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If you listen to some of the election rhetoric coming out of the most left leaning candidates, you might be alarmed. And you should be.

I don\\u2019t have any party affiliation. I don\\u2019t even get to vote in the US election. I\\u2019m not a US citizen.

I\\u2019ve read through Bernie Sander\\u2019s election platform to understand what the core items that are being proposed. I don\\u2019t want someone else\\u2019s interpretation or spin. I wanted to read the document first hand and make my own assessment.

If you\\u2019re going to be opinionated, I encourage you to form your own opinions. Sure it\\u2019s easier and less effort to adopt someone else\\u2019s opinion. After all, they\\u2019ve gone through the effort to form an opinion.

There are a lot of elements and it\\u2019s hard to determine which parts he would ultimately be successful in implementing. Politicians rarely get the chance to fully implement their agenda.

Bernie\'s entire platform contains too many items to cover in a 5 minute podcast. Of particular interest to real estate investors are some of the items related to housing.

He says in his platform and I quote:

\\u201cIn America today, corrupt real estate developers are gentrifying neighborhoods and forcing working families out of the homes and apartments where they have lived their entire lives and replacing them with fancy condominiums and hotels that only the very rich can afford.\\u201d

He then goes on to say several paragraphs later..

If we are serious about addressing the affordable housing crisis, we need to build millions of apartments and homes throughout the country that will remain affordable in perpetuity to prevent displacement and serve future generations. And when we do that, we will create millions of good-paying jobs in the process.

These are in no particular order.

Invest $1.48 trillion over 10 years in the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund to build, rehabilitate, and preserve the 7.4 million quality, affordable and accessible housing units necessary to eliminate the affordable housing gap, which will remain affordable in perpetuity. Units constructed with this funding will be eligible to be located in mixed-income developments.

Use federal preemption laws to ensure these new units are not segregated or excluded by local zoning ordinances.

Invest an additional $400 billion to build 2 million mixed-income social housing units to be administered through the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which will help desegregate and integrate communities.

Bernie proposed a 25 percent "House Flipping tax" that would be levied against people who sell a non-owner occupied property at a profit within five years of purchase.

OK. There\\u2019s a lot to discuss in his platform. Way more than we could realistically cover on today\\u2019s show.

Here\\u2019s the thing. Property pricing follows the laws of supply and demand. When a property is listed for sale on the market, there is nothing compelling a buyer to pay the asking price. It is being offered for sale at that price. If there is no demand at a given price, then those properties don\\u2019t sell, they don\\u2019t rent and they remain vacant.

When someone who makes it their business to renovate homes and put them back into the market, they\\u2019re improving the housing stock. They\\u2019re taking the risk that there will be demand at a profitable price point. They\\u2019re taking properties that in many cases were not in livable condition.

The only solution would be to demolish them and start again. If a 25% flipping tax were to be instituted, I can predict with great certainty that historic buildings in low income areas would not be repaired. I\\u2019ve personally played a role in salvaging some beautiful buildings.

Saying that it\\u2019s the fault of the flippers that we don\\u2019t have affordable housing is a failure to understand the cause and effect relationships that are at play in our markets. Reducing the price of Tylenol won\\u2019t eradicate head-aches.