These days I tell my clients the name of the game is finding homes for sale before they hit market. It works for the seller because they don’t have to formally list or prepare for open houses. Brokers like it as it keeps marketing costs and showings to a minimum. And buyers get to negotiate quietly and free of any competition.

But now, as buyers become more desperate, sellers are reluctant to engage in off-market deals and are opting to throw fresh meat into the piranha pool to create more competition and generate maximum returns.

Pickings are becoming slim enough that Realtors are now talking to their clients about “placeholders” — essentially recommending buyers take what they can get to get in the game and have something to trade in or trade up in order to secure housing now, as well as get their rook on the chessboard.

Given the current dearth of inventory here and around the country, one might actually need a car or a camper and a campsite to live in this summer, as options for homes, condos, even raw land are at a fraction of what they were a few short years ago. And if you think last summer was busy, just wait as the freshly vaccinated, cooped up masses arrive and start fighting over what’s left.

To be fair, any new administration or shift in political policy is going to have an impact on the bottom line. Taxes and take home are the stuff on which elections are won and lost. So I thought it might be valuable to take the time to review some of the proposals that could have an impact on the residential and commercial real estate markets.