I’m so glad I attended the 2018 Economic & Real Estate Outlook event hosted by the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce. I felt privileged to be in this room with so many great speakers that included:

  • Ted Jones, Chief Economist – Senior Vice President, Stewart Title Guaranty Company
  • Bud Weinstein, Associate Director of the Maguire Energy Institute, SMU
  • Kourtny Garrett, President & CEO, Downtown Dallas Inc

 

2018 Texas Construction Real Estate Forecast Strong | Hingepoint

The event made me feel proud to be a Texan, to be from Plano, and to have a company (HingePoint) that is hyper-focused on this specific industry. I’m grateful that HingePoint is designed to tap into the massive potential of the millennial workforce (what I call the young Rock Stars of the next generation).

Why?

Well, see what I learned from the event:

Top Takeaways from the 1st Speaker – Associate Director of the Maguire Energy Institute, SMU – Bernard L. Weinstein

  1. Texas is forecast to grow 3% next year. That’s thanks to a trend of people and businesses moving south, and the powerful Texas business climate to attract companies to the region and stimulate on-shore manufacturing.
  2. 100,000 new jobs in Texas last year (2017) and 100,000 more next year. HingePoint is proud to have added 5 of those new jobs as we grew last year.
  3. Texas leads in Exports, especially crude oil and natural gas. But there is a risk if the NAFTA agreement impacts our trading with our friends in Mexico and Canada.
  4. The stock market is rocking along, creating long term wealth.
  5. Fossil fuels are going over the next 25 years and Texas has a lot of natural resources and capabilities to meet that demand.
  6. In 2018, the United States is forecast to be the #1 country in the world for energy production, which will increase our exports, and provide for reliable long-term growth of the economy.
  7. Energy dominance globally will be a great high ground for politics and growth globally.
  8. North Dallas, Plano, Frisco, and Irving are the strongest markets in Texas! I’m so proud to be living and headquartered in Plano Texas since 2006!

Top Takeaways from the 2nd Speaker – Chief Economist – Ted Jones, Ph.D.

  1. By the numbers, data counts! Amen! Facts and data really do tell a story. A story HingePoint helps our clients with: get control of their data so they can profitably scale and grow, using tech resources like Cloud, Mobile, and Analytics to optimize their business.
  2. Bullish on the future, all trends are leading up and our competitiveness is increasing monthly.
  3. Lowest unemployment raster in the past 44 years!
  4. 16% growth in Travel and Leisure jobs! That means there are people with discretionary income and spending, which further stimulates the economy.
  5. Plano, Dallas, and Irving has 2 times the job growth of the national average! Thanks to all the entrepreneurs from EO Dallas (entrepreneurs organization), BizOwnersEd, Vistage, C12, and CEO Institute that grow our local economy.
  6. Millennials are 14% of the population, but make up 30% of new home purchases! So they are aggressive, risk seekers, committed to living in Texas to raise families and have a great career. The rock stars of the future love Texas!
  7. Businesses that tap into the millennial workforce and make products millennials want will flourish. That is why HingePoint is so excited about the future. We do both! Our cloud, mobile, and analytics applications for construction and commercial real estate will be key in helping this next generation of innovative leaders optimize and grow American businesses.
  8. Disasters – first, they dip the economy. Then, it causes a boom as insurance and federal aid build the region. Hurricanes and fires will help to fuel the Texas and national economy.
  9. Tax Reform – putting more money into the economy like Dallas’ Southwest Airlines that gave bonuses to employees based on recent tax breaks. Lowering the corporate tax from 39% to 29% almost doubles net profit for some companies, and it will directly put money in the hands of businesses so they can hire more people and increase compensation. In turn, that will further stimulate the economy. If you invest in the stock market, it may continue to climb on in this economy.
  10. Tax deductions for home mortgages over $1M will hurt California and NY with very expensive houses. This will further fuel the exodus out of those states to more affordable southern states like Florida and Texas. Texas is leading in population growth.
  11. Nimble! The cost to drill is down. Rigs can be drilled in 19 days now, vs 40 days. Our energy development has increased rapidly (and with far fewer rigs), so we can basically scale up and down almost instantly to meet the demand. This allows for long-term sustained growth on the fuel of cheap and clean energy from natural gas.
  12. Follow Dr. TC Jones on Twitter at @DrTCJ for more great economic stats every day.

Real Estate Round Table

I had the pleasure of sitting with the Hoque Global team lead by Mike Hoque and Mehrdad Moayedi (President & CEO of Centurion American) who developed The Statler Hotel & Residences to revitalize Downtown Dallas, and Kourtny Garrett, President & CEO of Downtown Dallas Inc. Everyone involved made some great points about the real estate climate in Dallas.

Below are a few of my key takeaways:

  1. They’re attracting great tenants downtown.
  2. Investing in the legacy of Dallas and preserving our city’s history will be a long-term investment that shows people’s faith in Dallas and Texas.
  3. Hoque Global develops highly-successful restaurants (such as Dallas Chop House, Dallas Fish Market, Chop House Burger, and Wild Salsa), revitalizing downtown Dallas with shopping, bars, restaurants, and even parks that families love. I personally take out-of-town guests to the park (across from Statler) and it’s been a source of “family fun” for my wife and 3 daughters.
  4. New tenants like Amazon (and others) may join AT&T. They’ll find Dallas ripe for setting up a long-term presence in the south-central region that’s full of the lifestyle and talent pool their employees want for sustained growth.
  5. Can we rename “Millennials” to our “Next Generation Rock Star leaders, innovators, and citizens of America” that will take us to the next level of American morality, purpose, and keep this the greatest country on earth? Who’s with me?

I feel strongly 2018 is going to be a great year! At HingePoint, our purpose is to “help transform and grow people so that they can reach their full potential and make life better”.

Is 2018 going to be great or what? I feel strongly it will! However, you don’t have to take my word for it… you can download the presentations and decide for yourself:

  • Dr. Bernard Weinstein’s presentation can be downloaded here.
  • Dr. Ted Jones’ presentation can be downloaded here.

About HingePoint, LLC

HingePoint delivers cloud, mobile and analytics solutions for the construction industry. Specializing in the systems that run the construction business including SharePoint, Salesforce, Procore, Microsoft Dynamics, and Autodesk. Scale and grow profitably with Financial and Project Dashboards, document management, and workflow automation for field-to-office collaboration.

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2300 McDermott Road STE 200-235, Plano, TX 75025
(214) 301-0000

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