The First Presidential Debate What About Real Estate?

Apparently The Real Estate Crisis is Over

The candidates didn’t talk about much (I didn’t think they would), but it was a bit surprising there were only two mentions of real estate-related items in the whole debate this past Wednesday.

In a debate that focused on domestic economics, these were the only two bits talked about:

First, in his opening remarks, Obama said “housing has begun to rise.” He’s right: the real estate housing market is in way better shape than it was when he took office in 2009. I was a bit surprised that Romney didn’t argue the point a bit. Romney did point out several ways that broader economic performance worsened during Obama’s presidency, but the housing market wasn’t one of them. Had Romney wanted to point to the ongoing pain from the housing crisis, he could have pointed to the fact that the market in many states still has more than 50% distressed housing inventory. But he didn’t. Locally here in Costa Mesa, we are in much better shape, trending now towards less than 30% of the market being distressed housing.

Second, Obama and Romney appear to be more interested in preventing the next housing crisis than getting out of this one. There was talk over how important it is to maintain regulation in lending, but some disagreement over how the Dodd-Frank act is helping banks lend.

What we need – The First Presidential Debate What About Real Estate

But that was about it for housing. In my opinion, here is why there wasn’t more talk over housing, as to how it relates to our Costa Mesa real estate market:

The worst of the crisis is behind us: Foreclosures are down, way down from even two years ago. banks are lending to responsible, credit-worthy folks. New housing is starting again, and new tracts are selling again around us in Fountain Valley and Irvine. Sales on existing homes are robust.
Delinquencies on mortgages are falling. Housing, apart from some distressed housing in Costa Mesa, is in really good shape. Neither candidate wins on housing as an issue: As the incumbent, Obama hasn’t had that one amazing victory in housing that he can point to; Romney would have to put a good idea together that would perceived as making a difference.
Economic policy is the best housing policy: The local Costa Mesa real estate market depends on jobs, and new jobs push our real estate sales, both for buyers and sellers of Costa Mesa real estate. We definitely need more jobs locally, I think that is the one area that is holding back our local inventory. The First Presidential Debate What About Real Estate

I’m not a democrat or republican if you were wondering 🙂

Just a local guy who loves to work with his clients and help them buy or sell homes in Costa Mesa.

Colin can be reached at (714) 743-9882 or by E-mail.