Mexicans urged to reclaim a piece of Texas

By Tom Leonard
Last Updated: 9:11PM BST 26/06/2008

Mexicans are being encouraged to reclaim a piece of Texas, more than 150 years after they lost the Lone Star state to the United States.

Texan estate agents are heading south of the border to drum up the interest in buying cut-price land and property in the foreclosure-hit state.

Thanks to a rising Mexican peso and an economy which is growing faster than that of the US, a country that has previously been looked on by America as a source of cheap labour is now seen as a potential source of rich investors.

A "Texas for Sale" sign and cowgirl-clad models greeted visitors to a recent property fair in Monterrey, Mexico, at which hundreds of Mexicans looked over lists of potential investment opportunities.

Virgilio Garza, a Monterrey developer, said he and his partners were considering investing $8 million in buying up foreclosed homes in Texas.

He told Bloomberg: "Texas is like our home. We believe there can be some opportunities."

Marco Ramirez, a Texas estate agent, said that residents of Monterrey, which is 150 miles from the Texas border, were his best hope of buying the 120 foreclosed properties on his books.

"Many of these people have children who are studying in the US. They've been renting or leasing and now it's a great time to buy."

America annexed Texas in 1845 after Texans gained independence from Mexico nine years earlier following the Battle of the Alamo.

A three-year war between the two countries resulted in Mexico losing about half its territory - including what is now Arizona, Nevada and California - to the United States.

Foreclosures in Texas have risen by 29 per cent in a year with one in every 274 households now going through the process.

The peso has risen by 5.9 per cent against the dollar since the beginning of the year.