Keri Schmidt may be the president and CEO of the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, but the 22-year Sugar Land resident can also add Great Homes Program participant to her list of accomplishments.
The Sugar Mill resident used the Design Program, which provides homeowners with a creative, re-envisioned exterior home design at a Sugar Land-exclusive cost and saw the opportunity to use the Update Program to implement her home design and update her home with the help of an incentive. After she transformed her home, we spoke with her about her experience with the programs, and how other Sugar Land residents can get involved.
Want to update your home? Join Keri and apply for the Design and Update programs under Great Homes at https://sugarlandecodev.com/great-homes! Applications for the Update Program will open on February 1st are open until all incentive funding has been committed to new home improvement projects. All Sugar Land homeowners can receive a reimbursement incentive up to $10,000 for completing exterior home improvement work after being approved for participation in the Update Program by the City.
Keri Schmidt’s redesigned home, thanks to the Great Homes program.
What prompted you to redevelop and reinvest in your home?
The opportunity to see the design from professionals was a big deal because we had a brick house. And the idea of painting a brick house is very intimidating. And to be able to get a very reasonably priced design that you could see a mockup of was a real key factor to jumping in. I thought to myself, “well, I’ll just see what it looks like, and then see where we go from there.”
Was there a vision that you had going into this process of what you wanted the house to look like?
Not really. I was really interested in what someone with a different set of eyes could come up with and envision.
Can you tell me a little bit about the improvements that you’ve made via the Great Homes Program?
The main improvement was painting this very old, orange-looking brick white – that was the main thing. Then the trim was painted in a dark bronze. One special thing that certain people look at is we put in round drain pipes, which are really cool, as well as new landscaping. And what else did we do? We also got a new roof.
Can you tell me a little bit about the application process? From a resident point of view, was it easy?
I have such a little time (because of my job), but the application is pretty straightforward. Anytime I had a question, I got an immediate response (from a member of the Community Planning and Redevelopment department.) I didn’t have to wait long to get an answer. It was really easy.
Why do you think it’s important for people to reinvest in their homes?
Well, it’s the best investment most of us have, so you want to take care of it on the inside and the outside. The impact of curb appeal is important — everybody talks about curb appeal. This program provides for that and it’s really increasing the value and maintaining the value of your house and your neighborhood.
Why is investing in your home important to Sugar Land as a whole?
Some of our neighborhoods are aging. I’m in one of them. And, you know, it certainly makes a big difference when people take care of their properties and update them. We certainly want to attract new folks to Sugar Land, young folks to Sugar Land. If all housing looks old, it’s not necessarily the most positive thing.
Your house looks completely different after your updates. What inspired you to make that kind of jump?
I guess just seeing it on paper. Brick and Batten provided the renderings, and they were really great to work with because we just shifted a little bit on some of the colors. And they were really happy to do it. We just went from a more of a gray to more of a dark bronze. Just being able to see it, it was clear to me that that was going to be an immense improvement to what we had. I didn’t realize how ugly my house was, and my house was kind of cute! But my reaction was like, “Whoa, wow, that’s, that’s huge.” And the reaction from family and neighbors has been amazing.
Keri Schmidt may be the president and CEO of the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, but the 22-year Sugar Land resident can also add Great Homes Program participant to her list of accomplishments.
The Sugar Mill resident used the Design Program, which provides homeowners with a creative, re-envisioned exterior home design at a Sugar Land-exclusive cost and saw the opportunity to use the Update Program to implement her home design and update her home with the help of an incentive. After she transformed her home, we spoke with her about her experience with the programs, and how other Sugar Land residents can get involved.
Want to update your home? Join Keri and apply for the Design and Update programs under Great Homes at https://sugarlandecodev.com/great-homes! Applications for the Update Program will open on February 1st are open until all incentive funding has been committed to new home improvement projects. All Sugar Land homeowners can receive a reimbursement incentive up to $10,000 for completing exterior home improvement work after being approved for participation in the Update Program by the City.
What prompted you to redevelop and reinvest in your home?
The opportunity to see the design from professionals was a big deal because we had a brick house. And the idea of painting a brick house is very intimidating. And to be able to get a very reasonably priced design that you could see a mockup of was a real key factor to jumping in. I thought to myself, “well, I’ll just see what it looks like, and then see where we go from there.”
Was there a vision that you had going into this process of what you wanted the house to look like?
Not really. I was really interested in what someone with a different set of eyes could come up with and envision.
Can you tell me a little bit about the improvements that you’ve made via the Great Homes Program?
The main improvement was painting this very old, orange-looking brick white – that was the main thing. Then the trim was painted in a dark bronze. One special thing that certain people look at is we put in round drain pipes, which are really cool, as well as new landscaping. And what else did we do? We also got a new roof.
Can you tell me a little bit about the application process? From a resident point of view, was it easy?
I have such a little time (because of my job), but the application is pretty straightforward. Anytime I had a question, I got an immediate response (from a member of the Community Planning and Redevelopment department.) I didn’t have to wait long to get an answer. It was really easy.
Why do you think it’s important for people to reinvest in their homes?
Well, it’s the best investment most of us have, so you want to take care of it on the inside and the outside. The impact of curb appeal is important — everybody talks about curb appeal. This program provides for that and it’s really increasing the value and maintaining the value of your house and your neighborhood.
Why is investing in your home important to Sugar Land as a whole?
Some of our neighborhoods are aging. I’m in one of them. And, you know, it certainly makes a big difference when people take care of their properties and update them. We certainly want to attract new folks to Sugar Land, young folks to Sugar Land. If all housing looks old, it’s not necessarily the most positive thing.
Your house looks completely different after your updates. What inspired you to make that kind of jump?
I guess just seeing it on paper. Brick and Batten provided the renderings, and they were really great to work with because we just shifted a little bit on some of the colors. And they were really happy to do it. We just went from a more of a gray to more of a dark bronze. Just being able to see it, it was clear to me that that was going to be an immense improvement to what we had. I didn’t realize how ugly my house was, and my house was kind of cute! But my reaction was like, “Whoa, wow, that’s, that’s huge.” And the reaction from family and neighbors has been amazing.
To view eligibility requirements and apply, please visit https://sugarlandecodev.com/great-homes. Note: All implemented designs require HOA approval.
Content edited for grammar and clarity.
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