SSS #316: October '25 Recap

Livin' La Vida Luna y Luca

Princess Peach & Mickey Mouse ringin' a doorbell near you.

October '25 Recap:

October was a great month. A few items worth sharing:

• Dia went to Seattle for work for a few days. She took the red-eye there and back to decrease the amount of time away from the kids, which was much appreciated beforehand, but unnecessary in hindsight. My parents came over every night to help me with dinner and bedtime, and I crushed the morning routine all by myself. I also managed to not miss a single after-school activity.
• We enjoyed some family time thanks to a pair of birthdays. We celebrated a 1-year-old in Red Hook, NY in the beginning of the month and an 8-year-old at the American Dream Mall last week.
• We did an early Halloween party with old gym friends near Lake Hopatcong. We all sat on the rear deck and talked while our kids played together in the backyard. It felt like a "we made it" moment. Enjoying each other's company > hovering over a toddler to prevent an injury.
• We're making new friends while keeping in touch with the old: We hosted 2 or 3 playdates at our house with some of Luna's new classmates. We also had a playdate with a family from 2 schools ago.

Now let's get down to business...

Fairmount

We finally sold Project Fairmount on 10/31/25.

I'll do a deeper dive in the coming weeks. There were a lot of obstacles with this one.

For now, I'll rejoice in the fact that we exceeded our underwriting, paid back our investors, and delivered a stellar home to a great family.

Weston

We're closing next Monday, 11/10/25.

We hit a little snag with the buyers here re: the driveway.

We advertised the driveway as double-wide, which it is (at the house). However, it's a single-wide apron off the street (as per the building code).

Buyers were expecting double-wide for the full length of the driveway. We came to a compromise, but I'm wondering - how would you have solved this issue?

Townsend

The foundation is complete, and the first-floor deck is on. We should be finished framing this house in the next ~10 days.

Normally, we'd go to market once we're finished framing, but we're going to bide our time for two reasons:

1. My friends just listed their build a few streets over, and I want to see what happens.
2. The market seems to be entering hibernation mode.

Kice

We have a hole in the ground!

After spending ~8 weeks on the foundation at Townsend, we're trying something new here. It's coming out to be similar in cost, but we're expecting to shave ~4 weeks off our build time.

We should have a rendering complete by the end of November.

Willow

We completed framing, patched some old window openings with masonry, and started taking off the roof and siding.

This is turning out to be quite a heavy lift. Doing a gut renovation right is way harder than new construction.

Bennington

We finalized the plans for Bennington. Now we wait for the Permit Set.

This is just a draft, but it's close enough. I think the first floor came out great.

Girard

This house is so sick. I can't wait for it to come to life.

Here's the facade, first floor, and second floor.

The basement has a full bar, bedroom, bathroom, gym, and office. The attic is another ~1,000sf of finished open space with a powder.

This house is monstrous:

• 7 beds / 7 baths + 2 powders
• 5,890sf of total livable

I smell a record-breaking sale.

I should probably try not to get ahead of myself. We are only submitting for permits this week. 😅

Lum

We submitted our architectural and site plans to the attorney who will help us present to the board.

Despite the narrow width of this lot, I think we managed to put together an excellent floor plan. Hopefully, the town agrees.

Lorraine 👀 👀 👀

We got a new deal. We don't have to close on this one until we have permits in hand, but we submitted back in September, so we should be getting good news any day now.

More on this soon.

✌🏽