Licensed Real Estate Broker and Realtor in Sullivan County NY - Catskill Country Real Estate
John Kavaller, New York State Licensed Real Estate Broker
Ready for a change? Tired of the same old sales pitches about who is the “local expert”? Who is the greatest agent? Who writes a super blog but can’t handle negotiations?
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Amanda Ferrantello, NYS Licesned Salesperson & Realtor?
So now that you've made the decision to buy or sell, you'll want the process to run smoothly to maximize your advantage. Every dollar counts. I understand that idea completely. You want a go to, get it done local agent with the community background to steer you right.
You've come to Catskill Country Real Estate and found the right Realtor®--I'll gather all the information, make sure showings go smoothly, negotiate a great deal. You'll manage your own money without any pressure. The real estate process is about making the right decisions, at the right time, at the right price. I'll expedite, but never tell you how to spend your money.
As a born and raised country girl from Jeffersonville, NY, I know the folks, know the land, know the community. I'll put that extensive knowledge and "know how" to work for you. If your real estate needs center on Orange and Sullivan County, NY, look me up. Would love to discuss how to achieve your goals. |
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Matt Costa, NYS Licensed Salesperson & Realtor?
Hi--I'm Matt Costa. Glad you found me here at Catskill Country Real Estate. We pride ourselves on providing real service, not lip service. So, if you want a Realtor® who checks facts, negotiates on your behalf, coordinates the entire real estate process, contact me.
I expedite-I do not sell. Armed with facts and information I provide, you get the real picture and decide to move forward or not with your real estate goals.
I joined John and Amanda here at CCRE because they fully engage within the process making sure to bring information to bear that many others would simply not find-- or worse, know and not share. We understand your needs come first. Covering all aspects of buying and selling, I stand ready to make your real estate experience far better than average.
Matt Costa: NYS Licensed Real Estate Agent/Realtor® at Catskill Country Real Estate
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Lisa Vencak, NYS Licensed Salesperson & Realtor?
Greetings! Welcome to Catskill Country Real Estate. I'm Lisa (Mathern) Vencak, NYS Licensed Real Estate Agent and Realtor. Thank you for choosing our services at Catskill Country Real Estate.
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John Kavaller is a Realtor and Licensed NYS Broker
You’ll find we are ready to serve YOUR agenda, not our own. Thanks for dropping by. Hope to see you in the Catskills of Sullivan County, New York soon. Welcome Home.



(I Was the Buyer's Agent)
I recently bought a second home in the Catskills (Parksville, NY) after searching for an appropriate property for 3 months. I had the distinct pleasure of working with John Kavaller, who assisted me in buying the property. I write this testimonial to thank him very much for the superb job he did in finding me a place that I will enjoy for numerous years.
As one can imagine, I had only a very rough idea of what I was looking for at the outset. It wasn't as much an idea as it was a desire to own a second home. I had very little knowledge of the area and I was looking to work with someone who not just knew the area but could provide me a good perspective about the various possibilities that one could explore.
I had been looking to buy a property off and on for almost 2 years until then, but was not successful in finding any realtor who could provide me a good idea of the pluses and minuses of different kinds of properties (riverfronts, lakefronts, mountain homes, etc.) that one could consider and the desirable areas to buy into. Most realtors that I had worked with fit the proverbial salesperson stereotype of looking to just close ANY deal on my behalf. That would be fine if I knew precisely what I wanted, but this was not the case.
So, I called off the search and decided to wait until I found the right person to work with. This was particularly important to me since I live almost a 100 miles south of the area, work in a very demanding job, and have numerous other time commitments. Just getting up there to search for a property was a non-trivial matter and I did not want to waste my precious weekends on wild goose chases.
I chanced upon John almost accidentally on the internet and had a brief chat to size him up. My expectations of hitting upon the right person, based on my prior experience, were not very high. That changed very quickly when I spoke to him. Ten minutes of conversation is all it took for me to realize that here was a stand-up and articulate guy who fit the bill in almost all respects. I was quite ecstatic about the fact that I could now resume my search with someone who was very credible.
Right at the outset, John spent a lot of time to understand me, my background, what I was truly looking for and how I planned to use the property (summers only or all season, activities that would interest me, etc). It became clear to me in these discussions that a private waterfront property would best suit my needs. He then laid out a plan for us check out various possibilities (riverfronts, lakefronts, homes by brooks, etc.) and suggested that we see a few different kinds of homes just to understand my preferences better. He was forthright to state that these were exploratory in nature and could help me understand my own needs more completely. This turned out to be the best investment of my time. At the end of the initial foray, I knew precisely what I wanted and we began our search seriously thereafter.
John was very organized in presenting alternatives and charted a plan that was minimally invasive on my time. He was also extremely professional in making assessments about properties and took it upon himself to scout some of them before I made the trip to see them. We struck off a few alternatives based on his scouting runs, which saved me a lot of time.
He, as you will quickly realize when you work with him, is not exactly a shrinking violet and went out on a limb to provide candid and well thought out opinions about homes we saw, the fair price one could pay, the potential pitfalls (e.g. high maintenance costs), other contextual issues that were very relevant (e.g. areas prone to be affected by fracking), and whether I would be happy with the purchase.
Sooner than later (circa 2 months and 4 visits upstate), we hit upon the home I ultimately purchased - a truly private lakefront home in Parksville, NY. John did a lot of due diligence on the home and we worked on a bidding strategy that would be fair. Based on his advice, I bought the home for about 10% less than what I would have paid for it (sic!). I have never run into realtors who voluntarily advise me to reduce the bid price for a nice home that met all my needs. Fortunately for both of us, the bid was accepted.
John was very prompt, professional, and helpful in organizing numerous things such as lawyers, home inspection, remediation work plan for things that needed fixing, inspecting that work was done to our satisfaction, estimating price adjustments for fixes not made by the seller, following up with various parties to keep the process moving smoothly to close at the earliest, providing progress reports periodically to all, and managing expectations of several parties. We closed on the home in late March, 2011.
Even when he no longer had the incentive to do anything further for me, John went above and beyond to help me find people who could maintain my property. His recommendations, as always, turned out to be really good. From time to time for a couple of months thereafter, John voluntarily made trips to the property to inspect the work done and followed up with me to find out if I was happy with the purchase. This kind of behavior is rarely encountered. John obviously takes a lot of pride in the service he provides his client and likes to be known for exactly this aspect.
And, to top things off, John and his lovely wife Marilyn took me out to a steakhouse (Ben Bensons, no less) in Manhattan to celebrate the purchase of my home! Did your realtor do such things ever? Don't bother, I know the answer.
Overall, I will strongly recommend John to anyone who is looking for a very professional, honest, and no-nonsense person to work with in buying a home. My experience with him should suggest that you will be working with the defining standard of client service.
Thanks again John for everything.
Cheers
Ramesh.










