Is it a bad time to invest?

[Kazumi Boyd]

Hello friends. My wife and I live in Oregon and we want to buy our first rental, but the interest rates and the housing prices in Portland are very high. A 3-bedroom house starts at $450k. But I'm getting the feeling to wait until after the election to see who gets into office before we pull the trigger. Without getting political here obviously if we remain on the current course of policy we will see another crash like we saw in 2008. Am I overreacting? Should I proceed with looking? 

[Chris Watkins]

Hi Kazumi, welcome to the forums!

The effects of a particular president (or even governing party) would likely be small on the major economic forces that drive real estate. Presidents actually have little effect over the larger economy (positively or negatively) that the preside over.

Interest rates are a real concern for investors, especially us in the NW with prices where they are. The demand to live here, coupled with the lack of supply will govern housing prices for the next decade, and insulate the region from a larger drop, even if other parts of the country drop (which I don't believe will happen, at least not like 2008)

An investment property should be looked at as a long-term investment, one that lasts through many economic cycles. If you have high short-term goals for cash flow or appreciation, there's a fair amount of risk. But that risk diminishes over a longer horizon and real estate is fantastic in the long-term.

Whether you invest should depend on your short- and long-term goals. Time in the market beats timing the market.