Real estate is a local business. Deep knowledge of your own market is one of the things that truly separates one lender from another, and it’s the reason every loan we make is in Texas.
We’ve been lending in the Central Texas market for almost twenty years. We’re headquartered right here in Austin, and we’ve lent across the state since 2007. Over the last few years, we’ve narrowed our focus even further, concentrating on the Interstate-35 corridor (Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio).
The Corridor
For those less familiar with Texas, Interstate 35 runs north to south, and three major cities sit along it. In the north, Dallas-Fort Worth (two cities that function as one metroplex). In the middle, our home, Austin. To the south, San Antonio. Focusing up and down the I-35 corridor, anchored in three large and diversified economies, has proven to be an excellent strategy for real estate lending. According to data tracked by the Texas Demographic Center, nearly half of the entire population of Texas now lives and works along this vital highway spine. Here’s why each of these cities is so strong, and why being local matters so much.
Austin
Austin has a genuinely diversified economy, built around technology, manufacturing, and a deep services sector. It’s the state capital, so state government is a stabilizing presence, and it’s home to the University of Texas, one of the great public universities in the country. Data from the Texas Comptroller Regional Economic Reports shows how this institutional foundation creates a uniquely recession-proof economic baseline. Austin is a little weird, and proud of it, but it’s a wonderful place to live, with strong real estate fundamentals driven by massive industrial expansions from tech giants and advanced manufacturers detailed by the Austin Chamber.
Dallas-Fort Worth
Dallas-Fort Worth has one of the most diversified economies in the nation. Finance, industry, energy, technology, and healthcare all have major footprints there. Over the past several years, more Fortune 500 companies have relocated their headquarters to Texas than to any other state, with Texas officially claiming the top spot in the nation according to the Office of the Texas Governor Fortune 500 Profile. Many have landed in the Dallas metroplex. As highlighted in the Dallas Regional Chamber Market Center, you’re also seeing massive investment in data centers and technology infrastructure, making it a powerful, growing market.
San Antonio
San Antonio is the affordability capital of Texas. It has a strong military presence, a growing auto manufacturing industry, and an expanding services sector. For families and businesses priced out elsewhere, San Antonio is where a lot of that growth is heading because it features a significantly lower cost of living and housing baseline than its northern neighbors. Its economy is anchored by Joint Base San Antonio, which generates over $148 billion in economic output according to the Texas Comptroller Military Impact Report. At the same time, its manufacturing and logistics sectors continue to boom, driven by initiatives tracked by the Greater SATX Regional Economic Partnership.
The Common Thread: Population Growth
What ties all four cities together is population growth. Texas has had steady, impressive population growth for as long as we’ve been in business, as more people discover the Texas story. People are moving here from other states, and people are immigrating from overseas, pushing the state’s total population past 31 million. The long-term projections are remarkable. Independent forecasts from the Texas 2036 Population Growth Analysis show the state on a trajectory to reach up to 44 million residents by mid-century. This rapid growth positions Texas to potentially become the most populous state in the country over the next twenty-five years.
That matters because population growth is what drives real estate. It drives demand for rooftops, and rooftops are exactly what we lend on. We want to see more people moving to town, more businesses relocating here, more economic growth, and a pro-business environment wherever we lend. We see all of that in Texas. The state is growing, it remains relatively affordable even with everyone arriving, and it’s still a great place to do business and raise a family.
Why Local Control Is an Advantage
Here’s what being local actually does for us, and for your capital. Knowing your own backyard makes you faster and sharper on underwriting, because you understand these neighborhoods street by street. But the bigger advantage shows up when something goes wrong.
Over almost twenty years, we’ve worked through our share of defaulted projects, and managing a troubled project locally is a significant advantage. We’ve heard stories from people in this industry trying to handle real estate problems from across the country, and it’s a difficult, costly challenge. We can arrive at any property we lend on in about three hours or less. Being able to put eyes on a property and boots on the ground is a real edge when you’re protecting investor capital.
Why We Don’t Need to Go Further
The truth is, we don’t need to go any further than these four cities. Our markets are large and growing, and our lending base is only expanding within our home cities. With the Investor First Fund, we’re deliberately concentrating on one-to-four family residential homes, in the range of roughly one to two and a half million dollars per loan. That focus lets us play small ball in three big, growing cities, keep strong diversification, avoid over-concentration, and still deploy plenty of investor capital. We can ride the fundamental wave of Texas real estate without ever stretching beyond the markets we know best.
Texas has some of the best universities in the country, a pro-business environment, and a culture that believes it can do anything. People who’ve been here a while think of it as our own little country. The Lone Star State. We’re proud of it, and we’re invested in it. And we’ve found that Texans love to invest in Texas, because they know the story, they believe the story, and they live it every day.
So whether you’re a Texan or not, I invite you to look at the Investor First Fund. We’re lending in Texas, and we’d love for you to join us. It’s a great place to be.
