Real Estate Blog

Well, I regret to say we are on the sixth day of 2011 and the New Year's elves have yet to get my desk cleaned off. This has been floating around since November, but it's something I don't want to let slip by without notice. In a major economic development coup for the city, SunPower Corp. will be building its operation center in Austin. That means 450 jobs over the next four years and a $10 million capital investment in the economy of Central Texas.

In a statement issued about the move the CEO of the company Tom Wener said Texas has "great potential to become a significant solar market." That would seem to be backed up by the additional news that Hays Energy LP is bringing a $74 million solar power farm to a 136-acre tract on Francis Harris Road near Country Road 266 in neighboring Hays County. (Hays Energy is a division of London-based International Power.)

Alternative energy excites me on several levels. Beyond the fact that clean sources of power have a lot of social, economic, and political pluses in their favor, these are not transient developments. We just get more and more hungry for electricity, more and more wedded to our gadgets. I panic if I can't find my iPhone charger!

So when you see long-term, backbone-level, infrastructure projects like these coming into the area, that translates to population growth and housing demand -- two commodities we already enjoy in unusual abundance. These kinds of projects help to sustain those trends over a longer term and like attracts like. Austin already has a forward-thinking progressive reputation. If we become a center in Texas for alternate energy and solar power -- and I believe we will -- that's going to draw more associated businesses into the area.

Just one more reason why I'm excited not just for the year ahead, but for several years ahead. This is an excellent time to invest in property. In the short term, you may be looking at something you'll rent out, but in the long-term lots of homes are going to change hands in high demand areas (can you say "appreciation?") as people working on these projects transition out of that "new to town" phase and start putting down roots.

As real estate investors, we'll be more than happy to help them find a place to sink those roots! Drop me a line or leave a comment if you want to talk about these and other economic developments in our area in greater detail. This is one topic I never get tired of!