Real Estate Investing in Corpus Christi (Houston, San Antonio: apartments, condominiums, crime)

[dfwre11]

Hi

We are exploring real estate investment opportunities in Corpus Christi. There are few concerns on higher than average unemployment rate, slightly crime stats etc. Future prospects and population growth seems to be good.

I would like to hear from the locals on the vacancy rates and future build stats. Are there zip codes/areas to avoid? Any insight would be helpful.

Thanks in advance

[jackalope48]

I've heard it described as rickety carnival roller coaster as compared to Houston's full blown Six Flags roller coaster. Corpus has a counter cyclical economy. When oil prices are high that tips the rest of the country into recession and Corpus into boom town territory so when oil prices are low and interest rates are low the rest of the country is doing great and Corpus is doing ok. It does continually grow just not huge ups and downs.

Three things tend to murder outside investors. 1. Paying too much in the first place. No one local pays list. Many a Californian has over payed and over leveraged and lost everything here. 2. Buying on the Island when the market is pumped up from the latest piece of news. People see the price of land out there and go wild buying comparing to other places. They forget there is a ton of land out there. Enough for decades at current growth rates. People thought Schlitterbahn was going to change everything and dump 50k people out there. Didn't happen. Before that it was Packery Channel being dredged. 3. Condominiums. They just don't do well here. Land prices are still so low that the additional cost of going vertical doesn't make them very competitive. The only condo developer on Ocean drive that didn't go broke died first.

Apartments do well. Light commercial does well. Industrial is cyclical but always under built when a boom starts and not really anyone in that business these days. Office is the best right now it's been in 30 years(but it was horrible for most of that time period). Just remember that Corpus is a tier 2 market(was tier 3 ten years ago) so things that work in Austin, San Antonio, and Houston don't work here. It's a middle class community with middle class price points.

Anything else you need to be more specific on what you are looking at.