TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — As the federal government discusses the debt ceiling and interest rates, the average person is thinking more about their wallet.
Bill Currie Ford General Manager Sean Sullivan said cars continue to leave the lot.
"I think for us as an individual dealership, it affects us in the want category. The need category continues," Sullivan said. "If you need a vehicle for work, or your car breaks down, those people are going to continue to come in no matter what the debt ceiling is."
Then there are the people who want a car.
"As far as the debt ceiling, because it directly affects interest rates being loaned in our industry, only a certain part of our clientele are going to understand that a debt ceiling affects how money is loaned and how much interest rates can be," he explained.
What helps the car dealership are original equipment manufacturers like Ford. Those companies help them create lower interest rates.
"I think that we're going to really focus on the want buyers and see what we can do to kind of battle these interest rate hikes and work with our OEMs like Ford Motor Company to really strive to say, we don't want to have a lull. We don't want to go into any type of recession in the car business," Sullivan said.
St. Pete Realtor Ryan Bogden said the debt ceiling topic likely won't impact the housing market. It continues to burn red hot in Tampa Bay.
"I've spoken with multiple lenders and no one is coming to them, saying, 'Hey, I need to hurry up and buy because of this debt ceiling,'" Bogden said.
He said don't wait on interest rates. The days of super-low rates are gone. Instead, the 5-6% mirrors the historic average.
"The market is just unpredictable, and you can't do it. It's time in a market that's more important. And for those that are sitting on the sidelines wondering if the interest rates ever do take a big decrease back. What's going to happen is we're going to have an even higher influx of buyers enter the market, which would then just drive up the home prices."
If Congress doesn't come to an agreement on the debt ceiling, the Treasury Department projects the country will be unable to pay its bills. That includes things like government employee paychecks, Social Security, and food assistance as early as June 1.
Wealth Management Advisor and CEO of Taylor Financial, Adam Taylor, feels we won't have to worry about that.
"If we did default on the debt ceiling, it would be pretty challenging. But it's never happened before. We've actually raised the debt ceiling 74 times in the past. So the likelihood of us defaulting, I think, is very, very low," he said.
Taylor said while we probably won't see a government default, this is still a good time to think about your financial security.
"Really, how are we managing your debt? So with interest rates being a lot higher than they were a year ago, debt can creep up on you if you have credit cards, even variable interest rates right now for mortgages," he added.
His number one piece of advice: while we can't predict, we can prepare.
