front lawn, drought, weeds, landscape options?

[Jeremy H.]

So with the drought here, what's left of the grass is barely alive, I water a little bit, however I have monster weeds that is hard to remove, and shoots up about 2 feet tall in no time and needs to be mowed down.

I am in the process of remodeling, so I don't have time to up keep the front, it looks really bad. 

I maybe starting to use roundup on the weeds, but thinking what is a good landscape option for future tenants.   

I have read about putting cardboard and mulch over.  But then weeds will just grow too in a year or two.

I have checked out the artificial lawns, I didn't know they are so expensive, and requires extensive prep work