{"id":4559,"date":"2008-09-21T10:22:12","date_gmt":"2008-09-21T17:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=4559"},"modified":"2008-09-21T10:23:50","modified_gmt":"2008-09-21T17:23:50","slug":"this-endless-election-season-may-give-the-real-estate-market-time-to-self-correct-before-new-legislation-can-make-things-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4559\/this-endless-election-season-may-give-the-real-estate-market-time-to-self-correct-before-new-legislation-can-make-things-worse\/","title":{"rendered":"This endless election season may give the real estate market time to self-correct before new legislation can make things worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic<\/i> (permanent link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

 
This endless election season may give the real estate market time to self-correct before new legislation can make things worse<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking for a silver lining amidst the black clouds of financial news? Here’s one: The fact that we’re in the middle of an election campaign gives us at least a fighting chance of solving our own problems without more government interference in the real estate market.<\/p>\n

Everything that’s happened so far has been a triumph for the government approach to what should be free markets. Since the 1930s, the Federal government has been guaranteeing home loans. That made it easier for Americans to buy homes, but it dulled that flinty due diligence we expect in bankers.<\/p>\n

Our tax laws favor homeownership with deductions, credits, capital gains exclusions and favorable loan terms. It’s nice to save on taxes, but these incentives induce us to own homes where we might otherwise do something else with our money.<\/p>\n

In the recent past, the Federal government decided everyone should own a home, no matter what. After 9\/11, the Federal Reserve Bank reduced the cost of money to almost nothing. Hundreds of different arms of government at all levels gave away financial incentives to homeownership. And the U.S. Treasury seemed to hint that American mortgage-backed securities were as safe as houses.<\/p>\n

This has turned out to have unhappy consequences. That old-style flinty banker could never conceive of houses losing even 20% of their value, where the Phoenix market has given back twice that much since the market peaked.<\/p>\n

Even so, the sky has not fallen. Wealth is not dollars, wealth is the productive power of the American economy. The majority of Americans still have significant equity in their homes, with many of them being owned outright.<\/p>\n

What’s happened is that lenders and their financiers and, unfortunately, the American taxpayer, have taken a hit to the wallet. If the Federal government can restrain itself from overreacting, we’ll dig ourselves out in due course. And that’s why we’re blessed by this election: It will be at a least a year before the Feds Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link).  This endless election season may give the real estate market time to self-correct before new legislation can make things worse Looking for a silver lining amidst the black clouds of financial news? Here’s one: The fact that we’re in the middle of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,8,26,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-group-therapy","7":"category-investment","8":"category-lending","9":"category-marketing","10":"category-real-estate","12":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1895,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1895\/what-could-be-worse-than-our-current-capricious-zoning-laws-new-even-more-capricious-zoning-laws-imposed-by-zealots\/","url_meta":{"origin":4559,"position":0},"title":"What could be worse than our current capricious zoning laws? New even-more-capricious zoning laws — imposed by zealots","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Tipped again by Poor and Stupid, novelist Orson Scott Card discovers everything that's wrong with one-size-fits-all municipal zoning laws:I'm not urging that the government mandate any more absurd mileage requirements for cars, or ration gasoline, or any other absurd proposals. Hybrids are great, for the things they're great for. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2375,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2375\/government-interference-will-prolong-housing-woes\/","url_meta":{"origin":4559,"position":1},"title":"Government interference will prolong housing woes","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link): \u00a0Government interference will prolong housing woes Want to make an economic problem worse? Interfere with it. As I write this, the Federal Reserve Bank just cut the Federal Funds Rate by another quarter-point. Why? To try to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2956,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2956\/doom-and-gloom-win-again-real-estate-is-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":4559,"position":2},"title":"Doom and Gloom Win Again: Real Estate Is Dead","author":"Mike Farmer","date":"April 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It is now pervasive, whether fact, fiction, miscalculation or a misunderstanding of economic adjustments -- doom and gloom has colored our lexicon and everyone's on board. The \"realists\" are merely pointing out facts, the politicians are merely offering a big hand to help all the little people in this troubling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14708,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/14708\/lay-down-with-dogs-and-you-wake-up-with-fleas-worse-if-you-decide-to-rape-the-taxpayers-via-nars-rapac-scam-you-get-plague\/","url_meta":{"origin":4559,"position":3},"title":"Lay down with dogs and you wake up with fleas? Worse. If you decide to rape the taxpayers via NAR’s RAPAC scam you get… plague!","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"From the Phoenix Realtor Forum, the monthly newsletter of the Phoenix Association of Realtors: Alas, the plague is a swarm of vampire-like locust Realtors. These are RAPAC's objectives, according to the article, with interstitial commentary by me in bold text. Mortgage Interest Deduction: NAR opposes any changes that would limit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6950,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6950\/the-bad-news-obamas-housing-relief-plan-is-a-giveaway-to-lenders-not-homeowners-the-worse-news-it-wont-work-anyway\/","url_meta":{"origin":4559,"position":4},"title":"The bad news: Obama’s housing relief plan is a giveaway to lenders, not homeowners. 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