The reason is that there is a huge diversity of jobs by industry that is a huge advantage over any other areas of Texas and other parts of the country for that matter.

Obviously, you could go back further to the downfall of heavy industry, but with plans in place for redevelopment along the riverfront (https://www.norristown.org/424...) there is a ton of money being thrown at the area.

So to be as transparent as possible, I am coming into this industry with no connections or friends to leverage my position.

I have always known the power of real estate investing but the navigation of its possibilities personally have been often halted by lack of money and career searching in a financially unreliable industry. 

Is this an industry standard?

By the end of 2020, lenders and banks had learned their lesson, and stopped trying to compete on that basis (lo and behold,  once everyone stopped trying to be a rate whore, Q4 wound up being the most profitable quarter ever, for the mortgage industry, and Q4 is normally the slow season!).

Since I have worked in the oil & gas industry for 20+ years, this was a reasonably simple transition for me.

Hello, I’m brand new to this industry and have not started my first property yet.

Find out what the going rate is in your area by asking local groups in the industry. 

I do have to say this will really suck for the real estate industry and be curious its impacts.