In the Sunday Austin American Statesman of 9 Nov 13 there was an excellent article about how the F 1 race event puts the spotlight on the Austin brand. Next week will be the second year for Austin to host the event which will give it world wide exposure estimated to be the equivilent of $190 million in free adverstising! Branding is defined as creating and maintaining a unique perception, and Austin is “very unique” and this uniqueness is in part why business relocate here, and that in turn is why it makes good sense to own Austin area real estate. The article stated that the Austin uniqueness is centered around F 1 and extreme sports, music festilviles, restaurants, high tech, and the film industry. (Note that since the 1990’s that over 200 movies and TV shows have been filed here and that too is great free advertising). To this you could also add not so unique and hum drum things like the University of Texas and Austin being the state capitol, and of course its location at the tip of the “Hill Country of Texas”. Kiplinger’s rated Austin as one of the best city of the next decade. Now who wouldn’t want to own a piece of prosperity?

Rick Ebert/Austin, Texas/9 Nov 13