President Barak Obama – A New Beginning

Today is one that will most certainly go into the history books and justly so. The Nation inaugurated the 44th President of The United States, President Barack Hussein Obama. America’s first Black President.

Although I am on the record as opposing Obama in the 2008 election for a multitude of strong reasons, I sincerely wish President Obama “God Speed” and all the best for him, his family and our Nation.

While Obama was elected for all the wrong reasons there has not been a President in my life time that has more reasons to succeed than he. Despite his campaign rhetoric engineered to cater to the left, he has already demonstrated a willingness to govern from the center and in order to be successful he must. The lofty ideals of liberalism are simply unrealistic when taken as a whole. Much like a diet of candy may sound good the simple fact is that it is unsustainable and would be damaging to your health. Liberalism unbridled is just as unsustainable and would damage the health and security of our Nation.

Challenges

President Obama faces many immediate challenges that are just as historic as his Presidency. The faltering economy, the real estate slump, the War on Terror and a House and Senate controlled by the far left are just a few of the challenges ahead. The latter may prove to be his biggest challenge for without the support of the House and Senate it will be difficult to successfully address the others.

Politics and Real Estate

I have recently fielded a couple of calls reprimanding me for discussing politics on a real estate blog. Yes my Mother was a Real Estate Broker and did teach me never to mix politics and religion in real estate however; the current real estate industry crisis we face was created solely by politicians in the name of politics, power and corruption. Let us not forget that the collapse of Wall Street was preceded by the floundering of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The truth is that there is no separating Politics and Real Estate.

While President Obama campaigned on promises of “feel good” programs and legislation that would be detrimental to the real estate industry it will be interesting if President Obama attempts to keep Candidate Obama’s promises. My guess is no and that even if he is that naive when it comes to the economy, his economic advisors will enlighten him.

Summary

President Obama must abandon many of his campaign promises and govern from the center if he is to overcome the obstacles and challenges ahead and concentrate on his legacy from day one instead of repaying his political allies. He must rein in spending by the House and Senate and limit any “stimulus” expenditures to programs that will actually stimulate the economy. Ideals such as dumping billions into the Education system in an effort to repay the Teachers Union for their election support must be quashed. Notions such as this are very easy to see through and will not stimulate the economy. He must act and spend responsibly or we may be in for a very rough ride and the Obama Presidency will be mired by failure and controversy. The decision is his alone.

May God Bless President Obama and the United States of America.

Tough Times Ahead For Real Estate Agents

I am constantly hit with questions about when I think the real estate market will rebound from Real Estate Agents all across our Nation. The short answer is “No Time Soon!”

Before the real estate industry can begin a recovery we must first hit bottom and unfortunately I feel we are far from that yet. The housing market is not only suffering from the subprime lending fiasco it is currently driven by nothing less than fear and lack of confidence.

Public perception of the real estate market as a solid investment is shaken daily by the news of record braking home foreclosures. This “cancer” is now spreading rapidly infecting neighborhoods across America with devaluation of homes that took no part in subprime lending.

Homeowners are experiencing their equity diminish weekly as homes are just not selling. While some buyers are waiting for the market to hit bottom before buying others that are normally qualified buyers are experiencing difficulty in obtaining home loans as the credit crunch continues to tighten.

Recovery

There will be no recovery anytime soon. On top of all the issues facing the real estate industry we have a Presidential Election right around the corner. While the main stream media has a true love affair with Sen. Obama, Wall Street reels over the prospect of an Obama Presidency. As well they should. Sen. Barrack Obama has demonstrated his distain for business and as made his intentions of raising taxes on business across the board well known. Legislative bills that Obama has co-sponsored shows a severe lack of knowledge when it comes to the real estate industry and the economy as a whole. If Sen. Obama is elected as president we can count on Wall Street and investors sitting on their hands for at least a year until they can assess how Obama handles key issues in the economy such as taxation.

In addition to the Obama wildcard there are still ARMs (Adjustable Rate Mortgages) that have yet to mature. Some Subprime loans that were originated in 2005 will not mature until sometime in 2010. This means there will be many more foreclosures in months to come. So the immediate prospect for industry recovery is bleak to say the least.

Agent Survivability

It is clear that many real estate Agents will not survive these tough times. It is unfortunate but as in nature only the strong will survive. That is NOT a bad thing for the industry. Real estate has always and always will cycle. In bad times weak Agents will drop by the way side and while the quality of professionalism improves the competition becomes less intense. This is a win-win proposition for both the general public and the true real estate professional.

For real estate Agents to survive they must be good managers of their time and resources. Unnecessary expenditures and marketing expenses that do not work need to be pruned. To survive we must make every penny and every minute count. Those that do will survive to see better times.