HEY, PRESIDENT OBAMA - Will "Change" Turnaraound The Housing Market?
HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED "CHANGE" BRINGS FAR DIFFERENT ATTITUDE - BUT WHAT OF RESULTS?
Over the decades and the centuries, much has been said about the impact of effective leadership. One person, alone, cannot change the course of a weak economy. Or a struggling U.S. Housing Market. But that person's ability to inspire and influence others may provide the critical, and necessary, spark.
In sports, a manager or coach cannot step in to make tough plays. But his coaching decisions, in the toughest of situations, can make or break who will win the big game.
But what now - with the U.S. Housing Market, as well as a sluggish Housing Market in new President Barack Obama's home town of Chicago?
Mr. Obama's position on helping distressed homeowners, rather than simply bailing out big lenders using Troubled Asset Recovery Program (TARP) money is well known. The earlier concerns of Obama, and many naysayers about the TARP Bailout approved a few months ago, have become prophetic.
From an article in today's Wall Street Journal, by Damian Paletta and David Enrich, much bailout money seems to be helping troubled banks - not borrowers - and the injection of funds into the U.S. Lending System has not had the as-advertised effect of making more financing dollars available to businesses, or to prospective home buyers.
In some cases, help to the banks is marginal, and some receiving banks appear to be the well-connected politically.
Despite mortgage rates below 5.00% in some areas, the housing market here in Chicago, and elsewhere across the U.S., is still sputtering. Buyers continue to wait on the sidelines, or find themselves not qualified for the best available rates. Sellers see continued high inventories of houses for sale, foreclosed homes often down the block, and even highly-aggressive pricing generating few showings or written offers.
So what must happen now? Will new, highly-anticipated leadership in Washington, in the form of President Obama and his new administration, finally begin to do the things necessary to really turn the housing market around? Can positive attitude alone provide the needed re-ignition? Or, will it take so much more?
Mr. Obama, you are President now! The Real Estate World awaits!
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
