Texas Heaven-What are they doing Right in Texas

Texas Heaven-What are they doing Right in Texas

Has anyone else noticed the state that the state of Texas is in? Texas seems to be a bright spot in an economy that has devastated other states such as Nevada, California etc. While the recession has hit Texas, it just hit with not as much punch as others. Let’s take a look at some of the data;

-Unemployment in Texas hovers at around 8%, a full two percentage points below the national average

-Texas’s share of bank failures nation wide was 4% for 2009

-To add to that Texas banks were 5 times more profitable than the national average in 2009

-In the period from January 2000 to 2007 home prices in metropolitan areas rose an average of 107% nation wide, with some areas such as Los Angeles (174%), Miami (181%), seeing much larger increases. In that same time period, home prices in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area reported an increase of just 27%.

-It wasn’t until 1997 that Texas allowed home equity loans, and even now Texas home owners are only allowed one home equity loan at a time, and that loan cannot exceed 80% of the homes value.

What you ask is Texas doing differently, Texas is learning from earlier mistakes. The 80’s were devastating to the Texas economy. In that time period known as the Great Texas Bank Failures, 658 banks failed, that is more than the total number of banks operating in Texas today. The combination of Saudi oil production increases with the national S&L debacle spelled doom for the Texas economy.

Since then Texas has implemented any number of changes to head off a repeat performance of the 80’s. As the rest of the country continues to deal with a difficult economic recovery, Texas stays on course, a bit wounded, but much healthier than the rest of the country. Maybe it is time we take a closer look at what Texas has implemented to stay on track; we just might learn some valuable lessons.

If you or a friend or family member are thinking of buying or selling a home, please feel free to contact me for assistance.