Government Shutdown and Sacramento Real Estate

All over Sacramento, people are talking about the government shutdown, and how it will affect Sacramento real estate and selling homes in Sacramento. In fact, yesterday a reporter from KFBK called to ask for my opinion. You might wonder why would a reporter call a Sacramento real estate agent for her thoughts? A lot of media reach out to me because I write about home buying for About.com and consistently blog. Besides, often it’s better to go directly to the trenches to find out what’s going on over calling talking heads whose main missions are to increase net profits for their companies.

I was a little bit hesitant to give the reporter my views because controversy sells, and one never knows how her words will be spun. Television and radio personalities don’t always look for the same angles as print journalists. But I didn’t get where I am today by standing in the shadows. Even though I joked that the reporter will undoubtedly find some other schmuck whose opinion will be completely opposite, painting me like a moron, what the hey.

Then a client emailed last night to ask if selling her home would be a problem if the government shutdown. We haven’t yet put it on the market but will most likely do so in the next week or so. I hate to say this, because it sounds like I might not care about others who are affected by the government shutdown while I do care, but my life as a Sacramento real estate agent will be pretty much the same as it ever was, thank you, David Bryne.

People are yakking about FHA loans, but it’s the mortgage loan officers employed by banks and independent lending companies who are pushing that paperwork through. If you left it up to the government to process loans, we’d have a nightmare on our hands. The main problem with loans will be the 4506T submissions, but some mortgage lenders are already working on ways to close with just the form in file; you know how creative lenders can be.

It is possible, though, that a government shutdown might affect the attitudes of home buyers, who can become timid with the slightest uptick in rates; however, I imagine a significant interest rate hit will have a bigger affect on a home buyer than a government shutdown. Cash investors don’t care either way, and cash investors are still huge supporters of the Sacramento real estate market.

Yup, same as it ever was.