Horseshoe Bay- Sweet Spot

Why Horseshoe Bay (‘HSB’) will soon be widely
recognized as “America’s Sweet-spot” - not just the Best in Texas.

1) The U.S. dollar has declined sharply against most world currencies during the past six years, being down about close to 40% against the Euro and Yen.

2) With oil traded around the world priced in U.S. dollars, oil prices must rise as our dollar declines if the producing countries that supply us are to maintain market value for their supplies.  Although other factors such as supply/demand and terrorism influence world prices, most don’t realize the close tie that exist between the value of our dollar and the price of oil.

3) Although higher oil prices hurt the U.S. economy overall, the economies of our major oil producing states like Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana benefit immensely.  The exact opposite occurs when the price falls to the bottom if its cycle, as HSB experienced beginning with the oil-price crash at the end of 1985 and lasting until 2003.

4) The economies of these states benefit from higher oil prices through the larger margins the local producers receive.  That extra cash being received for the same-sized barrel of oil sold during the downturn lifts the economy of the producing region as the oil producer repays its bank loans, invests in new projects, buys new oil and gas leases, drills more wells, drills deeper wells, lays pipelines, buys drilling rigs and heavy duty trucks, employs more people, ad infinitum.

5) The benefits pass through many hands as they trickle down through untold layers to the local lumber yard, neighborhood furniture store, your local car dealer, your travel agent, your favorite restaurant, your dentist, et cetera as people buy new homes, new furniture, new cars, take vacations, go out on the town, take better care of their health, et cetera. 

6) Today, after four healthy years,  Texas’ producers have their businesses pretty much back in shape and are beginning to treat/reward themselves, such as looking for second homes and outside investments.  And where are they going for that? 

7) They're coming to HSB Resort because it is: a) no more than 3.5 hours driving time from Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Ft. Worth and Dallas - five of the country's 19 largest cities; b) has the finest public-accessible golf in the state and among the best in America; c) on the shore of Lake LBJ, America's largest constant-level lake and its lake of choice for spectacular water sports and intimate lake-side living; and d) situated in an awesome setting - a geological paradise of the highest order whose mix of stone outcroppings and spring-fed creeks spins a pleasing, relaxing, intriguing, spiritual tale that is wonderfully laid back and friendly.

8) Furthermore, HSB is blessed to be located in Texas' "Sweet-spot" - that small, exceptionally appealing area in the heart of Texas where the four most attractive sectors of central Texas overlap - namely the Texas Hill Country, the Llano Uplift, the Central Mineral Region and the Highland Lakes. HSB is the only city located in this distinctly lovely area.

9) HSB’s climate - tending toward the semi-arid - also scores well, making the area a year-around playground featuring mild temperatures, comfortable humidity and a prevailing southeasterly breeze.

10) HSB is also uniquely notable for having a small to non-existent mosquito population, making way for pleasing evenings on one’s lakeside deck, enjoying the prevailing breeze, made possible by the fact that HSB’s porous granite gravel soils don’t support the accumulations of standing water required for mosquito breeding.

11) For the past 35 years, the Resort has laid claim to the country’s finest and largest private airport - the HSB Jet Center.  It brings distant Texas cities within range, like El Paso (the country's 21st largest city) and home cities of many Texas’ independent oil men - like Midland, Odessa and Lubbock. 

12) And for those that don’t own their own plane, the Resort has its own private fleet of jets, five in all, that seat from five to 30 passengers.  All are housed at HSB’s Jet Center and are available for charter on short notice.

13) In an article published in the 12-25-06 issue of Fortune Magazine, Texas real estate was forecast to appreciate more than over the next couple of years, which was the study’s length, than anywhere else in the country. 

14) Many even saw this scenario unfolding.  In that regard, during the past seven years, beginning in late 2000, commitments to the immediate HSB-Marble Falls area began to accumulate that will amount to about $8 billion in today’s dollars when completely built out - being by around 2015.

15) In 2003, just as HSB was bottoming out, Scott & White (‘S&W”), a major Texas hospital headquartered in Temple, Texas, just south of Waco, decided to give up on its operation of the local HSB Clinic, which it had been managing, and pulled out.

16) Today, the HSB-Marble Falls area is one of the country’s faster growing ag-urbs.

17) This past spring, a mere four years later, S&W belatedly finally saw the trend and announced it was coming back in a big way, intending to build a 120-bed Regional Hospital between HSB and Marble Falls (our city limits are a mere three miles apart) that will offer quality medicine that’ll rank with Austin’s very best.

18) S&W had conducted extensive demographic studies of population trends and found that savvy investors were way ahead of the game, having already announced plans for over 12,000 new housing units within the immediate HSB-Marble Falls area - amounting to $5 million worth of new homes. 

19) Moreover, the average home price exceeded $410,000, which was a conservative estimate in that if a development were said to include houses $250,000 and up, $250,000 was used across the entire development.

20) The other $3 million of projects announced since late 2000 cover housing developments completed prior to S&W’s study, along with some that were missed, plus developments other than housing, such as HSB Resort’s Marriott Hotel, the Resort’s new HSB Boulevard Corridor redevelopment plan, new Resort projects in HSB West, several new golf courses and the rebuilding of several others, new infrastructure such as roads and bridges, including $100,000 to rebuild infrastructure damaged by the 19” rain-bomb that struck Marble Falls in 8-hoursthis past summer.

21) Regarding new and newly rebuilt golf courses, HSB is on track to have three Five-Star courses, one 4½-Star course and  two of America’s Top-100 Golf Courses within three years, which would amount to having the best and highest quality golf offered anywhere in the country. 

22) Actually, there’s every reason to believe Texas’ newly developing economic advantage will continue for a long, long time, not only because Texas’ real estate was been depressed for almost two decades and has a long way just to come back, but also because the price of oil will likely continue to increase for decades to come - as long as America’s economy remains oil-based.  

23) And as the price of oil goes, so goes HSB.  Our small community, home to a higher percentage of second homes than anywhere else in America, can be shown to be more sensitive to the price of oil than anywhere else in the USA. 

24) Texas economy led America from 1973, when the Arab Embargo began, to 1986, when oil prices collapsed practically overnight.  It and the adjacent oil patch states (Oklahoma and Louisiana) remained too weak to keep its real estate values in line with the rest of the country until 2003 when their economies began to turn around. 

25) Proof positive of this fact is seen by observing how HSB’s economic well-being, whether up or down, tracks the price of oil in mirror-image fashion, as clearly seen on charts showing oil prices dating back to when the Resort opened for business in 1973.

26) For the above reasons, Texas’ oil producers are now coming to HSB in record numbers, not just to buy a second home.  They’re coming in knowing they’re making a sound investment as well.  They realize that although their oil businesses struggled for the past 18 years, just as Texas' economy and real estate did, the tide has turned. 

27) Seeing the writing on the wall, a new crop of “wanna-be” Texans have begun flocking here from states like California, Arizona and Florida.  

28) Although the country’s worrisome, declining dollar is steadily weakening the country, there will still be plenty of places in America with extraordinarily prosperous futures.  They’ll just located differently.  HSB is the coming heart of that world.

29) Here, in HSB, one will enjoy the best of a bountiful American way of life, sharing space in a spiritually uplifting state and a healthy, business-friendly environment with neighbors cut from a self-sufficient mode without having to deal with state income taxes, entitlement mentalities, and the like.

30) Being that HSB is Texas' most attractive and best located draw, HSB is where the state's greatest demand for real estate will be focused long-term.  Accordingly, HSB is positioned to be among, if not lead, those select American towns and cities that will see the greatest real estate appreciation over the next few decades. 

31) HSB will retain this enviable position for as long as our country’s economy and lifestyle remain based on crude oil.

32) So, if one gets here as soon as he can, that’s all existing Texans ask.  All is forgiven for taking so long and you’ll be warmly received as a person known the world over as special - a Texan! 

33) Don’t mess with Texas!

34) In summary, everyone knows HSB is the Best in Texas. It will only get better with all that’s going for it - its wealth of appealing natural attractions, the billions of indigenous new investment pouring in, the Resort’s world-class amenities and strong commitment to be the resort-world’s best, the world-class Resort management now being offered by G. Michael Thomas and company, and such extraordinary and devoted city leadership as provided by our Mayor and City Council.

35) In conclusion, IF Texas’ economy is indeed poised to lead the country for the next several decades, which will happen if the country’s economy remains oil-based and the price of oil continues to climb as expected, then it directly follows that HSB is destined to be not just the Best in Texas. It will soon be known as the Best in America - “America’s Sweet-spot.”