Texas Real Estate - Why so Cheap ?

[venkat786]

I recently visited my friends home in Frisco located in greated Dallas area.

It's a spectacular master planned community with 5 bedrooms, 3500 sq ft, high ceilings, big back yard, quality fittings. The price he paid 2 years back is 260k and now it might be 280k.

Jobs are OK, weather is good, schools are good. Homes are damn cheap than many metros of India. I don't know why no one goes to Texas.

[nand]

no state taxes too. It has something to do with the flat geography - miles of flat land on all sides of dallas and houston so there is ample space to build on. Most of the cost of a house is the cost of land it is sitting on in most major metros. Where land is cheap housing will be just a little more than the cost of construction. That is the case is Dallas. Another reason land is cheap in Texas is because growth boundaries are lax and the rules for creating new subdivisions are very lenient. Metros in other states have strict rules for opening up land for residential development that keeps demand artifically high. Likewise in India, poor transport infrastructire makes it unattractive to live away from the city center.

Nevertheless Dallas is a good place I would consider moving to. Of course it is a little bland.

[tejasvee]

It could be because of it's size. Texas is like 15 times bigger than New Jersey with maybe twice the population.

[Tweedledee]

could be due to higher property taxes, and also jobs may be lesser compared to other metros.

[skn]

It is supply and demand (as always).

There is lots and lots of land and cheap labor.

And people in other parts of the country don't exactly say "let's go to Texas and live" - it is just not as attractive for them like a California or Florida.

As an old story goes, people running away from the law used to always go south and then go even more south ... and finally end up in good old Texas [and that is why I lived in Texas for long ;)]. These kind of perceptions are hard to shake off. Of course, a person new to the country does not care for all this.

[vijay]

property taxes in dallas are 3% so for that 260k its $7,800. Yes its true, there is so much land around they dont know what to do with it. ie land occupied by the DFW airport is more than size of Manhattan island (NY).
I dont live in frisco, but in dallas. but that suburb is real coming along well very good quality of life to cost ratio. only thing its about 1 hr drive in rush hr from the Telecom corridor

[MadMax]

True. One of my friends is paying around $14000 in property taxes!! I guess they need to make up for the lack of state taxes.

property taxes in dallas are 3% so for that 260k its $7,800. Yes its true, there is so much land around they dont know what to do with it. ie land occupied by the DFW airport is more than size of Manhattan island (NY)[/quote]

[Desi_by_Nature]

I read somewhere recently that Dallas is the fastest growing among the big cities. By 2010 it is expected to surpass Houston's population and become the 4th largest city in the US.

So maybe this is a good time to jump in, relocate there and buy some RE.

[cool_r2i]

I think no one mentioned about the weather. It's eight months of HOT summer in Dallas. So, if you are OK with that, all other things are fine. And the best/worst (depening on how one takes it) part is it is Dry Heat and for me it's not very comfortable during summer.
This year has been really really good because of unexpected rains in summer!

[restlessdesi]

It is supply and demand (as always).
As an old story goes, people running away from the law used to always go south and then go even more south ... and finally end up in good old Texas [and that is why I lived in Texas for long ;)]. These kind of perceptions are hard to shake off. Of course, a person new to the country does not care for all this.[/quote]

I would think these days, you keep going south into Mexico ;)