Relocating to Texas......best place? (Dallas, San Antonio: best city, sales, real estate market)

[nccntrygrl]

Hello Texans! I am presently in Colorado, moved there 2 years ago from NC for all the wrong reasons. Time to relocate and for the right reason this time...me! I've been told that Texas is the true "God's Country" and the closest I will come to finding the "southern hospitality" that I miss from back home. Is this true? I work in the home building industry (Project Admin). Any suggestions as to the best city with booming housing industry? I can work in the city career wise, but most definitly need to stay living in the country. Looking for a rental where I can have my horse, dog and cat. Maybe even rental property near barn/farm/ranch where I can help with chores to work to lower/trade for rent. Any insight, suggestions, direction would be apprciated. Thanks.

Happy Trails and God Bless!
NC

[I LOVE NORTH CAROLINA]

Just curious, why aren't you going back to North Carolina, the place that truly is
"Gods Country"

[NOTAM]

what kind of climate and geography do you like? what kind of culture? there are so many places in Texas to choose from and so different. in your industry, you will do well in many places-every big city in Texas is booming and growing. Texas is definitely friendlier than the Carolinas and Southeast. I was stuck in Georgia for 3 years before moving back to Texas last year and i hated it. plus no state income tax here. would love to give you some ideas, but first answer those questions so i can steer you in the right direction.
where in Colorado are ya?

[caendaniels]

Narrow it down to Austin or Ft. Worth.

[Lucidus]

Two words, Midland/Odessa.

This area has been singled out as Texas' next boomtown. New homes are in big demand and existing home prices are rapidly increasing. Here is a quote from a national real estate magazine, sorry I can't post the link.

The next real estate boomtowns: Where are they?

Some housing markets are on the upswing

Thursday, July 06, 2006

By Glenn Roberts Jr.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors reported that the national rate of existing-home sales dropped 6.6 percent in May 2006 compared to May 2005. And the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the rate of new-home sales fell 5.9 percent in May compared to May 2005.

In Texas, Odessa and Midland led in home-price appreciation in the fourth quarter 2005, Dotzour said -- Odessa had 15 percent year-over-year price growth for the quarter. Real estate markets in El Paso, San Antonio, Wichita Falls, Corpus Christi, Tyler and Brownsville, among others, are also on the upswing.

[lifertexan]

Two words, Midland/Odessa.

After living on the edge of the Rockies? Only if they are masochists. And when oil busts again,so will the home building industry.


For the home building industry,the sure bet is the north DFW area.It is close to being the fastest growing area in the nation,if not the fastest,and will still be going long after other areas have petered out.People from all over the country are moving into the Plano/Frisco/Prosper/Allen/McKinney area,and there is no end in sight.Master planned communities are the big thing there now,and they cannot hire enough people,much less project managers,to keep up.

[Lucidus]

Originally Posted by lifertexan

After living on the edge of the Rockies? Only if they are masochists. And when oil busts again,so will the home building industry.


For the home building industry,the sure bet is the north DFW area.It is close to being the fastest growing area in the nation,if not the fastest,and will still be going long after other areas have petered out.People from all over the country are moving into the Plano/Frisco/Prosper/Allen/McKinney area,and there is no end in sight.Master planned communities are the big thing there now,and they cannot hire enough people,much less project managers,to keep up.

There may be an end in sight. Now I agree that DFW is always growing and needing new homes but there is already a glut. DFW is now a buyers market, whereas Midland/Odessa is a seller's market. Just see all the articles like this one.

Dallas Morning News
Steve Brown:
Builders are turning to bargains

Rising inventories have some willing to wheel and deal

“The supply of unsold new homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area was up more than 10 percent at the start of 2006. There were about 8,751 completed, unsold new homes on the market at the end of December. While that’s a small number historically, it’s still more than double the unsold home inventory at the end of 2000.”

“The deals sound too good to pass up, and that’s what builders are hoping. Grand Homes is advertising new homes in Lancaster ‘reduced $30,000.’ In Allen and McKinney, they are cutting prices by $15,000 and $25,000 on some models. Mercedes Homes says it will give up to $14,000 in free options for buyers of its houses. American Legend Homes is offering ‘$10,000 savings’ at one of its McKinney subdivisions. And Centex is cutting prices up to $15,000 on some of its models.”

The original poster wanted to know where there was a booming housing industry and some ranch work to be had. I think M/O fits the bill.

[lifertexan]

There may be an end in sight. Now I agree that DFW is always growing and needing new homes but there is already a glut. DFW is now a buyers market, whereas Midland/Odessa is a seller's market. Just see all the articles like this one.

Sorry,but no.We are looking to move up there and have been talking to builders there.One builder there ,just one, will do 700 homes in just 1 subdivision this year,by himself.M/O combined will not reach 700 new homes for all builders this year.Frisco has a pop of 70,000 now.In 2030 it is projected to be 227,000 . McKinney is now 103,000.In 2030 , 225,000 .This doesn't take into account Allen,Plano,Celina,Prosper,nor any of the suburbs around Ft Worth.So no,the end is not in sight.Builders in large cities often temporarily overbuild when it is hard to gauge the rate of influx from out of town.But the people are still coming in droves,and they will still need houses.And some of the new developments have been found out to be shabbily built,and homeowners are trying to move from them into better quality homes.This ends up getting the subdivision a bad rep,and the builders there have to start giving big discounts to draw in buyers.I know,I've been looking and researching.We have decided to go with a pre 1980 built home to avoid this problem.But the building continues at breakneck speed.

BTW,the area north of DFW is prime horse ranch country,especially around Pilot Point .The large and expensive horse ranches there are something else.It makes me think of what the horse country of Kentucky must be like.

[Lucidus]

Originally Posted by lifertexan

Sorry,but no.We are looking to move up there and have been talking to builders there.One builder there ,just one, will do 700 homes in just 1 subdivision this year,by himself.M/O combined will not reach 700 new homes for all builders this year.Frisco has a pop of 70,000 now.In 2030 it is projected to be 227,000 . McKinney is now 103,000.In 2030 , 225,000 .This doesn't take into account Allen,Plano,Celina,Prosper,nor any of the suburbs around Ft Worth.So no,the end is not in sight.Builders in large cities often temporarily overbuild when it is hard to gauge the rate of influx from out of town.But the people are still coming in droves,and they will still need houses.And some of the new developments have been found out to be shabbily built,and homeowners are trying to move from them into better quality homes.This ends up getting the subdivision a bad rep,and the builders there have to start giving big discounts to draw in buyers.I know,I've been looking and researching.We have decided to go with a pre 1980 built home to avoid this problem.But the building continues at breakneck speed.

BTW,the area north of DFW is prime horse ranch country,especially around Pilot Point .The large and expensive horse ranches there are something else.It makes me think of what the horse country of Kentucky must be like.

Well I never argued that DFW was not a much bigger market. Even when cities are not growing new homes are always being built. I had just noticed a number of articles about homebuilders facing a slowdown in DFW thats all. Really any place in Texas should be fine for the homebuilding industry for a while but M/O has serious demand right now and is leading the state in appreciation of home prices.

That is some great horse country up there. My great father owned land in that area. I sure wish he wouldn't have sold it out of the family. Oh well.

Thats a great idea buying pre 1980. The last thing you want to do is buy an over-valued McMansion. Good luck with the move.

[Lucidus]

Sorry about the double post, but I couldn't find my edit button.

Anyway, the current boom in M/O is not just oil. Check this out.


Public release date: 3-Jul-2006
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Contact: Todd Gabe
todd.gabe@umit.maine.edu
207-581-3307
University of Maine
Creative economy grows despite large population growth of creative people
Regions with fast growth in creative people saw slowest growth in creative jobs

Of the 200 U.S. metropolitan areas considered, the hottest spot for the creative economy was Midland-Odessa, Texas, which had the highest growth rate of creative talent during the 1990s and ranked at the top of employment gains. However, the Sarasota-Bradenton, Fl., area had the second-fastest growth in creative people over the decade, but ranked near the bottom in terms of job growth in creative occupations between 1999 and 2003

What do they mean by creative economy?

Creative Industries (or sometimes Creative Economy) refers to a set of interlocking industry sectors, and are often cited as being a growing part of the global economy. The creative industries are often defined as those that focus on creating and exploiting intellectual property products; such as the arts, films, games or fashion designs, or providing business-to-business creative services such as advertising.