Candidates focusing on the wrong house

The only house candidates appear to be concerned with

Working in the real estate industry and being a political junkie, I have been watching the recent debates and primaries with much interest. During the most recent debates in Florida I thought where better for the candidates to discuss their plans for jumpstarting the ailing real estate industry? For the most part, Republican candidates have remained quiet on the issue. 

Now, with the Florida debate and election over, the quiet remains. In the most recent debate, the candidates got their chance to address the issue when a member of the audience asked about how they would use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to help the housing industry. Unfortunately, the chance was wasted when Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney took advantage of the question to attack each other for making money from the mortgage giants either through consulting or investing.

After a back and forth between the two candidates, Rick Santorum pretty much summed up my feelings by suggesting the two should set aside their "petty personal politics" and that the candidates should focus on the larger issue. But even after his comment, Santorum had no concrete suggestions of his own on what should be done.

It strikes me as curious that while there is much talk about the economy there is so little talk about the housing market. It will be difficult, at least, to see significant improvement in the former until there is improvement in the latter. 

For me it was a Washington Post opinion piece that made sense out of the silence. Apparently all four of the candidates are on the record (at least vaguely) for wanting to see government take a smaller role in the housing industry. That is consistent with the Republican philosophy of less, not more, government. The problem for all four is that many industry experts say that is exactly the attitude that got us in this mess in the first place. A common sentiment among pundits is that it will take large, bold efforts to make a signifficant differnece.

That leaves the candidates with little to say. And that's unfortunate for them. President Obama seems vunerable, at least, on this issue. It's pretty clear his efforts over the past three years have fallen short. We'll see what will come of his new efforts to reduce interest rates for many homeowners.

But I'm a betting guy and I bet none of the candidates, neither Republican nor Democrat, will give this issue the public attention it deserves. Fixing the ongoing problems in the housing market is, as my father used to say, "A tough nut to crack." I'm thinkin' none of them want to take on this challenge right before an election.

(Despite the ailing market, some real estate professionals are doing just fine. Check out my interview with Mike Phillips, arguably the most successful broker in the United States. See the blog here at http://actvra.in/rYM.)

Grant Sasek works for Real Estate Pipeline, an Internet-based lead generation service.