Our friends over at Reclaimed Home have been tooling about the Catskills, looking at abandoned or dilapidated bungalow colonies. They picked out this one. which is a bit closer to the river than most, in Kerhonkson: six units, 5.45 acres, with the structures listed as in “fair condition.” But, as they write, “Most of the structures do not look to be in salvageable condition, so really, you’re buying the property.”

26 Blevins Road, Kerhonkson

We found 10 properties under $100,000 in Kerhonkson, and at least three of them seemed inhabitable. A couple of them could probably transform into something closer to adorable with a little love.

Our favorite was 26 Blevins Road in Kerhonkson, a shingle-sided cabin with a deck, two beds and one bath. It’s 576 square feet, built in 1960, and has almost three acres of its own.

26 Blevins Road, Kerhonkson

26 Blevins Road, Kerhonkson

We had to chuckle at this section of the write-up: “Home is built on piers with an unknown type of septic system.” Okay. This is definitely a rustic getaway. It’s been on the market for almost a year, so we’re betting you can bargain it down further from its $54,900 price tag. (more…)

This is the second most expensive property for sale in Kerhonkson, NY, and one that should cause a fair amount of drool. 3 Dunn Farm Road is a four-bed, two-bath stone Colonial from 1790, with a lovely combination of original details and modern updates. It has almost 14 acres to boot, plus a three-car garage. Clearly, it’s meant for someone with a wallet thick enough to purchase a few cars and keep some staff in the outbuildings. And while everyone knows we at Upstater are fond of guest houses, these seem a tad close to the main house for our taste. The list of features goes on: pool, bluestone patio, views. If you’re looking for a place to truly impress your pals, and ready yourself for a spread in Town & Country, here it is. Fairly fresh on the market, so perhaps not one to bargain for. But a note: according to Property Shark, it’s assessed at $810,000. Taxes are, ahem, nearly $20,000.

3 Dunn Farm Road, Kerhonkson (Flemming Realty) GMAP
Asking Price: $1.25 million
Beds: 4
Baths: 2
Square Feet: 4,224
Land: 13.7 acres
Taxes: $19,083
Features: pool, guest houses, three-car garage

The first time I discovered Skate Time 209 was when I was invited there for a birthday party. It was my boyfriend’s daughter’s 8th birthday party, and I hadn’t been skating in at least 20 years. Naturally, it took me a while to get my rollerlegs back under me, and my 7-year-old daughter Madeline was positively apoplectic because she couldn’t stay upright on her skates. Nonetheless, we had a marvelous time at Skate Time. And when we could no longer stand upright from the amount of skating we did, we played a whole bunch of video games, the kind with the ticket dispensers so you could walk out the door with some pencil erasers, whistles and plastic dinosaurs.

There was also a huge indoor skate park attached to it, filled with teens and tweens doing half-pipes and ollies and gleaming cubes or whatever it is that skaterfolk do, but that was a little outside of my abilities.

Skate Time comes completely out of the blue as you head east on route 209, surrounded by auto body shops and farms. The interior is immaculately clean, and the roller rink itself is an old-skool wooden floor. It’s the type of place that I would hang out in all day and blow all of my allowance on video games…and I’m 36 years old! Our kids loved it and beg to go back there all the time. And we would love to, but there’s the thing: It’s not cheap. Just to walk into the building costs you $8, and if you don’t own your own skates, you can expect to pay another $3 for rental. If you’ve got two kids (like we do) and need to rent skates for all four of us, that comes out to a hefty $41. And, if you’re anything like me, you need to have some fries with your skate, so expect to spend another $20 to feed everyone. And that’s before you hit the skee-ball and air hockey tables.

Nevertheless, it’s a really nice place and definitely worth the money for a once-in-a-while special treat for the family. Or just leave the kids at home and spend your date-night there. Because nothing brings a couple closer than watching each other fall down a lot before splitting a giant pretzel and racing each other on the driving games in the arcade.

Skate Time 209 is open Thursday-Sunday, and there are lots of special events going on. Times and admission prices, as well as a list of activities available, can be found here.

A bounty of affordable country houses in these parts! I happen to like the look a little more on the outside than on the inside, but ripping out that blue carpet in the TV room will go a long way. 46 Dymond Road in Kerhonkson was built in 1960, but you can see some upgrades since then, particularly the subway tile in the bathroom. Looks like it could use a bit of modernizing (change the cabinets in the bathroom, perhaps the kitchen, too), but with a price like that, you could probably afford to upgrade.

Here’s a bit of additional info from the broker: “Some other areas of the house could use fresh paint and trim in some of the rooms. The condition of the house is solid, but it could benefit from cosmetics like carpet on the stairs. It is a lot of house for the money. Much of the land sits on a ridge above the house and could actually accomodate another structure. It is a terrific spot for sports like 4 wheeling and cross country skiing. It’s a GREAT getaway or full time home on a private road.”

This one, too, has a condition of “good,” so if you go see it, bring a skeptical eye and a really good engineer.

The stats:
46 Dymond Road, Kerhonkson (Freestyle Realty) GMAP
Asking Price: $129,000
Beds: 3
Baths: 2
Square Feet: 1,712
Land: 1.83 acres
Year Built: 1960
Taxes: $5,608
Features: mountain views

Ah, for the price of a parking spot, you can get a lovingly painted farm house on an acre of land in Kerhonkson. This one caught my eye because of the exterior paint job, though I’d wash over much of the interior colors with hues that don’t evoke a package of Smarties. Yes, the interior needs some love.

There’s only one bathroom at 145 Samsonville Road, which explains some of the price (of course, I really like that bathroom). So does the fact that the MLS lists the condition as “good.” That said, I love those kitchen cabinets and their deco-ish door pulls (are those original, you think? Or from the ’40s?). Nice views, although you’re perched right on the road, sitting on your porch to look at them. Nice expanse of backyard and adorable outbuilding. A good starter upstate home, you think?

The stats:
145 Samsonville Road, Kerhonkson (Exit Welch Realty) GMAP
Asking Price: $129,000
Beds: 3
Baths: 1
Year Built: 1926
Square Feet: 1,496
Land: .98 acres
Taxes: $3,135
Features: mountain views, outbuilding

Inspired by the New Paltz dome (now on the market), we spent some time last year looking at dome houses for sale in upstate New York. And since we’re concentrating on Kerhonkson this week, we peeked in again on this super-green monolithic dome. 105 Dymond Road hasn’t gone down in price, but, heck, it hasn’t gone down in originality either. Been listed for about six months. Three beds, two baths, 3.2 acres, 3,200 square feet. For the hippie in all of us. Some estimates I saw of sale prices were in the $325,000 range.
105 Dymond Road (Westwood Metes & Bounds) GMAP

photo from Wikipedia

We know two single New Yorker ladies who bought second homes in Kerhonkson, NY and LOVE it. One works in photography, the other in TV, and chose the location because it’s not too much of a drive (a little over two hours) and significantly cheaper than some towns with more curb appeal in Ulster County, like Stone Ridge or Rosendale. It’s the affordable alternative to the tony towns of Ulster.

Not to say that there aren’t amenities here: a Chinese restaurant, a pharmacy, post office, pool supply and a funeral home, to name a few. Route 209 cuts straight through town, leading deep into Sullivan County. The hamlet of Kerhonkson is one of two within the town of Rochester (not to be confused with the city of Rochester) — the other is Accord, which has even fewer amenities. It’s pretty and quiet and rural, a good area to be alone in. You might find yourself driving into Stone Ridge or Rosendale for groceries or a bit of night life, but it’s not more than a 20-minute drive to most of what you’ll need.

As for real estate… you can find luxury homes in the area if you search hard enough, but in general what you’ll find here are farm houses hovering in the affordable range: $300,000 to $600,000 for something with character, good bones, and land. More houses, and more on Kerhonkson, this week on Upstater!

Hm, why is this Kerhonkson rental house so comparatively affordable? It looks so nice, with great views, clean lines, convenient-ish location (we know two single women who’ve bought houses in Kerhonkson in the past couple of years, and we’ll talk more about it in the new year). It has three beds and two baths, a nice-looking kitchen, fireplace.

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This one is the real deal — a sustainable home that actually looks the part, the Prius of green architecture (or maybe the biodiesel-converted Mercedes?). This is a hyper-insulated dome, passive solar (hard to imagine how that works, given the ratio of wall to window — there should be a whole lot of south-facing windows), made from timber cleared on the property itself, radiant heat floors (to die for), no-VOC paint. It’s also, as they point out, disaster-proof — should survive the next Irene or terrorist attack. The kitchen looks nice, including the dome-shaped cutout in the cabinet. Too kooky for my taste, but I can tell you from spending time in Earthships that being among rounded walls has a surprisingly soothing effect. There’s a swimming hole and a stream, and it abuts thousands of acres of state land. Annual utilities are $1,500, pretty good for more than 3,000 square feet of space. Certainly this place would be a serious respite from the city. Here’s the big question mark: What does 80% complete mean? Stats on the jump.

105 Dymond Road, Kerhonkson (Westwood) MAP
Asking Price: $375,000
Beds: 3
Baths: 2
Square Feet: 3,200
Land: 3.2 acres
Year Built: 2004
Taxes: $3,500
Features: super green!