Owning a home means taking care of minor problems before they become major difficulties. When you buy a new home, however, getting to know everything about it can lead to a few surprises. Our REALTORS® offer the following tips to help you handle some of the more common emergencies you may find yourself dealing with.

• Know Where Your Shut-off Valves
  When you find a home you like out of the many Nassau County homes for sale, one of the first things you will want to do is find shut-off valves. These will include the main shut-off valve for water, as well as the gas line if your home has one. If the home is all-electric, know where the fuse box is located. In many situations, especially with broken pipes, knowing where the main shut-off valve is the best way to stop the water so damage will be kept to a minimum.

It's crunchy. It's chewy. It's cheesy! What could be better than pizza? Many people share our opinion of pizza because there's a national holiday dedicated to this food. National Pizza Day is February 9th, 2022, and our REALTORS® have some awesome pizza restaurants to recommend in honor of the occasion. 

• Rustica Brick Oven Cafe: 1 Nassau Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530
  Rustica Brick Oven Cafe is a great place to grab a pizza when you're looking at Garden City homes for sale. Offerings include 8" personal pizzas, along with 12" and 17"pizzas for sharing.

Who doesn't love gadgets? From the electric can opener to the microwave oven, we've been obsessed with small appliances for decades. With so many options to choose from, we can easily overwhelm the storage space in our kitchens. To maximize the space in cabinets and on counters, our REALTORS® suggest selecting appliances that do double duty. Here are their top picks:

• Multicooker
  Hands down, this gem beats all the competition for versatility. Far from that sickly avocado-green crockpot that used to reside in the little cabinet above grandma's refrigerator, this appliance allows you to brown meat, cook quickly with pressure, slow-cook while you're at work, cook perfect rice, ferment cheeses and yogurt, and even hard-boil eggs. If the most sophisticated model is a little more expensive than a less adaptable version, consider the number of appliances it will replace. Be sure to retain the recipe book that will likely come in the package for ideas you may not even have considered.

Our REALTORS® will give you a tour of open houses if you're visiting Long Island in search of a home. But if you want a real taste of Long Island hospitality, make sure to reserve an igloo for dinner.

An igloo dining experience allows you to curl up in a cozy bubble as you dine and stave off the winter weather for a few hours. Igloo dinners are perfect for a family outing or a winter date. Our REALTORS® suggest coming out of the cold and enjoying the unique dining experience that the following places have to offer.