The Grass Isn’t Always Greener On The Other Side…

But what if it is? This is not a metaphor, by the way... This is basically my first attempt at maintaining a lawn and so far I'm not doing very well.

As you can see, the community maintained grass is a lot greener than mine is. I've been watering, I've mowed, do I need to put fertilizer in? Do I water too much? Has the HOA been watering longer than I have and I just need to be patient?

I grew up in Vegas where most people don't have grass in their front yard, we basically had rocks, "desert" landscaping if you will, so I didn't make any money mowing lawns as a kid, and I've never been responsible for keeping up with the Joneses like this so to speak. My neighbors and all the community areas have nice green grass and I'm still yellow.

What am I doing wrong??? Any grass pros? Also, know anyone locally that could get rid of my weed forest in my backyard?