Saturday, January 6, 2018

Through The Looking Glass Where China Loves Fort Worth

Near the end of last year we learned, via a couple articles in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, about Fort Worth suffering from an identity crisis due to the shocking realization Fort Worth had fallen way behind other American cities of like size.

In Why Fort Worth Has Fallen Behind Developing An Identity Crisis we blogged about this shocking identity crisis revelation and the hundreds of thousands of dollars Fort Worth spent to try to figure out why the town is such a backwards backwater to which corporations are reluctant to locate.

Such is terribly difficult to understand, what with Fort Worth's appeal being so obvious. Yet, it really is befuddling why Fort Worth can not seem to do simple things in a timely manner, like building three simple little bridges, for relatively little money, in a time frame of less than a decade. While other towns seem to do complex things, like dig giant transportation tunnels in a fraction of the time Fort Worth's boondoggles have been boondoggling along.

But now, near the beginning of 2018, we have some optimistic news, news which might make one think maybe people in other parts of the world have finally figured out where Fort Worth is located and that the town is not a Dallas suburb.

The first few paragraphs from this optimistic about Fort Worth article titled China’s real-estate agents explain why they love Fort Worth and if they think foreign homebuying will keep surging...

The China Alliance of Real Estate Agencies, whose membership handles about 60 percent of home sales in China, is touring the Fort Worth area this week. We tagged along and asked them about foreign home buyers in Tarrant County.

One of the biggest stories in the Fort Worth-area real-estate market continues to be the strong interest among home buyers coming from China.

Although foreign sales here are down a bit lately, Tarrant County in recent years has become one of the most sought-after U.S. regions for people in China looking for a home as an investment or to move to. While a boon for home sellers and real-estate companies, buyers from China have been blamed for soaring home prices, and foreign speculators became a main topic in the Fort Worth mayoral election.

So why are so many people from China interested in buying here, and will it continue? To find out, we joined a delegation of 15 top real-estate brokers from mainland China who are in town this week to check out the area for themselves and tour homes with the help of Windermere — the latest sign of China’s interest in Fort Worth. The brokers include the leadership of the China Alliance of Real Estate Agencies, whose membership handles about 60 percent of home sales in China.

Why Fort Worth?
The brokers all said good schools, clean air, proximity to China, beautiful natural resources like lakes and mountains and the growing economy are the main draws, with most citing Radio Shack, Pier One Imports and Chesapeake Energy as internationally renowned Fort Worth companies.
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Okay, obviously I fake news tricked you all again.

I suppose when you got to the part about Fort Worth's good schools, clean air along with beautiful natural resources like lakes and mountains you started thinking something was not making sense about what you were reading. And then you were further perplexed when you read reference to a growing economy and internationally renowned Fort Worth companies.

Well, in the above article blurb, substitute Seattle for Fort Worth and change those internationally renowned companies to Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing and you have what was actually in this China’s real-estate agents explain why they love Seattle and if they think foreign homebuying will keep surging article in the Seattle Times.

An article the likes of which you will never likely read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about the current international status of Fort Worth and the town's attractiveness to Chinese home buyers.

Hence, an extremely good example of the type reality which causes Fort Worth an identity crisis, and why there is a good reason for that identity crisis. And why Fort Worth has fallen so far behind other towns of similar size in terms of national and international recognition.

And it did not cost Fort Worth several hundred thousand dollars to get this dose of un-sugar coated reality, I offered it up for free...

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