Things to know before you move to Texas.

1. No State Income Tax

Texas is one of only seven states in the United States where there’s no income tax on wages. The state is funded in part by taxes and royalties on the oil and gas industry in addition to a 6.25% sales tax and taxes on vehicle sales and fuel. The average per-capita state and local tax is $3,099, which is the eighth-lowest tax rate in the United States.

From the football teams to the cuisine to the bugs, it’s true what they say: everything really is bigger in Texas. Learn everything else you need to know about the state at texas.gov.

How EB-5 Immigration Investor Program work?

USCIS administers the EB-5 Program. Under this program, entrepreneurs (and their spouses and unmarried children under 21) are eligible to apply for a green card (permanent residence) if they:

  • Make the necessary investment in a commercial enterprise in the United States; and
  • Plan to create or preserve 10 permanent full-time jobs for qualified U.S. workers.

This program is known as EB-5 for the name of the employment-based fifth preference visa that participants receive.

Congress created the EB-5 Program in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. In 1992, Congress created the Immigrant Investor Program, also known as the Regional Center Program. This sets aside EB-5 visas for participants who invest in commercial enterprises associated with regional centers approved by USCIS based on proposals for promoting economic growth.

how E2 visa work?

E2 visa - Treaty Investors
Owner or Developer of the new enterprise from a treaty country that has 50% or more ownership in a substantial US ‘employment creating’ investment.

The Treaty Investor Visa permits citizens of certain Countries (see list below) to reside in the United States through an investment in the U.S.A. The investor must come to manage or oversee the investment. 

Houston Rental Properties

  • More than 320,000 new apartments projected to be completed in 2016, a 50% increase compared to 2015
  • Texas leads apartment construction, with more than 69,000 units projected to be delivered in 2016 in the Lone Star State’s 4 largest metros – Houston, DFW, Austin, and San Antonio
  • San Francisco makes great strides to solve housing shortage, bolsters rental inventory by 126% in 2016

The US apartment market is booming in more ways than one. Rental rates are breaking record after record, with the national average at an all-time high of $1,213 in June and occupancy for stabilized and completed properties across the nation reaching 96.1% as of the end of the first quarter of 2016.

Rent in Houston? Buy in Houston?

Forward-looking indicators also saw big year-over-year increases. Total active listings were up 9.9 percent, and single-family pending sales were up 16.7 percent. Single-family inventory increased to 3.8 months in March, up from a 3.5-month supply both the previous month and a year earlier. Months of inventory estimates the number of months it would take to sell all the home listings on the market today based on the pace of sales over the past 12 months. Nationwide, inventory stands at a 3.8-month supply.

Houston Housing in month of May 2016

There were 7,013 single-family homes sold last month, up 11.7 percent from 6,278 in March 2016. Total property sales increased 10.5 percent to 8,495, and the total dollar volume from all sales was up 15.7 percent to $2.27 billion.

The increases in average and median sales prices for single-family homes were less drastic. The average hit $284,279, up 4.6 percent from last year, and the medium was up 5.8 percent to $227,530. Both figures are records for a March in Houston.

All pricing segments saw increases in sales except for homes priced $149,999 and less. Homes priced between $250,000 and $499,999 saw the biggest jump in sales, up 23.1 percent year over year, and those priced at $750,000 and above came in second with a 19 percent increase.