- Obama will pass a national healthcare plan. McCain will pass a big tax cut to offset premiums.

* Obama helps retail and commercial investors by lowering their customer’s healthcare costs and freeing up capital for expansion. McCain helps residential, middle income, because most renters will see that as extra money that they can use to increase their spending.

- McCain will allow his party to continue its crackdown on illegal immigrants. Obama’s policies will be more lax in its enforcement measures.

*Bad for residential investors because of increased background check requirements. Especially bad for low-income landlords who currently rent to undocumented workers because of early lease terminations, damage from ICE raids, longer apartment turn around, etc. Retail property investors in low income areas will also suffer because of secondary effects on local merchants.

- Obama will bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan sooner than McCain will.

*Good for anyone who invests in properties near military bases.

- McCain will pass an energy plan that increases domestic oil production more aggressively than Obama’s plan.

*McCain is better for investors in areas like the Gulf Coast, Southwest, TX, OK, and AK.

- Obama will pass an energy plan that will increase development of alternative energy more aggressively than McCain.

*Obama is better for investors in research hubs and high-tech manufacturing areas like Northern CA, Research Triangle NC, Boston/Cambridge MA, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, etc.

Also, better for light industrial RE investors

- McCain will lower income taxes for upper income tax payers and keep taxes on capital gains where they are.

*Better for RE investors who take lots of profits after depreciation, expenses, etc. Also good for investors who have S-Corps or whose RE income is taxed as regular income (100% equity and such)

Also good for investors in luxury residential and retail properties.

- Obama will make it easier for young people to attend college through increased education subsidies.

*Obama beats McCain if you invest in near-campus housing and retail properties.

- McCain will increase the exception amount for the inheritance/death tax.

*Good for RE investors who care (die).

- Obama will eliminate tax liability on social security income and expand the minimum tax threshold for very low income individuals.

*Better for low income and section 8 residential investors.

- Obama will increase regulation of the mortgage industry more than McCain will.

*Obama will make it harder for RE investors to obtain financing for small properties which is bad for small residential investors. However, this is good for large residential investors because all things being equal, rents go up when its harder to qualify for a mortgage.

- Obama will expand worker’s rights such as FMLA, Paid-Leave requirements, etc.

Worse for retail RE investors because tenants costs increase. Better for residential because tenants income is more reliable.

Overall, I think Obama is better for most RE investors who are not expecting to cash out and take profits anytime soon, especially those who specialize in residential RE along the east and west coasts and in low-income areas.

From the article:
“The two Great Partisan Divides [growth rates, equality] combine to suggest that, if history is a guide, an Obama victory in November would lead to faster economic growth with less inequality, while a McCain victory would lead to slower economic growth with more inequality.” The data covers the period since WWII with multiple Presidents and world economic conditions. The article is also clear that the President does not have that much direct control as mostly is comes down to the Congress.

There is a hidden message for RE investors in the article. The people at or above the 95th percentile in terms of income have come out largely the same over the years since WWII. Their income and their decisions has left them largely immune from what ever party win the election.

If you are a RE investor and you are successful (or will be successful) then you can rise about the economy effect. You might care deeply about the other issues one party or another focuses on but it should not be a vote based on economics.

Vote with your heart if you like. Focus on you REI success if you want to make a difference in your life.

Both are gutless politicians who will do nothing to drive down the huge national debt. We will keep borrowing money from Saudi Arabia and China to pay for this stupid war. Your grandchildren will be saddled with such a massive debt that it staggers the imagination.

If you think Obama will pull us totally out of mideast affairs, you are sadly mistaken.

High wage earners, under any president, will find ways to invest profitably (i.e. capture business profits from the large number of working folks).

Republican economic policies have drained expendable income and savings from the average worker and concentrated wealth among a small percentage of the population. That is bad for business. It’s tough selling anything, property, services, etc. when the great majority of people are cash strapped.

I’m for good paying jobs in America. I can’t sell a rehab to the few wealthy people in town nor to a Chinese factory worker. So, I think the Democrats’ posture on everything except capital gains will be a plus for me and my business (except at tax time!). But, hey, there’s no sense in wanting a good America without being willing to pay for it.