Texas - America’s Top State for Business

The Texas economy continues to receive national attention. This month, CNBC named Texas America’s Top State for Business for the second time. Texas was also recently named the “Best State to Do Business” by CEO Magazine for the sixth year in a row, and six of Texas’ metro areas were listed as “America’s Recovery Capitals” by Forbes and Moody’s Economy.

No other state is home to more Fortune 500 companies, and Texas is the nation’s leading exporting state for the eighth year in a row. Texas created more private sector jobs than any other state in the nation over the last 10 years. Additionally, Texas’ unemployment rate dropped to 8.2 percent in June, well below the national average.

“As Americans look for the best place to live, work and raise a family, more of them are heading to Texas all the time,” Gov. Perry said. “The root cause of our economic success is hardworking Texans, but pro-job policies, low taxes, predictable regulations and fair legal system have also helped Texas lead the nation in job creation.”

Risk of Major Home Price Decline Low in Texas

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – A new study from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University explains why Texas’ housing market fared far better than other states during the current downturn. It also suggests why the state’s economy is expected to continue to do better than the rest of the nation in the coming months.

“Texas’ lower-than-national-average housing cost is one reason for the state’s higher-than-national-average growth rate,” said Dr. Ali Anari, a Center research economist and one of the study’s authors. “When Texans are able to spend more on nonhousing goods and services, the state’s economy is strengthened and more people attracted.

“These results illustrate one of the key reasons the Texas economy outperforms the United States in terms of job growth almost every year,” said Center Chief Economist Dr. Mark Dotzour. “The fact that Texans pay less of their income for housing means they have more to spend on other things that add to the overall quality of life. Texas offers a lower cost of living than many places in the United States.

“This allows Texas employers to be able to attract workers at a reasonable wage rate that allows them to compete successfully in the global economy,” said Dotzour.

Since 1987, the average annual expenditure for shelter per consumer increased in every major American metropolitan market.

Texas data for the study came from the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston-Brazoria metro areas because they are among the major metropolitan areas for which consumer expenditure data are available. These two metros accounted for 60.3 percent of Texas labor force last year and 64 percent of Texas GDP the previous year.

“Houston and Dallas consumers spent the smallest shares of their incomes on shelter in 2008 (18.6 percent),” said Anari.

The two Texas metros in the study had virtually no increase in their shelter expenditure shares from 1987 to 2008. Houston’s share rose 1 percent while Dallas’ share increased 2.2 percent.

For more information on the study's findings, read the Center's news release.

FACING FORECLOSURE?

KNOW THE FACTS AND PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) - Texas is experiencing its highest residential foreclosure rate since the late '80s. All residential foreclosures are governed by strict statutory rules, and Real Estate Center attorney Judon Fambrough says homeowners in jeopardy should know these rules to protect their rights.

"For example, how many days' notice must the homeowner be given to satisfy the amount in arrears before the entire amount of the unpaid loan may be declared due and owing?" Likewise, Fambrough said, "What are the qualifications, if any, of the person who conducts the foreclosure sale? How many times a year can a foreclosure sale occur, and on which day of the week, and during what hours?"

These and other questions are answered in "A Homeowner's Rights under Foreclosure," available on the Center's website.

San Antonio Ranked Eleventh Top Metros in Nation

In Case You Missed It... Texas Metros Top Best Performing Cities According to Milken Institute

Austin ranked number one.

November 11, 2009

AUSTIN – Several Texas metro areas have been ranked in the top spots of the 2009 Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best Performing Cities Index. The Lone Star State claimed four of the top five spots, including number one, and nine of the top 16 spots.

“When people across the nation look at Texas, they’re discovering that we’ve fostered an environment that encourages people to pursue their dreams, build businesses and create jobs,” Gov. Perry said. “Our low taxes, predictable regulations and diverse and educated workforce have propelled us to the forefront of the global economy, and Texas continues to be an example for the rest of the nation.”

The Austin-Round Rock area was named the number one Best Performing City, with Killeen-Fort Hood-Temple, Mc Allen-Edinburg-Mission and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown claiming the second, fourth and fifth spots, respectively. Additionally, Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown was named one of the top five largest cities, and Midland was named the number one small metro.

The index ranks U.S. metro areas based on their ability to create and sustain jobs, and includes long-term (five years) and short-term (one year) measurements of employment and salary growth, and four measurements of technology output growth. The report credits Texas’ favorable business climate and ability to attract jobs and corporations away from higher-cost states with propelling metropolitan areas to the top of the index.

“Texas’ strong position in our ‘Best Performing Cities’ study demonstrates that a favorable business climate, combined with a low cost/low tax environment, is highly supportive of job creation,” Ross DeVol, senior economist at the Milken Institute and lead author of the report, said. “The state has diversified its economy by fostering several key high-tech clusters and the passage of Proposition 4, allocating $500 million in funding for research universities, will make Texas an even more formidable competitor in the future.”

To view a copy of the full report or get more information about the metros indexed, please visit http://www.milkeninstitute.org/publications/publications.taf?function=detail&ID=38801218&cat=resrep or http://bestcities.milkeninstitute.org/bestcities2009.taf.

Texas May Owe You Some Money

You might just be owed $17 or maybe millions of dollars and just not know that your money is being held in the Texas State Treasury. Texas has $2 billion dollars of unclaimed money held by the Texas Comptroller's office.

"Many folks could use some extra cash right now, and we want to give Texans back their property, whether it is personal property or money," says Texas Comptroller Susan Combs.

Dallas resident Winston D. Johnson claimed and received nearly $4.3 million in 1996. Many claims by individuals average about $1000. Unfortunately, I only was able to claim about $535 for myself. About $135 was from a savings account that went dormant for non-activity. The other $400 was from the sale of some San Antonio real estate a few years ago. (Never have figured out exactly why I was owed that money, though.)

Unclaimed property is any financial asset that has been abandoned for 1 year or more. Examples of abandoned property are:

• Dividend, payroll or cashier's checks
• Stocks, mutual fund accounts, bonds
• Utility deposits and other refunds
• Bank accounts and safe deposit box contents
• Insurance proceeds
• Mineral interest or royalty payments
• Court deposits, trust funds, escrow accounts

The unclaimed property law requires financial institutions, businesses, and government entities to report to the state, personal property they are holding that is considered abandoned or unclaimed. Unclaimed property must be turn over to the Texas Comptroller office for safe keeping until the rightful owner claims the abandoned property. It's not just individuals that have money being held at the Texas Comptrollers office, corporations and even county and local governments are owed money by the State, too.

How can you find out if the State of Texas is holding abandoned property on your behalf? Just check the Official State of Texas website at: https://txcpa.cpa.state.tx.us/up/Search.jsp

It's kind of fun to find out if the State of Texas owes you any money. I also checked for my friends and family. I found about $100 for my sister and even $270 for my insurance broker.