What an attractive crowd!” cheered Fredrik Eklund, the Swedish-born celebrity real estate broker who stars on the hit Bravo reality show Million Dollar Listing. He stood on the patio of a newly built home in Tarrytown, the tony neighborhood that hugs the shores of Lake Austin, addressing the local brokers who were packed into the yard. It was the launch party for the Austin branch of Douglas Elliman, a brokerage famous in New York and California for selling luxury homes and high-rise condos.

Eklund, who wore a double-breasted navy linen jacket, snug-fitting white slacks, and sockless dress shoes, seemed a little surprised that the crowd had matched him ankle for stylish ankle, but he didn’t linger on it. Speeches had to be made, toasts given, and then he’d board a plane for Miami first thing in the morning, after fewer than 24 hours in the Texas capital. For the moment, his job was simply to be seen, to lend some sizzle to the occasion. Not only was Elliman moving in on Texas real estate, it had brought its biggest gun, Eklund, one of the country’s top real estate brokers, who also happens to be a bona fide TV star.

Not that Austin—or this house—needed any help in the sizzle category. The three-story brick-and-shingle mansion had sold in two days for considerably more than its $16.25 million asking price, to an out-of-town buyer whose identity was confidential (but who was rumored to be to an entrepreneur from Los Angeles). Click to read more at www.texasmonthly.com.

AUSTIN — “Don’t California my Texas” has become a rallying cry for the state’s conservative officials but it’s those same leaders who tout triumph when California-based businesses and its residents relocate to the Lone Star state — to which many have.

The phrase first came about as a push against liberal ideals often associated with California. It is repeated enough that in 2018, Gov. Greg Abbott used the phrase in a petition as part of his re-election campaign.

At the same time, Texas is out-competing every state four to one in securing the headquarters of California-based businesses, many of which are all together relocating their headquarters to the state, according to a study by McKinney-based Spectrum Location Solutions and Stanford University’s Hoover Institution released in August.

The study found Texas gained at least 114 California businesses from Jan. 1, 2018 through June 30, 2021. Tennessee was next with 25 California-based businesses relocating to the Volunteer State, it said. Of those, 41 companies planted corporate flags in North Texas. The Austin area claimed 57, Houston got nine and the San Antonio area attracted six, the report said. Click to read more at www.palestineherald.com.