Housing market and midterm elections 2018

[Sombeech]

This is something I'm concerned with, only because of the prices. You political junkies can keep freaking out about whatever, although I love the memes. But anyways...

We are about to build a house, about to sign the contract and then we will sell our house in spring when construction is done.

But if mid terms go democrat, our current house price may take a hit while we just bought our new house at a higher price.

Everybody thinks housing will continue to rise but I'm seeing this November as a potential issue. Am I wrong?

We would contract now so building can begin, then hopefully the market keeps steady so we can get all of the equity from our old house to put towards the new. But if we take that hit it will suck. I don't hear anybody talking about this though. Am I just paranoid?

[DirkHammergate]

This is something I'm concerned with, only because of the prices. You political junkies can keep freaking out about whatever, although I love the memes. But anyways...

We are about to build a house, about to sign the contract and then we will sell our house in spring when construction is done.

But if mid terms go democrat, our current house price may take a hit while we just bought our new house at a higher price.

Everybody thinks housing will continue to rise but I'm seeing this November as a potential issue. Am I wrong?

We would contract now so building can begin, then hopefully the market keeps steady so we can get all of the equity from our old house to put towards the new. But if we take that hit it will suck. I don't hear anybody talking about this though. Am I just paranoid?

I think it'll level but there still is a shortage of single family homes 500k and under. With people continuing to move into the greater Wasatch Front I don't see a major crash. Scarcity is really the driver imo. That being said, I could be wrong.

[Iceaxe]

If it were me I'd be most concerned with locking in an interest rate right now as I expect they will continue to climb from these historic lows.

You can actually lock in today's interest rate on your not yet built house ( but there is a fee to do it). Talk with your loan company about it to see if it works for you.

I think you're concerns are reasonable. If Democrats take both houses our economy will hit a brick wall.

When I built my house I sold my old one with the stipulation they had to rent it back to me until the new one was built. I had to pay a pretty high rent to make it attractive, but it was way eaiser/cheaper then moving twice or trying to sell last minute in an unknown economy.

Anyhoo... food for thought.

[DirkHammergate]

If it were me I'd be most concerned with locking in an interest rate right now as I expect they will continue to climb from these historic lows.

You can actually lock in today's interest rate on your not yet built house ( but there is a fee to do it)

I got a locked rate of 3.70 when I bought 7 years ago, mortgage is now $950 after the drop in FHA insurance, basically I can never move. I agree, rate is really a key factor now and they will continue to go up regardless of election result.

[twotimer]

I don't think you're paranoid at all. The Dems taking control will be a kick in the balls. Question is, how will the markets react? If they go ape selling stock and it drops big (thousands of points) then people might kinda freeze in place...like what happened in the first 3 months of '09. Nobody did shit.

What Dirk and Shane said certainly makes sense...but these midterms are a base you can't completely cover.

I would imagine that the worst thing that could happen would be your house taking a while to sell.

[twotimer]

I agree, rate is really a key factor now and they will continue to go up regardless of election result.

Hmmm...maybe not. If the economy comes to a crawl then the Fed just might keep them right where they are.

[Scott Card]

Trump's tariffs may very well raise the cost of your building materials quite a bit - at least that is the word on the street.

[Iceaxe]

Trump's tariffs may very well raise the cost of your building materials quite a bit - at least that is the word on the street.

Speaking from the street as I'm in the steel industry... the difference will not be noticeable by Joe Sixpack.

It works like this... we build an oil refinery or sports stadium.... the cost of the actual steel makes up maybe 8% of the total cost.... and so a 20% tariff is on only 8% of the project. That's only $16k on a million dollar project.

And the other side of the coin is if the Chinese give in to some of Trump's demands the prices will drop. The Chinese will come to the table soon enough as Trump has them by the short hairs. Their economy is in free fall and is down 20% since the tariffs, they can't keep that up forever.

[twotimer]

The Chinese are being manhandled just like the Japanese were in the 80s. Everybody saw them as a bogeyman but in the end they got owned. Our country is the big dog at the table. I'll be glad to see it stay that way.

[Sombeech]

Trump's tariffs may very well raise the cost of your building materials quite a bit - at least that is the word on the street.

Well, so I'll be signing the contract within a month to start building. The price won't change for me after that. The only price I'm worried about is the house I'm living in and trying to sell, come this spring 2019. I'm hoping those prices keep climbing up and up so I can net as much as possible to put down on the new home loan.

[Iceaxe]

Well, so I'll be signing the contract within a month to start building. The price won't change for me after that. The only price I'm worried about is the house I'm living in and trying to sell, come this spring 2019. I'm hoping those prices keep climbing up and up so I can net as much as possible to put down on the new home loan.

Your contract to build a new home doesn't lock in your interest rate. That is locked at closing after your house is built... unless you lock it now. Which I think would be smart as rates are not going to stay at their historic lows for much longer in my opinion.

Climb-Utah.com