Hola Estados Unidos - Real Estate Implications of immigration reform

Today I wanted to provide some insight into the real estate implications of one of the hot button issues in the upcoming presidential election: Immigration Reform! For a moment let's suppose that this is not just a political game that might not materialize into much and pretend that the proposed legislation got passed into law. What would be the implications in our specific field and most importantly what must individuals affected by this issue do to position themselves and take advantage of the new opportunities? Obviously, I can't stress enough how big this could be not just for our field but for the economy as a whole. We are talking about (roughly) 12 million people attaining legal status and being able to purchase homes with similar terms as the rest of us. Now, it wouldn't be fair to say that all this contingent of people are currently renting, but the fact is, even the ones that actually own a home now were only able to do so either by getting a super high interest rate on loans provided by certain banks or through owner financing with similar terms. Wouldn't it be safe to say that many of the legalized individuals with these loans would either want to refinance or play the field a little more into the options that would be newly available to them? Therefore, there is no doubt in my mind that if this measure were to pass, it would give such a positive shock to the real estate business throughout the country like no other before. But are we as real estate professionals ready to serve the needs of such a demand? Do you encourage the fact of being bilingual in all of your staff and not limit yourself to clerical positions? Because this wave of prospective clients will want a real estate professional they can truly communicate with not just to be translated to. I would even go out on a limb and suggest that if this measure were to pass its effects would be enough to end the housing slump and send our industry into the green again.