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

Each year, about two weeks prior to Christmas (exact weekend depends on how the calendar falls - we try not to do it too close to the 25th, but not too far that Christmas isn't yet in full swing), my son Lucas and I head into the Big Apple.  We cut out of school and work a few hours early, and arrive at the NYC hotel around 4 or 5, depending on traffic.  This year was more like 5, because I thought taking the Lincoln Tunnel into the city on a Friday afternoon was a good idea and it wasn't.  Who has ever seen so many tour buses, broadway buses, transit buses and similar jostling to get into the city via a little tunnel. There literally must be 10 lanes of traffic merging into 2.

For several years, we stayed at the Le Parker Meridian on 59th+/-, tried the JW Marriott, but eventually - after FOA Schwartz closed, after the menace and inconvenience of the Trump Tower security and related street closures, etc... - we moved it downtown to the Union Square W, this year enjoying a room at the very top, on the 21st floor, looking downtown, over the debt clock, over the Park, towards the Freedom Tower.  Pretty fantastic room, even by our high flying standards.  Lucas learned long ago how to ask for 'a room on the upper floors'.

From this launching pad, we have easy access to movie theaters, gramercy park area restaurants, the holiday market at Union Square for gifts, subways stations, and of course, the W itself, a pretty great scene of a hotel.  I've stayed at the hotel a fair amount, and they put us on the top floor facing south.  It wasn't a wall of windows type of thing, but it was a pretty great view.

The room was centered, top floor, in the tapered part of the building.  The kids stared and were bewildered by the USA debt clock racing onward that we could see from our window.

We've been doing this literally since he was born, the first trip 2 months after he was born in October 2008.  I think there are pictures of him on the subway and at Balthazars and Pravda that first year, all bundled up.  We've done a lot of great things in those years, including the Botanical Gardens train show, and of course Macy's Santaland.  Lucas brought a friend this year, which was actually pretty fun, though I definitely overlooked or underappreciated how loud (2) 11 year olds can be in a moderate sized hotel room.  Let's just say I spent a fair amount of time in the lobby in what the W calls their Living Room - a great casual space of people coming and going.

Regardless of where I travel to, I typically underplan.  I'm not a morning to night itinerary person, more loosey goosey head a certain way and see what turns up type of person.  While that sometimes backfires, many times it allows for experience by lottery, and as long as you don't mind a bit uncertainty, it can work out fine.  More than that, it works out really well when traveling with a young child who is hard to plan around.

NYC is a fun place to get out and about and let the city happen to you.  Subways, street scenes, taxis, restaurants, holiday markets - always something to catch you eye.

I guess my biggest mistake of the weekend was on Saturday, when I hanging with Lucas and his two friends (1 we took along from home, the other just happened to be in the city that weekend and so he tagged along), it was a Saturday and I knew we would be using the subway so I got an unlimited weekly pass, but didn't know - though in retrospect it's pretty logical - that you can't just swipe 4 times in a row for a party of 4 - there is a timed delay on it, which makes sense since without it all sorts of malfeasance and abuse would occur - I've thought of 6 ingenious ways in the time it took to write this sentence.  That type of monday-morning quarterbacking didn't help me then, and back to metrocard dispenser I went for a more mundane 'by trip' card.  I ended up giving my unlimited weekly pass to a food delivery guy, so that was sort of unintendily Christmassy.

Here's a good photo of letting the city happen around you - I don't know what kind of person attracted their attention, but clearly from the look on the faces of the 2 kids sitting, it was a mixture of fear, weird, and fascination.  Also, when 1 normal person got up, there were able to squeeze their two little butts on the bench.

From Union Square, we headed north to the Guggenheim, where we were seeing a short musical rendition of Peter and the Wolf, but we took a wrong turn on Museum Mile Road and ended up on the steps of the Met, so we decided to get a hotdog, and turns out there was someone proposing to someone on the big concrete steps not too far away.

From there we tried to see Santa at Macy's, ended up at Rockefeller Center (very crowded), the line for Santa was too long (even with our reservations), so we ended up hanging at a watch store which featured a bunch of NBA sneakers and had a playstation area.   It was raining, and we had been rushing around so the kids sat in the store and played NBA 2k for awhile, while I regrouped.  Random, I know.

Simon's mom in Tannis, -community art savant, as well are farm manager of Willow Wisp farms that she runs with her husband Greg,- and she and her troupe were in NYC for a small theater showing of her Farms Arts group's short play about immigration.   She's a little out there (which I like - I've tried to support her various efforts financially for years) and so was the play.  (yes, they are on stilts - Tannis explained it as, since they do a lot of street theater, this helps people see the art, plus adds a real element of off-the-wallness to each production)

Simon and Lucas definitely intrigued.

A few stops at Dunkin Donuts never hurt anyone, was our mantra.

And my boy, growing up.

Of course, the fuel for all this fun was ongoing, with 2 homes half down in Narrowsburg, 4 starting in Callicoon, 4 going on in Kerhonkson NY, 2 finishing up in Stone Ridge NY, 4 new pieces of land being bought in Kerhonkson, 19 lots being pursued in Saugerties, 3 in Narrowsburg.   Renovating new offices in Wurtsboro NY, and working through a 4 lot subdivision in Phoenixville PA.  I'm probably forgetting a few things for sure.

Pics below of the 3 homes going up in Kerhonkson currently.  Really great real estate available in Kerhonkson and Accord, some of the best value around the Catskills.

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First snow of the year came last week, the Sunday night after Thanksgiving.  The big range of projected snowfall kept us in suspense, and we ended up with a good amount, with a little icey rain first to make it a real mess.  It was end of day Tuesday before everyone was plowed out and logistically operational.

I really like my home in Milford PA, and the morning sun is highlighted each day.  This is a shot of Tuesday morning, circa 6:30am.  I renovated a pretty non-descript mid-90's ranch into something pretty neat and inspiring.

Lulu checking out the snow before stepping off the porch.

The light 15 minutes later.

The hillside in front of the house that I cleared this past fall made for some serious sledding.  We've been talking about it, and on Sunday, with Lucas' friend Jovanni, we geared and gave it a shot.

Tree lighting ceremony in downtown Milford ye ole community house.  My boy in the center, the origins of his height advantage unknown.

The maniac trainers at Burn the Ships crossfit in Milford woke up at 7am on Sunday in order to do 420 burpees, which was the amount of food they collected from their members for a local food pantry.  It took them an hour of constant motion.  These people aren't right in the head.  I dare you to try and do 10 burpees, and see how you feel after 420.  Nearly dead, in need of defibrillator.

Lulu loves the radiant heat at the office. She tries to get every single inch possible of her body to touch the floor.

And since this is a business blog, I should post something about a house I guess.  here's a cool barn house in Narrowsburg NY going up, about 1/2 way done, looking awesome its first snow fall.

Friday nights in Milford at the Ecumenical Food Pantry.  The future business leaders from local high school were there helping out and I think a few of them thought Lucas was cute, for a kid.

The next day was the first annual Rock Climb at Port Jervis Watershed hiking and biking trail area.  1.2 miles down, 1.2 miles up, just like Band Brothers on Currahee Hill during boot camp prior to being deployed in WWII.  Our local crossfit, Burn The Ships, in Milford PA, represented.  You picked a rock, average was around 30lb, you paint it, you carry it.

Down to my sisters in Phoenixville PA for T-Giving.  Playing a board game Trekker, a game based on the National Parks.  Super fun.

Lulu, a really great dog, chilling.

Lucas' new pup, Izzy.  As in, 'time to get busy, Izzy'.

Our 8-0 football team.  Me on the left.  Boy did the other coaches hate to see us win so much.

Then I treated them to a day at a water park.

A few years ago, I founded Lazy Meadows Real Estate.  Its purpose was to mostly allow me to list my homes on the multiple listing service of the hudson valley, gaining exposure to the real estate community without turning complete control of the listing over to someone else (a broker), an exercise that proved frustrating and expensive.

The real estate company also allowed me to save several thousand dollars on each land purchase I  made/make, which is not insignificant.  I buy a lot of land, so saving (or paying myself) 3% of $750k a year adds up.

Almost as a side thought, a few clients called us up and asked us to list their homes, which made sense since we have such knowledge of the homes and a direct line of marketing communication with a large targeted client niche - who we have been marketing to effectively since 2002.

Turns out, we are pretty good at marketing these resales.  For the first 10 years, very few traded, since families tended to hold onto them, and let's be honest, we moved at a much slower pace, thus just not that many out there.

Now however, with 200 homes built, they trade.  I wouldn't say they trade a lot, and when they do come on the market, they tend to move quickly, but a few are typically on the market, or at least 1 or two.

It's neat to circle back and help these families sell their homes.  Clearly no ones knows the homes better than me, and buyers like to buy direct, even on a resale.

So Lazy Meadows is just this sort of little annuity that produces a steady stream on income with very few expenses, since most of the administration is covered in our daily Catskill Farms work.

And finally, after many years, I partnered with an excellent new Agent, Caroline Akt.  And she's killing it, working hard, and taking it very seriously, thus having a good deal of success.

My friend Bryan bought a house from me in 2009, sold it, then built one himself (I mean himself, he did a lot of the work himself), and when he wanted to sell it, he gave me the opportunity.  We put a deal together quick and the deal closed last week.

My good friend Matthew built a house with us 6+ years ago, and when his family's priorities pivoted away from weekend jaunts to the country, he enlisted us to help sell it.  Lickety Split, within a week or two, we produced a buyer.  Turns out that buyer was kicking the tires of a new build Catskill Farms, but was excited to be able to turnkey move in, furniture and all, and get livin'.

The question at the beginning was always would the interests of Catskill Farms sales conflict with the interests of the buyers of resales.  I never thought it would - 1, not enough CF resales around, and 2, people who want to build, do so to scratch an itch of design you don't get with a resale.

So, it has worked out all around.