Tariffs Out, Housing Bill In: Big Changes Coming for Real Estate

0:00Trump's tariffs just got canceled. Congress just actually passed a bipartisan housing bill. We've got updates on regional housing markets, the crypto markets, and more. This is On The Market.

0:17Hey, everyone. Welcome to On The Market. I'm Dave Meyer, joined by Kathy Fecky, Henry Washington, and James Daynard. Thank you all so much for being here. I feel like James wore his football uniform today, so we have to give him a minute to gloat about the Seahawks. See what this is? This is Super Bowl champions. That was already like two weeks ago, but we haven't recorded together. Good for you, James. As a new resident of Seattle, I'm jumping on the bandwagon. I'm excited about it. It's just been a great week. I think it's going to be a great 2026. And it's the year of the fire horse. So what does that mean?

0:53I have no idea what that means. You guys don't know. You can't just casually drop. Oh, it's the year of the fire horse. Okay. Well, it's Chinese New Year just on, you know, a couple of days ago. and last year was the year of the snake. So it was shedding, letting go of things that are heavy that you don't need anymore. And this year it's the fire horse. So the energy is like, go get it. You kind of shed all this stuff from last year and now it's just gonna be a fiery action packed year. Does that mean like Venus is in microwave or whatever? Yeah, yeah. I think that's exactly it. Yes, you've been doing your homework.

1:30All right, well with that, I think that we need to take action and actually get to the podcast. We should probably do that, too. All right. Well, we are doing a headline episode here today. Each of us brought one headline related to the housing market. I was going to do a total deep dive into the regional housing analysis, but I woke up this morning and found out that the Supreme Court struck down President Trump's global tariffs in a ruling six to three today, basically saying that the Emergency Powers Act, which is the legal justification Trump has been using to implement tariffs sort of all across the globe is unconstitutional.

2:11It's basically not in the president's power to do. The Supreme Court has said Congress reserves the right to be able to implement these kinds of tariffs because, as we've discussed, tariffs are taxes and Congress has the responsibility of implementing taxes. So that is really big news. I do think Trump, frankly, is probably going to look for more ways to justify tariffs. So we might not see the end of this legal battle. But I think we've hit peak tariff because all the other ways that he can implement tariffs are not as sort of robust as this option. And I have some thoughts about what that means.

2:46But before I get into that, I'm just curious what you guys make of this. Are you happy to see tariffs gone, Kathy? Yeah. I just did a report recently on how those tariffs actually ended up really being quite a tax on consumers. There's mixed reviews on that, but I think at the end of the day, of course. The studies I saw said 90 % to 96 % of the costs are being borne by American consumers and companies. Yeah. So that's BS. So it's great. For me in the construction industry and for all our projects, we're stoked. You know, this is, I still have, you know, 10 homes I got to build in Park City. And we've got, you know, we've got these, you know, developments all over the country.

3:25And this is just great news for us. I think the question is, will the pricing actually come down though? I actually think in commodities, yes. Like timber, lumber, aluminum, anything that's commodity will probably, but consumer goods are not going down. This is what happens to construction all the time. It was even after the COVID pricing increase. Materials came back available, but the pricing stayed the same. Yeah, exactly. It wasn't inflation. It was like, oh, limited supply, limited supply. And now everything costs more. So the damage might have already been done. Hopefully we see some relief, but I don't think we're going to on at least that.

4:01At least we know it might not keep going up. Yeah, that's where the relief will come. It won't go up as fast. I think it's just going to be a bit of a delay. I think companies are going to need to get through the fiscal year and see what actually happened in terms of profitability. If they were able to raise prices and not lose profitability, I don't think they're going to drop their prices now that the tariffs are gone. But if they actually ended up in the red or they lost money because prices were high, then I think you might see some of those companies shift pricing. But other than that, and you won't see that right away.

4:31Yeah, I agree. I do think overall, I think this is a positive thing for the housing market. If this reduces overall inflationary pressure, that is really good for mortgage rates. Like that is the thing that is keeping mortgage rates up is fear of inflation. Now, I'm not saying it's going to go away altogether. Inflation has already started to come down. That's good. But this is just like another thing that could help move inflation down, which will hopefully take mortgage rates down with it. It can help bring down bond yields. That will take time. It's not going to happen overnight. But I do think like overall, if the market in general is becomes a little less concerned about inflation because of this.

5:14That is good news. Yeah. And it's interesting because I read something about like a lot of that has to be paid back. So ouch. Yeah. That's interesting. Wait, they got to give the money back? They didn't decide. Yeah. They didn't decide. But like, there are going to be a lot of lawsuits about this. Oh, there already are. They're launched. And again, I'm here in California. Our attorney general has had like 30 plus lawsuits against Trump and has won a lot of them, like over 20. So attorneys are going to do very well. Yeah. Well, I think it was Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court justice, who wrote the dissenting opinion about this.

5:52And he basically said that the Treasury shouldn't have to pay it back because it would be too complicated, which doesn't exactly sound like a legal argument to me. I feel like companies are like, I'm going to uncomplicate this for you. He said it could be, quote, a mess with significant consequences to the U.S. treasuring. So we'll see. Yeah. Let's move on to another government issue. Henry, I think you have something to talk about. So I wanted to talk about this new bipartisan housing bill that passed Congress. So on February 9th, 2026, the Housing for the 21st Century Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 390 to 9.

6:36So extreme bipartisan support, which is amazing, especially right now when we don't seem to be bipartisan on anything. But this housing policy is aimed at boosting supply and affordability. So it's got legislation in there to help modernize some of the federal housing programs, essentially making it easier for people to get different developments through federal programs, making cutting timelines, cutting some of the red tape, streamlining approvals, increasing financing flexibility. So allowing for increased loan limits for multifamily projects and improving access to other financing tools for both developers and lenders support for local zoning changes.

7:16So in other words, the zoning regulations are typically local, but this has federal support to help kind of ease some of the zoning regulations. Also allowing for FHA loans at lower loan amounts. And then also allowing people to get FHA loans for things like modular homes or mobile. Love that one. Which I think is, I mean, that's aimed directly at housing affordability, which is a huge, a huge impact on our housing market. So I know Dave did a whole episode on this, but I wanted to hear everyone's thoughts kind of on this legislation, if you think it'll pass, if you think it's actually going to move the needle.

7:51I say bring it on, Firehorse. Bring it on. You know, I've been trying to build a manufactured housing here on a lot in Malibu. So it's got houses next to it. There's no reason there should be any difficulty getting a house on this lot where it's a residential neighborhood. We're not talking like the top of a hill in the middle of, you know, the Santa Monica Mountains or something like that. And it's still, I talked to builders who said, forget about it, it's going to take you 10 years to try to get that built. And when looking at manufactured housing, it turned out it was really not much cheaper.

8:22And we talked about this before. So it's like, ah, you know, you just feel so stuck. And this is one of the worst places for affordability. And yet it's just impossible. There's actually an affordable apartment going in just over the hill. And there is just so much backlash around that. NIMBYs. Yeah. Yep. NIMBYs. So anyway, I love the manufactured housing. Like that's the solution. And maybe the firehouse is AI in secret. That's what it really is. It's going to try to make this go faster. But doesn't it come down to like specific counties? Yes. I get the regulation that's going to be releasing, but it just doesn't like, I actually love manufactured home investing if it didn't take so dang long.

9:04Like it's a simple process. you buy a piece of land you get the utilities there usually it's going to be a septic you get the power brought in but getting approval for that septic system or the on-site is like a some of these counties it's like four years two to four years it's hard if i could do this in an efficient time i would probably do 100 year you you can easily buy these things for 150 grand and deliver them and they're great places to live they're actually laid out really really well it's just honestly, I think the financing piece and those parts of this are going to be beneficial, but I don't know if this does anything because at the end of the day, it's just so state regulated.

9:45Yes. And there's not enough people working at these departments. That's really what it comes down to. If they go, Hey, we're going to start funding these cities more to get them be more efficient in these counties. I actually would have more hope than even this right here. I agree with you, James. I, I feel two ways about it. I am encouraged. I think this is a step in the right direction. Is it going to change housing supply fundamentally? Probably not. But as we've talked a lot about on this show, I personally just think like all the demand side fixes where it's like we just give more money to homebuyers, like is never going to be the long term solution.

10:19And this is a step in the right direction. There are actually some good ideas here. But I think you're right, James, that like, ultimately, probably 90 % of this comes down to state and local regulation, not federal regulation. And they stopped short of doing anything like zoning, like they're publishing. Part of it is publishing zoning best practices, but like they don't know states have to do anything. It's not going to stop nimbyism. It's not going to stop, you know, all these town hall meetings that people debate. So it really does come down, I think, to local people talking to their own governments and insisting that this stuff happens, but we know that that gets countered by nimbyism at the same time.

11:02But I think support at the federal level is the first step, right? I mean, hopefully down the road, we start to see some of those things loosen. Maybe there's some sort of incentives they can give local communities to open up the zoning regulations for housing. I know we have about four cities smacked on top of each other here, and each city has its own different perspective and own different zoning regulations on infill housing. And some cities are, and one city is very progressive about it. And some of the other cities are absolutely not. And I think it's, you know, it's going to take something at the federal level to start getting people on the same page about what we're trying to accomplish in the housing market as a country.

11:40Well said. Just so everyone knows, this hasn't actually passed the Senate yet. I think it's pretty likely that it is going to, but we will let you know if anything changes in that process. With that, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more stories from James and Kathy. Do you ever notice how every passive investment somehow turns into a very active lifestyle? Active spreadsheets, active phone calls, active stress. Here's a better question. What if you could buy brand new construction homes, 10 % below market value, in the best markets across the country, without making real estate your second job?

12:11That's exactly what Rent to Retirement does. They're a full-service, turnkey investment company handling everything for you. In some cases, investors get 50 % to 75 % of their down payment back at closing, plus interest rates as low as 3.75%. They've partnered with BiggerPockets for over a decade, helping thousands invest smarter. If you want to do the same, visit BiggerPockets.com slash retirement to learn more. Running your real estate business doesn't have to feel like juggling five different tools, and the tools are blades or flaming torches. With ReSimply, you can pull motivated seller lists, skip trace them instantly for free, and reach out with calls or texts, all from one streamlined platform.

12:50The real magic? AI agents that answer inbound calls, follow up with prospects and even grade your conversations so you know where you stand. That means less time on busy work and more time closing deals. Start your free trial and lock in 50 % off your first month at resimply.com slash biggerpockets. That's R-E-S-I-M-P-L-I dot com slash biggerpockets. Most investors spend more time chasing deals than reviewing their insurance. But a quick coverage check can be fast, easy, and one of the smartest ways to protect and even improve your property's cash flow. As the months get colder, frozen pipes, icy walkways, and seasonal wear and tear can increase the likelihood of claims.

13:29And traditional insurance companies aren't always built to handle these claims quickly or smoothly. That's why more real estate investors are turning to steadily. They focus exclusively on landlords, whether it's a single-family rental, a BRRRR builder's risk policy, or midterm holiday guests. You get fast quotes, flexible coverage, and protection for property damage, liability, and even loss of rental income. Now is the perfect time to review your rates and coverage. Get a quote in minutes at biggerpockets.com slash landlord insurance. Steadily, landlord insurance designed for the modern investor.

14:05Welcome back to On the Market. I'm Dave Meyer here with James, Henry, and Kathy talking about the latest headlines. We talked about Trump's tariffs being struck down by the Supreme Court, a new bipartisan bill making its way through Congress. James, what do you got for us? My news article today is the Seahawks were crowned Super Bowl 50 champions after a dominant performance. The article that I brought in, this is always interesting to me because I don't get the whole crypto world. I would say I'm very behind in that. I don't understand it. But there's an article from Business Insider, and it's a crypto firm which ties to Trump, will tokenize some of the president's real estate empire.

14:49And I don't think this is, you know, the reason I felt like this article was interesting, not just because it was, you know, Trump doing it. It was like, is this going to be a sort of way that companies are going to start fundraising and trying to do? And is this really the big test? And what it talks about is tokenizing means converting loan revenue into blockchain-based crypto tokens that can be bought and traded. As I was kind of reading through this, I was like, I'm not 100 % understanding this, but basically it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's like, OK, so you can get a token based on future earnings, but then it seems like there's unlimited tokens that can be purchased.

15:30It's very confusing. And it just sounds like there's so many SEC laws about investing in real estate, and this seems to bypass all of it. It's like, yeah, I don't get it either. That just does not sound good to me. Like, can you underwrite the deal? Or like, what are you buying? You do know what you can buy. I mean, because you're buying into specific real estate assets, or the token is backed by those assets. But, you know, I think for most consumers, they're just buying the token. They're not going to actually go in and look at it. It's almost like a way to hide your PPM. It's like, hey, we got this token.

16:05It's tied to this real estate. And this real estate is tied to this guy named Trump, who's good at real estate, supposedly. And then you kind of put the money there. Like, instead of looking at it, like, logically, like, hey, I'm going to buy this asset, even if it's a syndication, and then get, here's the performance and projections. And I feel like this is just a terrible idea in general. Because, I mean, at one point, how much were some of these, like, what were those things called? They weren't tokens, they were the - NFTs. NFTs. Remember those? I was like, what is this? 50s? Remember crypto in the metasphere or whatever?

16:40What was it called? Oh, the metasphere land. The metaverse? The metaverse. Oh my God. What happened to the metaverse? Did it go into receivership? It's on a thumb drive somewhere. The one thing on the positive, people are buying crypto with nothing backing it. So at least something's backing it. That's a little better. But then if you're paying more, You know, if you're selling it and someone's paying more for it, like, how do you determine if the underlying asset has gone up? You know, so it's, I don't understand it enough to even really speak on it, but it's interesting. Yeah, because this is a plan to tokenize loan revenue from the Trump branded Maldives resort project.

17:19So this is for a specific. Every word in that sentence makes me not want to buy this. I mean, the Maldives does sound interesting. I mean, I would love to go to the Maldives. I was going to take the money I would invest in this and invest it in a massage and some scuba diving in the Maldives. Yeah, there you go. And so basically, it's like investors are able to buy tokens representing pieces of the loan to fund the hotel's construction. So that's what I don't really understand. So if it's on a construction loan and then you're buying pieces of the loan? Yeah, what? It's not like there's upside on the loan, right?

17:59Like if you're buying a loan or you're lending, you should get a fixed return, right? Yeah. Yeah. This is why I was reading this article and I was like, I hope Dave can explain this to me.

18:13But all I know is it sounds just like a terrible idea. It was like that art or what was the monkey thing with the headphones where they were selling for like a million bucks or whatever that was. And I don't even think it's worth it anymore. So it's like, is this the next way that people are going to try to package up crap syndication deals? spin it on some sort of Bitcoin with funding and people get excited and it comes down to really about marketing your product than it does the actual performance of the asset. Oh, there'd be so much of that. There'd be so much. But on the other side, like, let's say you've got to, let's just take Trump out of it and just say, you found a great deal and you need investors.

18:49And the way we would normally do that is you'd open a fund and you would probably have to have accredited investors unless you filed a reg A or some other way that you can have non-accredited investors in it. That's the part I don't get how they're getting around it, but there must be something. And now you've got a thousand investors in this fund and they have all contributed to the loan to be able to buy it. Now, once you're in that fund, you can sell. You can sell your share to somebody else. It has to, just depending on the operating agreement, how you do that. So it's not that out of the realm of possibilities.

19:24It just sounds like the process of selling your stake would be easier. That's true. Because in stake, no pun intended, talking Trump, member of Trump stakes, but you can sell your stake either way. You just have to go by the rules of the operating agreement. And sometimes it has to be approved by the manager or the manager has to have first say or the investors have first say of who gets to buy that. So I guess it's not that weird. It's just tokenized and maybe an easier process for the sale. Yeah, I actually like reading into this a little more it's not as bad as it sounds like i as i thought as first it said you can finance up to 70 so it's not unlimited james there is that that to me kind of like changes the thing like it is a limited amount and the tokens are only available to accredited investors so it is similar to a syndication it is a credit but so i don't what i don't receive is that they get 75 of the revenue for the token sales after cost but then you're buying into yeah Yeah, it's super confusing.

20:21I still don't understand why you would do this now instead of a syndication. Like there's something that seems a little off about this. It might be the same as a syndication, just a different way of trading the money. But it's very unclear like how you get paid back or like what the token is backed by. I read this article twice and I was so confused by the end of it. That's why I brought it in. I had no insights. I was more confused. I was just like, this is weird. And I just, I don't know. I don't, I feel like these things go in. And if this goes through, we're going to see a lot more of it and then we'll never see it again.

20:52And there's going to be a bunch of nightmare stories. That's just my read on it. Well, it's already been happening. There's already a company that, you know, I won't say the name of that actually does on-chain real estate transactions. And so basically it converts all the documentation into the blockchain. So everything's captured and stored forever. The transactions are signed in DocuSign, but then they're converted and saved, converted and tokenized and saved on blockchain. I'm sorry if I'm dumb, but like, what does that do? Yeah, I don't get it. Essentially, it allows people to use cryptocurrency to buy real estate, and it allows the process to move a whole lot faster is really their sales pitch.

21:30So is the deed recorded on the blockchain or is it in the county or just the blockchain? And the county. It has to be recorded by the county. So it's just saving it somewhere else. Like I have, I don't know. I got iCloud. I'm pretty cool with that. But I was reading about this company when I was talking about this. Apparently, they've done like 40 million in transactions. So somebody's using it. I just don't see. I don't see the pitch. That's like 80 houses. That's like four houses, right? That's not that much. I'm really not like a crypto hater. I just like some of so many of the applications of blockchain are like, OK, like that's maybe incrementally changed.

22:09And it's like, someone come up with a good reason for me to use it, and I will use it. That is not a good enough reason for me to use it. Like, you're like, oh, it's in DocuSign and on the blockchain. I'm like, well, I was fine with it just being in DocuSign. Like, that was okay for me. Yeah, doesn't DocuSign store it forever, basically? You would think so. The one thing I heard, and again, don't understand this very well, maybe 10 years from now, we'll look back at this episode and laugh at ourselves for not knowing. Yes, we will. But, you know, if you think about title in America and how easy it is for someone to steal your title.

22:41That's true. And it's going to be much more difficult once it's on the blockchain, as I understand it. I like that. All right, Kathy, thank you. Pulling in some good stats. I like it. All right, we got to take one more quick break, but Kathy's going to share with us her story when we get back. People love to call real estate passive income, which is interesting because most of the investors I know are very busy. Busy finding deals, busy managing teams, busy worrying they picked the wrong market. Rent to retirement flips that model. They help investors buy turnkey new construction homes, often 10 % below market value in top rental markets across the country.

23:18Their local teams handle the build, the property management, and the details so you don't have to. In some cases, investors even receive 50 % to 75 % of their down payment back at closing, and their interest rates as low as 3.75%. They've been trusted partners with BiggerPockets for over a decade. And if you want to learn more, visit BiggerPockets.com slash retirement. What if your CRM actually did the hard work for you? I know, crazy. ReSimply lets you pull seller lists, skip trace them at no cost, and contact your leads by call or text without bouncing between apps. Then it's AI agents take over.

23:52Answering calls, following up automatically, even grading your conversations so you can focus on the deals that matter. Everything's under one roof. Designed to simplify your day and scale your business. Start your free trial today and lock in 50 % off your first month at resimply.com slash biggerpockets. That's R-E-S-I-M-P-L-I dot com slash biggerpockets. Most investors spend more time chasing deals than reviewing their insurance. But a quick coverage check can be fast, easy, and one of the smartest ways to protect and even improve your property's cash flow. As the months get colder, frozen pipes, icy walkways, and seasonal wear and tear can increase the likelihood of claims.