Hi, John.  

   Let me preface my comment by stating that I have No Party Affiliation.  I am neither Republican, nor Democrat, nor Libertarian, nor anything else.

   The "Real Government" is Big Pharma, the Federal Reserve, the Arms Industry, the Oil Companies, the Big Banks, the Insurance Companies, etc. etc.  The "Players" in Washington DC, be they Barack Hussein Obama, or John Boehner, or Hillary, or whoever, will be paid handsomely to do what they are told to do.

While I don't like to get political in a public forum (never discuss religion, politics or sex,) I just wish the parties would NOT be party oriented but US citizen oriented.  Two sided politics hasn't worked really well in recent years - can't we learn from that?

I think both sides want a healthy housing market.  The real issue is that more and more things are Washington Syntric.  In other words we get top down government and economic policies.  Many of them coming from un elected boards and officials.  Some of these can have a huge impact on Real Estate.  So one bad descision by one idiot in Washington can have a negative impact clear across the country.  We need to decentralize decision making and let local markets dominate.  

I don't think they have anything to do with the inpact of the real estate market in 2015.  They had nothing to do with the market, in reality, except ruin in and give their bankster buddies a "Get out of jail free card" when the real estate bubble burst.

* Dem White House, Republican Congress

* Dem White House, Dem Congress

* Republican White House, Republican Congress

* Republican White House, Dem Congress

No matter how you slice it.....no difference.  I'm not trying to be pessimistic, but I haven't seen any of these options work in the past 2-3  decades.

I will be in DC in May as I am every year for NAR and lobbying Congress. In Oklahoma we have all Republicans and one Senator, Coburn, is retiring who adamantly opposed the mortgage interest deduction and actually told me that home ownership could be a bad thing. The other Senator we pounded for 3 years to support the MID. We have a new Senator coming in that is Pro REALTOR®. It comes down to lobby and money. NAR has done a terific job considering how much we are being outspent but we are still the largest trade organization in the country and carry clout. It is not so much about D versu R, as it is honing in on each one of these representatives.

What would you expect Congress to do?  I'm afraid nothing will happen on ANY front in Washington until we have a new president.  As for how the elected reprepresentatives in Washington may impact the RE market, let's hope they don't.  We all know what can happen.

As for the RE market in my area, Texas is doing very well and absent some ridiculous policy-making from our federal government, Texas will continue to do well.  We weren't as heavily hit by the housing crisis as other states and recovery in my area is complete, with low inventory and high demand.  Many people are relocating to Texas for employment and our tax-friendly business environment.

Let's hope the government will leave it alone and allow the free market to expand without manipulation.  The steps taken with stimulus have failed miserably and it should have stopped with TARP.  

Who knows?  I really don't see any change.  I can't imagine that, overnight, the Republicans will be inspired to do anything other than whatever they can do to thwart the Democratic administration.  Do I think they will do anything to fix immigration, health care reform or the budget?  Not really.

John,

That is an ultra loaded question.  And I have no idea or crystal ball how events will pan out.  I know that we need a lot of changes to be made, and hopefully everyone will cooperate rather than pound their chests.

I'm sure it will be the same old lame duck game of name calling and finger pointing.  I don't expect a lot to happen until a new president hits office, both sides are just way too divided and polarized like no other time in history.

We need to support Israel at all cost,

Get the heck out of the middle east holy war,

Keep the oil per barrel below 50 bucks,

Sanction and monitor  China and Korea, Iran, ISIS

Keep interest rates historically low,

I would work 50/50 at all cost on some sort of immigration bill

I could go on for days..

Dear John,

I hope, not much. I love Fred's assessment. Very funny!  

Good question. Obama plans to veto everything, so change for good or bad is not likely. Meanwhile, everyone is still struggling with Dodd/Frank. 

Government is not citizen friendly at the moment. Hoping for change in a couple of years. 

Interesting comments, so let's see if cynicism, pessimism or procrastination about the political impact of the RE industry affects our business. Solutions are difficult to implement when so much emotion is embedded into the circumstances and that's why leadership is vitally important.

John, with the implementation of Frank-Dodd, etc over the past few years, I think any legislation in regard to housing will be much smaller scale.

Thankfully, we're not the only country to have gone through problems, and I think congress realizes we're not out of the woods yet.  With inflation so low (and deflation actually being a concern) rates should be able to remain at very low levels.  Our representatives should realize that if rates rise, if will jeopardize the entire economic recovery (both mortgage rates and the rates on credit which also correlate to the Fed funds rate).

Both democrats and republicans have to realize the economy is still very fragile - economic troubles or another major drop in the stock market will not look good on the Presidency or congress, so I don't think we'll see any drastic changes in 2015.

We will survive...

Huge game will continue. Politians always seen to promise the world and them nothing happens. Hope it is different.

Things sure do change fast John.

Not much.

Anyone that claims politics does not impact the housing market hasn't been paying attention. My personal feeling is that all the parties are completely corrupt and we will never see the wide-spread freedom, prosperity, and opportunities of the past. 

When you look at the two main parties, there is a major difference when it comes to housing. The Republicans (generally) believe that if a person is given enough freedom and opportunity, they will work hard to become productive members of society and our capatilistic system will reward them and they will become home owners. The Democrats (generally) believe that if a person is given the appropriate government assistant, to include being placed in a home, they will become productive citizens that will give back to the betterment of the community.

The evidence shows that when people work hard, save up, and invest in a property, they appreciate it and take care of it. They also take care of their neighborhood because they have a vested interest in it. When people are "given" a home through housing subsidies, low downpayments, etc., they tend to treat the home and community with disregard because they haven't invested themselves into it. They are more likely to walk away when hard times hit, not take care of the property, etc.

There's much more to my thoughts on this, but I'll leave it at that because it's probably already ticked off half the audience! :)

Interesting question with a variety of opinions.  Only time will tell and at this point I'm moving forward, not looking back, and hoping for an improvement over the past 7 years in real estate.

As always, the wealthy will own, the rich will buy when they have $$$ and sell when they don't, the struggling will rent, the rest will be evicted.

A realistic vision is The congress and Senate passing bills and Obama giving them a big Veto, therefore the economy will limp along, the fed will keep printing  money, interest rates will stay low, even though the stock market will go up as long as money is being printed the average person will get hammered in taxes and health care fees. Some markets will see a slow increase in values and others a steady pace of contimued foreclosures you are not seeing on the nightly news.

John DL Arendsen ... Great discussion you've prodded here!  Wish I could say I have a Soothsayer's hat and knew the answer to this question ... but history has taught me there are too many variables and too much craziness to ever figure out what Washington will do ... or what the future to come will be ...

Gene