Why REI’s Should be Investing in Texas and Oklahoma...

As a full-time Real Estate Investor, I primarily invest in Texas and Oklahoma, not just because I live here, I've looked into investing in many other states as well, but there are great markets in both Texas and Oklahoma where your money goes so much further. I've been hitting home runs in both states, and only expect the growth to continue in 2017, and beyond.

The median home price in Texas is $161K with 8% growth rates the past year and a lot of areas are easy to rent for 1-2% rates or more. The best markets are: DFW Metro, Austin, San Antonio, and parts of Houston Metro. DFW & Austin rank in top 10 in the Nation by many real estate investing reports.

Forbes recent report: Full List: Where To Invest In Housing In 2017 ranked three Texas cities in the Top 20 Nationally. Dallas was ranked as the No. 1 Market in the Nation. By 2020, home prices in Dallas are expected to grow by 31 percent, the highest growth of any city listed. That projection is based on Dallas' 6.2 percent population growth in three years (2012-2015), 3.9 percent job gains last year and 9 percent annual home price gains. Fort Worth ranked No. 9 on the same list. Home prices gained by 9 percent in Fort Worth last year, Job Growth was 2.3%, and the population grew 5.2 percent in the same three years. San Antonio was No. 20 on the list, with home prices gaining 7 percent, 1.7 percent job growth, and 6.5 population growth.

The median home price in Oklahoma is $113K with 4% growth rates the past year and a lot of areas are easy to rent for 1-2% rates or more. The best markets are: Edmond, Norman, Moore, Jenks, Bixby, Broken Arrow, Owasso and other parts of Tulsa & OKC. Also, our property taxes are very low in Oklahoma compared to other states.

MarketWatch's report 5 Worst & Best Markets for First-Time Home Buyers had Oklahoma City ranked No. 1 and Tulsa right behind at No. 2 best Market in the Nation for First-Time Home Buyers. Houston, Texas ranked No. 5. The 5 worst markets were all in California (Anaheim, Riverside, Stockton, Long Beach, and Oakland).

CNBC reported in their recent report The 15 Cities Where You Can Live Really Well on $60,000, Houston was No. 12, Oklahoma City was No. 13

WalletHub's 2017 Best Cities For Jobs, has Plano, Texas as No. 2 Nationally, followed by No. 17 Garland, Texas, No. 21 Dallas, No. 22 Austin, No. 26 Grand Prairie, No. 37 Irving, No. 40 Tulsa, No 58 San Antonio, No. 69 Arlington, No. 75 Oklahoma City, No. 77 Fort Worth, and others in Top 100.

This is great news for investors looking to rehab and flip properties. You can pick up great deals on off-market properties needing rehabbed, and know you're putting your money in great markets where homeowners are looking to purchase new homes. For "buy and hold" investors, the markets support rental properties, with high demand, and very low vacancy rates.

The Daily Oklahoman reported Drilling Heats up in west Texas, Oklahoma last week.  Both Texas and Oklahoma also have many other smaller markets in both states where you can do very well investing based on oil & gas prices and pick up properties very cheap that will rent for more than 2%. When oil & gas goes up, rent rates go way up, sometimes more than double or you can rent by the room or by the week and when oil & gas prices drop, you can pick up more great deals buying foreclosure properties. Buy when oil is down, or going up, and sell or rent when oil is peaking.

If you're a Real Estate Investor looking for other areas to invest, I would highly recommend considering Texas and Oklahoma. Oil prices are going up, the job market is increasing, and the median real estate prices are very affordable, with steady increases. - JeffFilali.com - (OklahomaCashHomeBuyer.com)