What do these three things have in common? Well, if you’re from Texas you probably guessed it. The new George W. Bush Library is slated to go down on the edge of the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. The addition of the George W. Bush presidential library makes the 3rd to call Texas home, behind the Lyndon B. Johnson library in Austin, TX and the George H. W. Bush library in College Station, TX. Regardless of how you feel about the decision to locate the latest presidential library to SMU instead of somewhere like Midland or Waco, my question is how will this decision affect the SMU real estate market?

It’s safe to say that the collegiate atmosphere surrounding SMU has yielded some mixed emotions to the coming of this library. Not to mention the faculty AND the University itself who was at one time disputing the ownership of the proposed land to be built on. At this point, it appears that the library effort will move forward and even be completed by 2013.

This is an excerpt from the official website for the library…

“The site of the Bush Presidential Center occupies a prime location in the heart of a rapidly growing urban city in the middle of the country. Located just five miles north of downtown Dallas on approximately 25 acres on the SMU campus, the Bush Presidential Center will overlook the downtown skyline of Dallas and serve as the eastern entrance to the university campus.”

I bolded some of the key words that are “value vocabulary” when talking about any piece of real estate. The truth is, these descriptors are fairly accurate for this area and market. One thing is for certain; this area is already an expensive real estate market. With 25 acres being taken off the potential market, this perhaps makes an already tight market even tighter.

Although these presidential libraries are touted for their economic impact as a result of tourism and research, it begs the debate on whether the impact to surrounding real estate values will be positive, negative or completely neutral. Although average prices for real estate are high in this market, I believe that they have a ways to go. If you look at where SMU sits within Dallas, growth is constrained by several geographic barriers. Bordered on all sides by interstate and conveniently close to downtown, you can’t go far from campus without running into another sub-market. Both DFW and Love Field airports are also within a few minutes providing ease of travel for business or pleasure. I would say that regardless of how you feel about George W. Bush on a political level, the arrival of his library is more likely to drive surrounding property values up than down. I suppose that time will tell us.

With the state of our current economy, who is investing any money into the stock market?  Not that we have any spare change left to invest.  I suppose one could argue that the Market only has up to go, but I stopped investing in stocks back in 2001 when we last saw our fictitious wealth evaporate due to corporate mal practices (i.e. Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Anderson, etc.) and the implosion of the tech bubble.  So, that begs the question, unless you’re a day trader making millions on the market metrics and patterns, how do you save or invest for the future?

Well I wanted to propose one possibility in today’s blog entry.  More specifically, I want to speak to how my family is saving for our children’s future college education.  As the cost of living and tuition increases each year, so does the amount of cash we need to save in order to afford our children’s education.  Why not purchase your children’s future accommodations today?  It’s paying present value as opposed to future.  I know it sounds strange, and let me try to explain a little as the multiple “what-if” scenarios arise in your minds.

This whole investment model implies two things.  The first, is that you are living within or below your means.  More specifically, you aren’t biting off more than you can chew financially.  The second implies that you have the money to invest and the desire/risk tolerance to do so.

We have chosen Austin, the University of Texas, as the University that our children will one day attend.  We are admittedly biased to this fine institution of higher learning as alumni, but you’ve got to start somewhere.  Let’s suppose that our children have no desire to attend this school, no problem, there will be plenty of demand by those who do and we can sell our condo at an appreciated market value and use the proceeds in a 1031 exchange to avoid tax penalties and reinvest that money into a condo or home in a different college town.

In the meantime, we will be landlords.  If the position of landlord doesn’t appeal to you, think about hiring a management company to handle all the collections, maintenance, leasing, etc.

The truth is, with the deficit growing at an alarming rate, the government at some point will have to start printing more money.  When the money presses start rolling out new paper, this devalues the money that we hold as a result of inflation.  I predict that we might see liquid capital being rolled into hard assets to whether the storm.  Of course my guess is as good as anyone else!  Just something to get your college real estate minds thinking.

College students make up a large portion of the green movement that is picking up momentum here in the United States. Many of the future innovators and leaders for this young and exciting industry are students. As students, it is easy to feel like we are not able to contribute much in this effort of conservation but the truth is, there is much we can do even now.

I wanted to pass along a few ideas on how you can be involved right now, as a student, in doing your part for the green revolution while at the same time saving money. The following tips will focus on how to save money on your electric bill, which translates into less consumption of energy, which translates into less demand on the energy grid, which translates into less demand for new coal fired power plants, which results in less pollution, and so on.

Because most of you are renting student housing I will focus my suggestions towards what makes financial sense in that situation. However, there are some great suggestions and tips in the College Real Estate workbook on energy saving measures if you own your student housing.

Lighting- This is one of the easiest and most cost effective measures that you can employ right away. Most units have incandescent light bulbs that actually generate light by generating heat. They are extremely inefficient and even banned in many countries now. You will want to purchase some CFL’s (Compact Fluorescent Lights) at the local hardware store. The technology and price of these have come a long way and are now just as effective as traditional light bulbs. Every incandescent light bulb you replace will cut the cost of operating that light by over half. Now because most leases are one year, keep the old incandescent light bulbs if you want and take your CFL’s with you to the next apartment.

Heating and Air Conditioning- This is typically one of the single greatest consumers of electricity in a home. Upgrading to a new system is usually cost prohibitive so a simple way to improve the efficiency of your current system and therefore save money is to REPLACE THE AIR FILTER. Some of you don’t know what that is or that you are supposed to replace them every 1-3 months. The dirtier the air-filter the more work the unit requires to draw air through it. Not to mention that you breath that stuff back in. So, get a stack of new air filters and keep those changed out. Each unit is a bit different so be sure to copy down the filter size listed on your current filter before heading to the hardware store to pick them up.

Timers, Power Strips, and Phantom Loads- I won’t say much about phantom loads here but you can google it for more info. These are basically appliances and electronics in your home that draw power 24/7 even when they are turned off. VCR’s, Televisions, radios, and microwaves all have phantom loads. Ways you can avoid running your electronics all the time is to keep them on a power strip that you turn off when you are not using it. Try putting some of your appliances on a timer and don’t get the coffee pot that lights up like a Christmas tree even when its turned off.

I would recommend coming up with a letter to your landlord with a list of items that you are requesting in order to improve the efficiency of their unit. If the refrigerator is over four years old than make that your top priority request. You can ask them to cover the cost of replacement filters and CFL’s. Ask for more efficient shower heads and toilets. The worse that can happen is they say no. As a landlord myself, I would appreciate my tenants interest in improving my unit and welcome the opportunity.

These ideas are just enough to get you started. There are many ways that you can do your part in going green. Good luck!