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

For all of our clients (and others) that have been displaced by the hurricane, and find themselves without electric or internet at their upstate home, we are offering our offices which is warm, and the electric and internet is back up and running.

If you need to catch up on work or whatever, give me a call.  917-838-5342.

Please circulate this post.

Thank you.

Charles Petersheim
Owner, Catskill Farms.

Here comes the storm, right?  Seems like a big one and we will see shortly.  What sucks about it is that I have 3 perfectly scheduled houses to finish up and close and another 3 to start and having a week of uncertainty and then the cleanup time post-storm, let's just say my money may be on the street a week or two longer, depending on what happens to the appliances deliveries, bank inspections, punchlists, subcontractor availability, etc...

Barn VI - a really great adaption of Barn V.  We used a vertical cedar siding, metal roof and what we call a 'horse rail' for the porch system.  Pretty sharp house.

I especially like this view of the large dining room windows and the back porch.

A very modern and traditional take on the barns we like.

The painting and carpentry crew on the last day of the job.

Kitchen with lots of symmetry.

Front door, open stairs, bath straight ahead hidden in a cove, and a bedroom off on the left, behind the front door.

All light, all the time.

Above and below are pictures of the first floor bath, with a sharp stainless steel vanity.

Salvaged barn wood at the top of the open treaded stairs.

1st floor bedroom.

2nd floor foyer.

A  bedroom with salvaged wood and a hand built barn door.

And the 2nd floor bath with tub and shower.

And the 2nd bedroom.

And Tito, pretty good guy who keeps our houses looking good.

Barn VI has left the building and will soon be a home.  Now we have Farm 19, Cottage 39 and Craftsman 2 to get closed before Thanksgiving.

It's not like it's news to me - my entire business proposition and marketing revolves around the fact that busy urbanites need a place and time to recharge.

Thing is, so do us county guys, it appears.

This year has been busy, and busy isn't just that 'moving forward kicking ass' experience we all love to reach on occasion for all our effort,  But it's also the busyness that keeping it all from derailing, especially businesses like I run, where we are always pushing the envelope in terms of effort and growing the businesses - it's never a dull moment.  It's constantly like a rapidly spinning machine where the pieces of the machine are always in danger of just breaking, flying off,  and disintegrating spontaneously.

Perhaps its evident to everyone else who runs a business but it's something that I always assumed would not be so difficult, even in the face of 10 yrs of counter-evidence, but the management of people, their issues, abilities, good days, bad days, etc... is a lot of frickin work as you grow a business, especially true as you grow one in where the talent pool is shallow indeed.  So a lot of my work this year is putting together a new team, and making a commitment to retain those people who are in these positions now.  As the owner of a business who needed to keep things going, I've taken one for the team for years in terms of working with people who didn't gel with me, or my style, but they got the job done to some degree and the fear of chaos was much greater than the fear of being irritated on a second by second basis.

Turns out I was totally wrong - you got to surround yourself with complimentary people - in style, personality - every company has a culture, and people either fit or they don't.  And to think that my general emotional well-being was less important growing a business was just an amateur calculation to the core.

The more rested I am, the more energized by those who surround me, the better our business is and after all the fights, struggles, wins and losses on the personnel front over the last 10 yrs, nothing is so sweet as fitting the right people in the right slots.  All of sudden, it's like magic - the businesses just explode.  I've been driving them all around, but when you hit that perfect RPM where the companies just fire effortlessly (yeah right, keep dreaming Petersheim), that is a reward like no other (besides maybe an unexpected happy ending after an in-house massage by an unexpectedly hottie masseuse).

So, what I'm realizing is that after a lot of stress and hardwork this year as I reinvent my companies once again, and as I got screwed out of my long anticipated vacation at the last moment by friends of mine, and are closing on 5 houses in 6 weeks, and have grown all 3 businesses by at least 40% each, I've pushed too hard.

And as I now regain my balance and humor and patience and general emotional and intellectual geniusness (boy can I hear the ex on that one as I write it - in fact, pervertedly, it's almost why I wrote it), I am reacquainted with something that is so obvious -

Everyone needs rest to perform well (that's what she said) - and to ignore that simple fact is to miss an important truism of business.

And miss to many of those truism (hello Henning of Henning's Local) and you won't be around for long.

So I'm in South Beach Miami with my sister and Lucas at my swanky pad down here (all the single ladies take note) and Lucas was correcting my sister when she said we are 'going to Miami' and he said it's not your Ami, it's my Dad's Ami,  - ' we are going to My Ami lucas" I kept saying.  Super funny for sure.

Here's us above on the corner of 2nd and Washington waiting for the 25 cent South Beach Local to take us back to 10th and West at the Bay.

I love how people make our houses their homes.  Jeanne and Deb and now Kerry and probably a host of others are really on me to circle back once people are living in their homes for a few years and show the progress and evolution of country respite weekend living.

Here is Cottage 40 in Bearsville which we just sold a couple of weeks ago.  They are already making it a home, with the pumpkin, the welcome mat and the deck swing.  Congrats new Living Large folks.

It's what it is all about.  I think our biggest competitive advantage is the trust our clients have in us to understand their aspirations and also their concerns, and our ability to attack/solve them and address them.  With so much on the line, the ability to inspire trust is a asset that positions us enviably.  I know a lot of builders and realtors who may be able to sell you something, but the deal is done with a lot of skepticism and caution on the buyers' part.  

Our buyers jump in head first - unabashed - celebratory - behind closed doors gloating and self-congratulations on the level of achievement reached.

Our clients are talented, and successful.  And they put their trust in us to pave the way, write the roadmap, of their leisure. It's an incredible compliment.

So, at Craftsman II on Old Sawmill Road in Saugerties had a deal on it which fell through (kinda expected) and then a week or two later we got a great couple who work in film I believe who signed up and just love this fricking great house.

And here's there dog, doing a lot of heavy lifting sales for me.  Sure, see how happy I am, see this stick I found, see how I bound across the grassy green lawn.

And then 3 yr old Jasper, the son of some prospective clients, walked into Barn VI, and you know how honest kids can be.  Lil' Jasper walked in the back door and seriously without any prompting, walked in the door and said, most earnestly, "WOOOOOOW".

I mean, seriously, I might as well just leave it to the professionals - the dog and the boy.  Where else does honesty really exist?

And my writing perch tonight -blog post entry number 687. Eames original desk, chair and picnic art.

And the view from the room next door.

And the libations at 7.2%.