Finally- I can post something positive!!

[Rich Weese]

There is so much negative stuff going on that I'm excited about a trend I've ready to share, finally.
As you may know, I go to Cancun, MX a lot! Been doing it for over 30 years. I also lived in so. TX, 7 miles from MX for nearly 2 years. I've met and talked with LOTS of hispanics from both sides of the River. Things are bad in our country, but still no where near as bad as MX.
Mexicans absolutely hate having any money in their banks. They either went through or know about the various devaluations Mexico has had on occasion. Imagine your $100 bill being worth $1 in the morning to understand their fear. They are losing faith in their country and worried about the future elections and getting back more toward socialism. That is bad for businessmen in either country.
I met numerous people in s. TX that were high up in the Machilladoras(our companies that moved to MX). They lived in U.S. and went across 1 of 7 bridges each morning to work. They wanted to live on our side and have kids in our schools.
These folks had passport, or dual residency.
OK, here is the update and good news. I'm sharing this info so you might get ahead of the curve. One year from now, you'll have seen what happened. I'm pretty close to a CEO of big s. tx bank and very good friends with pres of large title company. I can tell you now, our money is coming back across the border!!
This business owners are really worried and are moving their monies here. It works in this order.
1. They buy a nice large home for their family and pay cash. Very low key.
2. They move their business here if possible, since they're already selling their product or services here. These would be the small to mid size businesses, not GM or Nike.
3. Spend discretionary funds on investments, mostly real estate. They want rentals with no mgmt headaches and very low key.

I had several conversations today with CEO of the bank , Title CO pres and several future investors. These Business people have already bought half million dollar homes(that buys Taj Majal in s. TX) and have a lot more to spend. So TX benefits from having a million people just across border within a few miles and the wealthy city of Monterey not too far away.
I'd assume El Paso would start seeing the same thing. I have a subdivision in S. Tx that I'm just fireing up again. I had a request for 5 homes today from 1 investor. The cities in this valley also see the potential boom. Weslaco has just decided to clear 9 acres and open a small business area for the businesses to get a start and test the waters. Another new bridge is being built out of Alamo area. My bank has benefitted greatly and has just expanded to San Antonio with their first 2 branches. BBVA has expanded into the area and bought out Compass bank with 15 or so branches. The SIMON Factory Outlets chain does a higher volume per sq. ft than ANY of their other outlets nationwide.
There is also a new interstate 69 planned from heart of MX all the way to Canada and parts are already completed. The Valley(Mcallen-Brownsville) was rated # 1 by money mag for 3 straight years for potential appreciation. This stuff that is going on now , will run it right up again.
I've been bullish on S. Tx for a long time, bought and built a lot of SFRS there and they're all well. I may even decide to look for some land and do another subdivision. I don't mind sharing the info. I like to say I told you so. I'll re-visit this thread a year from now and we'll see where things are at.
The peso is nearing an all time low against our crappy dollar, to show you how bad it is. Still, the wealthy prefer having their money here. Oh, I was supposed to have a small closing today on a residential lot to a Mexican National. She needed to pay the balance of her purchase price,10K. Her Mexican bank wanted a 25% fee for the wire fee, $2500! She decided to fly here over the weekend and hand me the money! It'll be cheaper for her. I guess MX is seeing money go out of MX and are going to try and slow it down.
This is really fun news. We'll going to get the illegals coming across the border to work for the LEGALS that are moving their money and business here. How crazy is that! I'm not trying to voice my acceptance of that mehod, but it seems to be a reality, so might as well take advantage of it.
I hope those that are able to, check what is going on in the border states. We just hear about cinco de mayo, and flag difficulties, but there is a whole lot going on under the surface and under our noses. This will make TX an even stronger place to be invested in real estate, imo. Rich
p.s. I'd be interested if anyone else is seeing this in the border states and cities.

[Rich Weese]

Sean- Welcome to BP! I feel honored that your first post was to me. Thank you. Do what I did, GO THERE. Start your research on Rio Grande Valley. There are lots of articles on McAllen area. There are so many things going on there, I really feel it is a can't miss. The median price is very low on all the cities in the valley.
Before I moved there a little over a couple years ago, I started following ads on properties on craigslist , ebay, area newspaper etc. I had actually found a couple owner financed homes which I bought. There are some threads and posts and blogs on here about my TX experiences. I was able to buy/build 68 homes in TX in 18 months. I don't suggest you try to duplicate it, but you will love TX. Rich