A lot has happened in the past few weeks. First, we had a slew of data showing that the economy is still on solid footing. The advanced estimated of economic growth (GDP) for the third quarter came in at 2.8% — a solid, but unspectacular number. The October jobs report was obviously affected by the recent hurricane disasters and strikes with an increase of 12,000 jobs. However, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, which was evidence of these temporary factors. Then the Federal Reserve met and made a decision to decrease their benchmark overnight lending rate by 0.25%, which was an action that was expected.

In the middle of it all, we elected a new President. Change always adds volatility to the markets and we saw plenty of that leading up to election day and a few days beyond. In reality, the changeover in government will not take place for almost two months and even though the winner previously had a seat in the White House, it still will take time for them to settle in. In other words, change will not happen overnight. In addition, we also elected a new Congress which will be closely aligned with the new President. This alignment will actually help speed the pace of changes.

We think the average American is probably exhausted after such a grueling election season and therefore the consumer is likely to take a breath before making major financial decisions. Judging by the data released just before the election, the new President is inheriting a fairly strong economy. And we are not far away from the Holiday spending season. Thus, we are not expecting this time out will be all that long. Usually, this time of year, the real estate market takes a pause. The Fed does meet again next month and their actions might help limit the effects of the typical seasonal pause if we get another decrease in short-term rates.