Are you a prisoner?

No, I’m not suggesting that you are incarcerated but you may still be a prisoner, and if elected I know how to get you out.

I’m writing about one of the things I want to do if elected to help our nation’s homeowners. As you know, the housing market slumped in 2006. It slumped so badly, that even with recent market gains with investors scooping up low priced properties it’s likely that your property is either underwater, or you can only sell at a loss.

So you stay put. And that’s the problem.

In this country, people like to move around so they can take advantage of new opportunities. With the ever growing values of property, it was easy to sell, pocket the profit and buy another house in a chosen geography. Not anymore.

Even worse, many home-owner associations block the ability to rent houses in their subdivisions and if they do allow it, it’s for such a short lease that its worthless. That’s by design. When property prices where spiraling up, that helped property values. Now it does the opposite.

So the homeowners (including you) are trapped in their gilded cages or prisons. They can’t sell, can’t rent them and buy another, but can only sit and fume while life goes on… for others.

As I stated in my platform, I was going to propose a bill that voids the rental blocks imposed by out-of-date homeowner covenants subject to reasonable safeguards that tenants must abide by the covenants, and keep the properties respectable.

In this way, the American public will be free to move, buy new properties, and take advantage of new opportunities. This alone will benefit the real estate market, one that is weak except for the bottom fishing investors, and in narrow markets.

The other problem that this will help fix, is the general malaise and low confidence in the economy. Americans tend to trade up to bigger and bigger houses, and that will help us all. Why? Because if you live in a 600 square foot apartment, you only have room for so much stuff. When you have a big house, you’ll tend to fill it up – more furniture, TVs and stuff. Even the basement gets full of stuff. That’s very good for the economy.

We need progress, not fear. We must move with confidence into the future. Growth and flexibility is vital.

Unfortunately, our next major crisis is only a few years away. It’s the loss of the dollar as reserv currenct of choice. When elected, I’ll sound the alarm. The public needs to know what is about to happen, and how to avert it.