The job market is always shifting and changing. Some career opportunities may require remote work, while other jobs call for a long commute. Occasionally, a new job opportunity can also require relocating to another city or even another part of the country.

One area of the country that has always had a booming and diverse job market is Texas. With prominent companies in the oil and gas industry, and opportunities in healthcare, technology, and renewable energy, relocating to Texas presents a lot of possibilities for professional growth.

Whether you’re a Texas native moving within the state, or you’re relocating to Texas from another part of the county, finding your footing in a new community can be tricky. That’s why the real estate experts at Lilyana have compiled some helpful steps for moving to a new city so you can feel confident and relaxed throughout the moving process.

Consider Texas’s Family-Friendly Reputation

In addition to the booming job market, Texas also has some of the most family-friendly communities in the country. For those looking for nature and community, families relocating to Texas can get the best of both worlds in a community like Lilyana.

Only 10 minutes away from Frisco with 50 acres of open space and nature walks, Lilyana strikes the right balance between the convenience of city living with the restorative benefits of nature. Children can enjoy outdoor activities with a number of bike trails and community parks, while busy parents can maintain a better work-life balance when relocating for work to the serene Lilyana community. In addition to recreational amenities, Lilyana also has access to Prosper ISD Schools for elementary, middle school, and high school-aged kids.

When moving your family for a job, looking for kid-friendly communities is key, and Lilyana has always offered residents a happy and relaxed place to live, grow, and explore.

Consider Listing Prices of Available Homes

It’s important to understand the real estate market of your prospective new neighborhood when relocating for a job. According to Zillow, Texas’s median home value is $211,199 which is a bit below the national average. While this average is for the entire state, familiarizing oneself with listing prices around major cities is a helpful step for moving to a new city.

As a newly developed community north of Frisco in the City of Celina, Lilyana’s beautiful, family-sized homes are competitively priced and move-in ready. The expert home builders at Lilyana make it possible to relocate quickly while also building the home of your dreams.

From spacious 4-bedroom homes built by Perry Homes or Highland Homes to charming residences built by American Legend Homes, Lilyana has home styles and competitive pricing to suit every homebuyer. Get to know the real estate market of your prospective community by contacting the real estate experts at Lilyana and check out the most popular builds and current listing prices.

Consider the New Cost of Living

In addition to a new community to explore and new neighbors to meet, there are also financial considerations to take into account as a step for moving to a new city. Understanding cost of living is particularly helpful when relocating for work because it can help you approach the subject of a raise or a cost of living adjustment with an employer.

The average cost of living is lower in Texas than the national average. This lower cost of living can help you and your family save money and potentially afford a larger home. You’ll also want to keep in mind Texas is one of the only states without a state income tax, so there’s added potential to save money when relocating to the Lone Star state.

Aside from taxes and cost of living considerations, Texas has many communities, like Lilyana, that use semi-annual HOA payments for maintenance on common areas, amenities, and parks. Additionally, Lilyana is located in a PID (Public Improvement District) that allows cities to fund public infrastructure. This helps the neighborhood run efficiently without much additional cost to the residents. To learn more about tax rates and neighborhood services, read Lilyana’s FAQs.

Consider the Weather and Climate

Preparing for a different climate when moving family for a job is another great way to get settled in a new community. For Texans moving to areas of the country where it tends to be cooler, preparing for seasons can help you and your family adjust to snowy winters and April showers.

For those relocating to Texas, it will be necessary to prepare for warmer weather and less seasonal change. In cities like Dallas, Frisco, and Celina in north Texas, the average annual high temperature is 77°F while the average annual low is 52°F. For cities in the south like Austin, annual highs tend to reach the 80s with lows in the 60s.

The amount of annual rainfall is another thing to consider with moving family for a job. Homebuyers looking at homes in the Dallas area can expect more rainfall than those seeking to purchase a home near Austin. Understanding these temperature averages as well as weather trends can help you make the right weather-proofing decisions for your new home long before you move in.

Visit The Area Before the Move

Another helpful step for moving to a new city is to plan a visit. Photos, images, and maps online can be a great help in the early stages of research, but physically visiting the community or seeing available homes in person can bring all of those details fully into focus.

In a community like Lilyana, sales counselors and the friendly HOA are always ready to welcome guests and provide tours of the communal spaces at the heart of the community. From the refreshing community pool to the outdoor pavilion and open green spaces, Lilyana provides access to relaxation and activity. Get in touch today and experience the convenience and community that makes Lilyana a truly special place to live.

In the United States, it seems every home comes with its own little personality and unique characteristics. From ornate town houses on the East Coast to quaint Spanish style homes in the West, every corner of the country has put its own personal spin on home and community.

This abundance of choice makes the home buying process particularly exciting and gives families options for remodeling their current home in a neighborhood they’re familiar with, or starting fresh with a new construction home and the new possibilities it provides. Both options present opportunities for building the home of your dreams while connecting you with the community.

The Lilyana community has experience with the costs, time commitments, and resources associated with new construction and remodeled homes, and they’re here to help you decide which route is right for you and your family.

Consider Available Space

When choosing between remodeling or building a new home, it’s important to find out whether or not your current lot holds enough space to accommodate the type of remodel or renovation you and your family would like to make. Measure the dimensions of your home’s lot and compare the amount of available space with the addition or renovation your family would like to build.

If there is plenty of space on your existing lot and your home’s infrastructure is able to support the addition, you can start budgeting and making a financial plan to remodel your home. If space is limited, it may be a good idea to start considering the benefits of buying a new build instead of remodeling.

Consider Going Green

Another important consideration when deciding between new construction or remodeled homes is whether you and your family would like to “go green.” Every home in the Lilyana community is built with a deep respect for nature and the Texas landscape, and one of the benefits of buying a new build — particularly homes in the Lilyana community — is the ability to add environmentally friendly upgrades.

Older homes are beautiful, imbued with character from previous owners and architecture from the past. But many older homes may have a harder time supporting the latest energy efficient technology. This ability to add energy efficient upgrades is a benefit of buying a new construction home. With options for  water saving fixtures, energy efficient HVAC systems, lighting solutions, better insulation, and new smart home technology, a new build home can help reduce your carbon footprint and save money on energy each year.

Consider Your Time Frame

There are two important time frames to take into consideration when deciding between a new construction or remodel. First, how soon would you like the project completed? A new construction takes approximately six months while a remodel can take a matter of weeks, depending on the extent of the work.

The second timeline to consider is how long you plan on staying in the home. Experts suggest you will need to stay in your home for at least 5-7 years to get the full return on your remodeling investment. If you and your family foresee a long future in your current home, it may make more sense to choose that route.

For families that are moving for work or intend to move within the next two or three years, anyway, it may be more beneficial to buy a new construction home that doesn’t need remodeling and focus on building relationships in the community and spending time with family.

Consider The Cost of Remodeling vs Buying New

There are quite a few benefits of buying a new build over renovating your current home. With a new construction home, you can choose customization and design specifications for every room in the house! With a remodel, you may have to introduce changes one room at a time.

Additionally, renovating and remodeling can quickly get expensive. Whether you are hiring professionals or doing it yourself, things add up fast, and unforeseen issues or costs can push back the project. This is especially true of older homes. You have to consider not only the cost of labor and materials, but also elements like electrical and plumbing that may need to be brought up to code when considering to remodel vs build new.

Consider The Convenience of New Construction or Remodel

Another benefit of buying a new construction home vs renovating is not having to live in the house while it’s under construction. Between dust, fumes, and just general inconveniences, it can be hard to coexist when a remodel is going on, especially with curious little ones running around the house.

Particularly for families with small children or those expecting a new baby, a benefit of buying a new build is that you and your family can focus on what’s really important while skilled builders and craftsmen construct your home while you live somewhere else. Having this distance from the noise and drone of construction can allow you and your family to relax and carry on with life as usual.

If you are interested in a new construction home, the residences in the Lilyana community are built new with upgraded appliances, large open floor plans, and yard space perfect for raising families in a calm environment. With a new build home from Lilyana, families can take advantage of hikes, biking trails, and community amenities while adding upgrades and customization to make their home special. Find out more about the benefit of buying a new construction home from Lilyana today.

We’ve all felt that calmness that settles in the house when the kids’ toys are put away, the dishes are done, the bed is made, and the laundry’s folded. The kind of harmony that occurs when everything is in its place.

Rarely do people create that same harmony with their home’s curb appeal. Great curb appeal ideas don’t need to break the bank, in fact, there are many ways to spruce up the outside of your house without making any major buys or taking on a redesign project.

Bring a sense of tidiness and character to your front door with these simple curb appeal ideas, DIYs, and yard projects that are budget-friendly and fun for the whole family.

Accent Your Entryway

If taking on a design rehaul of your front yard is not in the budget, there are simple ways to introduce landscaping elements to your home without pulling up grass and planting bushes. You can easily create front curb appeal with perfectly placed planters and your favorite houseplants.

There are so many plants at your disposal to use, take a look at your parks for inspiration, or pull ideas from around your neighborhood to find plants that you love. Create immediate curb appeal with matching, tall planters on either side of your front door to create a focal point and introduce some style to porches with limited space.

Using hanging pots for spider plants, lace ivy, and trailing succulents to create front curb appeal from any angle, and to keep plants out of reach of inquisitive little ones.

Play With Color

Once you’ve brightened up your entryway with some friendly, green plants, you can mix in even more color to the front of your house by repainting your front door. Take a walk around the community to get inspired, and look for recurring colors in your neighbor’s gardens and front yards.

Once you’ve gotten a sense of your community’s curb appeal aesthetic, it’ll be easier for you to settle on a shade that you and your neighbors will love. Place tape around handles, windows, and wood details to paint your door in sections, and sand down any rough spots to create an even coat.

With a small, angled brush, paint recessed or elevated details of the door first, following up with larger, flat surfaces. Apply a second or third coat and a touch up uneven sections.

Remove the tape once the paint is dry, step back, and marvel at how much curb appeal you can achieve with just a few coats of paint.

Clear a Path

Whether playing games, sharing stories, or enjoying a home cooked meal, few occasions are lovelier than evenings spent with family and friends. But what does game night have to do with front curb appeal, you might ask? One of the easiest and most budget-friendly front curb appeal ideas homeowners can make a reality is to simply create a clear path to the front door.

Illuminate a footway for guests with strategically placed lights, or lay stones and flowers to create a path from the driveway. Once you’ve defined a walkway, keep this area clear by periodically removing toys, sports equipment, or random gardening supplies that might accumulate over time.

Just as you would straighten pillows and dust shelves when guests come over, it’s important to consider tidying up any walkways or footpaths leading up to your front door. Once you create a habit of straightening up the front yard, whenever you do a weekly sweep of the house, your home’s curb appeal will noticeably increase without a serious blow to your budget.

Create Symmetry

While clearing a path is a great curb appeal idea for any budget, creating symmetry at your front door is a tried-and-true method for introducing elements of style without a remodel.

You can work with existing decor and simply rearrange these items until they create balance on your front porch. Or, if you’re ready for an upgrade, you can replace old porch lights with new, matching fixtures to bookend the front door, or install planters and DIY flower boxes to accentuate sunny windows.

Accentuate your front yard with your favorite plants evenly distributed on either side of your home’s front steps, or trim existing bushes to create uniformity and a focal point to your front door. Remember, creating symmetry does not mean throwing out the old and replacing it with two of something new, it just means striking a balance.

Care for Your Lawn

One of the best ways to improve and maintain your home’s front curb appeal is to invest time in lawn care. Research your area’s weather trends, understand the nutrition requirements of your lawn’s specific species of grass and designate time to aerating, trimming, watering, and weather prepping your lawn to improve its longevity.

Design projects and DIY curb appeal ideas are great for building your home’s personality, but even the nicest planters and updated lighting won’t hold a candle to a yard in obvious need of some TLC.

Creating curb appeal on a budget is a great way to elevate your home’s appearance and get your family involved in home improvement. You’ll achieve the design refresh of your dreams without touching a dime and develop some healthy habits along the way.

Moving into the home of your dreams is an exciting moment for any new homeowner. Between raising a family, parties in the backyard, lazy Sundays on the couch, and adventurous outings, your first home will experience many of life’s events right along with you, transforming gradually over time as you and your family continue to grow.

Adding value to your home can include any of your particular preferences. You can hang family photos, decorate with houseplants, or replace the medicine cabinet with a stylish mirror for instant upgrades around the house. But, for homeowners hoping to increase their home’s value in a way that is more impactful in the long run, there are much bigger projects that will provide more value for you when the time comes to sell.

Here’s how to increase your home’s value with five, unique tips that will make your house standout in your market and community.

Add Smart Technology

We know that swapping out an old dishwasher for an energy-efficient alternative instantly adds value to a home. But these days, homeowners seem to be going the extra mile, outfitting their houses with smart technology that controls everything from light switches to window blinds.

According to a 2019 design forecast published by Zillow, smart home technology was a top search among homebuyers online—and for good reason. Smart technology has gradually evolved to more than just voice-activated hubs in the kitchen and cameras at the front door. Now, there are more ways than ever to integrate smart devices into a home that are incredibly useful without being invasive.

You can control the look and feel of your home with smart light bulbs from Philips Hue and smart switches like the Ecobee Switch+. Swap out old power strips with smart plugs that connect to wifi, for remote control of lights and monthly reports on energy usage. Integrate smart technology into your home’s climate control with brands like Nest for an easy way to increase home value.

Subtle upgrades to things like light switches, window blinds, and climate control will give you an advantage in the real estate market, can help ease the daily grind, and add value to your home in a big way.

Go Green With Your Yard

Like smart technology, going green is a big trend with homeowners and homebuyers. While it’s great to make environmentally-friendly improvements to the areas of our homes that use the most energy, we often overlook the place where going green is the most obvious, if not ironic – the front yard.

Replace high-maintenance plants with plants that are native to your area. Not only will native plants require less watering and be less prone to disease and pests, this is a cheap way to increase home value and introduce long-term, environmentally-friendly improvements into your community. You can also install a rain barrel to irrigate your flowers and plants naturally without drawing from groundwater sources.

Eco-friendly improvements are a great way to increase home value and equip future owners with the means to continue environmentally-productive practices long after your home goes on the market.

Reface and Paint Kitchen Cabinets

Real estate trends have shown that the most impactful investment a homeowner can make is a kitchen remodel. And while most remodels will cost you a pretty penny, there are relatively cheap ways to increase home value and give your kitchen a refresh.

Instead of replacing cabinets entirely, simply refacing them is enough to transform outdated looking cabinetry. If you’re a gifted DIY’er, you may even be able to do the work yourself, replacing cabinet doors, hinges, and hardware over the course of a weekend and cut costs there as well.

If the thought of refacing cabinets gets you stressed, keep in mind that homeowners that took on moderate kitchen upgrades saw, on average, an 80% return on their investment, according to Nerdwallet. You don’t have to replace countertops or install expensive stone floors to achieve a new look and increase home value. In many cases, simply varying cabinet shades, upgrading lights and appliances, and swapping outdated hardware is enough to add value to a home without breaking the bank.

Paint the Living Room Taupe and the Front Door Black

A splash of paint goes a long way in the kitchen, as well as in the living room, bathroom, bedroom, even the front door. Paint is a cheap way to increase home value. But that’s not to say that you should go ahead and paint every room in your house just any old color.

According to a study conducted by Zillow in 2018, homeowners could increase home value simply by painting different rooms of their house with specific shades. Taupe walls in the living room, for example, increased home value by $2,793, while homes with black or charcoal front doors sold for nearly $6,000 more than homes with a front door in a light color.

Strategic home improvements are not only what adds value to a home in an immediate sense, they also make it possible to receive a greater return in the future and financially prepare for the next set of life’s events.

Create a Reading Nook or a Quiet Space

An unexpected, yet cost-effective way to gain the interest of buyers and increase home value is instead to designate a reading nook, or create a quiet space for things like yoga and meditation. Creating a reading nook is a great way to fill those areas of a house that may otherwise remain empty.

Install a bench below a window, or on a staircase landing for impromptu reading sessions. You can even go a step further and use composite doors, instead of hollow, to introduce immediate soundproofing and transform an unused room into a full-fledged at-home yoga studio. You’ll increase home value in a unique way and reap the benefits of quiet reflection in the meantime.

What adds value to your home can be subjective and definitely personal, but there are some tried-and-true improvements you can do to benefit your home today and set it up for success in the future.