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Acorns giving away thousands in cash from a Chicago vending machine during three-day investment promotion
CHICAGO – As banking giveaways go, fintech company Acorns is offering Chicagoans something a little more valuable than the traditional pens and calendars.
Acorns is handing out cold, hard cash.
On Thursday, Acorns debuted its compounding vending machine at Big Star Wrigleyville, an out-of-the-box promotion that replaces potato chips with ...Read more
Mark Gongloff: The home insurance crisis could use a public assist
At a moment when America’s home insurance crisis has become bad enough to turn conservatives into socialists, a possible solution may just involve — you guessed it — big government. And contra Ronald Reagan, in this case there’s reason to think the government truly can help.
To address soaring insurance premiums and coverage gaps in an ...Read more
Developers want rollback of Seattle affordability program as construction stalls
SEATTLE — A push to temporarily roll back Seattle’s defining housing policy of the late 2010s is gaining traction in City Hall as both developers and lawmakers look to plummeting permit applications with growing fear and search for ways to inject new supply into the city’s housing stock.
The Mandatory Housing Affordability program was the...Read more
Many Twin Cities offices are sitting empty. Rents are rising anyway
MINNEAPOLIS — The Twin Cities office market is a paradox: There’s a glut of empty space but rents keep rising.
“It’s opposite of what you’d think,” said Tom DeSautel, a commercial broker with Cushman & Wakefield. “No one is in the office. … How could my rent possibly be going up?”
New data shows that during February, the ...Read more
Everyday Cheapskate: For the Love of a Good Iron
While it's true that life is uncertain, there's at least one thing of which I am very sure: I will never be held hostage for refusing to iron.
Unlike Billie Jo Tyrrell, whose son Robert held her at gunpoint for six hours because she refused to iron his clothes, I love to iron. I'm not saying that I would be that thrilled to do it for a 29-year-...Read more
HUD launches investigation into WA's Covenant Homeownership Program
SEATTLE — In the Trump administration’s latest attack on Washington’s housing programs, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has launched an investigation into Washington's Covenant Homeownership Program.
HUD claims the down payment assistance program, intended to redress past housing discrimination, violates the Fair Housing ...Read more
Everyday Cheapskate: Don't Be Scared; Be Prepared
If there is one thing most people take for granted, it is food. U.S. supermarkets are always well stocked, and we don't think much about how all that food gets there. When pushed to consider it, I wager most of us assume there are huge warehouses somewhere filled with enough food to feed the nation for some unknown period of time.
The truth is,...Read more
One Beverly Hills developer raises $4.3 billion to finish the massive luxury project
LOS ANGELES — The developers of One Beverly Hills have secured $4.3 billion in financing to complete the project, another milestone for one of the largest real estate projects underway in the country.
Work on the high-end residential and hotel complex, which will include the tallest buildings in Beverly Hills, began in 2024 and went vertical ...Read more
Everyday Cheapskate: Careful! The Kids Are Watching
If you speak English in your home, your kids are not likely to come out speaking Italian. Kids learn through observation and imitation. And they don't miss a thing. Children are shaped from the very beginning of life by the way their parents live. They are ever-attentive witnesses of grown-up behaviors. They take their cues from what they see ...Read more
Allison Schrager: Why are young people taking so many unwise financial risks?
There are at least two conflicting narratives about Gen Z and young millennials. One is that they are extremely risk averse — afraid even to go out of the house, much less on a date. Another is that they are extremely risk inclined — always betting on sports or speculating on exotic assets.
Both of these theories can be true. In fact, they ...Read more
The 'attorney model' loophole: How debt relief companies scam people seeking help
Debt settlement companies technically aren’t allowed to charge fees until after lowering a consumer’s debt. But a loophole in the Telemarketing Sales Rule — and a mish-mash of federal and state laws — allows predatory firms the opportunity for exploitation.
A growing corner of the $23 billion debt relief industry has used a workaround ...Read more
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The Chair You Don’t Sit In: How Every House Develops Its Own Quiet No-Man’s-Land
Every home has a chair that no one uses. It may be well-placed, well-made and even visually appealing. It may have been purchased with intention, selected to complete a room or provide additional seating. And yet, it remains empty.
Over time, it becomes something else — a place for folded laundry, a temporary resting spot for bags, a surface ...Read more
Leave your shoes at the door: Why going barefoot at home can be good for your health
In many households, the transition from outside to inside begins with a simple gesture: shoes off at the door.
For some, it’s a matter of cleanliness. For others, it’s cultural habit. But a growing number of people are embracing another benefit of the practice — the idea that spending time barefoot at home may offer subtle but meaningful ...Read more
Everyday Cheapskate: My Simple Friday Reset That Makes the Weekend Even Better
Most household stress doesn't come from dramatic, headline-worthy disasters. It sneaks in quietly. It's the mail spreading like ivy across the kitchen counter. The leftovers shoved to the back of the refrigerator to "deal with later." The grit that magically appears anywhere people walk in and out all day.
None of it feels urgent in the moment....Read more
Zillow changes course by allowing posting of homes not yet on MLS
Two online real estate rivals seem to be inching closer to finding common ground.
After a yearlong lawsuit over Zillow’s ban on private and early marketing of homes championed by the real estate brokerage Compass, the standoff came to an end Wednesday.
Compass dropped its lawsuit, just a day after Seattle-based Zillow announced it will allow...Read more
Real estate Q&A: Do most HOAs prohibit paying residents to lead community classes?
Q: Our community will not pay a resident to provide a service to the community, such as leading an exercise class or instructing an art class. I was told that this is a rule in all HOA communities in the area. Is this true? — Caroline
A: In Florida, where I practice law, there is no general rule banning all homeowners associations from paying...Read more
Corporate landlords own many Las Vegas homes. Could closing a tax loophole change that?
Closing a loophole within the Nevada commerce tax, which exempts real estate investment trusts, could push large corporate entities to divest from the Las Vegas Valley’s residential real estate market.
Two state assembly members — one a Democract, and one a Republican — are a part of a growing chorus of lawmakers pointing at the exemption...Read more
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