Real Estate Blog

Just recently I was asked to explain to some potential clients why Texas has one of the best business and investment climates in the nation. It wasn't an issue of finding something to talk about, but figuring out when to stop talking. This is the kind of information real estate investors need to have at their fingertips to negotiate conversations with financiers and potential partners.

First, and I especially like this statistic, Texans are entrepreneurs. The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activities is a measure of entrepreneurs per 100,000 adults in a certain area. Nationally, the number is 340. In Texas, it's 400. We have a large and growing economy, and we are actively seizing the opportunity to leverage that into an even more diversified position.

There are also five points I particularly  like to drive home, because they become such a strong basis for a broader discussion.

●      Texas leads the nation in the current economic recovery to the extent that some analysts refer to the state as "recession proof."

●      We have our own large and profitable state economy, but we also do business nationally and, increasingly, internationally.

●      Our population is willing to embrace mobility. Texans go where the jobs and the opportunities are best.

●      The new residents coming from out of state are unusually well-educated, with a strong emphasis in the tech field and in professions like law and medicine.

●      Texas has high-quality, affordable housing and low taxes.

We simply cannot drive home the fact forcibly enough that Texans have more purchasing power and more investment dollars because we did not suffer the same kind of job loss, for the same extended period as the rest of the nation.

Nationally, jobs really began to start to evaporate in May 2008, but here in Texas we went through another eight months of creating jobs, well into January 2009, before the slow down hit us. Then, the country endured 28 months of continued job losses while we started to come back in just 16. Sure, it got tight enough, but our economic foundation is so strong, Texas began to see things turn around before other, harder hit areas of the country.

When you have a situation where investors have postponed making a move and consumers have cut back on their demand for goods and services, the desire to do business and to buy just naturally builds up. That's what we're seeing right now and it will, undoubtedly lead to a short-term economic boom in Texas. Long-term, however, we have the foundation and the economic indicators to sustain long-term growth that will deliver both high value and stability.

Next week, we'll talk more about the long-term strength because that's where the most persuasive case is made for investment activity -- for you, if you're sitting on the fence -- and for potential partners and financing resources.