McAllen has had small town charm for many years but that is changing. We are growing.    We have had so much interest in investment properties in the Rio Grande Valley since Forbes and Money put this area as a 'hot spot' in the nation.  South Texas is little known by the general public...even people in North Texas.  Opinion might think that we are just another border area (McAllen is less than 5 miles from Mexico) but we are not JUST a border town.  I have lived and worked and raised a family here to the last 30 plus years and have seen the changes.  The growth has been phenomenal.  Today everywhere we look there is new subdivisions, new shopping centers, multiple Wal-marts and Targets going in everywhere.  Many of the major stores/restaurants such as Dillards, Pennys, Red Lobster, Olive Garden etc...the McAllen stores are the #1 store they have in the nation based on Dollar volume sold per square foot of space.  Why?  Our area is made up of numerous small towns that back to each other...giving us an estimated population of 500,000 people along the U.S. side of the river.  Across the Rio Grande River in Reynosa...there is another 1,200,000 people.  Check out the web site for Reynosa   http://www.reynosamx.com/overview.aspx .   More and more plants (Black and Decker, LG (the old Whirlpool), Corning and over 200 others) are choosing to come to the McAllen/Reynosa border.  First class industrial parks (including one owned by the famed Hunt family) can be found on the US side as well as the Mexico side.  New bridges are continuing to be built to handle the traffic.     Check out these sites (good samples of what you will find in our area)..  http://www.mcallenchamber.com/, www.mcallenmag.com , http://www.sopadre.com/ , http://www.worldbirdingcenter.org/ , http://www.shop-progreso.com/ , http://www.sharylandplanation.com/ , http://www.themonitor.com/ , http://www.topteaminmcallen.com/   We that live in the area, assume the rest of the nation is similar to what we have.  Homes are reasonably priced.  We have mild winters and almost no need for heating. We are not unionized in the area and labor is inexpensive. And when you were down here you probably noticed that gas is less expensive than some other parts of the country.   You can buy a home for under $100,000 or over $1,000,000.  It is not uncommon for a home to sell for $55 to $65 a square foot (including the lot)...thus you can buy a nice 2000 square foot home for $110,000 to $130,000.  But we have homes priced more than that too.  It depends on the location, the age and the amenities.   We are 1 1/2 hours from one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  We have mild winters (150,000 people from the mid-west and Canada spend 6 months with us each winter), and our summers are hot and the temperatures often range near 100 degrees or above.  Palms, bougainvilleas and hibiscus dot our landscape.  The Rio Grande River supplies our water.  Without water we would be a desert.  Our area was formerly known as the Wild Horse Desert.  We are an agriculture community growing grapefruit and oranges, celery, broccoli, sugar can, cotton and grain sorghum to name a few.