Football, College Towns, Affordable Homes... Oh, My!

Texas Triangle top-ranked in college football and affordable homes

Real estate agency Coldwell Banker has cleverly ranked college towns based not only on average home price for a 2,200 square foot home but also in terms of BCS standings. Texas performs well along both axes.

Fort Worth and Houston are highlighted as having football-teams-to-watch this year, currently ranked in the BCS top 25 standings, and also being front-runners for home buyers:

• Fort Worth, Texas (Texas Christian University), $153,450
• Houston, Texas (University of Houston), $159,847
• Cincinnati, Ohio (University of Cincinnati), $189,750
• Boise, Idaho (Boise State University), $215,432
• Iowa City, Iowa (University of Iowa), $217,500

The following Texas Triangle towns are ranked as being in the top 10 most affordable college markets:

-5th Fort Worth....Texas Christian University....$153,450
-7th Denton..........University of North Texas....$154,900
-8th Houson..........Rice & Univ. of Houston.....$159,847


A further 110 more college towns are ranked by Coldwell. Below are the other Lonestar college towns on the list. (Aggies will note they edged out UT by a mere $142):

-17th Lubbock.........Texas Tech University...$175,225
-38th Waco.............Baylor University.............$201,000
-52nd El Paso..........UT - El Paso.....................$218,000
-58th Coll. Station...Texas A&M.....................$226,500
-59th Austin...........UT - Austin.......................$226,642
-101st Dallas...........Southern Methodist..........$332,375







You can find the complete list here. .:.

Largest Private Companies

Magazine debuts latest list of big non-publics

Raising the floor to $2 billion in sales to make the list, a number of Texas companies were cut from Forbes' list in 2009.

• Austin Industries
• Brookshire Brothers
• CompuCom Systems
• David Weekley Homes
• Freeman
• Goodman Manufacturing
• GSC Enterprises
• HealthMarkets
• Interstate Battery System International
• Safety-Kleen Systems
• The Brock Group
• Truman Arnold Cos
• Vought Aircraft Industries
• Warren Equipment
• Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing

Nevertheless, 23 Lonestar firms made it onto the list of the 250 largest companies in the U.S. .:.

Texas Rank.....Overall Rank.....Company
1.....19.....HE Butt Grocery
2.....26.....Energy Future Holdings
3.....67.....Freescale Semiconductor
4.....68.....Gulf States Toyota
5.....85.....Republic National Distributing Company
6.....103.....Michaels Stores
7.....109.....Neiman Marcus Group
8.....128.....US Oncology
9.....145.....Glazer's Wholesale Drug
10.....147.....Sabre Holdings
11.....149.....Grocers Supply
12.....156.....Hunt Consolidated/Hunt Oil
13.....162.....Sammons Enterprises
14.....163.....Zachry Construction
15.....166.....Interstate Bakeries
16.....169.....Ben E Keith
17.....175.....Mary Kay
18.....193.....Camac International
19.....206.....Brookshire Grocery
20.....210.....Academy Sports & Outdoors
21.....214.....Dresser
22.....223.....Merit Energy
23.....227.....Metals USA

Texas Billionaires

This year's Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans is replete with Texans, 42 to be exact. Their average is is 65 and a half and their average net worth is $2.9 billion. Just 42.8 percent of these billionaire Texans got their money from energy or energy related endeavors.

Below is the list of Texas, with hyperlinks to their individual profiles on Forbes.com. .:.


Texas Rank.....Overall Ranking.....Source of Wealth.....URL

1.....6.....Retail.....Alice Walton
2.....13.....Tech/Telecom.....Michael Dell
3.....30.....Energy.....Dan Duncan
4.....52.....Finance.....Andrew Beal
5.....64.....Energy.....Robert Rowling
6.....65.....Retail.....John Paul DeJoria
7.....65.....Energy.....Robert M. Bass
8.....65.....Retail.....Charles Butt
9.....80.....Finance.....Harold Simmons
10.....85.....Tech/Telecom.....Henry Ross Perot
11.....91.....Finance.....John Arnold
12.....94.....Energy.....Richard Kinder
13.....97.....Energy.....Ray Lee Hunt
14.....123.....Real Estate.....Richard Rainwater
15.....139.....Media/Entertainment.....Mark Cuban
16.....158.....Energy.....George Phydias Mitchell
17.....158.....Energy.....Timothy Headington
18.....158.....Energy.....Lee Bass
19.....158.....Energy.....Sid Bass
20.....196.....Media/Entertainment.....Jerral Jones
22.....204.....Finance.....David Bonderman
23.....220.....Retail.....Thomas Friedkin
24.....236.....Legal.....Joseph Jamail
25.....236.....Energy.....Jeffrey Hildebrand
26.....236.....Energy.....Trevor Rees-Jones
27.....236.....Energy.....Edward Bass
28.....272.....Retail.....Drayton McLane Jr.
29.....289.....Finance.....Gerald J. Ford
30.....289.....Energy.....Kelcy Warren
31.....296.....Media/Entertainment.....B.J. (Red) McCombs
32.....317.....Tech/Telecom.....Henry Ross Perot Jr.
33.....326.....Media/Entertainment.....Todd Wagner
34.....326.....Energy.....Robert McNair
35.....341.....Energy.....Kenneth Adams Jr.
36.....341.....Energy.....T. Boone Pickens
37.....347.....Food.....Christopher (Kit) Goldsbury
38.....366.....Energy.....William (Tex) Moncrief Jr.
39.....371.....Tech/Telecom.....Kenny Troutt
40.....371.....Finance.....Thomas Hicks
41.....371.....Energy.....Ray C. Davis
42.....399.....Finance.....Sam Wyly

Texas Economy Round-up

1. Texas in the Spotlight> New article in The Economist highlights Texas' super growth .:. http://bit.ly/tWaM9
2. Black Gold Winners> Texas, along with OK and AK, should rebound first say economists thanks to energy's strength .:. http://bit.ly/YbIsE
3. More Good News> Brookings Study shows Texas metros are among the 20 strongest economies in nation .:. http://bit.ly/cvkCE
4. Alamo City Economy> S.A. public companies right the ship .:. http://bit.ly/1M3cfq
5. Focus for Foreign Investment> #AlamoCity lures investors, like Mexico-friendly culture and stable real estate values.:. http://bit.ly/Lg6ZX
6. The One that Got Away> #AlamoCity losing AT&T's HQ really a good thing? Could be. .:. http://bit.ly/3lKnMs
7. Texas T-Bone Rail Link> High-speed rail funding may bypass Texas.:. http://bit.ly/AAVB1
8. "It doesn't hurt to ask"> Texas asks Federal gov to have common sense regarding high speed rail .:. http://bit.ly/3Qq0Nb
9. Say What?> Growing cities, shrinking suburbs, not just Texas but nationally .:. http://bit.ly/XobNQ
10. Census Data> Latest county-based data available .:. http://bit.ly/ZeymG
11. Keep Austin Loud> ATX's music scene cited in article on downtowns and civic hubs.:. http://bit.ly/szZXH
12. Derailing Rail Plans> RT @alanhuynh @cleancartalk: High-Speed Trains Cost Too Much To Be Worth Building -- Harvard Prof http://bit.ly/TnpMi
13. Neck and Neck> Dallas and Houston tie for 9th place on Inc. 500 top metro area list .:. http://bit.ly/S5alb

Texas vs.California Round-up

1. Bulls vs. Bears> Is their a rivalry between growing Texas and shrinking California, The Economist thinks so.:. http://bit.ly/kWF5f
2. In the Black> Texas only big state to have a surplus in 2009, gap in 2010 just 10% of California's.:. http://bit.ly/ESbEr
3. Texas' Loss, California's Gain> US military strategy shift impacts stationing of Navy vessels.:. http://bit.ly/X5qiD
4. Las Vegas is to L.A. as New Orleans is to... > Cali's high-speed rail plan offers useful analogy for Texas.:. http://bit.ly/78u1I
5. State vs. State> Study of California's competitiveness shows Texas' strength .:. http://bit.ly/p8KVy
6. Apples-to-Apples> Comparison of 37 different taxes on state-by-state basis, how does Texas compare?.:. http://bit.ly/3nxu0O

Innovation Clusters Round-up

1. Venture Capital Hubs> Fascinating Harvard paper on VC clusters, DFW ranked 6th, down from 1990 peak, ATX not ranked.:. http://bit.ly/2hG3rz
2. Top 10 Nano Metros> ATX and Houston rank 9th and 10th among nanotechnology cluster cities .:. http://bit.ly/DUtCC
3. Small is Big> Texas ranks 4th in nanotech among states, PDF of nanotech resources here.:. http://bit.ly/YLEIz
4. How much the Apollo Program would cost today .:. http://bit.ly/U0nw9
5. Tech Empires> Rome wasn't built in a day, neither are technology powerhouses .:. http://bit.ly/3Q1xuK
6. IPOs in the Lone Star> How Texas stacks up in public offerings over last 10 years .:. http://bit.ly/qMYlb
7. Arcologies for Innovation> Nations invest big in research & tech parks to attract corporations .:. http://bit.ly/1oTWPu
8. Creator Class> Film-maker Mike Judge and who Butt-head really was based on .:. http://bit.ly/OCBw0
9. Aerospace Clusters> #AlamoCity fights for aerospace work, borne of Air Force presence, plenty of competition .:. http://bit.ly/AFDSe
10. Cluster Power> How a small California #industrycluster gave rise to the Information Age .:. http://bit.ly/D4hyv
11. Physicians heal themselves > Houston Medical Center giants seek to mend past wounds, bring back breakthroughs.:. http://bit.ly/4ToXI
12. Think Different> Richard Florida tells Fort Worth to get creative to prosper .:. http://bit.ly/6PYRu