Posted by Chris in FL on July 27, 2011 at 14:40:45:
I would like to say politics has little to do with real estate investing, and I am investing heavily right now in buy and hold SFR, but I gotta admit that there seem to be new battles to fight every month on what the government is trying to do next that limits us or costs us money… Restrictions on owner financing, paperwork, buying foreclosures… Locally, we have battled several times trying to keep government from requiring rental property to be registered, inspected, etc. - not because we don’t keep nice homes, but because of the fees, red tape, time constraints [when I buy a house, I won’t even be able to rent it out until registered (i.e. - pay a fee), wait for their inspection (i.e. - another fee), if they think one little thing is wrong, reschedule and wait for them again (i.e. - another fee). If they institute it, who knows how much it will cost and how much time it will set landlords back]. Plus, knowing government, it means once they get started, I won’t be able to change a lightbulb without a liscensed electrician signing off on it. Obama is bad for business, because big government is bad for business! IMHO, many people voted for him thinking he was going to look out for the people (i.e. - lots of handouts)… They don’t get it. A system that is all about handouts does not work, and it never will… It is the road to bankruptcy… Problem is, both parties have been willing to buy votes with handouts, and no one is willing to take the tough stance that is needed to get our country back on the road to greatness. Hard work, good ethics, intelligent business and investing - America has got away from the things that made us great in the first place… Plus, they needed to change things back when the economy was good - if you get tough when the economy is lousy, sadly that might make things even worse. Now too many people have an entitlement attitude - I am an American so the government owes me a good living - SAD! We the people need to stop waiting for government to fix everything, and get to work making things better ourselves. I know for me, things started getting better the minute I started making things better. We gotta pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, one person/family at a time!
Best wishes,
Chris in FL
P.S. - Sorry if my little rant irritates anybody. I imagine many of you feel the same way - tired of listening to everyone belly-aching instead of going about making things better!
One reason no one has commented on is INFLATION. This is a bigger factor than people realize. Since the RE bust the government has been working the money pump like crazy trying to head off a real estate and bank crash, leading to a full blown depression.
They have succeeded to a certain extent but the result must be inflation. This has already started in certain products such as food and gasoline and it will get worse.
For the long term investor if you can buy good real estate with low cost mortgages and positive cash flow you will make FORTUNES in the next 5, 1O or 2O years if you just buy a few good properties and sit tight.
The # 10 and biggest reason why anyone should buy a house now… Because the US economy is flat on its back without home buyers. Unless and until the RE mkt rebounds this stagnant economy that we have suffereed through over the past 3 yrs or more, will linger on for YEARS… not months.
There will be NO lasting recovery w/o putting an underpinning in the housing mkt, and in order for that to happen it takes demand, aka as buyers of property. Of course there are other underlying reasons why the housing mkt is soft, namely jobs being scarce… Someone needs to step up and instill some confidence in the American Employers and in trun the American Consumer… then and only then will we begin to emerge from this funk.
“There will be NO lasting recovery w/o putting an underpinning in the housing market, and in order for that to happen it takes demand, aka as buyers of property. Of course there are other underlying reasons why the housing market is soft, namely jobs being scarce. Someone needs to step up and instill some confidence in the American Employers and in turn the American Consumer… then and only then will we begin to emerge from this funk.”
I’m not trying to make a political statement here, just calling them like I see them; objectively. We are in deep cau-cau business wise, folks.
“no-one wants to be ‘first’” - Maybe no-one can afford to be first.
Politics today are oppressive to the business climate. Until that changes, expect to see nothing new in an appreciable way on jobs.
It is called being short the mkt; businesses aren’t investing long term (hiring new employees) because they aren’t sure what the rules will be tomorrow; what new hostile attitude will emerge…? This philosophy simply doesn’t promote growth. Gov’t cannot make business its adversary, but that is almost how it looks today. Class warfare has been instilled from the executive level of our political spectrum and it simply isn’t a good way to lead… and I don’t care which way you flow with your political leanings, you are seeing some of the business results harvested based on what has been sown the past few years. Anti business rhetoric produces these kind of results. Expect more to come.