I happened upon two bits of news over the weekend regarding real estate in my area.
First, we went to visit my MIL over the weekend. She lives in the same town where I have House #1 (and bought/sold House #2). She had a circular that talks about the goings-on for the town, so I decided to read it. There was a story splashed on the front page that said (and I'm paraphrasing) that that particular town is the fastest-growing in the state of Texas! I kind of already knew it was growing pretty big, but I didn't think it was the fastest growing in the entire state. What's interesting is the fact that the town is starting to see some growing pains. As I've mentioned before, the City utility office seems to be running inefficiently, and I'm thinking the reason is they are running behind the growth. They need possibly 3-5 more people in that office to handle the calls and whatnot, IMHO. Additionally, for a city that is growing so much, it still has ABSOLUTELY NO grocery store (unless you count convenience stores). A couple of chains are supposed to be coming in within the year.
Second, I was reading the Business section of the Sunday paper, and in the front was a story about how foreign investors are starting to buy real estate in central Texas due to the lower-than-average prices AND the weakening currency. I'm not talking out-of-state buyers, but out-of-COUNTRY buyers. Interestingly, they listed Mexico as the biggest purchasing country.
Of course, all this looks like solemn news on the surface, but could be ideal for savvy RE investors - especially, in a market where foreclosures have been increasing (albeit, not that much in this area, though).
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2 comments:
Steve,
In today's paper I read that Canadians are buying up alot of houses in Arizona because the prices seem rediculously low to them. Do the Mexicans and Canadians know something that we don't?
I saw that, too. I'm thinking it's the "California syndrome" with a lot of foreign investors. They're used to extreme prices, and have either cashed-out or have enough equity to refinance and buy 1-2 houses down here with the proceeds easily. Like accidental speculation.
The Austin area is already loaded with Californians who cashed-out the last 5-6 years, and now we have to contend with these others as well. With the housing slump, weak dollar, and on and on, this could be a very bad sign for the U.S. economy all around. Just imagine a future where the infrastructure is Majorily (or wholly) foreign owned.
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