Danielle Babb of Entrepreneur.com wrote a great article last week titled “Best and Worst Places to Buy a House“. She discusses the benefits of homeownership over renting, but her market recommendations come from her background as a real estate investor.
Topping her best list is the area of Texas including Killeen, Round Rock, & Austin. I’ve felt for sometime that Austin and also nearby San Antonio could become the next hot spots for real estate investment, and Killeen makes sense as a safe bet too due to the military base there. Austin is home to both Dell Computers and the University of Texas, so it’s become a very popular place for young professionals to live. San Antonio though has been near the top of many predicted appreciation lists for the past few years, and I’m surprised it didn’t make Danielle’s best list.
An interesting best pick on Danielle’s list is Las Vegas. She acknowledges the tough times that Las Vegas has experienced lately, but sees the strong job market and continued relocation trends as support for a quick recovery. I agree with that summary and think that Phoenix will also see support for the same reasons. An interesting article from USA Today titled As Baby Boomers Retire, Home Markets Will Hurt recently discussed the effect on housing prices as millions of aging baby boomers put their homes on the market. Arizona and Nevada though were mentioned as markets that will be the last to experience any effect from this (in year 2031 or later!) since many of the boomers will be relocating there. So, while Las Vegas is currently experiencing some tough times, it could actually be pointing to a good buying opportunity.
No surprises on Danielle’s Worst List, and you can see the entire article here.
July 12, 2008 at 12:10 pm
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