Well, he did it, he was the clear winner with 306 Electoral College Votes to her 232. (even though he lost the popular vote by about 230,000 votes).
If it weren’t for the millions of votes Hillary got in New York and California, she would have lost the popular vote severely.
Whether the Electoral College votes should determine an election today and whether it is antiquated; that is something that is up for discussion, but maybe in the future, it might be changed or should be completely eliminated.
But I guess back in the early times of our colonies, the thought of farmers picking our country’s President, probably weren’t well versed about the candidates and politics.
The distance was great for the 4 million inhabitants of our country that were spread up and down the east coast and their accessibility was very limited.
The election of 1800 changed things drastically when the 12th amendment was passed in 1804 creating the Electoral College and the way it functions.
It is a very complicated issue, especially today and I will not get into it; but you can read more about its history and why it was created.
Now back to whether the new President will affect real estate positively or negatively, that is something we shall experience over the next four years.
However, with a record low inventory of property for sale today, (due to the lack of demand and new construction, from 2008 thru late 2011, because of the banking crisis and the lack of available funding), and a ramping up of demand over that period, as borrowers saved and became more qualified
There is a 40-year low in interest rates and an overload of demand from the Asian market, millennials, and all those that are qualified to purchase, which has created a perfect storm for buying as well as selling, residential property and the marked improvement in the commercial market.
If Donald Trump and his advisors can truly pick the most qualified experts to provide the guidance he will need, to create higher paying jobs (to fix our decaying infrastructure of roads, bridges, tunnels and beginning and finishing our much needed high-speed rail in the west, north south and east; the effect on real estate would surely be positive and it would potentially enable more people to purchase.
However, going forward, the big issue will be, how do the builders catch up to the current and future demand for housing?
My feeling is at the current rate of sales, it might take 10-15 years to come close to satisfying the growing demand for the “American Dream” of owning one’s home.
As long as inventory and interest rates are low, (although the Fed has said they will be raising rates in December, which I think they might, as they didn’t do in 2015, prices will keep going up at 3-5 percent or more per year!
However, real estate fuels the economy of the U.S. and the Federal Reserve, who is responsible for interest rate hikes, must be extremely careful, not to push the rate to far up too fast.
This will psychologically depress the market, even though normal rates years ago, had been around 6-8 percent.
Raising the rates, will increase the cost of borrowing and as this occurs, many who can afford to purchase now, might just be put into the crowd of “borderline borrowers” and will have to save more to be able to buy.
On the plus side, as rates increase the affect will be a cooling off of the real estate market; allowing more builders to catch up with current and future demand.
I believe that the economy isn’t heating up, but interest rates are at historic lows.
As rates are raised our dollar becomes stronger, making our exports more expensive to foreigners in other countries, slowing our economy and reducing our production and purchase of equipment, e.g. washing machines, dryers, dish washers, lawn mowers, snow blowers, etc and all those items that people purchase for their homes.
The economy is very much of a balancing act between over producing and under producing goods and services.
But the domino effect of reduced real estate sales and investments can have a major effect on a multitude of other things that people purchase, so the thought is, Washington, be very careful what you do next month, because things seem to be very good right now.
Mr Trump, when you get into office, and begin creating all those 25 million higher paying jobs you talked during your campaign, then I will be more of a believer!
P.S. I want to wish all my readers and their family, friends and business associates a healthy and happy and enjoyable Thanksgiving.
My Rotary Club of Great Neck will embark once again (20-plus years doing it) to provide a complete Thanksgiving dinner for 1000 families by which they would normally not have the money to afford to have and enjoy that special day. Twenty-five dollar donations or more made out to the Rotary Club of Great, will feed a family of 4 and assist us in raising the necessary money to defray the cost to provide these meals.
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Phil Raices is the owner/Broker of Turn Key Real Estate at 7 Bond St. in Great Neck. He has earned designations as a graduate realtor institute and certified international property specialist.
He can be reached by email: Phil@TurnkeyRealEstate.Com or by cell (516) 647-4289 to answer any of your questions or article suggestions. To search for any type of properties or to see what your home is worth or homes that have sold in your area, go to WWW.Li-RealEstate.Com or if you desire a free, no strings attached customized comparative market analysis for your home in today’s market and learn of its value, just call him for an appointment.
