Category Archives: Tips

Summertime is one of the best times of year to get out into the yard and do some work – a time to make your property really stand out. For many it is a favorite weekend pastime, while for others it is just good exercise and an excuse to get some sun. Whatever your reason, we have put together some great ideas to help you landscape your yard this summer.

1 – Edges and Mowing Strips

Summer comes with more maintenance on the lawn. A great way to spruce up the yard and make the job of mowing the lawn easier is to install a mowing strip. This can be a relatively easy DIY project that makes your yard look great by clearly defining the lawn and planter beds in your yard. You can use virtually any style paver, brick, or flat stone you like to create a nice and easy to maintain edge to your lawn. Just dig a shallow trench in the line you choose, level the pavers with sand and a carpenter’s level, and install a plastic lawn edge.

2 – Planters

Summer is the perfect time of year to spruce up your planters as well. Take advantage of all the bright colored flowers that are available during this season. This annual color makes a great accent for lining the edges of your driveway, brightening up your garden, and livening up your porch. You can also take advantage of this time of year to invest in your planter’s long-term care. By combining a weed barrier, bark groundcover, and a drip irrigation system in your planters you can make your planters practically maintenance free for years to come.

3 – Vegetable and Herb Gardens

Texas is blessed with an almost year-round growing season. This makes summer as good a time as any to build a garden. If you have a sunny patch of land to transform into a vegetable garden, it can be a great way to get out and enjoy the summer sun. Beans, eggplant, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, pumpkins and squash all make excellent vegetables to plant in the summer for Texas residents. For a more ambitious project try using old railroad ties or retaining wall blocks to raise your gardens bed. Raising the garden up a couple of feet will keep the herbs and veggies away from pets and make the garden easy to maintain and harvest.

4 – Retaining Walls

Retaining walls are a must for any yard with multiple elevations. In the summertime when the weather is most dry is the best time to install them. Hardware stores make it easy to DIY small walls with a wide variety of retaining wall blocks. Smaller elevations can use loose brick or rock, even broken concrete can create a nice effect. Once installed retaining walls give great contrast to your planter beds and will hold back mud and water in the rainy season.

5 – Small Touches

Little accents can give a garden variety that is pleasing to the eye or create a focal point to enhance a particular view. Others can attract wildlife to give you more to enjoy out in your yard. Try adding a nice bird bath, bird house, or bird feeder to attract small communities of birds into your space.

For a real ambitious project, add a water feature. Garden centers usually come equipped with all the DIY equipment you need to build your own small pond. For an even simpler water feature, simply transform an old whisky barrel or wash basin into a fountain. With some water plants and fish, you will be ready to relax in the yard to the sound of trickling water.

After putting all this time and effort into your garden, it is important to get the most of it even after the sun goes down. Invest in some creative light sources to illuminate your yard. Lighting can range from tiki torches to spotlights, but they always make the yard enjoyable at night. Try adding some lights to highlight your favorite plants or install fairy lights and lanterns to add ambiance.

If Landscaping Isn’t Your Thing…Or You Want A Home With A Bigger Yard

We can buy your home so that you can move into the home that best suits your needs – whether you are moving out of a home with a yard or moving into a home that allows you those weekend projects. It is important that as a homeowner you can enjoy the luxuries of homeownership – and if you feel your home does not match your lifestyle, it may be time to move. To learn more about how we can help you, contact us today!

Upgrading your home is considered to be a sure-fire way of increasing the value of your house. Here are some of this year’s most popular DIY projects that will help you sell your home quicker and at a higher closing price!

Indoor Paint and Trim

This is one of the first things any realtor will tell you when prepping your house to sell. Remove all wallpaper and paint the rooms in light and neutral tones. This will make your house into a blank slate, allowing potential home buyers to picture their lives and belongings in the new space. The upside is that bright white spaces are in fashion and make your home feel light and airy, so get out your painters’ tape and give your home a quick and easy DIY makeover with a fresh coat of paint.

If you have a bit more skill, adding trim, crown molding, chair rails, and other accents to the walls can really transform a room, making the space feel more elegant, intriguing, or simply larger with higher ceilings.

Curb Appeal

Cleaning up the yard can change the appearance of the entire property for the better. Not only can it increase the value of the home when selling, but effective planning can also allow you to put together a yard that saves money and requires less maintenance overall.

To get started, clean up and clearly define the planters with some trim – this will give the house a fresher and more defined look in the yard. Also, use fewer plants with a ground covering like wood chips or gravel to prevent weeds and keep the yard looking less cluttered. Potted plants can also provide a clean and crisp look, plus they are a quick and easy way to provide some seasonal colored flowers. By flanking a walkway or entryway, pots can give the property structure and a nice focal point. A bonus: Pots and plants can all be easily hooked up to drip irrigation and a timer to save you time and money on your water bill.

Pavers, bricks, and gravel walkways can also make great DIY projects for the yard. They come in multiple styles and can be as large or as small of a project as you would like. Small patio areas add great value to outdoor spaces. Upgrading side yards, pathways to garden sheds, or any muddy, overgrown, and neglected part of the yard with hardscape keeps the garden looking sharp and well maintained, which translates into extra dollars when the time comes to sell.

As for the exterior of the home itself, a fresh coat of paint may be all you need to add tremendous value. This may not always be a DIY project, but if it is within your level of skill to give your home a new look, this will absolutely improve the selling price of the house. Moss green, yellows, and combinations of earth tones are very popular for 2019, so maybe choose the one you feel fits the neighborhood best.

Tile

Tile may seem intimidating, but with even a little bit of skill you can DIY any small space with new tiles. Small bathroom floors are easy to do and make a good place to give tile a try for the first time. They are forgiving to little mistakes and small blemishes that would be obvious in a large room or hallway. Upgrading to tile from cheap vinyl or linoleum will have an amazing impact on the style, elegance, and of course, the value of the bathroom. Once you have some confidence you can apply your new-found skill to any part of the house you feel needs a classy upgrade.

Want to Avoid DIY Projects?

Home renovations and upgrades are not suitable for everyone, nor does everyone have the time to complete such projects. If you are one of those who want to avoid DIY projects and get into a home that is updated and ready for move-in, you may benefit from selling your home to us, Gulf State Homebuyers. We are all-cash investors in Baytown interested in buying homes in the Baytown and Houston area. How can we help you? We buy homes as-is, for all cash, and we cover all fees associated with closing. If you are interested in learning more, contact us today and speak with one of our qualified staff about getting your free home evaluation!

There are many different reasons to desire a home in a particular style, including layout, functionality, and aesthetic appeal. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular home styles for homebuyers in 2019.

Contemporary

Contemporary homes continue to be popular since their unique building styles can take on many different looks. Contemporary homes incorporate sleek clean designs with large windows and open spaces that connect with the outdoors. People gravitate toward the blending of historic elements and the attention to current lifestyle trends that these homes offer. These homes incorporate many of the smart home technologies that homeowners want. Contemporary homes tend to emphasize sustainability, energy efficiency, and the use of recycled, non-toxic materials. These are extremely important features for millennials who are beginning to enter the homebuying market – it’s a savvy move since contemporary homes give you a sleek stylish look with low energy and maintenance costs.

Mediterranean

Mediterranean homes can make you feel like you are on vacation in Italy, France, or Spain. Home owners living in nice climates like California and Florida love them for the hacienda style layouts, usually with a central courtyard – However, they are popping up in suburbs everywhere. Entire communities in California are created in this style to create a timeless sense of elegance and culture. They welcome you home with a warm, historic, lived in look. The details like balconies, heavy wooden doors, multicolored tiles, and exposed wooden beams give these homes an extravagant feel that is flexible enough to fit anyone’s needs.

Ranch Homes

Ranch homes were originally modeled after rural Western ranches. Their one-story layout with an attached garage is probably the most common design in the United States. There are many reasons why this style home maintains its appeal. For starters, practicality and our cultures love affair with the car are the main focus of the ranch homes design. Another reason for the resurgence in popularity of this common design is that our aging population wants single story homes to give them a manageable house for retirement, while at the same time maintaining their freedom and independence. Families are seeking out ranch homes as well for the large backyards that usually accompany this type of home. These sprawling one-story houses offer space and privacy, plus their low-key design can be updated to fit anyone’s style.

Townhouse

Obviously if you can afford to own a historic townhouse in an amazing neighborhood like the heart of San Francisco, then the benefits are enormous. However, for the vast majority of us that is not an option. The townhome though is still one of the top designs for growing cities in 2019, and you may be surprised to hear that the reasons for its popularity are affordability and value. Townhomes can be built quickly and at a low cost, and they take up less valuable space; plus, they are typically centrally located in desirable parts of the city. This makes the Townhome an amazing value for homebuyers who want the privacy of a single-family home, but can’t afford the price. This also makes them a great fit for first time home buyers. Being built in convenient locations in major city centers makes these homes popular amongst working professionals as well, since they want to avoid a long commute. Many new townhouse developments come with all the amenities of a high-end apartment or condo like swimming pools, gyms, and parks, so they can offer a lot of value.

If you are interested in selling your home and getting into one of the top styles on the market, give us a call. We are Gulf State Homebuyers and we can buy your home for cash and close in as little as five days. We offer very competitive prices, especially when you consider all the hassles and fees associated with selling your home on the open market. We perform a free appraisal of your property and make you an offer the same day. If you like the price, all you have to do is sign on the dotted line and we take care of the rest. We can even help you move. Contact us today for your free home evaluation and get yourself into a home with the style that fits you best for 2019.

Whether you realize it or not the floors in your home make a huge impact on your life. They can make the difference between a dark and dingy space or a light and airy room. Floors can help control noise levels and temperature. The type of floors you have can even save you time and money when it comes to cleaning, maintenance, and return on your investment. Face it, the floor you stand on is a big deal, so let’s see if your floors fit your life.

Carpet

Wall to wall carpeting remains the most popular floor covering in the United States, and for good reason. To have soft carpets under your bare feet as you walk around the house is an often-unnoticed luxury. Carpets literally and figuratively warm up a room, plus they are the best choice for absorbing noise and echo. With more options to choose from than any other floor covering, you are sure to find a style that is right for you. Common styles include textured, frieze, cable, looped, and cut and loop. New styles and textures make it easy to blend carpets in with any home decor. The down side is that carpets tend to be hard to keep clean and can be a poor choice for high traffic areas, families, and pet owners. The wear and tear these homeowners can potentially put on carpeted floors can leave permanent stains and odors that can only be solved by replacing the floors.

Linoleum, Marmoleum, and Laminate

Linoleum is an extremely durable, low-maintenance flooring that comes in many patterns and colors. It is available in sheets or more intricate cuts and because of the wide variety of styles and options, linoleum can complement almost any home. This flooring material is often confused with some similar materials like marmoleum. This all-natural and renewable resource is composed of recycled materials that are beneficial to the environment. Unlike linoleum, marmoleum resists dust and dirt and has no strong odors. This makes it an excellent allergen-free choice for the home. Laminate is another material that is often confused with linoleum because it can duplicate the look of hardwood, natural stone and many other types of flooring. Laminate makes a great low budget option for those who still desire an upscale look. It will however wear out more quickly than linoleum so be cautious of those high traffic areas when deciding to go with laminate floors.

Tile

Tile can be the most durable option of any floor covering. The most common tiles for homes are ceramic tiles which come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, finishes and colors. This limitless variety make this type of flooring easily compatible with almost any design style. Another benefit of ceramic floor tile is that it’s finished with a durable glaze which makes the floor water-resistant and easy to clean. Natural stone tile is another popular choice. No two tiles are the same, and they come in a wide array of choices, including granite, slate, marble, travertine, limestone and onyx. The natural stone can create a timeless and organic beauty that adds a rich and luxurious feel to any home. Although stone tile adds value and doesn’t go out of style, it can have the opposite effect of carpet, making rooms look and feel cold.

Wood

Wood is an elegant flooring option that adds depth, character, and value to the home. There is a wide variety of choices including red and white oak, maple, cherry, white ash and hickory. Hardwood floors can be tailored to fit anyone’s individual taste. Since hardwood floors are the most expensive option, there are many cheaper engineered wood floor options available.

Similar in appearance to hardwood floors, engineered hardwood is composed of a core of hardwood, plywood or high-density fiberboard and a top layer of hardwood veneer that’s available in almost any variety. In fact, engineered wood floors can outperform solid wood floors in areas beyond price, like water and moisture resistance. This makes them a great choice and a good value when trying to choose what floor is best for you.

So, if it is time to change your floors or you feel the need to switch to a floor style that better fits your life, why not switch houses instead? This is not as crazy as it seems when you consider all the expenses and disruptions to your home that replacing the floors entails. We are Gulf State Homebuyers and we can buy your home with its old floors, in as-is condition for all cash. Quick, easy and competitively priced, we can help you get into the home with the right floors in no time.