Today is the day we elect the next President of the United States – along with many Senators and a complete slate within the House of Representatives. Whatever side you are on, it is important that you go out and vote, though nowadays many Americans have voted early. A recent Gallup poll has indicated that as many as 40% of voters had planned to vote before election day.

No matter who is elected as President or in Congress, they will have to address the present housing situation. Recently, Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar had this to say about the housing sector when interviewed by MarketWatch — “It’s a highly unaffordable market right now. We are monitoring and following all these trends, things that we’ve never seen before.” This was the key portion of her longer statement — “Things we have never seen before.”

Personally, I have been in the industry for over 40 years. That means I have seen many, many housing cycles and I can’t tell you how many times I have heard that statement or some semblance thereof. The subprime and savings and loan crises were examples. The element we have in this very unique era is the lack of inventory which is pushing housing prices up even when sales are down. In the other “slow sales” situations, there were too many homes for sale. Thus, the new government team needs to address this very serious dilemma. Good luck to whomever takes over!