A surge of military and law enforcement personnel will head to the Texas-Mexico border to combat what Gov. Rick Perry describes as a violent crime wave by “criminal alien defendants,” but criminal justice experts say certain border areas are more secure than Texas’ top cities — a view echoed by local realtors whose sales have suffered partly from news reports about border violence. Experts polled by PolitiFacts Texas were unable to substantiate crime statistics cited by Perry as support for sending 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the border, and in fact, called the numbers “ridiculous.”
That’s good news for South Padre Island, which has seen depressed real estate sales following the economic recession and Hurricane Dolly in 2008. Sales volume is improving but prices still lag Galveston and North Padre Island, and inventory stands at a two-year backlog, according to statistics compiled by the Texas A&M Real Estate Center.
Alice Donahue, a longtime South Padre Island realtor, says sales have been steadily improving from last year at approximately 29% for the area.
“We are seeing more inventory this summer but time on the market has been reduced on certain properties, specifically beachfront homes, South Padre Island Golf Course Homes and Long Island Village,” said Donahue of Alice Donahue Real Estate. “Prices are still lower than we have seen since the downturn and it is still a buyers’ market here but I have noticed a marked increase in Mexican National buyers since the cartel crisis, which I do not believe is a threat to our area as has been perceived in the past.”
To read the Scripps article on Perry, click the link: http://www.caller.com/columnists/matthew-waller/data-shows-safe-border-regions-before-natl-guard-deployment_99075946
For more on PolitiFacts analysis: http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2014/jul/29/greg-abbott/greg-abbott-attributes-3000-murders-immigrants-her/