We're Heading to Texas, the Gulf Coast, and the Carolinas
By Graham Summers
September 05, 2007

Wow... I wasn't sure what kind of response I'd get to last week's issue, when I asked for your input on promising real estate markets. But we've already gotten hundreds of e-mails... with more coming in by the day.

Keep them coming!

If I tally the results by state, Texas, Washington, Oregon, and the Carolinas were the clear winners, with Mississippi, Alabama, and Virginia not far behind. By city, Austin, Texas, was hands-down the most popular.

It's not surprising. Austin placed No. 2 on Money magazine's 10 best Big Cities in 2006. The median home price for the city last year was $197,000, the second cheapest out of Money's big city list. From 2004-2005 alone, home prices rose 8.6%. And if you like live entertainment, Austin has more music venues per capita than any other city in America.

However, each of the cities below has something to offer. And according to our readers, each of them is also in a booming real estate market.

Texas Washington Oregon North Carolina South Carolina Austin Spokane Bend Charlotte Greenville Fort Worth Kenmore Portland High Rock Myrtle Beach Houston Mukilteo Salem Asheville Charleston Dallas Yakima Troutdale Raleigh Georgetown Amarillo Long Beach Corbett Greensboro

As you can see, the recommendations were across the board, everything from major cities (Dallas, Austin, Charlotte) to tiny port towns (Georgetown, SC) to suburbs (Troutdale, OR).

Obviously, I can't hit all of these places in a single trip, so I'm going to do two.

The first will be a giant loop starting Saturday night in Baltimore, heading down to Texas, wrapping around the Gulf Coast, and circling back up through the Carolinas. I hope to hit Nashville, Memphis, Fort Worth, Austin, Oxford (MS), New Orleans, Auburn, Greenville, Raleigh, Asheville, and Charlotte.

The second large trip will be in October, when I'll take a tour of the Northwest. I'll be driving through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, perhaps Colorado to check out properties neighboring oil shale projects, and then up to Montana and Washington.

By November, I hope to have found you 10 great places to buy homes and invest in land.

But right now, I need your help again. If you work in real estate or know someone who works in real estate in the following areas, please contact me immediately. I'm specifically interested in:

State Area/City Tennessee Memphis Texas Fort Worth, Austin Mississippi Oxford Alabama Auburn South Carolina Greenville North Carolina Raleigh, Charlotte

You can reach me at whereisgraham@gmail.com.

See you soon,

Graham