Chris Thorpe Real Estate

DALLAS (Dallas Business Journal) – Texas has the 12th-lowest home-care costs and other long-term care services in the country, according to Genworth’s 2010 Cost of Care Survey. The median annual rate for home care costs statewide is $41,070, 6 percent lower than the national average of $43,472. Annual nursing home private rooms ...

FORT WORTH (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) – For the second year in a row, Texas cities took half of the top ten spots in Newgeography.com's annual ranking of the best cities in the nation in which to find a job. Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos ranked first, San Antonio–New Braunfels second, Houston–Sugar ...

CARROLLTON (ALNsystems.com) – The number of apartments rented statewide dropped 2.4 percent between December 2008 and December 2009, according to the latest figures from ALN. Meanwhile, rents fell by an average of 2.5 percent. Here's how select cities fared for the year ending December 2009: Austin Occupancy stayed roughly the same, ...

CEDAR PARK (Austin Business Journal) – Schlitterbahn Waterparks plans to build a $360 million resort development and convention center in this city north of Austin. The city will provide $6 million for the 95-acre project’s infrastructure costs. The Lower Colorado River Authority has not yet determined how the water park ...

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – The nation’s labor market hit bottom in August 2009, but the Texas labor market has not yet hit that mark. The Texas economy lost 277,400 nonfarm jobs from December 2008 to December 2009, an annual job loss of 2.6 percent. Over the same period, the U.S. economy lost more than four million jobs or ...

NEW YORK (concierge.com) – Six Texas hotels have made the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List for 2010. The Gold List includes the year’s top 100 hotels worldwide based on data collected from the annual Reader’s Choice Survey. Six categories — including best rooms, best service, best food, best location, best design ...

DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – Even with new home sales in North Texas continuing to slow, cutbacks in new home construction over the past couple of years could result in a new-home shortage come 2010. Builders have sold almost 13,000 more houses than they have started over the last two years, causing inventory ...

DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – North Texas apartment occupancy fell in the third quarter, as did its average rent when compared with October 2008 figures, according to Carrollton-based MPF Research Inc. The apartment analyst firm reported a 4.1 percent decrease in Dallas’ average apartment rent to $772 between third quarter 2008 ...

MANSFIELD (Dallas Business Journal) – Harvest Family Entertainment has begun construction on Hawaiian Falls/Mansfield, a 14-acre water park at Heritage Parkway and SH 360. The $10 million water park, which includes 12 waterslides, a football field–sized wavepool and a "lazy river," is a joint venture between Hawaiian Falls, ...