Midland, Texas : the "Boom" times

With the doom and gloom of the news media, and troubled times in various places across the nation, it becomes a common practice to people new to Texas (especially Midland/Odessa) to think all that applies to us. The truth of the matter is, things here have almost always been the exact opposite of the nation itself. If you are new to Midland, or have plans to coming this way, I thought it might be a good idea to give a brief and general discription of things as they are now. This will be very general, there are always exceptions to the rule. But for the most part, you will find these things to be true. 1) Many jobs available, Low unemployment. With the price of oil hovering just under $90/barrel, oil companies are drilling as fast as they can. But it is not only because of the price. "Frac-ing," a new technique for extracting oil from shale rock, is a fairly recent technology that has enabled us to go back into areas previously thought "drained," and actually extract a lot more oil. With the advent of fracing, fracturing the shale, entire vast pools of oil are now accessable. So much, in fact, that it almost eliminates the need for foriegn oil itself. The downside is it requires quite a bit of water to do. But that's another story. 2) Growth and Opportunity. With the influx of people, all industries are growing here. Retail, Resturants & Fast Food, construction, support vendors such as electricians, hvac, carpenters, truck drivers, etc. Also, the oil industry is coming into the 21st centruy! I have a friend who quit IBM to go to work for an oil company for a very specific, very computer-knowlege-needed job. Not just anybody can do such a thing, but Geeks can! All this equals population growth, which means growth in all industries across the board. To compound all this, the Permian Basin has been chosen as the first area to create a "Clean Coal Plant." Skeptics have painted this idea as pure science fiction. Well, that bit of science fiction is literally breaking ground in the next 3-4 months! Summit Energy, a coal company based in Colorado, are moving forward with their plans to build such a plant just west of Odessa. Talk about Growth and Opportunity, this will create apx. 2,000 construction jobs and 100 to 300 permenant jobs at the plant for the long haul! One of the by-products of this plant will be liquid CO2. This can be used by the oil industry to inject into the ground in order to force oil up! That's a new technology that can change the world. 3) Housing Shortage! Yes, it is sad but true. With all the good the economy is experiencing locally, it also means we have filled up quickly and are staying that way. Hotels/Motels, rental houses, apartments, mobile home parks, all of it and more are pretty well maxed out. Houses for sale is also hovering around a 3 month inventory, for a city our size: roughly 300 - 400 properties in the MLS at any one time. This means prices are high, supply is low, and with the housing market like it is around the nation, lenders are more dificult to work with to get home loans at all! It's making for interesting times. Some investors are doing to do very well right now. Others could, if they buy smart. What we need to be on the lookout for is the investor who does not know what they are doing. If they buy property to turn into rentals, and do not know what they are doing, they run the risk of being caught unawares down the road should the oil industry ever drop. Law of Averages says it will someday... 5 years? 10? 30? Whenever it goes, if you have not planned for this contengency... you will surely pay the price. 4) TIME. More people means more traffic, lines at the stores, resturants, more calls on things, more people from various areas not familiar with our customs (poor driving skills and road rage. ;) any number or combination of these factors will slow your commute across town from 15 minutes to... OH NO... 20 to 30 minutes! YIKES! Seriously, Midland is a great town. Why people drive crazy and in such a hurry is beyond me. Slow Down! Take Your Time! The world isn't going to end if you get home at 6pm instead of 5:45pm or whatever. Now, the one time factor that is most dreadful is the movies! We only have one movie theater, so if you are going there, count on a wait. Anyone wanting to invest in a new company for Midland? We need to break the strangle-hold Hollywood Theaters has on us. ...I'm just sayin. ;)