Politics, Real Estate and the R Word

The Zillow Discussions topic by sas912 started innocently enough — “Obama and Huckabee win Iowa — what does this mean for sellers?” — but quickly dissolved into a thread filled with frustration over Bush’s leadership and which

candidate has the tools to turn the country around. Today are the New Hampshire primaries, which could further solidify Obama’s lead for the Democrats or Huckabee for the Republicans (check out this post to see who of the two may be a better neighbor). But, whoever wins the election, will they help get real estate out of the doldrums? Economists say it’s too late for anyone to salvage the real estate industry anytime soon and that 2008 will be a year to forget.

With foreclosures piling up, and the R word all but inevitable, many are counting on President Bush to announce a stimulus package during his State of the Union address on Jan. 28. According to news reports, the economy is now the biggest concern Americans have - not the war in Iraq. Could a rebate be in our future? I remember getting a tax rebate for $500 during the last recession to help jump start the economy. Emotionally, I spent it 10 different ways before I finally just threw it at my credit card bill. Maybe for this next possible tax gift, I’ll buy a new back door for my house, or paint my kitchen cabinets and add new hardware to dress things up. That way, when I think about the great tax rebate of 2008, I can look at the door or my cabinets and see the the money went to something tangible rather than my cavernous credit card debt.