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Residents in one of our communities—Sunrise Meadow in Southwest Houston—are blessed to have a private fishing lake as one of their stellar neighborhood amenities, and they’re in prime time to enjoy these lakes as spring and summer bloom. In Sunrise Meadow (as in all of our communities) LGI Homes has held true to its mission of creating beautiful, functional family-friendly neighborhoods stocked with opportunities for healthful and recreational enjoyment. And we know that these amenities are even better when a lazy day of fishing with family and friends is just a short walk away from the house.

So residents and prospective buyers, beware: the call of the angler life is a hard one to shy away from. You may be a fishing fanatic before you know it, enjoying the beauty of the outdoors and the fun of family time spent together, all within the bounds of your own neighborhood! Should you decide to give lake fishing a try, here are some tips for safety and success:

 Be sure the whole family is prepared for time in the sun. Use sunscreen, pack plenty of water, and when on shore, keep an eye out for small children coming too close to the water.

 Get the right materials. Nothing is more frustrating (especially to children) than going out fishing, and never getting a bite. Find out ahead of time the types of fish with which the lake is stocked, and choose the right bait, weights/bobbers and line for those fish. If you’re unsure, personnel at a sports store or bait shop should be able to lead you in the right direction.

 Choose the right time of day. Throughout the year, you’ll find that fish are responsive to the changes in the seasons—storms, sun, heat, wind and temperature—so fishermen have to be responsive as well. You’ll find copious amounts of information online that cover the best times to go fishing.

 Go over the safety rules. While a simple and relatively-easy pastime, fishing still requires a presence of mind and adherence to basic safety rules. If fishing from a boat, ensure that everyone in the party wears a life jacket. Go over procedures with children on what to do should an emergency happen on the water. Review casting safety (looking around and behind you when you cast, and letting others know you’re about to throw), and, if you’re fishing from shore, review rules about getting near or into the water.

 Have fun! It’s not everyone that is able to enjoy the relaxation and quality time that fishing engenders, right within their own neighborhood. This is one amenity that can be enjoyed by the whole family, throughout the seasons, for years to come. Sit back with your fishing rod in hand, enjoy the scenic beauty, and thank your lucky stars that you’ve made an LGI Homes community your home!

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Basic Fishing Safety Rules

Over the years, we’ve found that buyers of LGI Homes houses often gravitate towards our communities because of each neighborhood’s family-oriented and kid-friendly appeal. And it’s more than the spacious floorplans, affordable prices, and high-quality construction that has parents feeling good about their purchase—it’s also the many amenities available in each community that give families ample opportunity to enjoy time together while playing, relaxing or exercising.

One appreciated feature found in our communities are the neighborhood playgrounds, where kids can gather to play with local friends, get some sun and fresh air, and work off some of the abundant energy that so defines the vigor of youth. But even though these designated spaces are designed with the health, happiness and safety of children in mind, there are still some simple things parents can do to ensure that time spent at the playground is all about fun, and not an unscheduled trip to the doctor’s office.

- Ensure adult supervision. It goes without saying that kids can get into scrapes, and the careful eye of an adult is essential to escaping otherwise preventable injuries. Watchful adults should ensure that children are using the playground in the manner intended, and keep an eye out for dangerous situations.

- Pay attention to design. Most playgrounds come with specifications about the age of child for which it was built. Playsets with younger age limits—typically for toddlers—tend to be smaller, and sized appropriately for little hands and feet. Larger playsets, designed for the acute motor skills and advanced comprehension of older kids, tend to include more complicated layouts and stand higher off of the ground. Children younger than the age specifications of the playground set should stay off, or play only with close supervision.

- Pack a kit. Even with the best of intentions, scrapes and injuries can occur, so it helps to have a first aid kit handy to address any minor bumps and bruises, or to help stabilize a more serious injury until professional help can be consulted. A good kit will include first aid cream, bandaids, cotton gauze, bandages, tweezers and antiseptic wipes.

- Pitch in. Keeping a playground safe is a community effort, so take the time to look over the playground area before kids begin to play. Even a small, stray piece of broken glass or debris can cause an injury, so it’s best to remove such things before they pose a problem in the course of play.

- Teach, teach, teach. For kids, play is work, so it’s no wonder that there’s a lot to learn, even when visiting the playground. Take the time to review with your children the ground rules of staying safe on the playground, including looking out for smaller children, using equipment in intended ways, not taking undue risks, and not outpacing their abilities.

With these simple things in mind, a trip to a neighborhood playground like those found in LGI Homes communities can make for an enjoyable, fun day—without worry of tears, scrapes or injuries.

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Life today is busier than ever, and it can feel almost impossible to find the time to do the things we know we ought to. Everything from getting to the dentist to getting regular exercise can fall by the wayside as we navigate hectic work, social and school schedules, just trying to stay on top of our daily routine. Wouldn’t it be great, then, to be able to incorporate something healthy for ourselves into our weekly routines, without having to travel too far to accomplish it?

If a bit of relaxation sounds good to you, then you may find it right in your own neighborhood, particularly if you live in one of the many LGI Homes new home communities that include walking trails among their many amenities. Walking, it turns out, is one of the most basic yet effective ways to burn calories, ease stress, and recapture time in the day devoted specifically to you. Whether you walk in silence, cruise to some music, or choose to chat with a friend, taking a foot to one of the beautiful, landscaped walking trails in your community can be one of the easiest ways to do something great for yourself—and it’s all there, right outside your front door!

Ready to give it a try? Here are some tips for getting started:

1. Check with your doctor. You hear it all the time, but it’s true: getting a check-up from a doctor before starting an exercise program may save you difficulties further down the line. Individuals who have been sedentary for over a year, have heart or blood pressure conditions, or experience dizziness or fainting should particularly seek out advice before starting a walking program.

2. Lace up. Make sure that you have a pair of comfortable walking shoes that fit your feet with no slipping, compression or chafing. Typically, exercise shoes will be one to one-and-a-half sizes larger than your usual shoe size, to accommodate for expansion of the feet during your walk.

3. Suit up! Walking, particularly out of doors, gives you a chance to enjoy the vagaries of weather, outside of the climate-controlled environments of our homes and cars. Dressing in layers allows you to remain comfortable in a wide range of temperatures, as you can add or remove clothing as necessary. A good rule of thumb is to dress for weather about ten to fifteen degrees warmer than it is outside, to compensate for the heat you will generate as you exercise.

4. Pay Attention. As you walk, it’s important that you pay attention to any aches, pains or discomforts you may experience. Walking is so second-nature to us that we often don’t realize that through the course of walking’s repetitive motions, we’re causing ourselves pain. Common issues include awkward arm angles (elbows too far out to the side, which can cause shoulder or neck pains), over- or under-pronation (the degree to which the totality of your foot comes into contact with the ground as you walk, which can cause issues with the knees), and walking with clenched fists, which can generate stiffness and fatigue in the arms.

5. Finally, enjoy! There are few things more enjoyable than being able to take a vigorous walk or a leisurely stroll through your neighborhood, without having to navigate the hazards of the street or the bumps and dips of the sidewalk. Landscaped walking trails—like those in many LGI Homes communities—create ideal ways to stay fit, take a break, and enjoy the natural beauty of your community. So have fun!

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Brand new LGI Homes’ house for sale in San Tan Valley, Phoenix, AZ with 3 beds and 2 baths.

Plan Name: Bisbee

Community: San Tan Heights (San Tan Valley, Phoenix, AZ)

Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2
Garage: 2-car

Price: $679/month.

Home highlights: Formal dining room, Master bedroom suite, Covered rear patio

Floorplan features: The Bisbee floorplan offers easy family living, all on one level. This layout features a formal dining room off of the main entry, which flows into a large open kitchen. The superior kitchen space includes custom upgraded 36-inch maple cabinets, granite countertops, quality appliances (including a new refrigerator), raised-panel doors and a host of other upgrades offered at no cost to the buyer. Two of the bedrooms share a full bath and both have easy access to the laundry utility room, as well as an additional closet. The master bedroom is located at the rear of the home for privacy, and includes a large walk-in closet, ensuite master bath with large garden soaker tub and separate shower. The oversized living room is open to the kitchen making it feel spacious, while also allowing access to the large covered patio that transitions indoors into the backyard.

About San Tan Heights: The master-planned community of San Tan Heights is located in Metro Phoenix’s East Valley foothills, and is home to more than 3,000 residents. LGI Homes offers San Tan Heights home buyers affordable living in an amenity-rich community, bringing their signature high-value, high-quality construction to this peaceful, natural landscape. Each new home comes with a ten-year structural warranty, and fully-landscaped front yards, fenced back yard, and covered patios are included. Other upscale touches include upgraded trim, vaulted ceilings and a spacious two car garage. Each brand new three, four, and five bedroom home is on an oversized lot, and within a short walk of community amenities like parks, walking trails, greenbelts, children’s playgrounds, and basketball courts.

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Brand new LGI Homes’ house for sale in Houston, Texas with 3 beds and 2.5 baths.

Plan Name: Cottonwood

Community: West Meadows in Baytown (Greater Houston, TX)

Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2.5
Garage: 2-Car

Price: $726/month.

Home highlights: Formal dining room, Large living room, Breakfast nook, Fully-fenced backyard

Floorplan features: The Cottonwood floorplan is a two-story home featuring almost 1,800 square feet of living space. The upstairs features two bedrooms that share a full bath, and the master bedroom which includes his-and-her walk-in closets and a master bath with an additional closet, garden tub and separate shower. Downstairs is the formal dining room, located just off of the entry, and a utility room conveniently placed away from the kitchen and next to a half-bath for guests. The two-car garage offers easy entry into the home—great for unloading groceries, sports equipment and kids. The kitchen features quality appliances including a new refrigerator, upgraded cabinets and breakfast nook to share your mornings with family.

About West Meadows: Located in Greater Houston, West Meadows in Baytown is one of LGI Homes’ featured communities. Here, buyers will find large landscaped lots, and homes with fully-fenced backyards, quality appliances, fixtures, and cabinets, and thousands of dollars in upgrades included at no cost to the buyer. This child-friendly community includes a playground at the neighborhood park and walking trails. Good schools, close to employment centers, entertainment, sports, restaurants and shopping—West Meadows is a great place to come home to!

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Brand new LGI Homes’ house for sale in Houston, Texas with 3-5 beds and 2-2.5 baths.

Community Name: West Meadows

Location: Baytown, Greater Houston, Texas

Community highlights: Large landscaped lots, Fully-Fenced Backyards, Convenient location near downtown Houston

Community features: West Meadows offers family-friendly, affordable new homes, all conveniently located near downtown Houston. Outstanding amenities and quality workmanship in each new home makes buying in this community an easy decision for new homebuyers. Households seeking a new home near everything—good schools, entertainment, fine restaurants, sporting activities, and numerous opportunities for employment and higher education—need look no further. Enjoy tranquility away from the hubbub of downtown while enjoying close proximity to everything!

Home Highlights: 3-5 Bedroom Floor Plans, 2-2.5 Baths, Front Yard Landscaping, Fully-Fenced Backyards, 2-Car Garages, $10K in Free Designer Upgrades, Homeowner Warranty

Home features: West Meadows features four different models, with 3, 4, and 5 bedroom homes that include $10,000 worth of designer upgrades. Quality kitchen appliances, granite countertops, top quality brushed-nickel fixtures and cabinet hardware, a new refrigerator, are just some of the pluses found in each home. The floorplans include 2-2.5 baths, and both single and two-story homes are available. Thoughtful touches like fully-landscaped front yards, fenced backyards, rounded wall corners, vaulted ceilings, and quality deed restrictions reflect the guaranteed quality offered by LGI Homes. With floorplans starting from only $679 per, this stellar community is affordable for couples, families or retirees.

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For Just $679 per Month You Can Own a New 3-bed Home in San Antonio, Texas
Own a New Home in Dallas with up to 5 Beds for Just $601 per Month
New 5-bed Home in Houston – Under $800 per Month!

Brand new LGI Homes’ house for sale in San Antonio, Texas with 3 beds and 2 baths.

Plan Name: Hemlock

Community: Luckey Ranch (San Antonio, TX)

Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2
Garage: 2-car

Price: $679/month.

Home highlights: Single-story, Eat-in dining area, Large living room, Utility room off of garage entry.

Floorplan features: The Hemlock floorplan, at just under 1200 square feet, offers a great starter home layout on one level. Two bedrooms are located at the front of the house and the master bedroom with ensuite and large walk-in closet is in the rear for more privacy. The living room and kitchen adjoin for ease in socializing with family, friends, and entertaining. The two-car garage located at the front of the house has in-home entry leading past a good size utility room for your family’s laundry needs. The Hemlock also features free designer upgrades worth approx $10,000, such as custom cabinets, new quality kitchen appliances a new refrigerator, quality fixtures, vaulted ceilings, fully-fenced backyards and landscaping in the front yard. Every home also includes a new homeowner warranty.

About Luckey Ranch: Luckey Ranch is an outstanding LGI Homes community located in San Antonio. Besides the upgrades and amenities found within these 3-5 bedroom homes, new home buyers will enjoy a 30-acre parkland and recreation center with playground, fishing lake, sports basketball court, soccer and baseball fields, walking trails, and park gazebo with smoker and BBQ pit. Luckey Ranch is also close to Lackland Air Force Base, the Toyota plant, Sea World and more, making it one of the most appealing master-planned communities in the San Antonio metropolitan region

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For Just $773 per Month You Can Own a New 3-bed Home in San Antonio

If you’ve been shopping for a new home for a while, you’ve probably visited a number of homebuilder websites and noticed that certain buzzwords show up time and time again. Words like “designer,” “value,” and “craftsmanship” gets thrown around pretty liberally, and it can be hard to distinguish the reality from the marketing verbiage. So how does a homebuyer know what they’re getting when they buy from a builder? Will they be getting a heavy dose of meaningless catchphrases that fail to prop up a substandard home? Or will they move into a quality house built by a company that honestly cares about their reputation, their product, and their customers?

Here at LGI Homes, we have carefully selected a few words of our own to define the kind of homebuilder we work hard to be: quality, value and affordability. Over the next few posts, we will focus on each of these principles, to share with you why—in the case of LGI Homes—these aren’t just words, but promises that form the reality behind every home we build.

When it comes to quality, the definition may be pretty easy: quality is a characteristic of excellence that sets something apart from others like it. In the case of LGI Homes, quality is the way that our home construction techniques set our houses apart from those offered by the competition. Every home contains pretty much the same elements (kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms), and just about every home can house your family. But every homebuilder runs a business—part of which involves making enough money on the sale of each home to employ the countless people who make the planning, building and selling of new home developments possible. How each builder chooses to make that money can differ greatly—and it is one place where LGI Homes’ quality outshines other builders, 100 percent.

LGI Homes’ first commitment to quality is in our building model. Instead of artificially deflating our prices through substandard materials, less-skilled labor or a lack of home and community amenities, we have structured our business to make money through a streamlined in-house construction process that minimizes our initial costs, and passes those savings on to our customers. In our method, we purchase, plan and prepare our own land, cutting out some middlemen traditional to the industry and saving us substantially on the cost of developing each community. It’s one of the main reasons why LGI Homes can offer such high-quality homes at prices that other competitors simply can’t match.

Our second commitment to quality comes in the form of our enduring relationships with our trade partners—the skilled men and women who choose the best materials and use the latest techniques to ensure that every LGI Homes house is strong, stable, solid and secure. Their tenacity and insistence upon “doing it right” has won LGI Homes awards for quality construction—including a notable first-place award for the construction of quality new homes in the Houston, Texas market. We impose rigorous standards on what can and cannot be used to construct our homes, and our communities have come to represent only the finest in quality and durability. That’s why we extend a 10-year structural warranty on every house we build, giving you peace of mind and proud confidence in the security and quality of the place that you call home.

So there it is: quality, defined. But don’t just take our word for it. Our satisfied owners are testament to the fact that for LGI Homes, quality isn’t just a buzzword, but a pillar of our ongoing business success, and a main reason why thousands of homeowners have chosen LGI Homes as their builder of choice. Stop by one of our communities and see for yourself how LGI Homes is building their legacy of quality, one house at a time.

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Learn about debt to income ratio

Brand new LGI Homes’ house for sale in San Antonio, Texas with 3 beds and 2 baths.

Plan Name: Trinity

Community: Luckey Ranch (San Antonio, TX)

Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2
Garage: 2-car

Price: $773/month.

Home highlights: Formal dining room, Private master suite, Convenient walk-thru utility room

Floorplan features: The Trinity floorplan is a single-family home offering just over 1,400 square feet. Maximizing privacy and flow, there are two bedrooms at the front of the home enjoying a distinct space away from the master bedroom suite, which is located in the rear of the house. This stunning owner’s refuge features a large walk-in closet, ensuite master bath with garden tub, and a separate shower. The kitchen includes a new refrigerator and quality appliances, custom cabinets with quality brushed nickel fixtures and more. The two-car garage offers easy home entrance with a walk-through utility room leading right into the kitchen—putting away the groceries after a day of shopping is suddenly so much easier! The Trinity floorplan by LGI Homes is perfect for new home buyers, with prices starting at just $773 per month.

About Luckey Ranch: Luckey Ranch in San Antonio, Texas hits the mark again as a premium new home community by LGI Homes. Amenities at the community include a 30-acre, two-million dollar Recreation Center (to be constructed), a fishing lake, boat storage, kayak boat launch, soccer field, baseball field, full sports basketball court, children’s playground, picnicking area with gazebo and smoker and BBQ, and walking trails. Affordable homes are just one benefit of Luckey Ranch; the community is conveniently located just minutes from San Antonio for shopping, entertainment, dining, and employment opportunities. The Toyota plant, Lackland AFB Air Force Base and Sea World are also close by. Retirees, couples, and families alike will enjoy the larger living spaces, open areas, and very affordable brand new homes found in this amazing new homes community.

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With the change in season from winter to spring, we enter one of the prime times of year for homebuying activity. Kids are almost out of school, and the broad expanse of summer offers time for home shopping, moving, and settling in to a new home before the rigors of academia begin once again in the fall. So it’s no surprise that most families begin shopping for their homes in March, taking advantage of great weather and copious daylight to find their dream house.

If you’ve been eager to move into a new home—such as the beautiful, affordable and high-quality new homes offered by LGI Homes—but are worried about whether or not you’ll be able to sell your current home, this may be the season for you to make your move. Not convinced? Consider this:

Real estate is highly local. Many local economies—particularly in cities throughout Texas—have remained much more resilient than the nation as a whole, and strong job growth and steady wages are underpinning heavy activity in their real estate markets. Many of these places are also outperforming the national scene in terms of real estate, meaning that grim statistics applied to “housing” as a whole often don’t apply to local markets. Even major metropolitan areas in hard-hit states like California and Florida are seeing rebounds in hiring, which is increasing demand for homes and increasing prices.

Low inventories can drive up prices. With so many homeowners unwilling—or unable—to put their homes on the market, those owners who are selling have been able to command higher prices for their homes. Why? The simple law of “supply and demand.” When demand for something exceeds the supply, prices for that in-demand item rise, because the item becomes a premium. In the case of houses, local economies that have strong economic underpinnings support wages and allow workers to buy homes. Those workers want to buy homes, and when presented with low inventory, will often offer higher prices in order to secure a house of their own.

Homes owned by people—and not banks—have an edge. While the prices on foreclosed homes in places like Phoenix may seem attractive to some buyers, those prices are often factors of the poor condition of the homes themselves. Deferred maintenance, structural problems, and even cosmetic issues like stained rugs, cracked walls and broken appliances heavily discount list prices on foreclosures, since many banks sell their foreclosure inventories “as is.” In this environment, well-cared-for homes inhabited by people (and not just spiderwebs!) are hot, as most buyers want a “turn-key” property into which they can move without any work.

As you can see, there are a number of factors that define a “good time” to sell a home, and as both local economies—and the nation as a whole—turn the corner on the recent recession, housing is ready to stage a rebound.

Lucky homeowners who can sell into the curve will not only get better prices from inventory-starved buyers, but will also be able to take advantage of record-low interest rates and sky-high affordability to move into new homes. Why wait to own your dream, when you can make your move today? Selling your current home may be the first step toward owning a brand-new house in one of LGI Homes’ stunning communities throughout Texas and Arizona!

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