An answer to your short term needs can be found in Texas foreclosure homes. The word is out, a move south can be the answer to both better job prospects and an affordable lifestyle. Texans have known for some time that growth in the private sector has been fuelling a strong and steady increase in jobs over the past year, particularly around the large cities of Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin. They are also well aware that their housing prices and costs of living are among the most affordable in the nation, and full of optimism that the current trend in foreclosures filings has only one way to go, down. The three metros have all hit the top ten hottest job markets state wide as disclosed this month in a Bizjournals survey, which credits different drivers for the healthy boom - from energy in Houston and technology in Austin to finance in Dallas, but the growth is noticeable state wide.

With more than a million homeowners facing foreclosure in the US, many souls in the most hard-hit areas in the Midwest who have lost both their jobs and their homes have no option but to relocate with their families to where the jobs are and start afresh. The really affordable foreclosure homes of Texas coupled with job security and very reasonable rents offer that great chance to invest in rental property and assist others to survive a temporary but prolonged hardship and come out the other end swinging.

Demand for low cost rental housing which will only get stronger is yet another reason for your first real estate investment. Buyers with first class credit records and a little cash or access to credit for likely first up repairs have a wealth of choice in locations. Dallas-Fort Worth communities have the highest concentration of homes in foreclosure. Sub prime loans have accounted for 18% of homeowner's mortgage debt in Texas, versus 15 % average nationally, and Texans generally have the lowest average credit rating of all. Dallas, with its high population of minority groups, has a trend of sub prime loans defaulting at higher rates than elsewhere. Texas' housing market goes against the trend seen in other high foreclosure filings rate states. There has been slow and steady price appreciation in recent years. If the base is per housing unit, then Texas's pre foreclosure rate is near the nation average and very much lower than in California, Arizona and Florida. All the more reason for those coming into the state with access to prime funds to know that an investment in foreclosure property in Texas will definitely pay big dividends in the longer term.