Vinyard's Choice - Fine Country Property
We began in 1980, selling farm and country real estate, through Mort Wimple Associates, founded even earlier, in 1953. In 2013, my position there as Senior Farm Broker ended with the untimely death of Mort, a good friend and mentor for well over 30 years. So that prompted me to expand the Vinyard's Choice parallel business to carry on that tradition, to become a full-service real estate agency and to list and sell for others. In addition to selling your property or finding one for you, we can offer appraisal and management services. You will find us a valuable source of local knowledge and farm advice. We pride ourselves on a "no-nonsense" approach to the real estate business. We will call it like we see it. And we return calls and emails as promptly as our schedule will permit.
When we sold our dairy herd in 1992 (Vinyard's Choice had been the prefix for our registered Holsteins), we were all too well aware that both dairymen and real estate agents have little or no Social Security - and no other means of supporting an eventual retirement. So our cows "bought" us a home, which we then fixed up and made needed repairs to. Then we sold it and held the mortgage - and a side business was born. Since that time, we have repeated the process once or twice a year.
We love to restore* classic old homes, homes which form such a big part of our common heritage here in New York's beautiful Mohawk Valley. We want to keep our local history intact. In Lee Sanders, we have found a master carpenter and we like to keep him busy. But we can't always find places which suit us. Sometimes we offer acreage or newer homes. Regardless, each property is one we personally like. Each one has a country setting and owner financing is normally offered, a measure of our confidence in what we have to sell. We look for people who will appreciate the efforts we have made. Many of the good folks who have purchased from us have gone on to become friends.
* "Restore" to us means to make it much like it was when originally built, only nicer, modern only where it needs to be ( mostly kitchen and baths) and of course where it can't be seen. Not the same as "Remodeling".
When we sold our dairy herd in 1992 (Vinyard's Choice had been the prefix for our registered Holsteins), we were all too well aware that both dairymen and real estate agents have little or no Social Security - and no other means of supporting an eventual retirement. So our cows "bought" us a home, which we then fixed up and made needed repairs to. Then we sold it and held the mortgage - and a side business was born. Since that time, we have repeated the process once or twice a year.
We love to restore* classic old homes, homes which form such a big part of our common heritage here in New York's beautiful Mohawk Valley. We want to keep our local history intact. In Lee Sanders, we have found a master carpenter and we like to keep him busy. But we can't always find places which suit us. Sometimes we offer acreage or newer homes. Regardless, each property is one we personally like. Each one has a country setting and owner financing is normally offered, a measure of our confidence in what we have to sell. We look for people who will appreciate the efforts we have made. Many of the good folks who have purchased from us have gone on to become friends.
* "Restore" to us means to make it much like it was when originally built, only nicer, modern only where it needs to be ( mostly kitchen and baths) and of course where it can't be seen. Not the same as "Remodeling".
