While almost half of the United States may be in disbelief that Obama won another 4 years in office and may not be that excited about it, could his re-election actually be a great thing for Alberta real estate, and just what we need to solidify our position as the world&#x27s top investment pick for 2013? Friend or Foe Obama Re-Election Good for Alberta Since the U.S. election results were announced there has been an explosion of new talk about the pipeline. Analysts seem dead sure that Obama will backtrack and give it his approval and in fact has no choice but to give it the green light as it makes so much sense. Of course that is no guarantee he will but it would certainly seem to be a great thing for the local economy, jobs and real estate, though we hardly seem to need the help right now. Obama hasn&#x27t appeared to be the friendliest U.S. president when it comes to cross border relations in the past and he probably has even less reason to create smiles on this side of the line now. The beautiful thing is that it really doesn&#x27t matter that much, at least in terms of investor returns in Alberta. What&#x27s most important is where the dollars are flowing to and now that the election and uncertainty is out of the way we can expect a lot more capital flowing. Why the U.S. Won&#x27t be Robbing Our Investment Dollars Anytime Soon A Mitt Romney victory may have dramatically increased global investor confidence in U.S. markets, banking and real estate, but that didn&#x27t happen. Four more years of the same leadership suggests 4 more years of the same direction and challenges in the U.S. real estate market. We can assume it will continue to improve, although there are masses of foreclosures still to go and new regulatory changes and moves are likely to take quite some time to actually yield a healed market and mortgage industry. Most just don&#x27t understand how vast the distressed property problem is in America. HSBC alone is still sitting on $44.2 billion of debt or potentially more than 10 years of distressed inventory. 70% of all REOs are believed to be being held off market in the shadows and as of September there was still more than $250 billion in delinquent mortgages working their way to becoming REOs. In contrast HSBC&#x27s business in Canada has been turning in a hefty profit. Wells Fargo, America&#x27s 4th largest bank has recognized this difference and says Canada is “right at the top” of its international expansion plans.