Another Day, Another Sale (or two)

Well, Mr Turtle may move slow but here at Catskill Farms we are speeding through this recession like it didn't exist. No problems with sales, no problems recruiting new buyers, no problems we can't surmount regarding financing and no problems concerning closing. Easy sailing. Of course, knock on wood, and I think why I find myself heading a home design/build company that is holding its own is partially due to the fact that I have never had the opportunity to become complacent, over-confident or sure of my judgement. I've seen it a few times - a little bit of success after a hard slough and an overestimation of one's judgement/abilities and intelligence leads to unwise and too-aggressive gambles.


Luckily for us, I never had any money, was in debt up to my eyeballs, and was sure, even after 20 homes, that I would sell another one. I think never losing that fear of what lay ahead and the lessons of how quickly things could get expensively screwed-up was a critical factor in our positioning as a company that is strengthening and gaining market share in an economy that is schooling even the most well-financed and experienced. Us, - we're just the little red engine that can.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this lately, but Catskill Farms does not use realtors for the most part to sell our properties. We tried, at the beginning, and discovered that between a miniscule marketing budgets (what, you want us to spend money?), 8% commission rates (that's what we need to keep the lights on!), and feeling the need to exagerate and over-promise our prospective customers, it was a lose-lose-lose-lose proposition. So we took matters into our own hands, market our own properties, show our own properties, sell our own properities and do any of the hand holding that needs to be done during the sales process. And the killer being now that we have mastered this process, we can set prices on our cottages and mini-houses at prices that no one can touch, - even if they could figure out how to meet the very demanding and exact design criterias expected by our customers. I mean, the only realtor who has come close to communicating our design philosophy to his clients is David Knudsen, a buyer's representative who has sold 3 of our homes for close to $1.5m. I think our sales tally exceeds $7m over 4 years - which is a heck of a lot considering how we are IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE - which is actually the beauty of it.

Some of my friends - yes, I do have a few - ask me why I'm always dissin' someone on my blog, and I thought, "hey, that's a great question. I think it imust be a flaw developed by a lack of parental love and being bullied in Jr. High School."

Bought a tractor the other day - 2005, only 250 hrs of operation, bucket, excavator, auger, and forks. Ford New Holland. Now we can really get some work done.

The guy who sold it to me makes his living over the winter plowing snow, hence his signage below.

Played some very bad golf today with Eric, who runs an insurance company on the other side of town. He's also not to badly beaten up by this 'media depression' and agrees that it's a once in a life time opportunity to strategically expand, acquire and purchase - because, in the end, returns on investments never stray too far from the initial basis (or cost) of the investment. Higher cost, lower returns, and now, in this economy, everything's on sale. Eric said his Dad said 'if you can run a business in Sullivan County, you can run one anywhere." Which to someone like myself who has never had the opportunity to run a business somewhere else, is a refreshing thought, - since running a business here could not be harder, from any vantage - labor supply, labor talent, labor reliability, professional expertise, and most all resources needed to run a business are either lacking, non-existent or half-assed backwards - or at least harder to discern the good from the bad than seems necessary.

SEEMS LIKE WE SOLD ANOTHER HOUSE TODAY - to some bigshots from the big apple. I think it's just a great combination - big shots buying small comfortable houses - and we are seeing it more and more. So much more refreshing than the over-extending, over-reaching, and over-dreaming of yesterday. Bravado is out, simplicity is in.

We were lucky to know this before most of the industry, and hence, still find it possible to move some houses.

Thing about it, dog, is Cottage 21 is a hot house - really hot - and I was able to have free reign to design it in any direction I chose because we didn't have a buyer - but now we a buyer, and I'm sure Jeffrey and Norah are going to love this house. Since we had a few extra dollars in the bank we pimped this house out pretty good, with audio/security/6' extra deep tub/extra bathroom/arts and crafts stone pillars out front/and a host of other extras to really make the house special. Doesn't hurt either that a very well maintained sparkling pond sits across the dirt street.

Norah and Jeffrey claim they have looked at over 100 homes over the past 2 years - so, as you can imagine, it's a real compliment they chose our humble little home. It's actually an often-heard refrain - 'we've been looking FOREVER, and we walked into your home and it just felt like a big hug and I can't believe how smart you are and what good taste you have, not to mention how handsome and it's just so amazing I just don't know what to say." (I actually maybe added a little hyperbole and exaggeration in there for dramatic effect).

Great house - 1300 sq ft, 2 baths, 2 beds, 6+ acres, lots of stone and green sage cedar siding.

Here's Norah, really shaking me down -

And an interior wall we built out of beveled siding pickled white, with duel sliding barn doors.

This is a good shot of some exterior siding brought indoors, a hand-hewn beam, a schoolhouse light, a 2 panel door and a galvanized barn sconce.

Cedar closet with our famed strapped hinged doors and the front dutch door.

Some very retro vintage tile in the 1st floor bath. Not a great pic because not fully clean, but looks really great, and wasn't a budget breaker.

So, we also had Courtney and Bronson come up and I believe they are seriously considering building with us, and James got the excavation started on Saturday at Peter's house up in Walton, NY - Peter's a dress-designer who really seems to know what he is doing considering he counts Michelle Obama, Jennifer Hudson and other notables as clients - http://www.petersoronen.com/ - he's building a gothic cottage on top of a mountain.

Well, that's it for me. Quite the weekend (thanks for the budweiser Gavin, but my god, change your shorts), quite an opening to this spring building season. Rock on Catskill Farms.

My Boy, a Bear and the Stone Wall

Spring time brings along a lot of frisky thoughts and actions, and up here in the Catskills, things are no different. Daddy Turkeys strutting around all puffed up with their harem following, momma mouse, momma deer, momma everything catching the spring fever. I think it's pretty universal up here in Sullivan County that this winter wore us out, and was day in and day out pretty challenging, and then the real kicker was it never wanted to stop - with a pretty angry March, and an April that stayed mean all month. So, with this weekend moving into the high 70's, everyone is pretty beside themselves with anticipation. I mean, even this week, it snowed, hailed, and hovered towards the shitty side of climatic affect.

Here's Lucas down in Lancaster PA, getting jiggy with one of his first ever spring days. His new nickname is "Paleface", or "Ole Doublechin". Lisa Richard Petersheim, the quiet hero of my ventures, demanded photographic credit for these photos, I think mostly to quiet Gavin who has been dissin both her camera and her photo abilities ever since the first in the 'blurry series' was released a few months ago. Lisa said it was pretty neat when she figured out that a 'red hand' on the lcd screen meant 'wait', and a 'green' meant shoot.

Here's Lucas taking one for the team by lying in the wet grass patiently while Lisa captures this great shot.

And then on the way over to Cottage 21, this young bear ran across the street and hung around long enough for me to break out the camera. I'm always afraid when I have these bear shot opportunities that while I'm focused in on shooting a pic of one bear, another one is going to sneak up and crash through my driver's side window and get me good.

I guess these bears are just coming out of hibernation.

And, per the previous thread, Juan's got the wall put back together, repairing stones that probably hadn't been touched by human hands since they were first laid 120 yrs ago.

The addition is going great, with the plumbing, heating and electric finished and we are getting ready to insulate with our hi-tech soy-based next week.

I got a few prospective customers coming up this weekend to check things out, and tomorrow I got a game of golf scheduled with Eric at Swan Lake golf course.

Remember, comments allowed.

Sunsets over the Delaware

Got My First Comment!!!

I was really sweatin' it, wondering if anyone was ever going to leave a comment - and then, out of the blue, a comment, by anonymous.

Thanks anonymous. You really saved me from a restless night of sleep.

But now, I can't help but wonder who it is. Someone who drove by and saw the addition? Lurking out there now? Or were they commenting from the photos?

Who knows? Maybe this comment thing wasn't the stroke of genius I first thought.

I'm Waiting!!

OK, it's been 15 minutes since I opened my blog for comments - where is everyone?!

Comments Entertained.

Well - here we go. Instead of 'one hand clapping', we are opening this blog up for comments, info, guidance and cautions. Of course, comments that include phrases such as 'he's so smart', and 'what a guy' will be encouraged, and those less flattering/glowing will be frowned upon.

Let's see how it goes.

Beautiful day up here for sure.

Here is the emailed letter to assorted readers opening up the blog to comments -

"Dear Readers and Homeowners,
After 18 months of keeping a consistent blog, I’m opening it up to comments and the like. I figure all our new homeowners always have similar questions and the pre-existing ones have a lot of info to share, so maybe the blog can serve as more than just me monologue-ing about my latest conquest or hurdle.

Anyway, efforts like this on my part usually backfire, and hopefully it doesn’t turn into a tool for everyone to gang up on me. I will be moderating the blog, because I don’t want it to turn into ‘bitch session’ or ‘my front porch light doesn’t work, why hasn’t anyone returned my call’ type thing. The blog has been a great marketing tool from Catskill Farms, and we aim to keep it that way, so all posts will be vetted with that in mind. Please don’t hold it against me if the post gets rejected – it’s nothing personal – the blog is one thing in my business I can control, and it’s nice to have a least a little control over something.

Other than that, maybe it will be a useful tool to the community we have built – maybe not, but here goes nothing…. I’m hoping it becomes a great resource for restaurants, hiking trails, cocktail party lists, badminton tournaments, local stores and shopping and general connectedness through info sharing, if desired. We have a couple hundred people checking in a weekly basis, so maybe it will be fun and valued.

Chuck,
Owner."

Construction at my House

Mi Casa is undergoing a serious construction project. Yes I know we just moved in in August, so the paint hardly had to dry, and here we are, at it again, ripping and tearing. Thing is, a child may be a small creature, but all the toys, and bouncy seats and walkers and strollers take up expotentially more space than the child themselves. For instance, his stand up bouncy thing is literally 5' x 5', creating a huge base that doesn't tip over, I guess. Meanwhile, it takes up our entire dining room.

So, it was an old house to begin with, and we fixed her up, but we decided to do a little more fixing up and here is Juan tearing out the old stone foundation in order to straighten her up once and for all. And then the beginning of the addition in the rear-ground.

The Addition and the Foundation, with a large boulder straddling each.

And a tree in the mix never hurt anything either.
Here's the frame of the addition glimmering in the April Sun.
And in the back, the addition sort of follows the 'grade' as it steps down. We are adding a bedroom, bath, and media room, hopefully overlooking a big ole pond that the local Cornell Co-op is engineering presently.

Fixing up the stone steps...

And there she is - all framed and sheathed, ready for the next phase.

Well, it's April, and the winter kept breathing frosty thoughts our way until most everyones' patience was worn thin, and then Spring springs in on a day like today. Looking forward to having a few dogs running around, and hosting weekly badmitten/cocktail/yard game parties.

And, till the next time, - later, gator.

Hugh Gran, Farmhouse #8, Followup

Here is a direct excerpt from Hugh Gran, who bought a house from us in September, 2007. It's the really nice white house down on Crawford Road - the one with the security boot on the car, just in case the car thief ring was in the neighborhood.

"Jones Plumbing:800 566 3726/ 845 294 1010

Tell them Hugh Gran sent you and tell them Steve Carr had referred me.

I am not contacting Catskill Farms (Chuck) about anything except major stuff like when our basement flooded; In other-words Major structural issues. As for his over sights or inappropriate installations I'd rather handle it and get the job done right."

Now, here are two unemployed people with nothing better to do than make trouble. What a duo. Never a problem, heating system functioned fine, not a leak in the house, and hardly a caulk crack to be found - yet, to Hugh Gran, the problems are too numerous to mention. And yet not one email over 19 months mentioned any of the inappropriate installations and oversights that are so prevalent now. Oh, did I mention his house won a award for best design in the region in 2006.

And Steve Carr, the ringleader, got fired from the only job he could land up here - as a carpenter - got fired within 3 weeks because he didn't know squat about squat. Now, I could have saved his employer a lot of time and aggravation - I knew he didn't know anything, with subtle examples like planting a huge gated garden directly on top of his septic. Now that's being green - fertilizing your own food.

Very interesting. Like they say, idle hands are the devil's plaything.

This approach my team has decided upon may seem a bit extreme to the innocent bystander, but when you live in a small town and someone goes for your jugular, then there is only one recourse - and that is to say enough. An award-winning builder who has been selling homes left and right through a real estate disaster versus the unemployed. Seems like a fair matchup. It's kind of like the little dog who barks and barks and barks and then eventually pisses off the big dog.

I put a call into Hugh Gran to try to understand how he went from trespassing on the property of my two newest homes - I then gave him a guided tour - to writing these 'let's gang up' emails - of course, no return call.

The Staff,The Cottage and The Incident in Port Jervis

Well, because I have been so shamefully tardy in my blogging, I am just now posting some photos I took last week, or the week before. Who can keep track? Actually, it's kind of amazing if these photos were taken two weeks ago because the unfinished state of the progress is wholly different presently, with the walls painted and floors stained.

As posted previously, this home is 960 sq ft, 2 bedrooms, 2 porches, fireplaces, wide plank floors - the works.

Speaking of 'the works', there was an incident in Port Jervis on Friday. So I had to go to Middletown for one reason or another, and any time I head into civilization via Monticello, Liberty or Port Jervis, I always confront a fast food hankering, that is hard to ignore. Where we live in Eldred there ain't any such food, and I don't even really like it, but anytime I head to these aforementioned towns, I battle internally. So, long story short, I am lured into the McDonalds in Port Jervis, and it is frickin quinessential low-end America with lots of loud overweight families hanging out at he soda machine and ketchup dispenser (I'm partial to outlets that offer ketchup dispensers, and not those damn packets). I mean, it was chaos, but I was determined to enjoy my fast food moment with my Friday times.

When I hear, "Chuck? Chuck, is that you?" And so who do you know is satisfying their guilty pleasure as well, but Jeanne and Deb from Cottage 14 fame. Well, embarrassed at our mutual contempt for rational meal decisions, we spent a minute or two explaining and making excuses for why we are actually in this low end McDonalds, then discussing why the fries seem to be underfilled (is it a directive from corporate?), and so on. So we were caught, our sophisticated and refined palettes and food consciousness tossed into the air of reality, where a quarter pounder meal combo, supersized, has its place on Easter Weekend.

In this small house we put a big window, ... looking out into the woods. Also, in our last two houses we started playing around with cable hand rail systems, and it is turning out pretty cool - sort of a further exploration of modern vintage.

It's components are hand-hewn wood posts with steel cable.

It's a good look, and even better once the floors and walls are colored.

The front porch ceiling has some nice curves and lines.

And the stream that runs through the property, just off the back deck.

And another shot of the front, before the second coat of Cabot's barn red semi solid stain is applied to the novelty siding, and before the standing seam galvanized metal roof is installed on the front porch.

And our friend Chris and Allison traveled up from Richmond VA with their boys to spend a few days. We are putting an addition onto the house, and this is the final foundation pour truck.

Lastly, this is my office, with James and Anouk posing for the camera - Anouk in fore, James in back. Red lamps, sliding barn doors, red blueprint filing cabinets, and some mid-century chairs make up a pretty cool office design. We've come long way from our underfunded beginnings, and I can't but kind of modestly agree with Jeanne and Deb, who said 'we're the only game in town'. I think it's true, and it didn't come easy.

But in the end, the original inspiration that many families would prefer a cool new house that works rather than a cool old house that doesn't, and a committment to keep getting better, and a dedication to continually experiment and push the envelope - well, it's all combined to create a business that keeps on keeping on.

Happy Easter. It's a sunny day up here in the Catskills, with a few birds presently chirping away.

Southern SoJourn

Lisa and my bookkeeper Deborah both independently commented that my last post was BIZARRE - ending a nice rock star thread with unlinked and disconnected thoughts on taking abuse. Well, I guess it was a bit odd but I beg a little latitude because I have been UNINSPIRED recently - I don't think I'm really uninspired since it is Spring and I'm always inspired by the end of the brown season and the greeting of the green season. And it was pretty stressful to have day after day pass with no blog inspiration knowing the multitudes just out there waiting for some morsel of genius. I just think after 10 months of kickin it big time, developing/designing/selling 10 homes in 9 months (14 in 13 months), I just think I'm a bit exhausted and need a little physical and mental downtime.

Take for instance my inspiration to start my last post about the rock star with the following -

We started dancing
And love put us into a groove
As soon as we started to move
The music played
While our bodies Displayed through the dance

We started dancing
And love put us into a groove
As soon as we started to move
The music played
While our bodies Displayed through the dance

He tried pretending
A dance is just a dance
But I see
He's dancing his way back to me
He's dancing his way back to me

... but I ended up with nothing. Oh well, hopefully, I can regroup and kick start the imagination, exaggeration, and bravado before too long.

But, in the interim, here are some pics to make me seem family-oriented, well-travelled, leisurely, and, mostly, truely white bread.

Me, looking well-groomed, in our bay front room in Fair Hope. The first two nights we were there, big big storms with massive lightening and thunder blew in off the gulf bay.

Here's me and my son and lots of white linen.

And my good host Jason, striking a pose before Sunday brunch. He's pretty good looking but has serious chicken legs.

Big southern oak tree.

Pelican posse.

Lucas close up.

The ships and boats at the Grand, from our window.

Well, that's it. A nice vacation to the deep south with lots of homecooking and hospitality. Now its time to get back to work and sell some houses in this challenging environment. Just entered contract to buy 44 acres and a house for a price not seen for a few years - I'm pretty sure this isn't the end of the world, and soon enough optimism will pervade the psyche, and Catskill Farms will be there with a little house to augment those fancy life aspirations.

The Thing about Steve Carr

Big New York Post article coming out in a few days - a lot of new traffic expected in the blog and website.

To understand how absurd my life has been since this guy Steve entered it, you have to rewind almost 16 months when my kitchen guy calls me up and says this guy Steve won't stop calling the showroom, wanting to know how much this cost his builder, how much this cost what the markup is, etc.... And then I hear the same thing from a lawyer at the house closing, saying this guy Steve, who wasn't part of the deal at all, was about the rudest person they've ever seen at a closing- making snide comments to the title company and the bank.

But rewind a little more - and remember he's not even a customer. He's someones husband that wasn't contributing enough to be owner of the house, listed on the deed - a bystander, for all intent and purposes.

So, I sign these people up, and just like I always do, I pay for everything - every 2x4, every sheet of plywood, every faucet, and they get to pick out all the fun stuff like the kitchen, the tile, the paints, the stain, - they show me pictures of a fire place they want, how they want the sink to meet the counter top, the style doors, etc... So everything is cruising along pretty good, it's a harsh winter but we plug along and get the house finished right on time.

But, Christine is pregnant, so generous as I am I tell her not to sweat it, let's delay closing for a few weeks so we don't have these two huge life moments (child-birth and house buying) coincide exactly. So, I pay for a few extra weeks to hold the house so Christine doesn't have some crazy stress.

So the baby comes and it's all cool and we go to schedule a closing, and lo and behold, they get denied for a mortgage - the bank won't give them the money, and I soon learn that between their low credit scores and desire to get some absurd LTV loan, it just wasn't going to happen. So I build them house, I pay for the whole thing, turn them onto to my best vendors, and then when it's their turn to do their thing (buy the house), they can't do it. So one week turns into two, turns into 4, turns into 8 and just by the skin of our teeth we get this thing sold to them before things got legal.

Now, within a week of this 12 week sales date extension I get a call from Steve on my cell - "a tree is going to fall on the electric line!, - the next day, something else, the next day something else, the next day something else, and two of those days with simple emergencies like 'send someone over immediately, my front door needs to be unhinged so I can accept my fourth appliance delivery' - now, he really can't take off his own door?, but we showed up and did our best.

Then, with my frustration and irritation mounting because I could see the lack of money to buy the house was just the beginning of the problem, and the continuation of the demands and requests were not going stop any time soon.

And then I learned Steve Carr was offering work to the guys coming to work on his house. Imagine, in this little town where hard workers and team players are very limited, I was sending my best team to ensure the Carr's were as happy as I could make them, and Steve Carr was offering them employment.

Now, to further see the absurdity, Steve Carr did not have any work - he was new to the area, and somehow landed a little wood siding job, and based on this he felt it honorable to attempt to break up my business, as well as tempt a pretty non-sophisticated carpenter away from a steady job. So eventually, the stupidest of my crew (although still talented) took him up on the offer, and then returned back to the job sites a few days later to try to recruit more members of my team. And in the end, within two weeks this carpenter kid was back begging for work from my homeowners, since Steve's promise of work lasted all of 2 weeks.

All the while, Steve Carr is talking trash, defaming us, - he's unemployed, with nothing to do, and through his lack of generosity, used his best energy to tarnish my business, which has invested $17m in the local community, provided a livelihood for countless individuals, and benefited the bottom line of countless businesses and vendors.

And the sad thing, he has sort of succeeded in diminishing me and my business - of course, he still is unemployed, still has yet to contribute anything of value to the community at large, still has yet to build anything, pay anyone, or create anything sustainable except for a real bad taste in the mouth to those he comes across.

But he is undaunted, certain that his world-view will prevail, certain that his negativity and sour demeanor will infect and, like a virus, spread. The thing is, I don't build -I'm not a carpenter, I'm a business person, so Steve's wicked vile bile is directed at Juan, Curtis, James K, Edwin, Caleb, Al, John, Pete, Casey, Mark, Tito and the dozens of others who take pride in their work, do a pretty good job, and take some pride in being professional in a largely unprofessional community.

So, talk about a losing proposition, let's review -
1. Design, build and pay for someones dream home.
2. Finish on time and on budget. Not one surprise.
3. Give them extra time to close on the house because the wife is pregnant.
4. Remain patient while they scramble to find the money to buy the house after being turned down for a mortgage.
5. Sell them a house with smile on my face.
6. Respond to 12 emergency calls within 2 weeks after closing.
7. Have the husband attempt to hire away my staff while I am trying to live up to my warranty.
8. Fail to kiss his ass long enough, deep enough - and in the end have a long non-ending nightmarish defamation campaign waged against me by a guy who has absolutely nothing to do with his time.

So, what is the lesson learned here, kids? - very simply, sell to people with class.

From One Extreme to the Other - Highs and Lows

I mean, my life is exciting - sometimes in a bad way, many times in a good way, but one thing that is true is that everyday, 7 days a week, brings something my way unexpected - some glory, some defeat, some accolade, some defaming whisper, some back patting, some complaint.

Let me walk you through this weekend, for instance.

First I find out one of my customers who I thought was a friend is sending mass emails out complaining about Catskill Farms and it's quality, and an attempt to 'rally the troops' to 'see if the homeowners should do something." Now Hugh has been living in his house for 2 years, pretty much problem free. We had a punchlist we punched out, he had a wet basement incident we remedied immediately over a weekend, he didn't have any non-self instigated emergencies otherwise, so for a homebuilder, that's what you hope for. But here I am recipent of a forwarded email from someone on the list with really a negative overtone. The thing is, we would be happy to crack the whip on any subcontractor who failed to meet some basic quality criteria. I mean, putting myself in his shoes - if I was unhappy with my insurance rep because he sold me a policy that has $25,000 deductible if I let anyone on my jobsites without proper insurance verification - do I write an email to all his clients I know, or do I pick up the phone and talk it through with him? And even one step further - if he says he can't do anything about it, and I should've read the 100 page fine print policy, do I then write the mass email? Or do I show a little generousity and give the guy a break, and just work through it? I know what direction I follow every time I have a choice - and that's to give a guy a break. And I think that's why I have a dedicated team up here in the middle of nowhere - a team I have kept very busy when their friends are siting at home, losing their homes and cars, and are otherwise living a depressed existence.

So, what may I ask, is Hugh's problem? He spent zero dollars on maintenence for 2 years, just like I promised, and then has his boiler maintenenced and freaks out and writes a 'let's go get him' email. Like Lisa always says - 'Who are these people? They have these beautiful houses, don't really have any problems with the houses, and all they do is bitch and complain."

Do I really need to remind these 'haters' - that's our new name for them - that they own the only houses in America that haven't plummetted in value?

But these homeowners hire home inspectors who comb through the house before they buy it, everything works fine for 2 years and then they call a random heating guy who talks shit about the previous guy, just like every other tradesman talks shit about the carpenter/painter/tile guy/electrician, that came before them, etc... and all of a sudden we get ganged up on. This one heating guy even told one of my customers they were lucky the 'house didn't blow up'. Now come on, that's pretty extreme. Sad, and counter-productive. I don't think any of our 125 homeowners would ever say I won't at least discuss possible remedies to any issue.

It's weird - I built 18 homes on this 2 mile stretch of road, and on one end I have a small group of angry homeowners, and on the other I have happy homeowners - and in the end, the houses are the same, - same quality, same styles, same attempt at service - It's a real testament to the 'power of the mob' - both in a good direction or in a bad.

And then I have these other homeowners stopping by our house to invite us over for tennis and barbeque, another of martinis, another for a Memorial Day party, and a few others who make it possible to enter and show off their homes at any time to perspective homeowners. They bring us baby clothes, fresh vegetables, and brag us up to all their friend.

And then on the other hand, I get an email from a customer on Saturday saying their basement flooded, - a finished basement, so it's a big deal, with moisture and mold issues, let alone a holiday weekend and all that. So it's no fun, that's for sure. And it's a simple case of the contractor who was hired to do the work closed up the ceiling of the basement without allowing for heat to reach the water pipes now in the ceiling. Now, most times everything will be fine, but as a precaution any time we close up a basement ceiling we do a thorough examination for any pipes that may be vulnerable once they are enclosed in an unheated space. So, little do you know, against all my advice, this homeowner hired someone local to do the work who didn't do the precautionary checklist, and over the winter, the pipe closest to the exterior, the outside faucet, froze and broke, so when the homeowner turned on the hose to water the shrubs and didn't have any water pressure and stood there scratching their heads as 15 minutes of water was running in the finished basement. And then they call me to fix their problem or else my name is Mud, with a capital M.

And then on the other end we showed 3 couples our houses this past weekend, and I wouldn't be surprised if all 3 don't end up making offers or joining our waiting list. That means, conceivably, we might be doing 6 deals in the month of May. And to anyone involved in real estate, the adrenaline rush of making a deal, or possibly making a deal, is a real high. And I do realize we are still in a serious recession. Last year about this time in the pretty slow real estate world, we lined up 7 buyers who took us through February of this year. Now, with the economy even slower, and all the deals we started last year fully consumated, we are lining up another crew of future homeowners, hopefully endowed with the ability to enjoy this serious luxury of country living.

And then on the other hand I got this guy named Steve running around doing everything he can do to make us look bad - if you remember, this is the guy that hasn't had a job since I've known him (1.5yrs), tried to steal my carpenters everytime I sent them over to do him a favor, and then sits around scratching his head as to why I refuse to come close to his house - I mean, breaking up a guy's business and team, now that's pretty lowdown - and then, considering it's the guy who just built you a really nice house, with no delays, and zero cost overruns, - it's just out of the ballpark classless. This guy Steve Carr, who isn't even one of my homeowners (his wife owns the house), has been running around for 12 months poisoning the minds of anyone who will listen about Catskill Farms - and since he can't find a job, he has a lot of anger and time on his hands. AND SMART PEOPLE LISTEN TO HIM!! And now his neighbors (and the police) think he is vandalizing their plants and property. Great guy - real reliable source of information and has been doing everything he knows how to damage my business, - which affects my family, my employees and their families. So I guess it's time to stop ignoring it and taking the high road and turning the other cheek. Stay tuned to watch Catskill Farms push back - it's always a little Sugar Ray, a little Raging Bull, and, in the end, a big left like Tyson, keeps us standing and our adversary sucking wind on their backs.

And then, on the exciting front, and on the other hand, James K from the office is jamming up in Walton NY, with Peter Sorenen's gothic cottage on the hill. The house is framed up and ready to roof shortly.

And I just bought 44 acres and we just are putting in the footings for the new houses tomorrow morning.

And just went golfing this morning with my friend Eric, on a beautiful morning, with very little in terms of crowds.

Well, that's not even the extent of it, but you get the picture. Many thorns in my side, many trophies on my shelf. We've survived 5 years while doing our best, and I hope we can make it another five - since without question, we have enhanced the architectural heritage of Sullivan County real estate.

Oh, on another good note - we fought, and we fought, and we fought, and we fought, and we won - we elected a supervisor, who fired the insane assessor, and hired a normal person and the real estate taxes on every single property I own, or have sold in the town of Highland, has been lowered.

Tune in, As the World Turns, at the Catskill Farms - http://www.catskillfarms.com/

Some different Opinions (who write to me directly)

"You are the absolute best. THANK YOU!!
We will be your best homeowners, and we will never behave like those creeps from your blog!!"

"We never, ever have to go out of our way to talk you up. We are always happy to say good things..."

"You are definitely 'the man'".

Actually, I made up the last one.

The Art of Complaining

I'm a huge complainer - I mean, a real professional. I complain all day long, every day, about something. Paint neater, build faster, organize better, - everyday I am complaining big time about something - so much so that I probably am one of the most effective complainers out there. I complain with a goal in mind, and a strategy to get there. In the end, I have nothing against complaining - it's the way things get done and remedied. Why do we complain and remain a royal pain to most of our suppliers? Simply, So we can provide a constantly better product to our customers.

For instance, I already know of 5 people/businesses that need to be complained to today - the appliance guy for setting off 2 alarms in 2 separate houses (the yell, I'm going somewhere else strategy), the employee for copying the wrong person on an email (the sympathetic 'we try to keep the dufusness to a minimal' spiel), the excavator (can it take you any longer?) and a few others to unexciting to mention.

But we have engaged in a 5 year improvement process, where everyday we try to get better - which is saying something since we are pretty good now. We try to get better, faster, more efficient, less wasted time and materials. We have probably hired 75% of all contractors in the area, and fired 99% of them for one reason or another. Achieving quality - it's a lot harder than you think, and it's a constantly moving target. Get better today, get better tomorrow, get better next month.

What I don't understand about the previous guys I was posting about was, in the end, upon resolution/non-resolution/satisfaction/dis-satisfaction - life goes on, and something new comes up that needs to be complained about, resolved, gotten over. I think that's what I think is impressive about Steve Carr's 16 month complaint odyssey - he never loses focus, he never has anything new come up in his life that trumps this Catskill Farms complaint motif.

I mean, most people just get over it and move on, even if they didn't get what they wanted.