New York State just formulated a task force their focus being Mold. Here you can find government (Huntington) offices and websites that maybe helpful in obtaining more information on what your local government may be doing Nassau Suffolk. With the humid weather conditions especially on Long Island mold and mildew are problems with which almost every homeowner is faced and is not an issue to be ignored as it can be a hazard to you and your families health and eventually force you and your loved ones out of your home.
The price of heating your home with oil heat this year is expected to go up by 22 percent. This estimate was annouced today by the federal Energy Information Administration. It is widely covered in the print, radio, tv and online media today. The offical EIA press release is titled “Short-term energy and winter fuels outlook“. The report notes that 32 percent of the homes in the northeast use oil heat for winter fuel. The estimate of a 22% increase couldbe quite a shock to the local economy on Long Island for the first quater of 2008. So far Long Island and the metro New York City area have not suffered as much as many regions from the economic impact of the sub-prime lending crisis. But the difficulties in the local housing market are starting to hit now. Sub-prime mortgages with variable interest rates are kicking in and many new home owners will feel double dsitress from raising monthly mortage payments and higher home heating costs this winter.
The EIA report states that natural gas prices will increase by about 10% nationwide. Part of the expected cost increases for home heating this winter is due to overall demand going up. The winter season is expected to be about 4% colder than last year.
But it is important to note that part of the impact on your personal budget depends on the home energy saving steps you take in the next two months. It is not too late to do simple home improvement and repair projects to winterize your home. In the past few weeks we have update the business listings and information on our local Long Isalnd directroy category for home heating energy saving tips. You will find information there for county programs and New York State programs that help Many of these resources will aslo refer you to LIPA’s web resource for Energy Saving Tools so that is a good site to visit first.
Hopefully you made it to the Fall Home Show on Long Island this weekend. There were a great many vendors, offering the latest home products. The subprime mortgage crisis starting to take its toll on the Long Island housing market. Demand for homes is slowing only because of the tighter credit markets. There are still a vast number of people who want to own a home here but the credit crunch has led to less buyers in the market. It is still important for homeowners who want to maintain the value of their home investment to plan home improvement projects that can fit the family budget.
The following list shows the exhibitor categories at the Long Island Fall Home Show We match the exhibitor categories to the corresponding categories in our online directory of Long Island businesses. You’ll find the most complete lists of contractors, suppliers, and independent professionals for any home project you are considering.
There will be a new effort by New York City and neighboring county governments to crackdown on illegal home improvement contracting. A joint press release was issued yesterday: NY OFFICIALS ANNOUNCE RESULTS OF COORDINATED ENFORCEMENT TARGETING UNLICENSED HOME IMPROVEMENT CONTRACTORS.
Unlicensed home improvement contractors often do not perform quality work or follow required standards. In the end this may cause consumers grief and result in higher costs and even put some homeowners at risk. Home improvement contractors that do not comply with the law will face larger fines, vehicle seizures and other penalties. In addition the NYC DCA has been combatting deceptive advertising in the home improvement industry and related illegal loan offers in the advrtisements.
New York City DCA Commissioner Jonathan Mintz, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Nassau County Office of Consumer Affairs Commissioner Roger Bogsted, and Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas J. Spota made the announcement together. Representatives from the Westchester County Department of Consumer Protection were also present at the press conference.
We have a number of categories related to Long Island home improvement services in our online bsuiness listings. The listings include Nassau County and Suffolk County. The categories include:
If you have any concerns about these contractors please let us know immeiately. We will be including a new service where our website directory visitors can review individual business. Look for this new feature in the coming months.
The press release described above also provided information on points of contact to check on whether a home improvement contractor is licensed. You can also file a complaint on these government agency websites:
The Hamptons Home & Garden Show opens today at 3pm and runs Saturday and Sunday. This home and garden show is huge with over 250 leading product companies and professional services for home building, decorating, and home remodeling. This year there are more vendors than ever aiming to help you with the latest home entertainment options for indoors and outdoors. More companies are presenting outdoor “rooms” designed for a variety of family activities and to help you have an outdoor luxury living experience.
There is a focus on green living options this year, including a seminar on Saturday on reducing your LIPA bill.
The show has a very sepecial guest this year: Lorraine Bracco who plays Dr. Melfi on The Sopranos. She has arranged an on site book signingfor copies of her book, “On the Couch”. Ces of her wine will be available and a special auction will offer a magnum of her best wine signed by entire cast of The Sopranos.
Times of the Hamptons Home & Garden Show:
May 4, 2007 - Friday 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm
May 5, 2007 - Saturday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
May 6, 2007 - Sunday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Location of Hamptons Home & Garden Show:
Southampton Elks Lofge Fairgrounds
605 County Rd. 39 (Route 27)
Southampton NY 11968
We list the original categories on the official Haptons Home & Garden Show website. There are many categories of products and services available including:
air conditioning & air and water filtration (for more options see our business directory listings under Long Island air conditioning)
We just posted about some of the incredibly useful real estate search tools that you can use when house hunting on LongIsland. Of course there is a flip side to every story and other web search tools can help you become aware of the froth and microbubbles in local housing markets. The downside of subprime mortgages are already being felt on Long Island.
A New York Times story on 4/22/07, Fear of Foreclosure, paints a picture of increasing concern on the part of home owners and government officials. Some new government certified counseling programs have started up services to help people at risk of foreclosure. In the first three days of the program 260 homeowners in Nassau County and 300 homeowners in Suffolk County used the free phone counseling service. Local and federal officials believe that subprime loan foreclosures are likely to increase on Long Island this year.
Some of the national online real estate services are extending their offerings to map housinng market trends in any neighborhood and graphically present recent sales, foreclosures, inexpensive properties, properties in default, and other real estate data. Curbed, the popular real estate blog in New York City wrote about one of these mapping tools yesterday in the post titlted “‘Triple Bubble Trouble’ for Fringe UES Neighborhood
“. They report on the housing bubble map from PropertyShark.com and note that the upper east side of Manhattan is a neighborhood that has one or more of their three negative indicators on the rise: a drop in the value of condo or home sales, a drop in the number of sales, or increased foreclosures. A check on the propertyshark.com website shows that this bubble map is not yet available fo Nassau or Suffolk County.
Our web directory has many useful phone numbers of state and local government offices. Visit these main pages to start your search:
