I had lunch with one of the top builders in Preston Hollow today, who tells me an LA guy has emailed him (off his website, power of the web thank you very much!) and is mulling a move to Texas. The guy is a CEO and wants to move his whole company here. Here is what he told this home builder (via email) he wanted in a home:
Italian Mediterranean design
-A large multi-acre lot, 3 plus acres with a gate
-24 hour gated community with security
-Enough room to land a private helicopter
-Executive aviation airports (FBO) very close by
The guy is totally for real. He does a lot of business in Europe and said DFW is less crazy than LAX. He loves CA but says recently the character of the state has changed radically, it is no longer hospitable to business or capitalism. He’s concerned that if President Obama wins in November, the whole country (except Texas) may become like California.
Home prices in southern Cali are $750 to $1,000 per square foot, he likes what you can get in Texas for $500 psf. House size? he wants about 11,000 square feet.
The whole conversation started with me asking this builder if he was seeing any downsizing trends in home building. People are building smaller houses, right I asked? Are you kidding, he replied? People want smaller lots — like a half acre or less, but they still want super sized homes.
Especially those folks moving here from sunny California.
