Wondering how this will affect potential home buyers in FL (short sales, real estate market)

[dorothyfromKansas]

US government loses triple-A credit rating - Business - Stocks & economy - msnbc.com

[cupper3]

Negatively if your selling, positively if your buying and have cash.

Not a thread drift, but it is interesting that all the remaining top rated countries all have public health funding. It may not be relevant, but I know that total healthcare spending in Canada is significantly less with better outcomes (Canadians live longer). In 2006, per-capita spending for health care in Canada was US$3,678; in the U.S., US$6,714.

Getting back on topic, it will be a long time before there is an increase in housing prices in Florida.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by avb3

Not a thread drift, but it is interesting that all the remaining top rated countries all have public health funding.

Thank you! I live in a community with a lot of Canadian snowbirds and even the far right conservatives can't understand the health care system in the U.S. I've also met people from Germany (another AAA rated country) who feel the same way. Since this isn't the political forum, I won't start a rant about this Congress, but it's impossible to reduce spending, continue to serve the people and cut taxes at the same time. Taxes were raised under Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton and during that period we had the largest increase in millionaires & billionaires.

[Rushmore]

The loss of the US AAA credit rating will have far-reaching implications across the entire American economy (not to mention the ancillary effects elsewhere). Of course it will hurt the real estate markets further as well (because money will be come even more expensive to procure, assuming you can procure it at all).

Using this idiotic nightmare as a platform to discuss our moronic healthcare system is like taking the kettle off the stove when the entire house is on fire.

The American system is the finest example of capitalism run amok you will ever see. Yes, a free market is necessary for this system to work, but no, the business of government should not be a for-profit.

What we are finally seeing is the actual loss of faith in our government, regardless of party affiliation. The debt ceiling deal was so obviously a wink and a handshake deal to raise the debt ceiling, that S+P didn't buy it.

"OK, you guys agree to make some cuts somewhere in 2013 (to be determined), and we'll allow you to raise the debt ceiling."

"OK, sure."

At least the left and right agree on one thing: they agree they hate the middle class. The left want the bottom brought to the middle, and the right wants the middle brought to the bottom. Either way, it leaves the wealthy wealthy and the rest relatively poor, simply widening the gap in our oligarchy.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in destroying the middle class. You did a fine job.

[yellowsky]

Wondering how this will affect potential home buyers in FL
Seems like a sensible question for this forum however health care in Canada versus US is a bit of a topic stretch.
However the full on rants, 'moronic' forsooth and the destruction of the middle class' leave me breathless.
Please don't give the usual suspects an opening. I weary of the diatribes.

[TamRE]

I think investors are already spooked by the economy. I think foreign buyers will be more lenient because they can still get a great deal on a home in FL if paying cash. I have a feeling that this will force the rates and/or costs to rise for mortgages as well as credit cards and business loans. All we can do is wait and see.

[Big House]

Originally Posted by TamRE

I think investors are already spooked by the economy. I think foreign buyers will be more lenient because they can still get a great deal on a home in FL if paying cash. I have a feeling that this will force the rates and/or costs to rise for mortgages as well as credit cards and business loans. All we can do is wait and see.

It will force prices down as lending tightens and rates increases - this is always the case.
That said, it will be somewhat off-set by people that have cash, and will buy because there will be great deals.
Lower cost / "work-force" housing or affordable housing (which down here) can be rented out will be snapped up by investors because more people will have to rent as their purchase options become more difficult to achieve.

The good news is Florida's housing situation (globally) is no longer on the worst 10 list. Florida is still attractive because of the weather, lower costs of living than most of the country, and a strong population of weathy retirees that need services. Plus no income tax. As cold weather approaches, and the skys darken in the north, people will still want to come down here to live.

So, given those scenarios, Florida will continue to fair pretty well, much better than many parts of the country. The gap between the haves and have-nots will widen.

Florida is very fortunate that they have sold so much of their back-log of foreclosures. The amount of lis-pends, foreclosure filings and short sales has reduced greatly, and is now well within manageable levels - although there are still a lot more to come - it is 1000 fold better than it was 3-4 years ago. Remember this financial crisis actually began in 2006.

The Government has frozen a lot of its contracting opportunities, so their spending is going to shrink, and that will have a huge effect on the economy. They will have less ability to deal with major melt downs as they are not in the extremely strong financial position they have been in the past.

Lender will have to tighten up as the institutions that secure them (like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) will have a harder time covering those loans. Therefore, banks will be even tougher lending.

Cash wins.

[Sunshine Rules]

How will the rating downgrade by 1 of the 3 credit agencies impact FL real estate? It's really too soon to tell.

The Federal Reserve has already issued a statement about it.

"The Federal Reserve and other U.S. regulators said in a joint statement that S&P's action should not have any impact on how banks and other financial institutions assess the riskiness of Treasurys or other securities guaranteed by the U.S. government. The statement was issued to make sure banks did not feel that the downgrade would affect the amount of capital that regulators require the banks to hold against possible losses."


Some of the pundits on the business news sites I keep track of are already claiming that having 1 out of 3 credit agencies downgrade the country's credit rating will not have any significant impact. They are pointing out that in the past 10 - 15 years Japan, Canada, Austrailia, Italy, Spain and Belgium have all had credit rating downgrades. These same pundits are saying that this one downgrade should have little or no impact on interest rates for consumers. We shall see.

I did hear one hedge fund guru that handles investing for municipal employee pension funds state last night that if the other 2 credit agencies follow S&P's downgrade, he will be forced to divest the pension funds of US Treasurys as the rules allow them to hold only AAA rated investments in those pension funds.


What I found most telling is the reasons why S&P claim they made the downgrade. Per the news stories, S&P stated they are "pessimistic about capacity of Congress and the administration to be able to leverage their agreement this week into a broader fiscal consolidation plan." In other words, they don't believe the fractured Congress can get their act together to follow through on the debt reduction legislation they just passed.

Perhaps all of us should contact the local offices of our members of Congress while they are back home on the August break and discuss our views of Congress's capability in light of S&P's statement & action.

[Rushmore]

Originally Posted by yellowsky

Wondering how this will affect potential home buyers in FL
Seems like a sensible question for this forum however health care in Canada versus US is a bit of a topic stretch.
However the full on rants, 'moronic' forsooth and the destruction of the middle class' leave me breathless.
Please don't give the usual suspects an opening. I weary of the diatribes.

Maybe if we hadn't "given the usual suspects an opening" for the past thirty-plus years, there wouldn't be so many massive economic issues in this country. Maybe leaving the wolves in charge of the hen house was a mistake after all.

I'll excuse your unnecessary dismissal of the expression of my opinions as a "diatribe" if you'll excuse my wondering why you would bother replying to a post that you want ignored.

It strikes me as counter-intuitive, especially for someone who uses the relatively archaic verb tense of the word weary.

You can breathe again. It's easy.

[bbronston]

I think BH got it right. Cash buyers will continue to buy and if the stock market keeps falling, real estate may become an attractive place to invest again. I also suspect that the others will eventually follow S&P's move. Let's face it, the country is absurdly over-exposed with debt and Washington has proven, despite the rhetoric, that neither party can really cut the spending enough to reduce that debt, much less balance the budget. They can't even agree to significantly reduce the automatic increases in spending for gosh sakes.

I do think, though, that if things go badly there will be a move on all political fronts to reduce spending significantly (except the extreme left, of course) because people vote with their wallets in bad times. Only the politicians willing to really do the dirty work will find popular support in that case. If more people end up renting, rent prices will go up even further, and the cost of living will go up universally. We are living in increasingly interesting times.