They say April showers bring May flowers. This month also unloads a deluge of movies to watch at home.
Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video, Peacock, Max, Apple TV+, Paramount+ and others have a spring fiesta of streaming options for film lovers of all tastes, from breezy romantic comedies to bone-chilling horror. There are recent theatrical releases, like an acclaimed Oscar-nominated Holocaust drama and one of the most Disney-fied Disney movies ever, but also original flicks such as Zack Snyder’s latest sci-fi epic and a Sundance Film Festival documentary about politically savvy teen girls.
Here are 15 notable new movies you can stream right now:
‘Argylle’
In director Matthew Vaughn’s madcap adventure, Bryce Dallas Howard plays a best-selling novelist who discovers that the fictional exploits of her secret-agent character (Henry Cavill) are coming uncannily close to things happening in real life, leading her to partner up with a shaggy actual spy (Sam Rockwell).
Where to watch:Apple TV+
‘Bob Marley: One Love’
So good as Malcolm X in “One Night in Miami,” Kingsley Ben-Adir notches another biopic highlight as reggae superstar Bob Marley. He’s effective at capturing the musician even if the movie meanders with a narrative set during the 1970s, as Marley tries to use his songs to bring together a politically divided Jamaica.
Where to watch: Paramount+
‘You don’t mess with Bob’:How Kingsley Ben-Adir channeled Bob Marley for ‘One Love’ movie
‘Drive-Away Dolls’
Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan co-star in director Ethan Coen’s gonzo crime comedy as lesbian pals needing a change of pace who wind up behind the wheel of a rental car with a mysterious briefcase in the trunk. What unfurls is a noir-spattered road trip full of sex toys, decapitated heads and dimwitted goons.
Where to watch: Peacock
‘Drive-Away Dolls’ review:Talented cast steers a crime comedy with sex toys and absurdity
‘Girls State’
Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ compelling follow-up to 2020’s “Boys State” centers on teenage Missouri girls placed in competing political parties who create a mock state government. Abortion is a hot-button issue in the proceedings, which include a competitive gubernatorial race and an investigation into Girls State itself.
Where to watch: Apple TV+
‘The Greatest Hits’
The car accident that killed her boyfriend (David Corenswet) left Harriet (Lucy Boynton) with head trauma and the ability to time-travel to a past moment with him when she hears certain songs. But obsessively searching for the right tune to save him in the past might cost her a new chance at romance in the present of this intriguing but overly earnest drama.
Where to watch: Hulu
‘Late Night With the Devil’
David Dastmalchian has a hell of a role in this retro horror flick, starring as a 1970s late-night TV host in desperate need of ratings. For a Halloween special, he brings on a girl supposedly possessed by a demon in a gambit that brings in eyeballs but spirals supernaturally out of control for everyone involved.
‘Lisa Frankenstein’
A horror rom-com about reanimated undead love and body-robbing shenanigans, “Lisa” is a playful and bloody teen-movie reimagining of the “Frankenstein” mythos. Kathryn Newton plays a 1980s goth girl and Cole Sprouse is a Victorian corpse resurrected amid lively characters and clever, sardonic dialogue.
Where to watch: Peacock
‘Frankenstein’ forever:‘Lisa Frankenstein,’ Oscar fave ‘Poor Things’ reclaim Mary Shelley’s feminist mythos
‘Migration’
In the animated comedy, Mack (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani) is the overprotective dad of a duck family who reluctantly agrees to a Jamaican getaway with his wife (Elizabeth Banks) and kids. However, they get sidetracked and wind up in New York City, where they meet a streetwise pigeon (Awkwafina) and a vicious chef.
Where to watch: Peacock
‘Música’
Rudy Mancuso co-writes, directs and stars in this delightfully clever romantic comedy as a creative New Jersey man with synesthesia, experiencing melodies and rhythms around him in extraordinary fashion. It exacerbates problems with an ex (Francesca Reale) yet fascinates a new love interest (Camila Mendes).
Where to watch: Prime Video
‘Night Swim’
Thinking about putting in a pool in the backyard? Well, think again. Wyatt Russell plays an ex-baseball star who moves into a new house with his wife (Oscar nominee Kerry Condon) and kids and feels swimming could be good for their souls, but the outdoor pool contains a dark force that doesn’t have fun in its plans.
Where to watch: Peacock
‘Rebel Moon − Part Two: The Scargiver’
Do you live for slow-motion scenes of people harvesting grain? Then director Zack Snyder has the sci-fi sequel for you. The first “Rebel Moon” was derivative and the second one is just dull, with ex-warrior Kora (Sofia Boutella) leading a band of underdogs and farmers against the invading army of the villainous Imperium.
Where to watch: Netflix
‘The Stranger’
So, yeah, Quibi turned out to be pretty much a streaming disaster. Still, the content was pretty good and is now finding new homes as real movies, not a piecemeal experiment: Director Veena Sud’s thriller ratchets up the suspense with Maika Monroe playing a rideshare driver and Dane DeHaan as the creepiest passenger ever.
Where to watch:Hulu
‘Talk to Me’
The best horror movie of last year was this haunting Australian indie chiller that introduced a new top-tier scream queen, Sophie Wilde, and a memorable scary-movie artifact: a mysterious embalmed hand that teens use to livestream freaky possessions that, of course, go terrifyingly awry.
Where to watch: Paramount+
‘Wish’
A tune-filled, big-hearted storybook fantasy that’s chock-full of Disney references. The animated musical features Ariana DeBose as an idealistic youngster who runs afoul of her kingdom’s narcissistic ruler (Chris Pine) and befriends an energetic star to help rescue her people’s wishes.
Where to watch: Disney+
‘The Zone of Interest’
Director Jonathan Glazer‘s best picture nominee centers on a German family going about their daily business. This banality, though, happens next door to Auschwitz, where gunshots, screams and the industrial sounds of ovens are the unnerving soundtrack that the characters ignore but you simply can’t in this disturbing yet essential Holocaust drama.
Where to watch: Max
With inflation picking up again and highly anticipated Federal Reserve interest rate cuts delayed, it may be a good time for Americans to tweak their investment and retirement portfolios, financial advisers say.
While U.S. rate cuts are on hold, the European Central Bank (ECB) suggested last week that its first rate cut could come in June. Though Europe’s economy is anemic compared to the U.S., those rate cuts could ignite more stock market growth that would benefit investors, advisers say. On the flipside, high U.S. rates could make U.S. fixed income a better investment.
“It’s an excellent time to buy U.S. bonds with yields near the highest levels since October 2023,” said James Sahagian, managing director of Ramapo Wealth Advisors at Steward Partners. “I also think it’s worthwhile to diversify outside of the U.S.”
Europe’s stock market is already on the rise
The Eurostoxx 50, comprised of European blue-chip stocks, is outperforming its U.S. counterpart, the Dow Jones Industrial Average. As of Tuesday, Eurostoxx 50’s one-year return is 15.77% and its year-to-date gain is 8.75%, according to Bloomberg. That compares to the Dow’s 13.91% and 0.29%, respectively.
Protect your assets: Best high-yield savings accounts of 2023
“In Europe, their economy’s starting to expand a little and (the ECB) can aid that by reducing rates a little,” said Derek Miser, investment advisor and chief executive at Miser Wealth Partners.
Europe has room to lower rates because “unlike in the United States, there is little evidence of overheating” to resurrect inflation, wrote Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, economic counsellor and director of research at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a blog post about the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report released Tuesday.
The IMF also predicts Europe’s economy will expand, registering 1.5% growth by 2025, but U.S. growth will gradually slow to 1.9%.
How do lower rates help the economy?
Central banks often lower interest rates to jumpstart lackluster economies, as long as inflation is contained. Lower rates mean lower borrowing costs, which encourage people to spend and companies to invest. That, in turn, boosts corporate profits, production, output and the overall economy.
The opposite is true if central banks raise rates. Higher rates increase borrowing costs, which discourages spending and investing to slow down a hot economy and inflation. They also encourage saving because people can earn a higher return on their money.
Valuations
After a string of record highs for U.S. stocks, some financial advisers see the market as overextended compared with European stocks.
“European companies are considerably more attractive based on valuations,” Sahagian said. “That merits more consideration.”
At the end of March, Europe’s STOXX 600 index traded at about 15 times its one-year forward price-to-earnings (PE) ratio, while its U.S. counterpart S&P 500 index traded at 26 times, according to LSEG data. A lower PE multiple indicates a more attractive investment opportunity.
Bank of America’s global fund manager survey last month showed the largest allocation increase to European Union stocks since June 2020.
Stick with U.S. Treasuries
If U.S. rates are going to stay higher for longer now, investors should keep their Treasuries, which are yielding around 5%, advisers said.
It will also add some stability to your portfolio because it’s steady income, Miser said.
The secret’s out:The 3 secrets of 401(k) millionaires
What should my 401(k) look like if I take these steps?
Your allocation of stocks and bonds should always depend on your risk tolerance and how close you are to retirement, advisers say. The higher your risk tolerance or further away from retirement, the heavier the equity weighting, they say.
After you’ve decided your stock and bond allocation, you might consider taking 20% of whatever your equity position is and allocate it to a global investment fund, Miser said.
In the fixed-income portion of your portfolio, Sahagian likes the “barbell,” which means investing in short-term and long-term bonds. You gain from the high short-term interest rates while also locking in some decent long-term returns in case rates begin to fall.
Miser likes 40% in two- to five-year notes, 30% in 5- to 10-years and then the rest in 30-year bonds. The varying maturities give you the flexibility to reinvest money at various times and in various ways, including buying new Treasuries.
But with all retirement investments, consumers should consider what stage they are in life and what their goals and risk tolerance are before making moves, advisers said.
Are Costco gold bars a good investment?
Gold prices are near an all-time high around $2.400 per ounce, reflecting a “crisis of confidence,” Sahagian said. “People are looking at other assets that will hold up in the wake of uncertainties and upheaval.” They’re dissatisfied with government and monetary policy after the highest inflation in four decades and concurrent wars in Ukraine and Palestine, advisers said.
“Costco’s a trusted source (for buying things, including gold bars), and people are searching for alternative ways to invest,” Sahagian said. “Most cultures around the world value gold, like in India and Africa. So is it a good idea and liquid? Yes, you can monetize it at some point.”
Miser’s not so sure.
“Gold may have been a good idea 3-1/2 to 4 years ago when you could buy low and sell high,” he said. “That’s the opposite of buying gold now. Today, you’re buying at the highest it’s been in a long time, which typically means prices are reaching near their end.”
Costco gold bars may be better left as a novelty purchase, he said.
Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at mjlee@usatoday.com and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday.
Andrea Stetson
Special to The Banner
One of my favorite “Modern Family” episodes depicts the hilarity and nonsense of a real estate agent’s daily life as Phil Dunphy rattles off deed restrictions and the proper pronunciation of the word “Realtor” (real-TOR).
A registered trademark of its originator, Realtor is a title only real estate agents who pay membership to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) are allowed to boast.
Today, after more than 10 years as one myself, the “Realtor” prestige has lost its allure.
Just when it felt like NAR was bouncing back after a sexual harassment scandal in 2023, we real estate agents and brokers now find ourselves in the aftermath of this month’s multimillion dollar NAR settlement.
While I am nervous about what these NAR settlement changes mean for my residential real estate business and community, I am pleased that we’re all turning our eyes and ears to a company whose pockets have gotten too big and too dark for too long.
But enough about NAR.
Brokers, their agents and our local associations are scrambling to decide how to restructure serving residential buyers fairly without undervaluing our work. It feels a bit like a bomb just went off, and we’re running up to each other screaming, “Can you hear me talking? Are you talking? What are we going to do about this?!”
We have only until mid-July to figure it out.
Here’s what we know now: Buyer broker compensation is no longer allowed to be included on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). And buyers are now required to sign a Buyer Representation Agreement, which includes the buyer broker’s compensation.
Real estate agents are worth it. So how do we get paid?
Buyer services are harder and more unpredictable, I think, than seller services (even in a buyer’s market!). Some buyer clients take years to find a property, while others take only a few weeks.
The stories we agents could tell would make anyone roll with laughter or cry – probably both. Being a real estate agent is like a reality TV show. How will we divide our whole job into billable hours? Billable tasks?
As an agent, I’m not only giving advice about market data and negotiating terms for sale. I’m also an on-call therapist, a babysitter, an interior designer, a cleaner, an exterminator … agents gladly do an endless list of tasks for our clients. Just ask your favorite agent what she keeps in her car for emergencies!
One thing I can predict with much certainty: Buyers will have to do more work to buy a property in the future. Private tours will be less common and replaced by 3D tours, video tours and open houses. Buyers might also have to meet with their inspectors, contractors and others without their agent.
Maybe buyers really will do it all themselves without losing money.
Buying a house?Don’t go it alone. A real estate agent can make all the difference.
If you’re hoping to buy in the next three months, my recommendation would be to close by July 1. Most first-time homebuyers have no idea what has happened or how it will affect their ability to negotiate.
In the past week, I’ve had to explain the NAR settlement to every friend, neighbor and client outside the industry. I can only tell you that we’re all racing to get it figured out by the time it does affect everyone.
NAR settlement explained: How will this impact home sellers and real estate prices?
Seller-paid buyer broker commissions were created with equitable rights to good representation in mind. Specifically, so that first-time buyers could afford to have a fair negotiation, instead of being swept under the rug by a seller’s agent signed to protect the seller (a law in most states).
My heart breaks for those sellers who were swindled into commissions. As much as I’d like to blame NAR, this error is also on agents, brokers and local boards who clearly violated our ethical code. It’s maddening to watch agents and brokers feed right into the stereotype that real estate agents are lazy and just in it for the biggest paychecks.
So, who will pay the buyer’s agent now, and how will this affect home prices?
Real estate prices:Will home prices fall after Realtor lawsuit settlement? You shouldn’t count on it.
It’s commonly acknowledged that the 5-6% sales commission was “baked into” the sales price. Investor agents and builders have been using low-to-zero percent buyer broker commissions as leverage for years.
While I do think that 5-6% sales commissions will be a thing of the past, there is a chance that sellers will find a way to simply advertise buyer broker commissions through a different medium. This compromise walks a fine line with the new restriction.
Seller-paid “buyer credits” is my favorite idea bumping around. Buyer credits would be offered on the listing, and could be distributed as the buyer sees fit at the closing table. The buyer could use the funds for themselves, their broker or both.
If buyers are responsible for the buyer broker commission on top of other purchasing costs, the sales prices will have to come down. Lower sales prices should not affect the sellers’ net proceeds in this instance, since the sales price deficit should roughly mirror the now absent buyer broker’s commission.
In short, even though most sellers think they should be celebrating now, these new rules probably won’t affect sellers much, if at all, once the dust settles.
What does the NAR settlement mean for buyers?
Gone are the “Let’s go tour this house for fun!” days.
A signed Buyer Representation Agreement is now required before a property showing. This has always been best practice. For some states this will be a big change.
For example, I usually complete a buyer consultation and one or two property tours before requiring a buyer’s agreement. I do this to be sure we’re a good match for each other. A successful client-agent squad requires a lot of trust and a common communication style.
Take the tours off the table, and I think things will get awkward. Now I spend one hour with a potential buyer and then prompt, “So do you trust me to guide you through your biggest life purchase? Sign here.” I’m sure thankful many of my clients are referrals.
How will the commission change impact real estate agents in 2024?
The part-time agents and small brokerages will likely diminish over time, which will either be great or horrible for the industry. Agents will have to do more with less, and our 60 to 70 hour work week will feel impossible without high sales volume.
Once in escrow, the brunt of the work usually lands on the buyer’s agent, too. If there are more transactions without buyer’s agents, then the seller’s agent will have to pick up the slack.
I often joke that as a 1099 real estate agent, I’m either overpaid or underpaid on each property. Still, my annual income mashes up into a worthwhile sum despite the work-life balance.
Without that 2-3% buyer’s commission propping up half my income, I am not sure the 11:30 p.m. phone calls, 6 a.m. texts, missing my daughter’s basketball game for an impromptu showing, and never having paid time off or maternity leave will be worth it.
Maybe I ought to go back to copywriting.
It feels like most brokers and Realtor associations are strategizing how to make the buyer agent obsolete with new technologies. I think they’re focusing on the wrong solution, but that’s a story for another day.
Emily Ross has been a real estate agent in Austin, Texas, for 10 years and a writer for much longer. Her background is in copywriting and editing, and she holds a master’s degree from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.
Though the owner of Kinship Brewery told the Des Moines Register in November he had no plan to sell the foreclosed business in Waukee, a commercial real estate firm is now listing the building and land for sale.
Lincoln Saving Bank foreclosed on Kinship’s Waukee taproom at 255 Sunrise Dr. N.W. in October, saying the brewery and the limited liability company that owns the property, Sunrise Drive Acquisitions, had defaulted on loans of $3.5 million and $2.4 million and that Kinship had failed to keep up payments on an operating loan with a $44,898 balance.
Owner Zack Dobeck insisted in an interview the following month that there was “a path forward” for the brewery, which opened in 2021, and at the time he still was operating the taproom with attenuated hours. In December, however, amid complaints by employees that they hadn’t been paid, Kinship closed the taproom, posting on Facebook that it would reopen May 1.
Court records show that on March 21, Kinship, Sunrise Drive Acquisitions, Lincoln Savings Bank and Dobeck told a Dallas County judge they had agreed to a settlement in the foreclosure case, but needed until April 4 to finalize the terms. As first reported by the Des Moines Business Record, the property is now on the market.
Riley Hogan, a senior vice president at West Des Moines commercial real estate firm CBRE, said Wednesday he is marketing the property on behalf of Kinship’s investors. Dobeck did not respond to a request for comment.
The listing says the 12,180-square-foot building sits on 5.95 acres with a 156-space parking lot. There is a half-acre dog park, a large patio and a beer production facility with $1,5 million in equipment and a 40,000-barrel annual capacity. In addition, Kinship for a period in 2023 also was hosting a fine-dining restaurant.
Other breweries inquiring about property, agent says
Hogan said several breweries, both in Iowa and elsewhere, have inquired about the facility. Likely its best use would be as a brewery because it is ready to start making beer immediately, he said. In fact, Kinship brews continued to be on draft at some local bars as recently as last month.
But Hogan said the building also could lend itself to other uses, such as a bowling alley with a restaurant. And he said there is enough room on the site for a separate retail or office building, Hogan said.
“We could have a business owner buy the building and build their office building there,” Hogan said. “Build an apartment building there. Build condo units. There’s so many opportunities out there that present itself that are different in today’s world than it was five years ago. This building plays right into those expanding categories.”
The sales listing does not specify an asking price, and Hogan said it is negotiable. The Dallas County Property Appraiser lists the building’s assessed value at $2.4 million, but Dobeck in November said a private appraiser had valued it at $5.3 million.
Brewery sits amid booming development
Dobeck in 2020 said he had moved to the Des Moines metro with his wife, an Iowa native, from Atlanta in 2018 with opening a brewery in mind.
Areas surrounding Kinship have boomed since Kinship opened. Waukee is among the fastest-growing cities in Iowa, and single-family and multi-family housing developments are being built along the Raccoon River Valley Trail, which is connected to property. Waukee Northwest High School sits about a half mile away.
More:How will a 9-mile Des Moines bike trail open a world of possibilities?
Hogan described the project as “slightly ahead of its time,” and said that with the infrastructure work that has gone into the area since Kinship opened, it is primed for another owner to turn it into an asset for Waukee.
More:Get your steps in and get paid: Des Moines suburbs looking for special census workers
“The landscape out there has changed so much over the last 24 months, 12 months,” Hogan said. “The residential rooftop growth is feeding a bunch of demand for new retail. So I think we’re in a good position.”
Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.
A landmark settlement in an antitrust challenge to the National Association of Realtors’ standards for real estate agent commissions has understandably been celebrated as a victory for homebuyers. At around 5.5%, average commissions in the United States are some of the highest in the world, and if the NAR settlement results in lower commissions (and if sellers, who typically pay the fees, incorporate the savings into their listing price), prospective homebuyers could save thousands of dollars.
Any such savings would be welcomed, and for good reason. But homebuyers shouldn’t expect fundamental changes to the brutal U.S. housing market.
First, it’s unclear just how much they’ll benefit from the settlement because it doesn’t address the other, and arguably bigger, anticompetitive facet of the U.S. real estate agent market: occupational licensing regulations.
All states require real estate brokers to obtain a license, and 44 states license real estate salespeople (who must work for a licensed broker). In many states, this system creates a high barrier to entry into the profession and severely limits competition.
Colorado, for example, demands 168 hours of education from a state-approved real estate school (or college equivalent), passage of the state licensing exam, fingerprinting and background check, a sponsoring broker, errors and omissions insurance and $485 broker licensing fee. All told, the process can take more than a year to complete and cost more than $1,000. Once licensed, brokers must annually complete another 24 hours of continuing education at a substantial additional expense.
Licensing leads to higher costs for consumers
Research has consistently found that by limiting competition, occupational licenses like these increase consumer costs while providing few, if any, benefits in terms of quality, health or safety. For home buyers and sellers, this probably means paying higher commissions for no good reason.
Consider, for example, the United Kingdom, which doesn’t license real estate agents and enjoys average commissions of just 1.3%. Even after this month’s settlement, U.S. homebuyers can only dream of such rates.
In a free market, providers should be able to offer any service at whatever price they want, and if consumers don’t like it, a competing provider can – and almost certainly will – offer it for less. But this is no free market. And until state laws that create local real estate cartels are reformed or eliminated, we should expect commissions to remain higher than they’d otherwise be.
How much should it cost to sell a house?Your real estate agent may be charging too much.
Even then, however, homebuyers wouldn’t be spared from the most important problem in the U.S. real estate market today: home prices and rents increasing at a pace that far exceeds overall inflation. That trend has nothing to do with cartels or commissions and almost everything to do with the limited supply of housing, particularly in high-growth metro areas.
Building more homes will slow price increases
Research has repeatedly shown that the most effective check on skyrocketing home prices is simply to build more homes. One survey of the literature found that new construction of market-rate units in several U.S. cities moderated the prices of all typesof nearby housing, both high- and low-priced.
Housing shortage squeezes budgets:Rising home prices create an enormous burden. So why aren’t we building more houses?
Recent experience shows much the same: places that have seen housing construction at rates above national or regional averages – Austin, Phoenix, Atlanta, Raleigh, Minneapolis and more – have enjoyed slower rent and home price appreciation.
Unfortunately, regulation is a big problem here too, severely restricting the construction of market-rate housing across the country and thus boosting prices. The biggest impediments, studies show, are local zoning and land use regulations that dictate home sizes, yard sizes, parking and more, while giving politicians and residents an effective veto over anything that might deviate from these strict terms.
The restrictions’ effect on prices is significant: One recent study examined 24 different metropolitan areas and calculated a “zoning tax” of up to $500,000 per quarter-acre in cities with onerous land-use regimes – a finding consistent with previous research.
In case after case, in the U.S. and abroad, the lesson is always the same: new housing supply lowers prices; land use regulation discourages new supply; and homebuyers suffer as a result.
Other policies do further damage. Federal tariffs on construction materials, hard caps on immigration, high local permitting and building fees, and property and other taxes increase American homebuilders’ costs and thus discourage the construction of smaller starter homes with lower profit margins. National housing subsidies and city building codes preference traditional, “stick-built” homes over less expensive manufactured housing. And the U.S. government’s ownership of large amounts of land, particularly in the West, makes it unavailable for development and acts as hard barrier to the expansion of neighboring localities.
Combine state-sanctioned Realtor cartels with a witches’ brew of federal, state and local regulation, and it’s no surprise that home prices are skyrocketing today. Unfortunately, there’s no settlement amount that will change this troubling reality.
Scott Lincicome is vice president of general economics and trade at the Cato Institute.
As the line between sports analysis and sports gambling content continues to blur, ESPN finds itself in a tricky gray area, especially with the recent launch of ESPN Bet, the network’s own sports betting platform.
ESPN host Rece Davis on Sunday offered a clarification for a comment he made earlier on “College GameDay” during a conversation with ESPN Bet analyst Erin Dolan.
Davis contended that “most recognized my comment was tongue-in-cheek” when he said Dolan’s advice to bet the under on Northwestern’s point total in its upcoming men’s basketball tournament game against Connecticut was “a risk-free investment.”
“Obviously, there are risks,” Davis wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Though I’m not a gambler, I strongly encourage those who do partake, do so with prudence, care, caution, fiscal and personal responsibility and never over-extend.”
The timing of Davis’ remark was unfortunate, coming on the heels of a brewing scandal in Major League Baseball over alleged illegal gambling activities by superstar Shohei Ohtani’s longtime interpreter.
Predictably, Davis faced a barrage of criticism on social media shortly after the segment aired, with one commenter pointing out that even sports betting companies in many states aren’t allowed to use the term “risk-free” in their ads anymore.
Five years ago, when a real estate agent advised my wife and me to make an offer on a house we had seen only once − at night − and were unsure about, I thought she was being ridiculous. Today, I concede that she was being pragmatic because buyers significantly outnumbered sellers.
We bought another home before it was listed, happening to spot the “Coming Soon” sign out front. That was my preview of the housing shortage. Then COVID-19 supercharged the national housing crisis.
You may know the rule of thumb not to spend more than 30% of your income on housing. Redfin calculated that only 15.5% of homes bought last year would have a mortgage costing less than 30% of local median income, a record well below the pre-pandemic norm.
A new report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies found that in 2022, a record half of U.S. renters were “cost burdened,” spending more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. About 27% of renter households spent more than half of their income on housing.
The root cause of this financial hardship is a shortage of homes, although some housing advocates question or deny that reality. But the housing shortage is a literal shortage. We can see it from various pieces of evidence.
We can fix homelessness:California knows the way to end homelessness. It’s time to find the will.
Housing price index is at near record high
America built far fewer homes in recent years. U.S. private home construction crashed before the 2008 mortgage crisis (measured in total units). Only in late 2021 did it climb back up to its pre-Great Recession peak.
Homebuilding is rebounding, but we have a lot of catching up to do. The Case-Shiller housing price index sits near an all-time high.
The median age of first-time homebuyers also is near a record high, at 35.
Can Gen Z, millennials buy homes?Buying a home was a dream for millennials like me. For many, it won’t be possible.
Investment firms have owned many multifamily buildings for decades. They now are buying a significant number of houses because they expect a continued shortage to boost those properties’ values.
Economists argue about inflation and minimum wage laws, but they overwhelmingly agree we have a housing shortage. “Place the Blame Where It Belongs,” declared a recent Urban Institute report on the shortage. Economists are still figuring out how to measure it, but various estimates place the national shortage of homes in a broad range, from 4 million to 20 million.
Rising rents trigger increase in people without stable housing
It was a moment, not a number, that finally convinced me of the housing shortage. I started an all-volunteer housing advocacy group in 2021 and about a year later was invited to tour a homeless shelter. A staff member explained that rising rents had increased the local population without stable housing, and that the shelter struggled to find available homes to place its clients in.
I have since heard the same thing from staff at other shelters in my state. I have also heard chilling stories about residents of my city living in unsafe, overcrowded conditions.
Low supply lets landlords jack up rents. It prevents people from leaving abusive partners. It forces California college students to sleep in their cars.
The housing shortage is all too real. Only building many more homes will make housing affordable again.
Luca Gattoni-Celli is a Young Voices contributor and the founder of YIMBYs of Northern Virginia. Follow him on X @TheGattoniCelli