I have some advise for anyone who will take it - do not buy a house on a 1/4 acre lot that is mostly covered in grass lawn, unless you are a lawn freak or have the finances to hire someone to maintain it.
There is street bordering three sides of the property, since I am at an intersection and on the edge of a cul-de-sac, and the lawn runs front, side and rear of the house. Anyways, one section is overrun with root suckers from a quaking aspen, another part is continuously eaten bare by the legion of rabbits in the neighborhood, there are huge spots dying from some disease or insect infestation, the section at the rear of the house is directly across the street from undeveloped land and has picked up more dandelions than grass, and the best part is that there is an utterly massive ant colony in the back yard. I'm talking about a bared mound of dirt bulging out of the earth roughly 6 feet in diameter, and I've found entranceways as far as 25 feet way from this mound.
I plan on absolutely ridding the back yard of grass and covering it with shredded bark with the addition of some trees and shrubbery *gasp*. I'm sure that no one likes to hear me complain, but at least maybe I can help someone avoid this type of thing.