Country House Realty’s Blog

The last few weeks in the marketplace

Sun, 1 Apr 2012 08:29:20 -0400

At higher elevations, like Claryville, in the Town of Denning, where I live, precipitation on Friday night was of the white variety, to the tune of about two inches. But the roof is dripping and the early spring buds forge ahead.

The last two weeks have been very busy showing properties. A second of my listings experienced a bidding war, this one between two parties (the previous, between three). The difference is that this listing has been on the market for over a year, so the sudden interest is probably more a function of the new buyers coming to market with the advent of spring, than anything. It was recently reduced by $10k, and I think it’s just priced right, which is a major component to selling property these days.

So now that I’ve figured out how to embed slideshows like the one above, of recent listings in Ulster County, into my blog, it’ll be a lot easier to share properties that crop up. I hope to also be able to show those that have sold recently, so you can use that valuable information. So stay tuned!

Interesting new listings; Feb numbers

Mon, 5 Mar 2012 08:37:03 -0500

New Listings
I’ve whittled down the last 30 days’ new listings in Ulster Co. to these eight that I find interesting. It’s a totally subjective list. Check out the $5.98m, 26,000 sq ft Arts & Crafts estate on 30 acres that crosses the borders into Woodstock, Hurley and Olive. You know you need a helipad!

Monthly Stats
In speaking with an agent who works for a large brokerage in Ulster Co. the other day, she said their firm tracks listings marked “Pending Continue to Show”, which reflects listings that have accepted offers, but are not yet under contract. Apparently there was a big spike in that category mid-February. I, too, have had two offers on my own listings in the last two weeks, one that led to a bidding war and is being sold over the asking price for cash, and the other which is currently being negotiated. This increased activity could be in large part due to the mild winter. Anecdotally, buyers are citing the historically low mortgage rates coupled with lower listing prices as being the keys to luring them northward to find their special weekend place.

Late 2011 showed some interesting signs of life in the real estate market, particularly in the high end, in Sullivan Co. The year closed out with a bang, with three $1m+ sales between August and October, in an otherwise lackluster year. They were all large lakefront homes at Chapin Estate, a private gated community in Bethel, NY. There are currently four active listings at Chapin, one of which is the only non-lakefront property in the development, which is offered at a more modest price.

In February 2012, Sullivan Co. saw 19 single family sales, with a median sales price of $105,000 versus 25 sales in 2011 with a median of $136,000. Ulster Co. saw 47 sales in February of 2011 with a $225,000 median sales price, and an increase in sales to 65 in 2012, but with a lower median price of $190,000.

Keep in mind that in general it takes about two months to close a transaction, so these sales likely stemmed from offers made in or around December.

KICKING OFF THE 2012 REAL ESTATE SEASON

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:37:30 -0500

I haven’t written my real estate blog since last June, so apologies. It’s no coincidence that I opened Eureka Market & Café last May, but with the guts of ten months under our belt, my focus is squarely back on the website and providing you with useful information to help you learn about our area, the real estate market, and since so many of you are living in apartments, the skinny on things you should know about country houses. So with more regular postings, I hope you’ll check back as I attempt to cover a lot of territory, often based on your own questions that crop up in emails, phone calls, and while on showings.

SO HOW IS THE REAL ESTATE MARKET?
Since this is a season “kick-off”, I think it makes sense to do a little numbers tour to see where we are in the cycle. If you listen to Brian Williams, you’ll hear about the national stats, which are probably not useful if you’re thinking of buying in The Catskills. The quip “all real estate is local”, couldn’t be truer. And since I have one foot in Ulster Co. (I live in the Ulster side of Claryville, aka Denning), and the other in Sullivan, as my office is in Grahamsville, let’s look briefly at a few statistics from those two areas, shall we?

THE NUMBERS
Looking at stats from the Mulitiple Listing Service for each county, and using sales of single family residences only, we’ll start with the big picture: The move in sales volume and prices between 2008 and the end of 2011.

Sullivan Co.’s sales volume dropped 13%, while Ulster had 9% fewer sales. Average sales prices for this period fell 10% (from $178,193 to $160,783) for Sullivan, and 19% ($305,215 to 246,979) for Ulster. I think it’s worth including the median (half the sales are above, half are below) price changes too, because they lessen the impact of the lopsided nature of the data (more homes priced at the lower end than at the top end). So the median sales price in Sullivan declined by 15%, while Ulster’s dropped 17%.

Taking a peek at the high end of the market illustrates this price compression in Ulster: In 2008 Ulster had 10 houses that sold for $1m+, while Sullivan had 2. In 2011, Ulster and Sullivan each had 3.

Now let’s have a look a the fourth quarter 2011 vs 2010 to get a sense of how things are doing now: In Ulster, the average price was up 1% and the median down 1%, so let’s call it flat. Sullivan also saw average sales prices flat, with the median down 4%. So that was fun, right?

SECOND HOME MARKET
It’s not possible to glean information for the second home market specifically from the MLS, but anecdotally, this segment of sales has fared better in these down times than the full-time/local market, which continues to struggle. But with the obvious benefit of being 2-2.5 hours from the George Washington Bridge, Sullivan and Ulster Counties continue to be attractive to the New York City-based country home buyer, and so the drop-off in activity for that sector has not been nearly as drastic as it has in the local segment.

To be continued...

Eureka Market Opens

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 21:16:22 -0400

While this relatively new blog has perhaps spent too much time focusing on our endeavor to open Eureka Market & Café in Country House Realty’s building, I would like to think that this new venture is having at least some impact on the locality.

As a weekender initially, and a full-timer now for a few years, there were elements of what had been a normal part of living that I missed since moving up to the area. The first was a local eatery where you could delight in homemade dishes (and tasty pizza!) made with healthful, and perhaps local ingredients, sip a cappuccino or decent coffee, and bump into your neighbors for a chat.

Showing property, often prospective buyers would ask where one would do their food shopping, and the answer of 20-30 minutes for local and/or organic food seemed to disappoint. So the hope is that our contribution will round out the local offerings, creating a variety of options for our “neighborhood”.

And in the next several months (before the snow flies again, anyway), we’ll embark on the next phase of our renovation, which is erecting solar (thermal) panels on a new roof, which will provide hot water for our new radiant floor heat system. I’m hoping that it will generate interest in renewable energy alternatives and prove that retro-fitting existing buildings isn’t as daunting as one might think.

But today is a big moment for me. This very evening I will enjoy a hot bath and embark on the SundayTimes crossword puzzle. For it has been a number of years since one could purchase a hard copy of this esteemed publication without driving 30 minutes, and this is the first Sunday that we have the privilege of selling the Times. Sometimes progress means taking a step back.

OUR CONVERSION TO SOLAR RADIANT HEAT BEGINS

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:57:06 -0400

I’m sitting in The Annex, a newly-painted raspberry-colored room in what will soon be Eureka Market & Café, bundled up, with limited feeling in my fingertips. Chris Wagner and his crew from Wagner Masonry have just left, and about half of the building is glistening with 3 inches of new concrete.

It wasn’t my original intention to convert our heating system just now, going into summer (supposedly, as it’s about 27 degrees outside...and in). But with a new entrance and handicap bathroom going in, to add 3 inches to the floor height in 9 months meant a whole lot of extra expense and effort down the line. So I pulled the trigger on laying the tubing and putting down the concrete floor now, and hooking up the system at a later date.

Advanced Radiant Design out of Stone Ridge had come highly recommended, and they’ve lived up to their billing. With room measurements they use CAD architectural software to design the layout of the tubing, which carries the warm water under the flooring. The tubes are secured to a wide metal mesh that, in my instance, was over a thin insulating material to keep cold and moisture from my existing concrete slab from seeping into the new slab.

I’ll write more about this, and on the other phases of our energy-efficiency goal, including costs and programs to offset those costs, in future, as the cold has made typing rather a challenge.

YOU KNOW YOU LIVE IN THE COUNTRY WHEN...

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:15:43 -0500

This was possibly the most challenging vacation rentals weekend in a couple of years, anyway. Winds up to 65 mph snapped limbs and entire trees, making local roads more like a slalom course. But hey, it’s not like there’s much two-way traffic, so that wasn’t too much of an inconvenience. But the loss of power at several houses, which of course means, no heat, water, phone, was a disaster. A burst pipe at a house in Phoenicia kicked off the weekend, and it was just downhill from there. And after four years of doing this, I do have to say in all honesty, that this is a rare occurrence indeed, especially for a holiday weekend.

So on Saturday I was all primped and ready head out to “Une Bonne Soirée”, a French-themed evening at CAS (the Catskill Arts Society), in Livingston Manor, when the phone rang, and I learned from renters near Jeffersonville that they hadn’t had power/heat/etc. since 2pm that afternoon. I suggested I move them to another house, and just as I emailed over directions and a restaurant suggestion, my phone/cable/internet went out, and wouldn’t return until the following afternoon.

I was running late, and pondered whether to head to The Manor via the longer, safer route, taking Rte 17, or the short-cut via the dark and virtually unpopulated back roads. Clearly I took the latter, but about 4.5 miles along Round Pond Rd, my headlights caught the sudden image of an enormous pine tree stretching the full length of the road. With no other option, I turned around and headed back to Claryville, and started toward Rte 17. Along the way, Rte 55 had a detour due to high winds that whip across the Neversink Reservoir, sending me down below the dam and around. By the time I arrived at CAS, vin rouge was high on my agenda. It was a great evening for a wonderful cause, and though my phone was off all night, I must confess I was relieved to have a reprieve until I went down to the office the next morning.

CASINO FOLLOW-UP
Since my last blog blasting the never-ending focus on building a large casino in Sullivan Co., the Feds once again put the issue to rest with a thumbs down. The blog was picked up by the Watershed Post, and there were a couple of interesting columns in the paper that also promoted the idea of improving and upgrading the area’s towns.

Casinos: The Longest-Running, Worst Idea Ever

Sat, 5 Feb 2011 18:58:09 -0500

Full disclosure: In addition to Country House Realty, I run a busy vacation rentals company called Red Cottage Inc. It is not real estate, it is hospitality. (When people call you at night if the toilet clogs, it is not real estate.) And it’s relevant because I’m pretty aware of what people in the city are looking for when they want to get out of town, and what they want to do once they get here. And suffice it to say, neither casinos nor gambling have ever, not once, come up in conversation in four years and hundreds of guests.

And I find it stunning that government officials still think that putting all their eggs in this one “jobs” basket is worth the cost of the added strain to both infrastructure and the environment (here’s a great piece from the NRDC about the threat to the Neversink River and therefore NYC drinking water).

If I’m not mistaken, Atlantic City is hardly a symbol of full-employment and great quality of life. And forgive me, but gambling is, well, the opposite of nature. No windows or clocks, oxygen pumped in, all so that no one gets sleepy, and no one knows what time it is. The last thing people are doing is driving to charming local towns, sampling the local farm produce, or picking up handmade mementos in nearby shops. Casino owners do not want you to leave.

Contrast that with our renters (although I’m sure it’s the same for guests at B&Bs, guest houses and boutique hotels). They want to explore, to dine out, to “buy local” and attend fairs or festivals for a little local color. City Escapees want to hike, to stroll through town, to interact, to relax. The elements that they travel for are a pleasing and comfortable “home environment”, the local towns, and the scenery. The bottom line: They will spend money if given the opportunity. Our stumbling block is a shortage of towns that have appealing eateries and shops in a setting that encourages parking the car and exploring the town. That said, every year brings exciting new businesses to our area that instantly become buzz-worthy (examples: Rolling River Café, Willow & Brown, Catskill Harvest Market, Morgan Outdoors, Main Street Farm, Bridgewater Mercantile, Global Home, Callicoon Wine Merchants, Lazy Beagle, Flour Power Bakery, and more).

The good news is that while Gov. Patterson opened the door for a large casino project, the pols in DC are seemingly not convinced, according to my favorite local news source for the new millennium, the Watershed Post.

But even if the casino quest is finally put to rest, the need for jobs is still very real. So my suggestion is why not take a cue from the overwhelmingly successful Sullivan Renaissance (a recent, best idea ever) and focus on upgrading the small towns throughout Sullivan County. Help small businesses, especially the hospitality industry, get off the ground and bring their talents to Main Street where the community and visitors alike can benefit from a renewed vitality that commerce and prosperity will bring. The wealth will be more evenly spread than with big projects that overwhelm one area, demanding tax breaks and government spending on infrastructure. Helping our towns become “visitor-friendly” (not touristy, mind you), will likely make them “community-friendly” as well, while attracting tourist dollars in a non-invasive fashion.

REAL ESTATE HUMOR (?)

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:17:10 -0500

I am more than aware that real estate sales is not an industry that is lauded for its wonderful sense of humor. But let me tell you, a lot of funny things, intentional or otherwise, happen in this business.

I came upon the best real estate marketing line ever (clearly from the owner, not an agent), on Craigslist recently:
[The property is] worth more than I am asking as I need the money from the sale of this house for an operation on my brain because I must be CRAZY for selling it after 22 years of spending thousands on it. Lucky you!!

A few months back I found myself on a wonderful interior design blog, Hooked on Houses. Just by chance I happened on a section dedicated to really horrific MLS (real estate listings) photographs. I roared at the spectacular failure of these pictures to do the job...repeatedly.

I’m going to lead with my personal favorite, which is titled, “Another good reason to fire your real estate agent”. This is a second installment of a group of shots with the same theme. The blogger’s captions and dialog are pitch perfect, so do yourself a favor and click through for a giggle. (It should be mentioned that no listings are from this area.)

Another winner is this uber creepy doll that appears in every shot of a listing that gets weirder and weirder. Julia, the blog’s author, calls that one “Be a doll and buy this house.” By the end all it needs is the Psycho stabbing sound.

GRAHAMSVILLE IN SNOW, PRETTY AS A PICTURE

Fri, 7 Jan 2011 18:12:50 -0500

I’d planned on (hoped for) a snow day today, even forwarding my calls home last night before leaving the office. But this morning I felt I might be too much of a sissy, and took to the roads today, where Buck (my loyal pooch) and I were largely the only “civilians” on the road, with every other vehicle sporting a big plow. I grabbed my camera while running errands today and took these snaps in scenic “Downtown Grahamsville”. There is currently 7” on the arm of my Adirondack chair as I write (in Claryville, which gets more snow than Grahamsville) and more snow falling,

MOVING FORWARD WITH PLANS FOR ANOTHER BUSINESS IN THE BLDG
Since buying the new building, the multi-tasking has taken on epic proportions, and I’m running about every 5th night with insomnia. But it’s not worry, simply trying to work on seemingly thousands of details, from large to small, pertaining to the fitting out of the market & café. So therein is a development. I now have a definition of the space’s use, and in fact I think I’ve settled on a name: Eureka Market & Café. Not that many people from outside the area will be expected to know this, but Eureka was the name of the town flooded to create the Rondout Reservoir, just down the road. I like the word. I like the sound of it. And there’s some double entendre as well: “Eureka, I found a place with fruit!”, etc.

The interviewing has begun in earnest, and with two recent hires for Red Cottage Inc. The big position I need to fill is for the market, café manager. I’m cautiously optimistic.

THE UNEXPECTED BONUS OF COMMUTING

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 21:46:30 -0500

In the past, it would be unusual for me to be driving at around dusk in fall or winter. I used to work out of my house, and most errands would have been run during the day. But since buying the new building in October, I’ve found myself taking to the car for the 6.3 miles up Wyman Hill to Claryville, and being transfixed by the end of day light (which has by now become, simply, night).

So about six weeks ago it was hard to miss the thick fog that hovered over the Neversink River, and spilled over onto adjacent fields and farmland.

I stopped at the Schoenburgs’ property along the Claryville Rd and grabbed these pictures before the light was lost.