Selling/buying- and elections?

9 years ago

I know it's hard to predict anything in real estate..but we listed our place recently, and already several interested buyers told us they prefer to wait with a purchase a bit..Our realtor spoke to other agents-they say it's pretty dead now..looks like everybody's waiting..

I understand they wait to see whether the prices will drop? (I'd do the same probably))

I think they inevitably will at some point(the prices I mean)-but when? Will it happen right away if X or Y is elected? A bit hard to believe?

Maybe these buyers weren't THAT interested, it's a possibility too.

But what, in general, drives the prices up or down? People feeling down, insecure? People feeling hopeful? Which is half of population I guess anyway, regardless the elections result:)

It's not even about our place and specifics. We'll see how the things will develop and adjust accordingly.

But in general, I would be interested to hear the thoughts of people who understand in economy much more than me..I guess it's 90 percent of forum members here..:)

Thank you in advance for sharing your thoughts

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PRO

Anglophilia

9 years ago

When people think that change may be in the wind that will affect their own personal finances, they are reluctant to make any changes themselves. In my town, real estate is dead right now, even with the possibility of the Fed raising interest rates in Dec. Just a general feeling of uncertainty.

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Comments (7)

sushipup1
9 years ago
Between fear of a stock crash, devaluation of the dollar, and fear of interest rates rising, it's wait-and-see. Ask the folks in England how their now-regretted Brexit vote has worked out.
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littlebug zone 5 Missouri
9 years ago
My son and his wife are in the middle of finalizing their purchase of their first home. They are more concerned with interest rates during and after this election season. The original rate they were quoted jumped a tenth of a percentage point in less than two weeks - before they were able to get everything finalized and locked in.
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cpartist
9 years ago
The election is definitely a part of what is happening. It's why DH and I decided to sell this past spring instead of waiting until our house was built.

But I'm guessing that unless you're in FL or AZ, it also has to do with the time of the year. If you're in most of the country, once October is over, everything slows down until late February/early March. People now start thinking about the holidays, and they also start hunkering down as the cold weather comes in.

Even if you're in a snowbird area, sales slow down this time of the year and then start to pick up after the new year.
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ncrealestateguy
9 years ago
Only one thing is certain right now... that interest rates are going up and it is not going to be a "once and done" rate hike... Unless the economy really takes a turn for the worse.
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bry911
9 years ago
Interest rates are going up and it is not going to be a "once and done" rate hike

I don't think we are going to see any significant rate hike for a while. There is a lot of play between US interest rates and foreign interest rates. The US can't afford to have our interest rates too much higher than trading partners or trade deficits increase drastically. We are already at higher interest rates than most of our trading partners and I just don't see us taking that risk right now. Furthermore, I don't see a time in the near future when we are going to get above 4.5%, it just doesn't seem likely.

Having said that, Trump is a bit of an unknown, he promises a lot of things that do not seem possible from an economic perspective, but could start isolating US interest rates from the world. I don't think it is really possible to do that in one or even two presidential terms. The economies are simply too intertwined right now for any meaningful changes.
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PRO
Tritos Properties
9 years ago
Buyers & Sellers are generally more cautious during election years.

Unfortunately nobody can predict the future. Look how the election caught most people by surprise......

While there might be some instability during the next 12 months, most forecasters are not anticipating any majors swings up or down in home values.
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