***Official Political Discussion Thread***

General response regarding real estate:

I've been in the business for 8 years. While the market is not what it was and whether it will continue for an extended period of time remains to be seen, it has most definitely stabilized and is at a level where we can seemingly restart.

Every market is different, from state to state, county, city/town, even neighborhoods. My market (essentially 3 counties) is actually strong right now. Naturally the market slows into the winter due to kids & school, the holidays and at least here, the winter and snow. We also see a change in the market around presidential elections and even though we were seeing really good signs of a recovery in the housing market even last year and a ton of activity in the spring, I was very cautiously optimistic 6 months ago because of the election. Buyers tend to take the wait and see approach now but activity has been incredible.

We've seen increases in sales and prices (though slight) every quarter dating back to last year and inventory here is the lowest it's been since 2008. The market had been saturated, thankfully we hadn't been hit by foreclosures as badly as most areas but short sales remain an issue...the buyers are still buying, rates are low and it's a positive that the mortgage qualification process has become much stricter. The market was artificially inflated and prices needed to be corrected, it's been difficult for a lot of people who bought at the peak or believed their property to have a certain value and saw that equity as money in the bank, which ~20-25% is now gone. In areas with median prices around $500k, that's a lot of money. The only unfortunate part of my market is that property taxes are the highest in the country and are not in line with market values. These homes are now very "affordable" for a lot of people here but when you figure in at least $1k/month in taxes alone for single-family homes, it's tough.

In terms of government incentives, what exactly are you talking about? In terms of programs, FHA loans?

The other posters are right. There's a steady amount of investors that see distressed properties as a huge opportunity now. Even if it's not a matter of immediately flipping them, they're creating their own small business and either renting to those that either have been affected by the economy (lower wages, short sales & foreclosures or even divorce, other financial hardships, etc) and cannot qualify for a mortgage now or just are not in a position to buy. For these investors, renting these properties allows them to make money on a monthly/yearly basis until they feel the time is right to sell. And there's even just your typical buyer who sees the opportunity to own for less than or slightly more than renting a comparable property.

I could post a ton on the topic and there's no doubt certain areas are not seeing positives in the housing market but as a whole, there are at least signs of legitimate stability now if not improvement.
Just curious, why do people expect those prices to return? Weren't they overpriced to begin with? 
 
Hey_

Economists candidate preference:

1000


Source

Julius F. Wrek
 
Interesting opinion on how Obama should have answered the Romney/bush comparison question




Okay, yes, I know all polls have shown that President Barack Obama won the second debate with Mitt Romney and his magical Binder of Women. And yes, I know that the airwaves are full of videos of "smackdown" moments by the president.

But the president had a softball lobbed across the plate on one question, and he missed blasting it far over the wall for an easy, Ruthian grand slam home run. Instead, he wound up with a ground-rule double.

The question came from Susan Katz who expressed "fear" of a return to "failings and missteps" of George Bush policy and was concerned that Mitt Romney might not be able to differentiate himself from Mr. Bush, leading the country back to those same "economic and international problems." Of course, few Americans want that -- including most Republicans. Witness the invisibility of President Bush from the Romney campaign. Better yet, witness Mr. Romney's own answer, detailing his "differences," rather than insisting how much he admires the wondrous George W. Bush.

Yes, I know that President Obama gave a highly-effective, clever answer that ridiculed how much worse Mr. Romney would be than Mr. Bush. And he was right. But it totally missed what would have had the audience running for the hills to duck-and-cover.

Consider all that the president left out.

Consider what he didn't say:

As Paul Richter in the Los Angeles Times reported about Romney foreign policy, the former governor relies "on a group of about 200 outside advisors, campaign staff and other experts. About two-thirds are veterans of the Bush administration."

Two-thirds.

These include:

John Bolton, George Bush's Under Secretary of State and ambassador to the United Nations. He is such a neocon war hawk that Mr. Bolton told officials in Israel that America's next targets after attacking Iraq would be Syria, Iran and North Korea.

Dan Senor, the former Bush spokesman in Iraq during Paul Bremer's disastrous "Provisional Authority" period when the Iraqi Army was disbanded and civil riots exploded. (He also has led foreign policy briefings for Vice Presidential-candidate Paul Ryan.)

Robert Joseph was the National Security Council official who wrote the notorious "sixteen words" lie in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech that falsely claimed Iraq was trying to buy enriched uranium.

Eric Edelman not only was an important Bush official in the Pentagon, but it was his suggestion to boss **** Cheney that Scooter Libby "out" CIA covert agent Valerie Plame. He also served in the Defense Department and pressed to attack Iran.

Other Bush neocon and war hawk advisers on the Romney team include Elliott Abrams, the Bush deputy national security aide; and Elizabeth Cheney, a State Department official and daughter of former Vice President **** Cheney.

Sorry, if you're running out of paper for taking notes, but we're only getting started.

Beyond these experts comprising its foreign policy brain trust, the Romney website lists its "special advisers." These include:

Michael Hayden, the Bush CIA director.

Michael Chertoff, homeland security director for Mr. Bush.

Richard Williamson, ambassador to the U.N. Security Council, and the Bush special envoy to Sudan.

And all of this, Barack Obama left out of his answer. But then, out of kindness to the far right, he also left out that:

On Mitt Romney's foreign policy team, "Fifteen of the 22 members were policy advisers under the George W. Bush administration." And further, as Policymic states, "six of them are former members of PNAC," the neocon Project for a New American Century.

Indeed, when Mitt Romney released his white paper on foreign policy (neocon-named, "An American Century"), the foreword was by Eliot Cohen -- counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. And a founder of PNAC. Mr. Cohen has advocated that the U.S. "actively seek the overthrow" Iran. He refers to his policy as "World War IV."

The importance of all this direct. Bush-neocon, war hawk influence on Mitt Romney has been put into perspective by Ari Berman in The Nation. He quotes Christopher Preble, foreign policy expert of the conservative/libertarian Cato Institute:

"I can't name a single Romney foreign policy adviser who believes the Iraq War was a mistake. Two-thirds of the American people do believe the Iraq War was a mistake. So he has willingly chosen to align himself with that one-third of the population right out of the gate."
(But there's an even larger perspective. These Bush/Romney neocons are the same crack-experts who advised George Bush to ignore the briefing, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." An intelligence failure of ghastly worldwide proportions where 3,000 American lives were directly lost, and 4,488 more killed in Iraq -- and over 100,000 additional war deaths -- as a result of it. It makes their advice to Mitt Romney to create a political issue of the Benghazi consulate attack all the more pathetic and empty.)

But wait, don't stop taking notes yet. The Romney campaign doesn't just have all these Bush alumni advising on foreign policy... but counseling domestic policy, as well.

After all, Mitt Romney's economic advisers include:

Glenn Hubbard, chairman of Mr. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. (How'd that advice work out?) And an architect of the Bush-era tax cuts, which led to the $1.3 trillion budget deficit.

N. Gregory Mankiw was George Bush's main economic adviser from 2003 to 2005.

Even on judicial issues, the Romney list of Judicial Advisers -- chaired by Robert Bork, the divisive, partisan, failed Supreme Court nominee -- has at least 10 lawyers related to the Bush administration Justice Department.

These include Steven Bradbury, who as head of the Office of Legal Counsel, infamously signed three memos giving Mr. Bush the opinion that waterboarding torture was legal.

Mitt Romney's staff of education advisers once included Margaret Spellings, George Bush's secretary of education.

In fact, two of Mitt Romney's top political strategists, Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens, both come from the Bush-Cheney campaigns. As does Romney campaign adviser Kevin Madden, who was also spokesman for the Bush Justice Department.

So, there you have it. What the president should have said. The deeper answer to Susan Katz's "fear" about whether the Romney campaign is too heavily tied to the failings and missteps of the Bush administration.

As you see, she has nothing to fear.

No, indeed. She has everything to fear.
 
Wow, Mitt Romney took the charitable Alan Smith Dinner to completely roast Obama in his face.

Someone needs to tell Romney this a dinner, not a public lynching. This guy was too disrespectful. You're suppose to make fun of yourself more. Someone needs to post video, I'm on my iPad.
 
Wow, Mitt Romney took the charitable Alan Smith Dinner to completely roast Obama in his face.
Someone needs to tell Romney this a dinner, not a public lynching. This guy was too disrespectful. You're suppose to make fun of yourself more. Someone needs to post video, I'm on my iPad.

Wait, isn't the dinner going on right now?

You're there? :nerd:
 
Wow, Mitt Romney took the charitable Alan Smith Dinner to completely roast Obama in his face.
Someone needs to tell Romney this a dinner, not a public lynching. This guy was too disrespectful. You're suppose to make fun of yourself more. Someone needs to post video, I'm on my iPad.

Yea, I saw it. Romney's speech was almost like a campaign speech.
 
 
General response regarding real estate:


I've been in the business for 8 years. While the market is not what it was and whether it will continue for an extended period of time remains to be seen, it has most definitely stabilized and is at a level where we can seemingly restart.


Every market is different, from state to state, county, city/town, even neighborhoods. My market (essentially 3 counties) is actually strong right now. Naturally the market slows into the winter due to kids

Just curious, why do people expect those prices to return? Weren't they overpriced to begin with? 

I really am exhausted, if I wrote that there's any expectation of prices to return (at least anywhere near the over-inflated numbers of the peak in 2006), that was a mistake. We've seen ~3% increases over the last year, once again that's my market and though it is a large area, it still varies by city here. It's not huge but it's a start and the biggest thing is that units sold are up more like 6-8% and inventory is down. Very important.

In terms of investors or buyers who see opportunity and are buying at or below market value, it can be extremely beneficial to them. Once again, there are a lot of variables involved and no guarantees but the signs are there. For example: A $500k market value for a typical home here in 2006...now it's ~$400k and a buyer can get a distressed property (all cash) for let's say $320k + $40k in work. Even at a 2% increase in median values on a yearly basis, it wouldn't be til mid 2023 that they were back to those numbers but these buyers can still do well between now and then. I wouldn't count on that type of increase/timeframe and the direction of the country, energy costs, etc will play a part in the market as well. Mortgage rates are historically low and can't stay that way forever, so we'll see.
 
I aint voting, i think we are in trouble either way, but more in trouble with Obama... his direction is only gonna make things worse and worse

But i must say, Romney has been much more impressive in the debates...Obama's attempt at going face to face with Romney the other night was a good idea, because he had no other choice after his lackluster first debate... but he's just not that guy... Romney could have made him look really bad when it came to the Lybia topic, but he messed up when that idiotic moderator spoke up for Obama..If some of you dont know, after the debate she even admitted she was wrong about what Obama had actually said.

All that matters this time around is jobs, and Romney at least has a past in business and creating jobs...Obama has no idea what it takes to create a job long term
 
I aint voting, i think we are in trouble either way, but more in trouble with Obama... his direction is only gonna make things worse and worse

But i must say, Romney has been much more impressive in the debates...Obama's attempt at going face to face with Romney the other night was a good idea, because he had no other choice after his lackluster first debate... but he's just not that guy... Romney could have made him look really bad when it came to the Lybia topic, but he messed up when that idiotic moderator spoke up for Obama..If some of you dont know, after the debate she even admitted she was wrong about what Obama had actually said.

All that matters this time around is jobs, and Romney at least has a past in business and creating jobs...Obama has no idea what it takes to create a job long term
Good thing you aren't voting. Romney was 47th (of 50 states) in job creation yet thinks he is going to create jobs at a rate of 250k a month for 4 yrs straight.
 
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Hey_

If Romney's ideas are SO helpful to people, why is he not even contesting in the state he was formerly Governor of?

Also, when Romney took office, Massachusetts was 35th in job creation, by the time he left the state dropped to 47th.

Don't get me wrong, he's a GREAT salesman, but not fit to lead.

Julius F. Wrek
 
I aint voting, i think we are in trouble either way, but more in trouble with Obama... his direction is only gonna make things worse and worse
Then why are you even here?

Do you really think your opinion would matter then?

Think about that for a moment.

If you're not voting, are you working to introduce a system you would be happy to vote in, or are you just sitting on your rear and armchair QBing?
But i must say, Romney has been much more impressive in the debates...Obama's attempt at going face to face with Romney the other night was a good idea, because he had no other choice after his lackluster first debate... but he's just not that guy... Romney could have made him look really bad when it came to the Lybia topic, but he messed up when that idiotic moderator spoke up for Obama..If some of you dont know, after the debate she even admitted she was wrong about what Obama had actually said.

All that matters this time around is jobs, and Romney at least has a past in business and creating jobs...Obama has no idea what it takes to create a job long term
Interesting username and political stance. I'll leave it at that. Bro
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Anyways, you spelled "Libya" wrong. 

On top of that, do you only pay attention to how the candidates look, or what they say? 
 
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Romney was pretty funny up there.

Is there any way for me to find out who wrote his jokes?
I thought Obama's writer did a better job. He delivered the jokes better too. The Clint Eastwood joke and "settle down Joe" made me laugh. Romney had some good ones too though.
 
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Romney was pretty funny up there.

Is there any way for me to find out who wrote his jokes?
I thought Obama's writer did a better job. He delivered the jokes better too. The Clint Eastwood joke and "settle down Joe" made me laugh.
Can't even lie...Romney had the better jokes. Obama's writers probably didn't go in like they should have.

He kills at the press balls though. 
 
Wow, Mitt Romney took the charitable Alan Smith Dinner to completely roast Obama in his face.

Someone needs to tell Romney this a dinner, not a public lynching. This guy was too disrespectful. You're suppose to make fun of yourself more. Someone needs to post video, I'm on my iPad.
Enh, it wasn't THAT bad.  Disrespectful at times?  Sure...kinda.  But he didn't really go too overboard, IMO.  He was definitely walking the line though.  

He did end it on a nice note, although I get the feeling it was done from a pure political standpoint.  
 
Obama went more at himself and Romney went more at Obama. 

#AngryBlackManCurse
 
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