Best Place to Start Small Business!

As US economy goes into recession, numbers of employed workers has increased to apporx. 7 million. However, this is one of the most popular period to start small business and be your own boss.

Below is the research result by Business Journal about Best Cities to Start Small Business. BJ has come up with Small-business vitality score based on small business per 1,000 residents, Change in Employment and Change in Population. Here is the ranking among Top 100 US metro area.

http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/pages/230.html

Rank	Metropolitan area	Small-business vitality score	Small businesses (2006)	Small businesses per 1,000 residents (2006)	Change in private-sector employment (2003-08)	Change in population (2002-07)	Population (2007)
1	Raleigh	58.20	27,596	27.6	23.00%	21.20%	1,047,629
2	Charlotte	43.09	42,905	27.1	15.40%	17.40%	1,651,568
3	Seattle	39.40	96,040	29.4	15.10%	5.90%	3,309,347
4	Austin	37.26	36,559	23.9	21.00%	17.90%	1,598,161
5	Boise, Idaho	37.18	17,451	30.7	16.70%	17.70%	587,689
6	Salt Lake City	36.18	31,189	28.9	17.70%	9.60%	1,099,973
7	Orlando	35.33	56,459	28.3	18.20%	15.60%	2,032,496
8	Oklahoma City	28.95	31,418	26.7	10.40%	6.40%	1,192,989
9	Denver	27.03	72,867	30.2	9.20%	8.10%	2,464,866
10	Portland, Maine	23.14	17,582	34.4	3.50%	2.40%	513,102
11	Portland, Ore.	20.77	61,244	28.7	11.70%	8.00%	2,175,113
12	Miami-Fort Lauderdale	20.25	174,580	32.2	9.00%	4.20%	5,413,212
13	Bridgeport-Stamford, Conn.	19.22	27,965	31.3	4.10%	0.30%	895,015
14	McAllen-Edinburg, Texas	18.87	9,779	14.2	26.70%	16.60%	710,514
15	Las Vegas	18.52	39,016	22.0	20.00%	21.10%	1,836,333
16	Washington	17.44	137,721	26.2	8.50%	5.80%	5,306,565
17	Houston	16.65	114,262	20.8	16.70%	12.80%	5,628,101
18	Charleston, S.C.	16.58	16,202	26.3	14.60%	11.10%	630,100
19	Virginia Beach-Norfolk	16.36	38,012	22.9	7.80%	3.30%	1,658,754
20	Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.	15.52	16,628	29.2	13.10%	24.40%	590,564
21	Dallas-Fort Worth	15.37	133,438	22.3	13.30%	12.30%	6,145,037
22	Des Moines, Iowa	14.98	14,447	27.0	10.30%	9.90%	546,599
23	Colorado Springs	14.20	16,477	27.4	5.50%	7.60%	609,096
24	San Antonio	13.28	38,778	20.0	14.80%	11.90%	1,990,675
25	Jacksonville	12.25	34,302	26.8	11.10%	10.90%	1,300,823
26	Omaha	11.94	21,325	26.0	5.20%	6.00%	829,890
27	Richmond	10.22	31,065	26.0	8.80%	7.80%	1,212,977
28	Greenville, S.C.	9.66	14,912	24.8	10.30%	7.20%	613,828
29	Greensboro	8.87	18,034	26.3	6.90%	6.30%	698,497
30	Little Rock, Ark.	8.85	17,172	26.1	7.60%	7.00%	666,401
31	Atlanta	8.75	130,550	25.5	8.70%	15.80%	5,278,904
32	Madison, Wis.	8.34	15,153	27.7	7.00%	6.90%	555,626
33	Nashville	8.21	36,237	24.4	10.40%	11.50%	1,521,437
34	Indianapolis	7.31	42,137	25.2	6.40%	7.40%	1,695,037
35	New York City	6.77	527,475	28.1	4.90%	1.30%	18,815,988
36	Boston	6.52	122,042	27.3	4.70%	0.60%	4,482,857
37	Ogden, Utah	6.43	11,116	22.1	15.00%	12.20%	518,349
38	New Orleans	6.31	28,061	28.3	-11.50%	-21.40%	1,030,363
39	Tulsa	6.16	23,851	26.7	10.00%	3.50%	905,755
40	Minneapolis-St. Paul	5.24	90,905	28.7	4.50%	5.00%	3,208,212
41	Baltimore	5.12	65,972	24.8	7.50%	2.80%	2,668,056
42	Hartford	4.58	29,453	24.9	6.50%	1.90%	1,189,113
43	Palm Bay-Melbourne, Fla.	2.00	13,687	25.7	6.30%	8.40%	536,161
44	Bradenton-Sarasota, Fla.	1.36	20,930	30.8	7.90%	11.10%	687,181
45	Baton Rouge, La.	1.21	16,876	22.1	11.70%	7.90%	770,037
46	Phoenix	1.00	87,818	21.7	16.00%	19.50%	4,179,427
47	San Diego	0.86	76,417	25.9	5.60%	2.30%	2,974,859
48	San Francisco-Oakland	0.66	118,049	28.4	3.00%	0.90%	4,203,898
49	Albuquerque	0.58	18,957	23.2	8.50%	10.80%	835,120
50	San Jose	(0.90)	44,928	25.3	5.90%	3.90%	1,803,643
51	Daytona Beach, Fla.	(1.27)	12,997	26.2	6.40%	9.10%	500,413
52	Harrisburg, Pa.	(2.22)	13,138	25.0	4.80%	3.00%	528,892
53	Tampa-St. Petersburg	(2.25)	71,088	26.4	8.00%	9.60%	2,723,949
54	Knoxville, Tenn.	(3.00)	16,116	24.0	7.80%	7.70%	681,525
55	Bakersfield, Calif.	(3.53)	11,976	15.5	18.10%	14.50%	790,710
56	Poughkeepsie, N.Y.	(3.71)	16,454	24.7	3.10%	4.30%	669,915
57	Birmingham	(3.90)	26,141	23.8	5.20%	4.10%	1,108,210
58	Columbus	(4.18)	39,480	22.8	4.90%	5.70%	1,754,337
59	Columbia, S.C.	(4.31)	16,933	24.1	9.80%	7.90%	716,030
60	Chicago	(4.42)	234,989	24.8	3.80%	2.80%	9,524,673
61	Albany	(6.25)	20,564	24.2	2.70%	2.40%	853,358
62	Honolulu	(6.39)	21,616	23.8	9.10%	2.50%	905,601
63	Philadelphia	(6.82)	145,341	25.0	3.50%	1.70%	5,827,962
64	Los Angeles	(6.87)	331,140	25.7	3.60%	1.50%	12,875,587
65	Kansas City	(7.25)	51,055	26.0	5.60%	5.20%	1,985,429
66	Pittsburgh	(7.60)	59,633	25.2	2.30%	-2.30%	2,355,712
67	Jackson, Miss.	(8.53)	12,580	23.7	4.60%	5.80%	534,047
68	Allentown-Bethlehem, Pa.	(8.69)	18,388	23.1	5.40%	6.30%	803,844
69	Louisville	(8.79)	29,548	24.2	4.90%	4.50%	1,233,735
70	Wichita, Kans.	(9.77)	14,430	24.5	8.40%	3.00%	596,452
71	El Paso, Texas	(10.62)	12,554	17.3	8.50%	6.40%	734,669
72	New Haven, Conn.	(12.22)	20,258	24.0	4.00%	1.50%	845,494
73	Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pa.	(12.88)	13,392	24.4	3.60%	-0.60%	549,430
74	Chattanooga, Tenn.	(13.30)	11,210	22.0	6.30%	5.50%	514,568
75	Syracuse, N.Y.	(13.68)	15,247	23.6	2.50%	-0.70%	645,293
76	St. Louis	(13.93)	70,200	25.1	2.30%	2.50%	2,803,707
77	Milwaukee	(14.36)	39,157	25.4	3.00%	1.60%	1,544,398
78	Sacramento	(14.71)	45,696	22.2	5.90%	8.60%	2,091,120
79	Akron, Ohio	(15.03)	17,027	24.3	4.30%	-0.10%	699,356
80	Grand Rapids	(15.11)	18,541	24.0	2.00%	2.70%	776,742
81	Lakeland, Fla.	(16.50)	11,388	20.4	12.00%	15.30%	574,746
82	Cincinnati	(18.68)	46,880	22.1	3.20%	4.10%	2,133,678
83	Cleveland	(18.78)	54,463	25.9	-1.00%	-2.10%	2,096,471
84	Buffalo	(19.26)	26,470	23.4	0.60%	-2.60%	1,128,183
85	Stockton, Calif.	(19.80)	11,150	16.8	8.10%	10.10%	670,990
86	Youngstown, Ohio	(19.87)	13,493	23.4	-0.60%	-3.90%	570,704
87	Augusta, Ga.	(21.18)	10,525	20.1	2.40%	4.30%	528,519
88	Fresno, Calif.	(22.27)	15,987	18.1	8.90%	8.20%	899,348
89	Providence	(22.38)	42,772	26.7	-1.00%	-0.50%	1,600,856
90	Tucson	(23.70)	20,568	21.7	8.60%	10.20%	967,089
91	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks, Calif.	(24.08)	19,179	24.2	2.60%	2.60%	798,364
92	Memphis	(24.29)	25,934	20.4	4.30%	4.60%	1,280,533
93	Worcester, Mass.	(25.25)	18,024	23.1	1.00%	1.80%	781,352
94	Springfield, Mass.	(25.57)	15,160	22.2	0.90%	0.00%	682,657
95	Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.	(27.07)	64,678	16.2	14.30%	16.90%	4,081,371
96	Rochester, N.Y.	(27.97)	22,970	22.3	0.10%	-0.80%	1,030,495
97	Dayton	(32.57)	18,238	21.8	-4.20%	-1.00%	835,537
98	Modesto, Calif.	(34.41)	8,923	17.6	2.50%	6.90%	511,263
99	Toledo, Ohio	(38.09)	15,229	23.3	-2.50%	-1.20%	650,955
100	Detroit	(49.73)	102,035	22.7	-7.50%	-0.50%	4,467,592

- Most of Top 10 cities for starting small business are located in non-real estate bubble place, namely Charlotte, Raleigh and Austin. Key factors such as healthy economy, low cost of living and steady increase of population are contributing success of these cities.

- As noted in previous posting, major metro with high cost of living and doing business (such as New York, San Francisco, Los Angles) will continuously lose populations to high ranking cities.

Earn at least $120K if you want to feel middle class in Manhattan.....

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-leaving-california18-2008dec18,0,5838.story

-　Compared to previous data, cities where real estate bubble has busted (like Central Valley in Californial, major Florida cities, Las Vegas and Phoenix) are facing siginificant decline in these ranking. If you look at data 2 years ago, these cities are ranked very high.

- Cities in rust belt (Michigan, Ohio, Upstate NY, etc) with declining jobs and populations are ranked very low in this ranking. When economy is declining, it is certainly have hard time starting successful business.

I think high ranking cities such as Austin, Raleigh and Oklahoma City risk of real estate price decline very limited and it is great time to buy properties at below fair market value from distressed seller.

2009 Real Estate Market Outlook by Fortune Magazine

Ranking of Metro where Real Estate Price is Stable. - 2009 Real Estate Forecast

Happy Investing!!!!

Earn at least $120K if you want to feel middle class in Manhattan.....

I have special sentiment to New York City as my wife is from Hudson Valley (don't call it Upstate NY!) and I studied at Syracuse University. In terms of finance, media, advertising, law and consulting industry, NYC is the leader among all the global cities with the best and brightest people. Without doubt, NYC is one of the greatest cities in the world. Therefore we own a few properties in Manhattan for long-term holding.

However, one of the key of issues about New York City is the high cost of living (especially housing in Manhattan). As any of New Yorkers agree, you have to earn quite bit to have "good" life style in Manhattan. I remember my invest banker friend lamented that $300K income does not provide nice life in Manhattan.

Anyway, below is the report done by Center for an Urban Future, a public policy organization dedicated to improving the overall health of New York City and serving its long-term interests by targeting problems facing low-income and working-class neighborhoods in all five boroughs.

REVIVING THE CITY OF ASPIRATION
http://www.nycfuture.org/images_pdfs/pdfs/CityOfAspiration.pdf


While New York City has been successful attractive highly-educated high income earners (and providing support for low income family to some extent) over last decade, this report point out about dwindling middle class population in New York City and about what city can do to bring middle class back.

Below is a couple of issues of New York City for middle class:

- In order to maintain same quality of life as $50,000 earner in Houston Tx, you have to make $123,332 in Manhattan.










- NYC's average rent is $2,800 a month, the highest in USA, and 53% higher than that of San Francisco.










- Average housing price in Manhattan is $1.4 million (median price is around $900,000).

- The average apartment in Manhattan sells for more than $1.4 million (the median price is $900,000). In the third quarter of 2008, only 10.6 percent of housing in the New York City region was affordable to people earning the median area income.










- New Yorkers pay higher taxes than people in any other major U.S. city, roughly 50 percent more than the average in other cities and nearly triple the U.S. average.

- Young families that earn less and have little savings are also being hurt. A family of three earning $55,000 a year will have to pay nearly half of that income for early childhood care. Families making $100,000 will often pay more in day-care costs than they do in a monthly mortgage payment or rent.

- Basic expense items such telecommunication, utility and food are more expensive than other cities.

- If you live outside of Manhattan, commute is usually 30 - 60 minutes.

- As result, New York has historically done well in attracting highly educated people, but an increasing number of those with bachelor's degrees—29,370 in 2006 versus 12,955 in 2005—are fleeing the five boroughs.

Compared to other global cities, I do not think Manhattan's real estate price is too expensive (see below). So it is not possible for middle class to live in the best neighborhood in world class cities.

World's Priciest Cities To Own A Home

http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/09/cities-top-expensive-lifestyle-real-estate_0209_cities.html

In addition, as NYC has been hit very hard in recession (particularly in financial industry), there will be some correction in real estate price --- make it easier for middle class to live in the city again.

The biggest issue is how can New York City can stop the migration of middle class to cities in Southwest with low cost of living, abundant of middle class jobs and mild climate (thus I mainly invest in Austin Tx).

http://www.bizjournals.com/edit_special/70.html
http://pewsocialtrends.org/maps/migration

I think the challenge NYC face is also challenge expensive cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston faces. I am quite confident that city like New York City and San Francisco continuously attract highly educated, high income earners. However, without middle class and lackof diversity, the economy and culture loses edge and it would eventually decline. Sustaining middle class in the city is especially critical now when under high income jobs (in finance industry) will probably suffer much more that "regular" jobs.

Happy Investing!!!!!

In Shift, Chinese Move More Money Overseas......

This is article from New York Times, dated Feb 2nd 2008.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/business/worldbusiness/03yuan.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=china%20real%20estate&st=cse

Because of massive economic growth, China was known for magnet of overseas investment. However, due to slow down and economy growth and unclear future, Chinese are moving more money overseas.

- Statistically, inflow of investment is declining while outflow is increasing --- making Q4 2008 total outflow to $240 billion.

- Chinese government's committed effort to maintain Yuan's value (against US dollar) is also accelerating outflow of Chinese money to overseas.

- Since import decline is larger than export, China's trade surplus is increasing. But it is offset by outflow of private capital to overseas. In fact, China's quarterly currency reserve in Q4 2008 has declined by 74% to $45 billion, equivalent of spring 2004.

- It appears that wealthy Chinese investors are overseas investment are "safer" than one in China, driven by declining stock/property value, unemployed migrant farmers (20 million), slowing export and economy.

- Online real estate brokerage firm announced foreclosure property tour in US markets. It is filled up quickly and 400 investors are on wait-list. As Chinese investor think that China property has not hit the bottom, US properties seems like bargain and stable.

- Other notable trend is; high-yield bond from US corporation; managing export receivable in overseas bank account; purchasing diamond and gold in Hong Kong.

- This trend of declining receivable of foreign currency "could" cause Chinese government's purchasing ability of US treasury (then who pays for Obana's stimulus plan?).

While Chinese government does not publicly admit, wealthy Chinese investors feel uncertain about China's future as export driven model is clearly not working as it used to. It is very important to observe how Chinese government domestic consumption/investment stimulus plan revive the Chinese economy. I personally think that there are more than 50% chance that China goes into recession (or less than 5% GDP growth).

Lastly, US real estate is clearly seen as "safe heaven" among overseas investors now (see below link). Inflow of overseas capital will certainly help US property market to hit the bottom sooner......

Foreign Investors love US Commercial Properties.
http://alteredstatesofrealty.blogspot.com/2009/02/foreign-investors-love-us-commercial.html

Happy Investing!!!!!

World Gloomiest Country Ranking

Grant Thornton surveyed executives at more than 7,200 businesses around the world for its latest International Business Report 2009.

Here is the result of Optimism/Pessimism Ranking key countries.

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/01/0126_business_expectations/1.htm

-　Result is somewhat similar to my previous posted survey:
38% of American Think It is Good Time to Buy Real Estate.

-　Ranked worst are 1) Asian countries that suffer declining export such as Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong and 2) key European countries with significant slow down in real estate (Spain, Ireland, UK, etc..).

- Among BRICs, excluding Russian, they are quite optimistic on econony. Russian has been hurt quite bad due to declining energy price and subsequent meltdown in stock and currency.

- It is a bit surprising to see countries like Australia, Viet Nam and South Afria are optimistic about economy.

Rank	Country	Optimism/Pessimism Grade:
1	Japan	-85
2	Spain	-65
3	Thailand	-63
4	Frank	-60
5	Belguim	-58
6	Argentina	-53
7	Taiwan	-50
8	Ireland	-50
9	Hong Kong	-49
10	UK	-47
11	Italy	-45
12	Sweden	-40
13	Finland	-40
14	Netherland	-37
15	USA	-34
16	Greece	-34
17	Denmark	-34
18	Turkey	-24
19	Chile	-24
20	New Zealand	-15
21	Poland	-12
22	Mexico	-7
23	Germany	-3
24	Russia	-2
25	Malaysia	-2
26	Canada	2
27	Australia	11
28	Singapore	15
29	China	30
30	Viet Nam	31
31	South Africa	35
32	Armenia	46
33	Brazil	50
34	Phillipine	65
35	Botswana	81
36	India	83

As Japanese native, I am very sad to see how pessimistic Japanese are. Various research constrant rank Japanese as the most pessimistic on economy. Since economy is driven by the optimism/pessimism, I do see no way out for Japan to get out of recession for a while. IMF also downgrade GDP growth forecast to -2.6%, one of worst among G7 countries. I guess Japan has not gained the confidence in economy since the burst 80's bubble economy.

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2009/update/01/index.htm

Anyway --- Happy Investing!!!!!

Foreign Investors love US Commercial Properties.

AFIRE (Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate) is association of global investors
with a common interest in preserving and promoting investment in cross-border real estate.

This posting introduces AFIRE's annual survey regarding its member's attitude on commercial real estate investments in 2009.

http://www.afire.org/foreign_data/2008/PR.pdf

Here is summary of the survey:

- AFIRE members collectively owns $1 trillion of real estate asset globally and $371 billion in USA.

- Because of commercial real estate bubble bubble burst, the members willingness for investment is very high.

- Foreign real estate lenders say they plan to increase lending by 54% globally and
by 58% in the U.S.

- Equity investors plan to increase investment activity by 40% globally and by 73% in the U.S.

The Top Global City for Foreign Investors’ Real estate Dollars
1. Washington, D.C
2. London
3. New York City
4. Tokyo
5. Shanghai
6. San Francisco
7. Los Angeles
8. Paris
9. Houston
10. Singapore

The Country with The Best Opportunity for Capital Appreciation
1. USA (37%)
2. Brazil (16%)
3. China
4. UK
5. India

The Country with the Most Stable and Secure Real Estate Investments
1. US (53%)
2. Germany (11.3%)
2. Switzerland (11.3%)
4. Australia (4.8%)
5. Canada (4.8%)
6. UK

US REAL ESTATE TREND

- In terms of both stability and appreciation potential, the expectation for US commercial real estate is very high.

- Among members, they already invested 45% their portfolio in US properties.

- Regarding type of commercial property, preference is in the order of office, apartment, industory, retail and hotels.

- Survey respondents also indicated that finding attractive U.S. investment properties is becoming less difficult. Fewer than 20 percent of respondents said it was “very difficult” to find attractive U.S. investment opportunities. This is the lowest percentage holding this opinion in the last five years. As a comparison, in 2004, 59.4 percent of respondents said opportunities were “very difficult” to find.

- When asked to what extent a building’s “green” attributes influenced their decision to purchase a property, 11 percent said “significantly so,” and 60 percent said “somewhat so.”

Generally speaking, commercial real estate value should be determined by the Net Income or Cap Rate. However, over last few years, due to speculation and loose lending standard, investors paid premium on commercial properties, often paying "rehabbed" proforma based price. However, as lending guideline has tightened, determination of commercial real estate value are going back to Net Income approach. Therefore, for those investors who have cash and credit, I agree that year 2009 offers great opportunity for long-term cash flow based holdings. As commercial real estate rent and occupancy are declining rapidly, I think it is important to purchase assuming worsened rent and occupancy.

On the last note, Austin Tx, my key investment location, was ranked No. 11th in US city,

Report: Austin continues to be attractive to foreign real estate investors
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/01/26/daily16.html

Happy Investing!!!!!

Where would you live if you were offered your dream job?

This is survey by Human Capital Institute. They asked 3,000 employees and entrepreneurs with the following question:

Where would you live if you were offered your dream job?

Here is the results!

http://blog.thetalenteconomy.com/?p=76

MOST FAVORITE CITIES
1. New York City
2. San Diego
3. San Francisco
4. Las Vegas
5. Los Angeles
6. Seattle
7. Denver
8. Phoenix
9. Chicago
10. Boston

LEAST FAVORITE CITIES
1. New York City
2. Detroit
3. Los Angeles
4. New Orleans
5. Chicago
6. Las Vegas
7. Washington DC
8. Cleveland
9. Dallas
10. Miami

Key findings are:

• This survey is like "brand image" research of major US cities among business men/women.
  
• The largest cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are ranked in both most and least favorite ranking ---- this clearly shows American love-hate relationship for big cities.
• Detroit, because of dwindling jobs, increasing crime, severe weather and troubled auto industry, are considered least favorite. This tendency is somewhat true for all Midwest-Rust Belt cities.
• "Mid-Size" west coast cites such as San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle are very popular! I believe it is because of 1) mild weather, 2) environmental friendliness and 3) high-income jobs.
• San Diego are usually ranked very high in this type of research. However, the challenge of San Diego (compared to SF/LA) is availability of high-paying jobs. In fact, the lack of high-paying jobs has accelerated San Diego's real estate depreciation. Once San Diego can offer abundant high-paying jobs, reality should catch up with great images.
  

As real estate investor, I closely monitor this kind of research as great branding of the city is very critical for future growth of cities globally. While Austin is not researched in this survery, one of the reason why I continue to invest in Austin is that Austin has been building great brand among American (see below link I posted previously).

It is Time to Travel to Austin Tx!

Happy Investing!!!!!!

It is Time to Travel to Austin Tx!

Various travel magazines and websites feature "the place to visit" every year in their January publication. Austin Tx, my primary city of real estate investments, has been featured by various publications in the month of January.

Here they are:

Top 10 Budget Travel Destinations for 2009
BudgetTravel.com reveals the best value hotspots for the New Year. http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2008/12/30/AR2008123001982.html

Why in 2009: For years, the capital of down-home cool (and Texas) has been working to become the nation's capital of pop culture—at least among cities of a similar size. This city of 1.6 million residents has succeeded in its mission, especially as a venue for indie rock, bluegrass, and country music. Its largest music festival is South by Southwest, a multi-day, 1,700-band extravaganza that draws serious music fans nationwide (sxsw.com, Mar. 18–22, 2009). Austin's economy, meanwhile, is well diversified between public and private sectors, which means that Austin is poised to weather the economic downturn reasonably well, says University of Texas at Austin economy professor Daniel S. Hamermesh. So it should be full speed ahead on spending for free and affordable cultural events. A bonus: In the past year, discounter JetBlue has added flights to Austin. Rival airlines are feeling the pressure to keep airfares low.

Main events: Thousands of music fans converge on the city each year for two festivals: South by Southwest (mentioned above) and the Austin City Limits Music Festival (aclfestival.com, Oct. 2–4). Art lovers come for the Texas Biennial (texasbiennial.com, Mar. 6–Apr. 11) and the open-air Art City Austin (artallianceaustin.org, Apr. 25-26). Even if you're not in town for a big event, keep in mind that Austin has pretty weather for eight months of the year (summer's the sweltering exception). With its extensive Greenbelt park as well as 10 miles of waterfront paths, it's easy to get outside and enjoy a little nature.

Memorable moment: Chill out on the terrace bar of the Inter-Continental Stephen F. Austin hotel, overlooking downtown. Order a Stephen F. Top Shelf, the house margarita, tip your hat to the mounted longhorn on the wall, and watch the Texas Capitol turn pink as the last rays of the sun hit it. 701 Congress Ave., 888/424-6835, austin.intercontinental.com, margaritas from $10.

Price check: Round-trip tickets between Austin and Chicago recently started at $210, a 9 percent drop from a year earlier, says Farecast. Affordable lodging isn't hard to come by. Hotel rates should average a modest $104 a night, says a forecast by PKF Hospitality Research. We like the stylish Austin Motel, starting at $70. 1220 S. Congress Ave., 512/441-1157, austinmotel.com.

29 Places to Go in 2009

http://www.shermanstravel.com/spotlights/29_Places_To_Go_In_2009/United_States_&_Canada

Austin’s superlative live music scene may have made the city famous, but this hip Texas capital city’s quirky charm extends far beyond its melodic beats. Largely enriched by the dynamic energy of the homegrown University of Texas, Austin boasts the Lone Star State’s best cultural offerings, with numerous galleries, museums, and music venues (more than 100 in all!) alongside some more unexpected attractions – like the summer congregation of some million bats by the Congress Avenue Bridge – without sacrificing its appealing small-town feel. Combine that with more than 300 sunshine-filled days a year, and it’s little wonder that Austin’s consistently ranked as one of the most livable cities in the U.S.

Why Go In 2009: Sure, traveling abroad can be a pricey venture in these trying economic times, but who says you need to leave America to escape it? Austin, whose unofficial motto is “Keep Austin Weird,” offers the American traveler a rare U.S. city vacation destination that’s devoid of the cookie-cutter commercial strips found nearly everywhere else – in fact, all chain and big-box stores (think McDonald's and Walmart) are pleasantly absent from the downtown area, giving way to hundreds of sensational local businesses that can only be experienced in Austin. What's more, some exciting new music festivals are slated for autumn 2009: Look for the Texas Wine & Song Festival (www.texaswineandsong.com) in October and the punk and indie rock Fun Fun Fun Fest (www.funfunfunfest.com) in November.

15 Coolest North American Cities

http://travel.msn.com//Guides/MSNTravelSlideShow.aspx?cp-documentid=843006&imageindex=14

Famous for Tex-Mex food and its eclectic music scene, bustling Austin is also the capital of the Lone Star state. Many visitors find its laid-back atmosphere especially appealing.

25 Reasons Why We Love Austin.

http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2009/01/03/AR2009010301140.html

1. Breakfast at Taco Xpress
2. Swim at Barton Springs
3. Live Music
4. People don't honk their horns
5. Yoga
6. Weirdness is a way of life
7. The battle of the cupcakes
8. Hotel San José
9. The Salt Lick Barbecue
10. The Austin Chronicle
11. A street party on South Congress Avenue on the First Thursday
12. Uncommon Objects in SOCO
13. Red Bud Isle Dogs Park
14. Cowboy Dance at The Broken Spoke
15. Stay at Mansion at Judges' Hill
16. Shop at Local Store (not chain)
17. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
18. Wink Restaurant & Wine Bar
19. Yard Dog
20. The TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls
21. South by Southwest and Austin City Limits
22. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
23. Town Lake Trail
24. Margaritas at the terrace bar of the InterContinental Stephen F. Austin hotel
25. Mellow Johnny's, Lance Armstrong's bike ship

In the real estate investment perspective, it is very promising that Austin is gaining popularity as the place to visit. This is the proof that Austin has become culturally very attractive place and lead to raising profile of Austin among global cities.

One of the key reason why I continue to invest in Austin Tx is that I believe Austin can become "Bubble Proof Real Estate Superstar Cities" like San Francisco, Manhattan, Seattle and Coastal Sountern California (see below link).

Real Estate Superstar City

http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/23/real_estate/cities_real_estate_0510/index.htm
http://www.naiop.org/conferences/icon04/closeout/mayer.ppt

Austin Tx (only in Central Austin) fullfills 3 key characteristics of Superstar Cities as follows:

• Very popular town where more and more people are willing to relocate.
• Real Estate supply is limited and very severe restriction on new development.
• Educated/High Income residents in Creative Class are replacing low-income/low-skill residents.
  

I expect very promising future for Austin real estate.

Happy Investing!!!!