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Old 01-31-2014, 06:33 AM
 
398 posts, read 835,018 times
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My wife and I jut closed on a house in Massapequa. I'm familiar with the area but what's some solid advice on new homeownership?
1.Things to buy right away, essentials other than the obvious.
2. Best temp to get the thermostat, and at what times to lower it to to conserve oil.
3. Good lawn service/ landscapers in the area.
4. Activities to get involved to meet the neighbors, without yet having kids to allow the on introduction to your kids friends family.
5. Place to get ideas on furnishing and decorating the home.
Hey any advice, serious, not serious, humerus or just scary input for a first time homeowner would be great.
Never owned a home so any input would be great.

Thanks
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Old 01-31-2014, 07:07 AM
 
Location: Long Island
715 posts, read 1,228,859 times
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1. I don't know what you have already, but I would get things just enough to furnish your home for now. If you have an extra bedroom and don't have anything to put in it, don't worry about it now. Just get things like a couch, bed, tvs. I guess what you'd call bare necessities for now. You have lots of time to furnish the other rooms. As for things you would need outside, if your house needs lawn care, I would think about a lawnmower. A snowblower really saved our butts this year, as well as a leaf blower. I guess it also depends on how big your property is.

2. That really depends on how well insulated your home is. We haven't seen the temperature in our house get below 61 degrees, even in the subzero temperatures. We typically leave our thermostat pretty low (63-64), unless we get really cold and we turn it up to 68-69 for a while and turn it back down when we are out or sleeping.

3. Honestly, ask your neighbors. We actually had a hard time at first finding a service in our area. We had recommendations from some distant relatives who live in the area, but those people didn't come to our area. It seems landscapers are really, really local people. My SO had to call up several people before he found one for a decent price.

4. Which brings me to how to meet neighbors. My SO was really interested in meeting people, so whenever he saw them outside, he would talk to them. He went around when there was the heavy snow and asked if they needed snowblowing. If he saw them outside for an extended period, he would say hello. I would also say if there is some sort of official meeting in your town, maybe a town hall or neighborhood association, that is a good place to start. There is also Meetup.com, which has specific groups based on interest you can join, sometimes they have groups that are specific to your neighborhood.

5. Houzz.com and Pinterest are my go to design idea sources.

We are new home owners ourselves and all I can tell you is be prepared. You will have expenses that you may never expect. We had to replace our kitchen faucet about 2 months after we moved in. Not a huge deal, but we weren't expecting it.

Be prepared to do things yourself. If you can feasibly do it, it will save you a lot of money (i.e. our faucet situation).

Your oil bill may be your biggest expense. We are lucky to have an energy efficient home when it comes to electricity, but its been our experience to have a $300 oil bill for a couple of months of heat. We are just two people and a cat, so it may be higher for a family.

If you don't have an alarm system, I would get one. That was a big thing with my SO and we feel safe overall with it.

That's all I have for know.
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Old 01-31-2014, 09:56 AM
 
3,445 posts, read 6,038,702 times
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Just some thoughts...

If your house doesnt have one yet...get inground lawn sprinklers. They are that expensive and you can avoid the hassle of watering your lawn...or, heaven forbid, a burnt lawn...at which point you will be the shame of the block.

Good idea to find a landscaper...you dont want to be mowing. They all are expensive and they all stink to one degree or another.

Keep your house as cold as you can stand it. Go buy plenty of throws. Dont listen to anyone else...set that therm at 55.

Furniture and decorating...just drive up Rte 110 and go into those furniture stores....salesmen like visitors to the showroom.

Find a local tavern that suits your needs. Plenty around. This way when you get your first tax bill you know where to drown your sorrows.
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Old 01-31-2014, 12:03 PM
 
236 posts, read 471,173 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nyliguy View Post
3. Good lawn service/ landscapers in the area.
Be prepared to get a lot of phone calls from lawn/tree services trying to get you to sign up for seasonal sprays, clean-ups, etc. Often they'll claim that the previous owner was a customer and offer to "continue" service for you under the previous terms.
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Old 02-04-2014, 06:53 AM
 
398 posts, read 835,018 times
Reputation: 178
Quote:
Originally Posted by 30to66at55 View Post
Just some thoughts...

If your house doesnt have one yet...get inground lawn sprinklers. They are that expensive and you can avoid the hassle of watering your lawn...or, heaven forbid, a burnt lawn...at which point you will be the shame of the block.

Good idea to find a landscaper...you dont want to be mowing. They all are expensive and they all stink to one degree or another.

Keep your house as cold as you can stand it. Go buy plenty of throws. Dont listen to anyone else...set that therm at 55.

Furniture and decorating...just drive up Rte 110 and go into those furniture stores....salesmen like visitors to the showroom.

Find a local tavern that suits your needs. Plenty around. This way when you get your first tax bill you know where to drown your sorrows.
Good stuff.

I'll most likely get a mower and now my own lawn once the weather gets nice. Yesterday in the snow storm I was out there shoveling and had some pride over some of the others who weren't out there because they already snow blowered their driveway. Had a chance to meet one of the neighbors who was also it there shoveling.

Been trying to keep the un furnished rooms in the house low to around 62-64 and just turning the zones on in the part ofnthe house we currently have furnished.

Route 110 is furniture hell and would rather avoid it, but not sure how well buyig online would be.

I'm all set with the local watering hole, but with these taxes I might need to revert to penny beer night by the university
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Old 02-04-2014, 06:56 AM
 
398 posts, read 835,018 times
Reputation: 178
Quote:
Originally Posted by PC51 View Post
Be prepared to get a lot of phone calls from lawn/tree services trying to get you to sign up for seasonal sprays, clean-ups, etc. Often they'll claim that the previous owner was a customer and offer to "continue" service for you under the previous terms.
I'm not knowledgable on landscaping but would it make more sense to by my own sprays that you can hook up to the hose and spray my bushes to keep healthy? I'm still weighting the option of investing in lawn care tools or hiring a landscaper.
As someone who works a lot on hours, Saturdays might be needed for more errands than lawn care.
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Old 02-04-2014, 08:43 AM
 
236 posts, read 471,173 times
Reputation: 149
Quote:
Originally Posted by nyliguy View Post
I'm not knowledgable on landscaping but would it make more sense to by my own sprays that you can hook up to the hose and spray my bushes to keep healthy? I'm still weighting the option of investing in lawn care tools or hiring a landscaper.
As someone who works a lot on hours, Saturdays might be needed for more errands than lawn care.
You can do all your own mowing, spraying, planting, weeding, mulching, etc., but it comes down to what you have the time and desire to do yourself. Personally I like to spend a few hours each week tending to the lawn/garden. Plenty of others prefer to use a landscaper. Depends on the person.

My original post was in reference to lawn/tree care companies, not the typical landscapers. These are companies that will come spray your property for seasonal insect control, mosquito/tick/flea sprays, and other similar treatments. In all likelihood you'll hear from a couple of them as soon as you move in, and they'll tell you that the previous owner Mr. and Mrs. XYS were long-time customers. Chances are it's a lie.

I signed up with one of them only because they came to the house and gave me some good tips on how to maintain the small trees on my property, identified some invasive plants that should be removed, and also because I liked the idea of a mosquito spray (though winters like this one seem to be much better at mosquito control than any repellent).
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