So President Obama was pretty clear that spending needs to be cut and one of the ways he intends to do it is through the sale of federal buildings.

I know the budget needs to be cut and deficit spending needs to stop but isn’t the real-estate market really bad right now? Don’t take my word for it. Just today there was a Washington Post article about how the sale of federal building won’t be the easiest thing in the world.

Sale of federal buildings could be difficult

Here’s an excerpt from that article:

The federal government uses such cumbersome means to sell property, according to the GAO, that “The lengthy review process may inhibit GSA’s ability to achieve cost savings under the Presidential Memorandum by 2012.”

The watchdog cited a slew of properties in Alameda, Calif., and Kansas City that the government had declared surplus in 2002 but had still not disposed of by 2009. Members of Congress have raised similar concerns locally over the Old Post Office Pavilion.

Commercial real estate and government leasing experts said little is known about the 14,000 vacant properties but that they aren’t likely to be valuable enough to hit the $3 billion mark. “I would venture to say that the overwhelming majority of them are poorly located, surplus, in the hands of the military, old warehouses, World Ward II facilities, that type of thing,” said Darian LeBlanc, senior managing director of the government services group for the brokerage firm Cassidy Turley. Any sales the government does make, he said, “will not anywhere near yield to the Treasury what the government expects it to.

Ok so what that tells me is that gov’t real-estate isn’t that great. But my point is regardless of good locations and great buildings this is not a sellers market right now. Shouldn’t we wait until the market rebounds some more and then start the selling spree? I’m always hearing “make an investment in the future”, so why don’t we keep investing in these properties for a much bigger pay-off later.

Maybe I’m just crazy talking here but I mean I own a house that I would love to sell right now but it’s just not the right time if I want to make money off of it, so in the mean time I’m renting it and hoping a few years later I can get the big payoff.

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