ordering, shipping info, billing info and then they tally up my total, and for the first time in all my purchasing, there is a ‘tariff’ or in this checkout, a ‘duty charge’ that was like $100 for this order - it was coming from Europe and I guess we put a 35% or so tariff on some goods. And in an interesting answer to how macro policies impact individual decisions, I cancelled my order before checking out. Just made the purchase too expensive.
After a cinderella end of season run of Overtime upsets, our local High School got pretty creamed in the sweet 16 of States. The below score wasn't the end of it - Parkland 'exploded' in the 2nd half with nearly perfect long range shooting. Only two good things came of that game - losing saved us from being creamed even worse in the next round, and it brought to an end a fun and exciting season. I don't have anyone on the team, but several of my son's friends play on the team.
I haven’t been following the war too much, other than to see the debate over the dueling narratives in the media and government about whether the news is covering the war results and efforts honestly and accurately. I can’t say in this particular case, but ever since the cover-up of Biden’s decline and the coverage of Israel’s can-hardly-be-called-a-war effort in Gaza, anything is possible. The impact on real estate is unknown for sure, and doubly unknown for my little slice of it, since our buyers and the interest in our homes are not tethered to the traditional tides of demand. Interest rate insensitive to some degree, using reserve cash and not their last dollar to use as a deposit and down payment, purchasing not for relocation but as a discretionary lifestyle choice that very well may be driven by world events and their perception of their safety in the NYC. We are going to know before too long since I have some houses for sale.
This beauty below will be for sale by the end of the month. Really has everything - 30 acres, 4500 sq ft, 2 story garage, views. We will see what the market thinks of it.
We played around with some wallpaper which was fun.
Many times I wonder if I don’t get a little too excited about things that shouldn’t get my attention, but then typically I wind up thinking that’s not the case. The amount of whirling complex problems to solve that come my way on a daily basis is staggering. All with associated financial, employee, municipal, regulatory, client aspects interconnected. Right now, among others of similar stickiness, I’ve nearing the completion of getting service to my two last homes at the Crest - I’ve literally been working on this for 2 years, which is interminable even by Utility standards, which works on its own clock. To keep your cool and keep to the plan while working through some of these big problems is an art, since a wrong word deed or action can set you back in some cases permanently as half the time these decisions and timelines depend on one person doing something to push it along. It reminds me why Schindler spent so much money and time flattering and bribing the Germans when setting up his armaments plant in WWII. Sometimes progress and goals are dependent on a real understanding of what is in your way, and how to remove it successfully.
The house in New Paltz gets great sunlight.
The warm weather last week got us off to a fast start, and it’s fair to say Catskill Farms is positioned to get some serious work done this year. The office team continues to mature into their roles and the field teams are sufficient and motivated. We have 2 spec homes for sale nearly finished, 2 client homes just about done. 2 client homes just getting started, 3 spec homes under construction. We are back to where we used to be - it will be interesting to see where the market is - since even though we are a bit concentrated in one aspect of one industry - building homes for sale - within that sector we are diversified. Different price points, different styles, different counties.
Birding lookout at the Bashakill just down the street from our offices. Nature is coming alive that's for sure.
One of the downsides of firing on all cylinders is the cash flow needed to to such a thing - and when the company and progress slows down like it did this winter, 2 things happen. 1, your bills become less since you are doing less construction, and 2, your cash flow tightens because you are doing less work. So when you start to pick up steam, you also stress your cash flow until reaching cruising altitude where the receivables match the payables. But to say we are pushing the pedal to the metal (not sure if that’s still a saying but back in the day it used to refer to pushing the gas pedal down the whole way to the floor) and we will see what happens. What used to not be true even in the slightest, is very true now - Time is on my Side.
The Blue Fox outside Narrowsburg NY is a fun place to grab dinner and drinks. It's out of the way locale makes it feel a bit lost in time and place and gives it a real 'shake-off-the-cold and grab a whiskey' feel to it.
