Tropical Islands Resort

A year later, Tropical Islands Resort had opened an indoor theme park. They welded the 600-ton steel doors shut, replaced its steel skin with 20,000 square yards of translucent film, and brought along everything they needed to build a totally immersive, totally artificial paradise: 600 feet of sandy beach for a fake shoreline, 50,000 trees of some 600 varieties (supposedly the world’s largest indoor rainforest), and, a nine-story water slide that sends riders shooting down into a 3,000 square yard swimming pool at 44 MPH.

If you get them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.

A woman never forgets the men she could have had; a man never forgets the women he couldn’t have had.

The Profile of North Texas - an annual report published by The North Texas Commission – is a graphically vibrant presentation of demographic information of/for the 13 counties, 150+ cities, 9000 square miles and 7.4 million people that comprise the 4th largest region in the U.S.

The Houston Regional Economic Profile is an annual report of the Greater Houston Partnership. Houston is one of the youngest, fastest growing and most diverse populations anywhere in the world. People from across the globe relocate to Houston every year to take advantage of the abundant lifestyle and job opportunities the region provides. The median age of Houstonians is among the lowest of the nation’s major metropolitan areas, and the percentage of college graduates living in Houston exceeds the U.S. and Texas average. Read about this and so much more in this informationpacked guide.

A new survey from Clever Real Estate reveals a full profile of the millennial home buyer, uncovering insights from how they find homes to what they want to buy. They surveyed 1,000 U.S. residents in the market to buy a home within the year. Over half of the respondents were classified as millennials. Here are a few takeaways from the study: Despite the popular belief that millennials are shortsighted and flippant, most of them value good school districts and safe neighborhoods over walkability and short commutes. Only 9% of millennial home buyers are afraid of being tied down to a home. In fact, millennials are looking to get into real estate investing. They are 52% more likely to buy a multifamily home than older generations. They see the benefit of becoming landlords and generating passive income to help pay off their debt. Due to their financial constraints, millennials are also willing to take on properties that need repairs. 67% would put an offer on a home that requires major repairs (this could be dangerous for many buyers that don’t realize the true cost of homeownership). The full report, including insights, analysis, raw data and methodology, can be found here: https://listwithclever.com/real-estateblog/millennial-home-buyer-report/

The Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA) Volume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States assesses the science of climate change and variability and its impacts across the United States, now and throughout this century. These Summary Findings represent a high-level synthesis of the material in the underlying report. The findings consolidate Key Messages and supporting evidence from 16 nationallevel topic chapters, 10 regional chapters, and 2 chapters that focus on societal response strategies (mitigation and adaptation). Unless otherwise noted, qualitative statements regarding future conditions in these Summary Findings are broadly applicable across the range of different levels of future climate change and associated impacts considered in this report. https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/

In the last 10 years, since the Great Recession, the economy has expanded greatly, but the housing market still has not recovered. Since 2011, residential housing construction has increased, but only gradually—and not enough to meet demand. From 1968 to 2008, a span of 40 years, there was only one year in which fewer new housing units were built than in 2017— and this despite rising demand in a growing economy. The Major Challenge of Inadequate U.S. Housing Supply is an insightful report from Freddie Mac.