Texas Forum - SF Networking Summit Connections

[J. Martin]

This forum is for anyone coming to my Networking Summit who would like to talk about the Texas market to start connecting and talking about this market before the Summit! (see website in signature) If you're a local with some input, that's greatly appreciated too!

As requested by @Johnson H. .. @Ken Lau , @Kyle Tam , and @Sandeep S. , how are things going out there? I believe @Will Barnard is also investing in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area. 

Is this mainly a play on population and job growth? Driven by energy? Tech? All around? I keep seeing the "bring your business to TX" ad campaigns around CA. If not for CA being a totally amazing place to live and enjoying investing in my back yard, I would probably be all in there!

[Blake C.]

Over the years I have lived in San Antonio, Austin, DFW, and now Amarillo, with family still living in all four places plus Houston. The major metro markets in TX are strong because of all the reasons you listed above (tech, energy, and really more. Texas is a state thats legislates well for business (=population growth), works to keep taxes low, the weather is great, landlord laws are solid, cost of living is rather low, unemployment is low, and no one wants to move away. People in CA love it there, but once you live here, you tend to not want to live elsewhere.

The Austin market has been hot for the last 20 years really. Like everywhere else, it took a slow down in the 2008-2010, but it has come back strong.

I owned a SFR in DFW for a while but took my exit last year to invest more locally now that i don't live there anymore. In some ways, I wish I would have kept it, but I'm not found of investing 300+ of miles away. The Amarillo market isn't crazy, but its steady with a very modest appreciation.

Ask a Texan and they will tell you "Don't just invest in TX... find a way to move here."

With Stereotypical Texan Pride,

Blake