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Moving all of your belongings from one location to another probably isn’t anyone’s top choice for a fun day out. But it doesn’t have to be a stressful event that makes you want to pull out your hair, either. Follow these ten tips for making moving day more fun, and take some of the tension away.
Community features the innovative The Home Within a Home® concept
Lennar San Antonio has opened its new The Crossings community in New Braunfels just north of Gruene. This lovely community currently features the Brookstone II and the Camden Collections with a combined 17 floor plans from which to choose. The Brookstone II Collection has eight floor plans available ranging from 1,600 to over 2,800 square feet with three to four bedrooms and two to four baths, currently priced from the $230’s. The Camden Collection contains nine floor plans from 1,984 to over 3,000 square feet with three to five bedrooms and two to three baths, currently priced from the $260’s. Both collections offer one- and two-story plans to suit your family’s lifestyle.
The Brookstone II Collection model, which features the Travertine floor plan, is an open, spacious plan that includes three bedrooms and two baths. This beautiful one story home provides ample space with its open floor plan highlighted by a large family room, kitchen and dining nook. The dining room has been converted to the optional study in the front of the home, while the master bedroom, located in the back of the home, has privacy and is right next to the rear covered patio. The two secondary bedrooms share a game room, which can also become a fourth bedroom.
The Camden Collection model features the Campbell The Home Within a Home floor plan—only the second The Home Within a Home model in San Antonio. Lennar is the first production homebuilder to offer a solution for the multigenerational family living under one roof. This innovative home idea includes a private suite with its own living area, kitchenette, bedroom, full bath, laundry area and its own entrance, as well as an entry into the main home. This concept is perfect for an aging parent or another family member to share the home with your family, a hobby area, an expanded guest suite—the possibilities are endless! The main part of the Campbell home has four bedrooms and three baths on two stories, with the master suite downstairs, as well as a spacious game room upstairs and a rear covered patio.
“Family members can choose to be together, or they can simply enjoy their own private space,” Tony Cerna, III, Director of Sales and Marketing for Lennar San Antonio, said. “The Home Within a Home plans’ flexibility offers the best of both worlds. You essentially receive two homes with one payment.”
The Crossings lies at the edge of the Texas Hill Country within a few miles of I-35. Residents are close to the charming small town of New Braunfels, famous for its German heritage, exciting events and quaint downtown. “New Braunfels features many family entertainment options, from beautiful city parks to Schlitterbahn to fun festivals throughout the year,” Cerna said.
Residents are also within an easy drive of national retailers and restaurants at the Town Center at Creekside in New Braunfels and The Forum in northeast San Antonio, as well as area employers and Randolph Air Force Base.
“The Crossings offers the best of both worlds,” Cerna said. “Families will enjoy the wonderful small town atmosphere of New Braunfels, while being close to the I-35 corridor and north San Antonio.”
Current plans for the community include a swimming pool, green spaces and walking trails. Many homesites back up to green space. Children in the community will attend well-regarded Comal ISD schools.
With Lennar, Everything’s Included, so homebuyers don’t have to worry about adding what they really want to your home. Lennar’s homes include the most desired, high-quality features and upgrades in every home at no additional charge, like landscaping, blinds, appliances and more. Every price range includes features not found with other builders, providing ease and peace of mind during the homebuying process.
Lennar has inventory homes underway that will be available for move-in beginning this July. For more information on available homes, visit Lennar.com/SanAntonio to view the Brookstone II Collection and the Camden Collection.
Models are open daily from 10am-7pm (opening at Noon on Fridays and Sundays).
To visit The Crossings, from Loop 1604 and I-35 in northeast San Antonio, take I-35 north to New Braunfels and exit at FM 306. Turn left on FM 306, and continue straight for 1.2 miles. Turn right on FM 1102, and continue straight for 3.4 miles. Turn right into The Crossings on Havens Cross. Turn left on Cross Over. The model homes will be on the right at 5636 and 5632 Cross Over Road, New Braunfels, TX, 78132. Call (830) 310-3113 for more information.
Lennar is one of the nation’s leading homebuilders with over 60 years of experience building homes and communities all across the country. Founded on the continuing principles of quality, value and integrity, Lennar builds homes for first-time and move-up buyers, as well as retirees. Lennar San Antonio offers energy-efficient new homes currently starting from the $160’s to the $370’s and ranging from 1,308 sq. ft. to more than 3,300 sq. ft. in communities across the greater San Antonio area. Discover the revolutionary The Home Within a Home at communities across San Antonio. For more information on Lennar, visit Lennar.com.
As two new schools prepare to open their doors to the Beacon Park community this fall, a recent article has been released by U.S. News and World Report listing the best high schools in the country. These schools were ranked based on their performance in state assessments, graduation rates and how well they prepare students for college.
“We are thrilled that Northwood High School made the top 100 public high schools in the state,” said Janet Price, Marketing Manager for Lennar Cal Coastal. “It confirms what we’ve known for a long time: Irvine is a great place for families to live!”
Families living in Lennar’s Beacon Park neighborhoods are sure to rejoice at the news since Northwood High School is the school Beacon Park residents attend in the Irvine Unified School District. Other Orange County schools that made the list, including another school from the IUSD, were University High, Corona Del Mar High School, Troy High School, Orange County School of the Arts and Beckman High.
Hoping to be added to that list next year is Beacon Park’s brand new high school opening this upcoming fall, Portola High School. Portola High School will serve the Beacon Park community as well as North Irvine.
In addition to the high school, Beacon Park will also be including a new K-8 school, Beacon Park School. This school will also start this upcoming fall with grades that include K-6.
“We know that schools are a huge deciding factor for most families when they are looking for a new home,” Price said. “Which is why we’ve had such great success with our homes in Irvine! We build in the most desirable areas with great school districts.”
The two new schools will be apart of the well-respected Irvine School District and help to ease crowding at local schools.
Currently, Lennar has four Beacon Park neighborhoods with quick move-in homes for sale.
Rowland at Beacon Park is an upscale townhome community, starting from the low $600,000’s. These homes range in size from approximately 1,661 to 2,076 square feet.
Harper at Beacon Park is a single-family detached condominium community and features move-in ready homes priced from the low $800,000’s. These homes range from approximately 1,701 to 2,019 square feet.
Melody at Beacon Park features single-family detached condominiums starting from the upper $900,000’s. These homes range from approximately 2,321 to 2,774 square feet.
Larkspur at Beacon Park features luxury single-family detached homes starting from the $1 millions. These spacious homes range from approximately 2,165-3,160 square feet.
For a full list of new homes for sale in the Irvine or Orange County areas, visit www.lennar.com/oc.
With hundreds of communities nationwide and homes designed for first-time, move-up and luxury homebuyers, Lennar has grown to become one of the nation’s leading and most respected homebuilders and proudly remains steadfast in their commitment toward quality, value and integrity. Lennar has a longstanding history of building exceptional homes in only the most well planned and desirable locations throughout the country.
If you have children, you may know that getting them to help around the home can be as much of a chore as the tasks themselves. From learning responsibility to taking pride in a job well done, even the simplest household chores teach valuable skills as they enter adulthood and move into a home of their own. This article from the Wall Street Journal offers a unique take on the typical household chore. Alexandra Samuel examines the tasks children can take on now to develop valuable tech skills for their future endeavors.
Many families introduce their children to the world of work before they bring up the idea of entrepreneurship. But you don’t need to limit your children’s earning potential to baby sitting, dog walking or lawn mowing.
By offering your children some ways to earn pocket money through tech chores, you introduce them to life as a tech worker. If your children are old enough to tackle slightly more challenging tasks, they can even learn valuable tech skills while they’re helping out.
Put little children to work with the kind of routine, time-consuming tasks that are tempting to avoid. They may not acquire a lot of tech skills in the process, but they’ll get more comfortable using devices and get used to the idea that it takes some work to keep everything running smoothly. To that end, you might put your elementary schooler in charge of:
Scanning business cards. When you come back from a conference, hand your child your phone, along with the collection of business cards you’ve accumulated. Ask your child to scan all the cards into your phone using an app like Evernote Scannable, CamScanner or Scanbot. Pay your child a nickel, dime or quarter per card.
Ripping CDs. In a world of Spotify and iTunes, it can be hard to justify that shelf full of CDs—but just as hard to throw them all out. Get your children to rip your collection and add them to your digital music library. Yes, you could achieve the same result by sending your collection to a ripping service, but they’ll charge 70 cents to $1 a disc—so if you can get Junior to do the same job for 25 cents a disc, you’re way ahead!
Managing cables. Look into the average home-media center, and you’ll see a cable snarl to rival Medusa. Hand your child a Sharpie and a roll of masking tape, ask him to label each cable at both ends and then unplug the whole setup: that will allow him to keep track of which cord goes with which device. Then you can have him unplug everything, de-snarl the mess and inspect it for any cables that weren’t actually plugged into anything. The job of putting it all back together is a great chance to strengthen spatial and logical thinking by finding the most sensible route for all the different cords.
{Read the full article: Want to raise a tech entrepreneur? Give your child these chores.}
South Hillsborough County is experiencing a boom in residential real estate development. According to a recent article in the Tampa Bay Times, South Hillsborough County had 2,502 homes begin construction in 2015, more than any other submarket in the greater Tampa Bay area.
The area is developing quickly, with new shopping, dining and entertainment options also opening. Lennar’s Stonegate at Ayersworth community, located just south of Tampa in the Wimauma area, is contributing to the area’s increasing popularity.
The community offers a variety of floorplans from Lennar’s American Dream Series, as well as family-friendly amenities and proximity to all the things to do in the vibrant Tampa Bay area.
Moving to the area can be easy and simple
Prospective buyers can see, walk through and experience all the American Dream Series floor plans in Stonegate at Ayersworth. Lennar makes the process of buying a home simple and convenient by providing model homes for all 13 floor plans on one street, so visitors can tour each one before deciding which is the best fit for their family.
Great value in a popular area
The single-family homes in Stonegate at Ayersworth are part of Lennar’s American Dream Series. The homes are designed to be cost-effective and energy efficient, with everything included in the list price. Features such as a GE washer and dryer, an electric hybrid hot water heater, LED lighting and a high-efficiency heating and air conditioning system come standard with every Lennar home in the community.
Available floor plans range from the 1,556-square-foot Dover with three-bedrooms and two bathrooms, to the 3,327-square foot Trenton with six bedrooms and three bathrooms. Each home also comes with a two-car garage.
Appealing to growing families
South Hillsborough County is a highly attractive area to families because of the quality schools, larger homes for a growing family and many options for dining and things to do. For families living in Stonegate at Ayersworth, there is a spacious clubhouse with a swimming pool and fitness center, a park with a playground and picnic pavilion and several athletic courts.
The community is also surrounded by natural Florida foliage, and each home comes with a hassle-free, Florida-friendly landscape package designed to thrive in the sunny climate and enhance the architectural style of the home.
Life in South Hillsborough County
Neighboring cities such as Brandon and Riverview offer an assortment of restaurants, including Ford’s Garage, a service station-themed craft beer and burger bar, as well as the recently opened Portillo’s, which is renowned for its classic Chicago-style menu.
Additionally, the Westfield Brandon Mall, which has nearly 200 stores, is just a 20-minute drive from the community. For those looking for outdoor activities, the area is close to several golf courses and wildlife parks, and provides convenient access to multiple marinas on Tampa Bay.
Stonegate at Ayersworth is located at 10951 Rainbow Pyrite Drive in Wimauma. For more information on on the community, visit Lennar’s website or call 800-243-1317.
You can learn a lot about someone by the way they load the dishwasher. Do you live with a perfectionist who rearranges like it’s level 10 of Tetris? Are you the carefree over-loader who thinks pre-rinsing is a waste of time? Anyone willing to help with the dishes is always welcome in my kitchen, but according to experts, there is a right and wrong way to load the dishwasher. While it’s always a good idea to check with your owner’s manual, Jura Koncius, for The Washington Post, addresses the common mistakes dishwasher users make.
Pre-rinsing dishes: “Our position is that you don’t need to pre-rinse at all, unless you aren’t running the load right away,” Forte says. You don’t want clumps of food, of course, so scrape or wipe those off. But she is confident that your dishwasher can handle a dirty plate. Forte and her husband often run the short-rinse cycle in their machine if the two of them load dishes from one meal and don’t want to run a full cycle. “It only uses about a gallon of water,” she says.
Jamming flatware in without a plan: Unless you have a designated separate flatware tray in your dishwasher, agree on a method for loading forks, knives and spoons into the washing basket. “We recommend you put the knives in with the blades down and the forks go up. Of course, do this carefully. Mix the spoons up and down. Don’t put all the spoons in one basket,” Forte says. And don’t ever load wooden spoons: They may crack.
Overloading: “Don’t overload, and don’t overlap,” Forte says. Some people jam so many items in the appliance that the water can’t reach the inside of the dishware. “Make sure surfaces are exposed enough so water and detergent can get to them. If a bowl is blocking a glass, it won’t get clean,” Forte says.
Incorrectly loading trays and cookie sheets: These large, flat items should be put on the side or back of the lower rack of the machine, never in the front, Forte says. If your pan covers the dispenser, it might not be able to properly release the dishwashing detergent.
Read the full article: The dirty truth: Six common mistakes you make when loading your dishwasher
Does a serious case of spring fever have you itching to spend more time outside, but your lawn isn’t quite the outdoor oasis of your dreams? It’s no surprise that National Lawn and Garden month falls in April. This is a great time of year to help your lawn recover from winter and prepare for more outdoor living. If you’re a yard care novice, this useful list of infographics will help you maintain a beautiful landscape this spring and seasons to come.
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In most regions, April and May are the best times to tackle the most important lawn care tasks, including aerating, lawn feeding and seeding. This resource from Heiton Buckley shows how prepping your yard now means less work in the hotter summer months.
Find out the best and worst times of day to fire up the lawn mower from Your Green Pal. Your yard will thank you!
Easy tips for beautiful curb appeal. Our favorite ideas, courtesy of TruGreen.com, include involving the whole family in planting a tree and swapping high-maintenance flower beds for ground cover plants. Great inspiration for your green thumb!
Fix.com shares the ultimate guide to planning and caring for your spring garden, including step-by-step instructions to starting your seeds indoors. This is not only a fun project for kids, but a great way to reuse and recycle egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, plastic containers and other household items.
From planning to upkeep, get the basics of landscape maintenance via HouseHunt.com. Definitely check out this infographic if you’re getting ready to sell your home.
Put in the work, then reap the rewards! This graphic from the team at Angie’s List shows you the features to include for a tranquil backyard escape.
Which landscaping projects are you most looking forward to this spring? Let us know in the comments!
A 5-step guide to prepping your in-ground pool for swim season from the team at Blue Haven.
Spring is an exciting time for pool owners across the nation, but especially for those who live in cold-climate areas and had to close their pools for winter. If you’re one of these owners, you’re probably looking forward to opening your pool for swim season as the weather warms and the ground thaws.
Blue Haven offices have built thousands of pools in cold-weather areas where a detailed process for re-opening winterized pools is needed. For those of you who enjoy a DYI project, here is a step-by-step guide to prepping your pool for swim season.
Always begin the pool-opening process by cleaning off the surface of your cover. This is a crucial step: Proper cleaning ensures that leaves and debris don’t fall into your pool when you remove the cover.
If you have a solid pool cover, water from rain or snow may have accumulated on the surface—sometimes stagnating and turning icky brown or green with decomposing plant debris. If so, it’s imperative to pump out this bad water so that it does not dump into your pool water. You can do this using a wet-dry shop vacuum or other pump designed for this purpose.
It’s also worth noting that your cover is much easier to clean when it is still stretched across the pool. That’s important because a thorough cleaning will help prevent accumulation of mold and mildew when you store it away.
If you have a mesh-style pool cover, you can rinse and remove it without intensive cleaning. However, for an anchor-style cover, you’ll need to take a hose, rinse it off, and—depending on how dirty it is—possibly scrub it down with a soft bristle brush.
A warning: Do not use a pressure washer on your pool cover, or you might damage it. Instead, purchase what’s known as truck wash brush, which comes with a long fiberglass stick and soft bristles. You can find one at many auto supply stores or online.
After thoroughly cleaning and removing your pool’s cover, lay it out in the yard to fully dry. You can then carefully fold it up and place it in dry, clean storage area.
The next step in opening your pool assumes it’s been effectively winterized. (For more on winterizing your pool, visit http://articles.bluehaven.com/how-to-winterize-inground-pools).
If you have winterized your pool, the return lines (the lines that go out from your pool’s equipment to the pool) will have been blown out to remove water, and capped. In some regions of the country, the skimmer line will have been filled with antifreeze to prevent freezing and mildew. In addition, an ice compensator (such as a gizmo or freeze plug) may have been inserted into your pool’s skimmer.
To reverse this process, begin by walking around your pool and removing the winterizing plugs from return lines and the ice compensator from the skimmer.
If antifreeze was added to your skimmer for winterization: Begin the process of evacuating it. If you have a DE or sand filter, turn the handle of your multiport valve to “waste.” This will push all of the antifreeze to the waste line as the pump runs. For a cartridge filter, simply use a wet-dry shop vacuum on the skimmer line to pull out the antifreeze. Any remnants will be flushed after you turn on the pool pump.
Next, replace the return fittings, and reinstall all of the pump and filter plugs that were removed for winterization. Expert tip: If you didn’t winterize your pool yourself, you may find that the service technician placed these partsinside the pump basket.
After ensuring that the skimmer line is flushed, winterizing plugs and ice compensator are removed and return fittings and pump and filter plugs are reinstalled, you can then move to the next step: Refilling your pool!
To be clear: Your pool should remain filled for winterization, but the water level should have been lowered to just below the skimmer. Over the winter, the water level may naturally drop even lower due to evaporation. It is vital to return the water level to halfway up your skimmer. You can do this with a garden hose before moving to the next step.
Now that your pool lines are operational and your pool water is back up to operating level, you’re ready to prime your pump and start it!
Next, check the pump O-ring for cracking. If cracking is present, the O-ring will need to be replaced. If you do purchase a new one, you’ll first have to lubricate it (and the threads on your pump lid) with a silicone-based lubricant, before replacing it on the pump.
Once the O-ring is secure, fill your pump’s pot with water from a garden hose, and replace the lid. Now you can turn on the pump. Once it’s running, make sure to check through the lid of your pump for circulating water. In addition, you’ll want to check the pressure on your filter pressure gauge.
If you do not see movement in the water or pressure on the gauge, you may have a suction leak. If so, tighten the pump’s union/pipe connections, and inspect suction valves for any leaks; loose connections or leaks will allow air to enter the system, resulting in a pump that won’t prime. Clogged or leaking suction lines will require a call to a service technician.
Balancing the chemicals in your pool is critical to the health and safety of everyone who will use it. For most pool owners, the easiest method of approach is to bring a quart of pool water to a local pool supply store to have the water chemistry checked. They will also have plenty of options for you to buy chemicals to properly treat your pool water. Frequently, these shops also sell special “pool-opening chemical kits”.
However, if you regularly check your own pool-water chemistry, you can follow a few simple steps to ensure your freshly opened pool is ready for use:
Many pool owners are comfortable reopening their own pools, but it’s never a bad idea to get expert help. The multi-step process required to open your pool after winter can be somewhat laborious, and it is critically important make sure your pool is clean and safe for everyone to use.
Reach out to a service technician about scheduling a pool opening, or call your local Blue Haven office to see if they offer pool opening services.
The National Association of Home Builders recently conducted a study to examine how housing preferences differ across generations. While all generations share certain new home preferences, the report found striking differences among Millennial buyers.
Regardless of age, a majority of home buyers prefer a single-family home, with a laundry room topping the list of desired features. Millennials and Gen X showed a stronger preferences for larger 4 bedroom homes with at least 2,300 square feet. Outdoor spaces are highly desirable to Millennials, who put a patio, front porch and deck among the top features they most want in a new home.
Features most wanted by Millennials:
Laundry room topped the most-wanted feature list for Millennials, Gen X and Seniors. 50% of all buyers consider this essential in a new home.
While 51% of all buyers consider it desirable, Millennials showed a stronger preference for exterior lighting compared to other generations.
Interestingly, 37% of all buyers said they would be willing to buy a home without a living room, although it still rates high for Millennials and Gen X.
Millennials love their outdoor spaces, whether for entertaining or maximizing their home’s living space.
The front porch ranked higher on the most-wanted features list for Millennials than any other generation.
While Baby Boomers and Seniors prefer a full bath on the main level, Millennials are opting for both a shower and tub in the master bathroom. Having only a shower stall in the master bath ranked #5 on Millennial’s list of most unwanted features.
Ceiling fans are a feature everyone agrees on. 86% of all buyers rated fans as either essential or desirable in a new home.
A majority of buyers desire hardwood floors on the main level, although they don’t have the same influence on buying decisions with Seniors compared to Millennials and Gen X.
Millenials were the only generation in the study to include a deck in their list of most wanted features.
According to the study, “Energy Star® rated appliances are popular among all groups, but Millennials rank it as 10th most wanted, whereas Gen X’ers, Boomers, and Seniors rank it first or second.” Energy Star® whole-home rating and windows didn’t make the top ten features for Millennials.
What’s #1 on the feature you most want in your next home? Let us know in the comments!
