HI all, well the Wife and I drove over to Merritt Island a couple days ago, to look at a house we found on the internet. It's in a development called Indian Bay Estates. Both of us really liked the house and we are considering making an offer on Monday Oct 5th. We have questions and concerns and would appreciate any help that fellow forumites can provide.
If we are able to get this house, we will do extensive renovations before moving in. We can use some help with referrals please!
1) Any opinions on life in Merritt Island, specifically North Merritt Island, Zip code 32953 ? Please let us know the good the bad, the ugly.
2) We noticed that the local Cable provider is Brighthouse. We depend on a fast consistent internet connection and are pleased with Comcast here in Port Charlotte. How would you all rate Brighthouse Internet??
3) We love to cook. My Wife is from Asia and could easily compete for Iron Chef. We cook and eat a wide variety of foods and are therefore very interested in finding any and every type of food/grocery store that's within say a 1 hour drive of the possible new home. That would include Orlando I guess but obviously the closer and less driving the better but if you have specific recommendations but they are in the Orlando area, please by all means fire away! Here's a list of the type of grocers we would particularly be interested in, not necessarily in the order I'm typing them in:
a) Italian
b) Vietnamese
c) Fish store
d) Butchers that sell Prime Meats
e) Chinese
f) Thai
g) Gourmet Grocery store like Carmines in Palm Beach Gardens
h) Polish-Eastern European
i) French
j) Bakeries
4) Chelation Therapy Doc's. Since having open heart surgery in 2005, I've maintained this therapy which has helped save my life. I still have it done as a maintenence action, once a month. I found a few M.D's in Orlando who do this as well as other "holistic" care. I'd like to know if there are any places closer to Merritt that I can call.
5) I may be needing spine surgery. I have major problems in my cervical-spine area and eventually I may have no choice but to endure spine surgery. Can you recommend any specialist in the Merritt Island area?
6) The house has a deep swimming pool which I definitely do not like. I would much prefer a 5 foot deep pool. I think the existing pool is 8 feet at the deep end. Is it possible to renovate the pool and make the deep end 5 feet? Any idea of costs if indeed this can be done? Can you recommend any particular pool company who you think can do this and what the rough cost might be for a standard 15 X 30 foot pool? We will also want to completely renovate the pool with new marcite, fiber optic lightly with a color wheel, change all the tiles in the pool and spa as the type of tile there at present are starting to look rather dated.
7) If we pursue this house and succeed in getting it, we will definitely be looking at renovating the house. Would like to do either a nice 18 inch porcelain tile at a diagonal. Need a well qualified tile person to do this job which will amount to probably 2,000 sq ft of tile.
8) Will need a quality paint company to redoe the place.
9) We'll be needing a new wood or other strong material 6 foot privacy fence.
10) We would like to have a well dug. The house has an existing sprinkler system but it's on City water which is ridiculous. We want a well done and also re-arrange the sprinkler system and make sure it's working properly.
11) A wall between 2 of the bedrooms will need to be knocked down so as to make one larger office space for us. We've been working out of a 180 sq ft space for a long time. If we get this house, the 2 bedrooms would amount to over 300 sq ft PLUS a new closet which we will want built as well as recessed lighting installed with dimmers.
12) Definitely looking to build a 2+ car detached garage to house a couple of antique/collectible cars. Need a builder type person who knows the ropes in Brevard Cnty, enough to get the proper permits etc.
13) The house has a propane fireplace in the family room. It's unfortunaly in the wrong location. We want it either cut out of the existing wall and moved about 8 feet away on an outside wall or just demo the thing and put in a brand new propane fireplace on the wall that we want it on.
14) Interested in doing extensive landscaping. The house also has several large oak trees that were planed much too close to the house. We will want to get a permit from the homeowners assoc and then cut those trees down, and replace them with 15-20 foot Palm trees and other professional landcaping.
15) Replace all the rear glass such as the 3 sets of sliding glass doors as well as several single and double hung windows with double pane or similar windows/doors for sound proofing. I like to play it loud on occasion and would like to sound proof it as much as possible.
16) Will replace all the kitchen appliances and also buy a new washer and dryer for the laundry room. Can you recommend a good appliance store for this?
17) Granite polishing and sealing.
18) Replace the existing cement driveway with a new Pavers driveway.
There's more but certainly this is the lions share of what we want to do. All of these renovations with the exception of the garage I want done prior to moving in. We will strongly consider doing the garage while all this goes on but I have a feeling that the place will be too busy with people in the various trades so the garage may wait until after we move in.
Thank you all in advance for any help, referrals ,recommendations etc.
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Merritt Island Questions, Help Requested
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