Investing in Texas vs georgia

[James Park]

Is Texas going to be the next california real estate market in the next decade? There seems to so many positive outloOk for texas. As an investor , compare and contrast the real estate market in Atlanta metro vs Austin & dallas.

Is there potential for property values to double in value in select re markets in ga and tx?

[Bruce M.]

Texas has a lot of potential but do look at the high cost of property taxes there when doing your analysis. Generally it is 3% of asssessed value, give or take, depending on city and county. That can be a lot; $3,000 on a 100K property for example. I own in the suburbs of Austin and am happy with my rentals there (bought them all in early 2006) but am not in a hurry to buy more there. I do like the Austin market though, just trying to diversify and get properties in other areas with lower expenses. TX never boomed like areas in CA so it did not bust as much either. I am not sure it has the makings for huge coming boom or not. Maybe others will have more to say on it.