April 2019

Weighing the financial benefits of buying a home versus renting and investing in the stock market is complicated. Factoring in expenses associated with buying, holding, and selling a home or a stock portfolio is enough to make your head spin.

Conventional wisdom suggests better schools result in higher area home prices. While that’s generally true, the factors behind it are complex. Pull up a desk for a lesson in the relationship between school quality measures, home prices, and taxes.

Face it, landowners: You can’t take all that acreage with you, but you can leave it to your kids or other heirs. And there’s no time like the present to get started. Here’s information on two tools that can help.

Most weather experts will tell you Amarillo is the country’s windiest city (take that, Chicago), but that doesn’t mean its housing market is breezing along. After several years of growth, sales are calming.

If you hit the dusty trails just about anywhere in Texas, you’ll find land is still a hot commodity. Sales slowed in 2018, but prices continued trending positive, boosted by demand for recreational and investment properties.

In recent years, Texas has welcomed a steady flow of international immigrants—not just from Mexico but from as far away as India, China, and the Philippines. Read how these new neighbors are changing the face of Texas and brining diverse skills to the workforce.

Location, location, location. Sure, it’s a cliché, but there’s some truth to it, and not just when it comes to a home’s desirability. Where you live in Texas can affect annual homeowner costs, such as real estate taxes, insurance premiums, and utilities. The numbers may surprise you.