"The tradition of the presidential inauguration embodies the beauty of American democracy and today we had the honor to dress our first lady, Mrs. Melania Trump," Lippes said in a statement to Vogue. "Mrs. Trump's outfit was created by some of America's finest craftsmen and I take great pride in showing such work to the world."

Melania Trump also wore a wide-brimmed hat by Eric Javits.

Jill Biden's purple ensemble was designed by Ralph Lauren.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were seated in the Capitol Rotunda in front of incoming members of Trump's cabinet. Other politicians, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, watched the inauguration from an overflow room.

He used the same two Bibles during his first inauguration in 2017.

JD Vance and Usha Vance met at Yale Law School.

Usha Vance clerked for Kavanaugh in the US Court of Appeals; she also clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts. She worked as a litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson and quit her job when JD Vance was chosen as Trump's running mate.

Vance received the Bible as a gift from his Mamaw, Bonnie Blanton Vance, when he left for his service in the Marine Corps.

In a previous statement to Business Insider, the "American Idol" alum said she was "honored" and "humbled" to sing at the event.

Calvin Coolidge served a partial term beginning in 1923 after the death of President Warren G. Harding and was reelected in 1924.

Charles Dawes was chosen as Coolidge's vice presidential nominee at the 1924 Republican National Convention.

Calvin Coolidge and Grace Coolidge rode to the inauguration in a convertible automobile accompanied by a mounted honor guard and cavalry escort.

At a press conference ahead of the inauguration, Calvin Coolidge said he intended for the event to be "moderate in its proportions and moderate in its expenditures." He saved the joint Congressional Inaugural Committee $16,000 by reducing the size of the parade and the amount of security, stands, and decorations, according to the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

The buttons featured the faces of Calvin Coolidge and Charles Dawes. Today, the mementos are rare collectibles.

Around 30,000 people attended the 1925 inauguration, UPI reported.

Grace Coolidge did not hold the Bible for her husband's swearing-in ceremony. In 1964, Lady Bird Johnson became the first incoming first lady to hold the Bible for her husband, Lyndon B. Johnson.

"The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the government," he said. "Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant."

The ceremony was broadcast across the country over AT&T telephone wires. Photos of the event were also sent to newsrooms via wire photography transmissions. From Washington, DC, it took seven minutes for photos to reach New York City and an hour to reach Los Angeles, according to the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

The United States Navy Band Orchestra performed at a charity inaugural ball held in honor of Calvin Coolidge at the Mayflower Hotel, even though the president himself wasn't in attendance.

Vance served in Iraq as a public affairs marine, escorting members of the press and writing stories about service members. He wrote in his 2016 memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," that the Marine Corps "taught me how to live like an adult."

"It was in the Marine Corps where I first ordered grown men to do a job and watched them listen; where I learned that leadership depended far more on earning the respect of your subordinates than on bossing them around; where I discovered how to earn that respect; and where I saw that men and women of different social classes and races could work as a team and bond like family," he wrote, according to an excerpt published by Military.com.

Vance majored in political science and philosophy at Ohio State and graduated summa cum laude. He then graduated from Yale Law School in 2013.

While at Yale, law professor and "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" author Amy Chua encouraged Vance to write a memoir about his upbringing.

As a law student, Vance attended a talk by PayPal founder Peter Thiel. He wrote in The Lamp in 2020 that it was "the most significant moment" of his time at Yale.

After two clerkships and a brief career in corporate law, Vance began working at Mithril Capital, a firm backed by Thiel, in 2016. A year later, he moved to Revolution, a VC firm in Washington, DC.

Vance published "Hillbilly Elegy" in the summer of 2016, before Trump was elected or projected to win the presidency. The memoir, which became a New York Times bestseller, focuses on Vance's experience growing up poor in Ohio and Kentucky and was largely read as an honest illustration of America's white working class. After Trump won, many turned to the book as an explanation for Trump's meteoric and unexpected rise.

A movie adaptation of "Hillbilly Elegy" came out on Netflix in 2020.

Vance met his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, when they were both students at Yale Law School. In "Hillbilly Elegy," he wrote that Chilukuri Vance was his "Yale spirit guide" who encouraged him to seek opportunities within the elite institution. They wed in 2014.

Chilukuri Vance clerked for Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the US Court of Appeals before he became a Supreme Court Justice and also clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts, The New York Times reported. She worked as a litigator at the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, then quit her job when Trump chose Vance as his running mate.

They have two sons, Ewan and Vivek, and a daughter, Mirabel.

In February, Vance read "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss on the Senate floor in honor of Vivek's 4th birthday.

When he published "Hillbilly Elegy," Vance was a self-described "Never Trumper" and even called the former president "reprehensible" in a now-deleted X post.

As the years — and Trump presidency — wore on, though, Vance started to take a different approach. He told The Financial Times in 2018 that the former president "recognizes the frustration that exists in large parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and so forth."

Come 2020, Vance supported Trump's campaign and expressed regret for his previous stance. The tide turned in both directions, as Trump began to support Vance's foray into politics.

A junior congressman, Vance was only elected to the Senate in 2022 but has since become one of Trump's most loyal supporters. He entered a cramped Ohio primary in 2021 in the mold of an unrelenting Trump supporter and anti-elitist.

Vance embraced the former president's policies and eventually earned his coveted endorsement. With Trump's blessing, he catapulted through the primary and into Congress.

In the Senate, Vance serves on the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee; the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; the Joint Economic Committee; and the Special Committee on Aging. Like Trump, he has an isolationist bent on foreign policy and takes a hard-line approach to immigration.

During his limited time in office, Vance has come to embody what Politico dubbed the "New Right" movement — an ill-defined coalition of younger conservatives who are trying to push the Republican party toward more populism, conservatism, and nationalism.

Trump announced Vance as his vice presidential pick in a post on Truth Social in June. In it, he celebrated Vance's business background and said that, as vice president, the youngster "will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN."

Together, they went on to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz in the 2024 election.

Upon taking the oath of office, 40-year-old Vance will become one of the youngest vice presidents in the nation's history — as well as the first millennial VP — and well-positioned to inherit the MAGA crown.

Vance served as a public affairs marine in Iraq, liaising between service members and members of the press. After his military service, he majored in political science and philosophy at Ohio State University.

Chilukuri Vance grew up in a suburb of San Diego. Her parents are Indian immigrants.

Chilukuri Vance told Fox News in June that her parents' Hindu faith was "one of the things that made them such good parents, that make them very good people."

She was a registered Democrat until 2014.

In law school, Chilukuri Vance served as executive development editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, according to a bio on the website of her former employer, Munger, Tolles & Olson, that has since been removed.

She also worked pro bono with the Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic, the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, and the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project.

Chilukuri Vance told NBC News in 2017 that she and Vance took all of their classes together and were friends before they started dating. When they were assigned to work on a brief together, Chilukuri Vance said she was impressed by his diligence.

"I've never seen anybody so starstruck," their law school professor, Amy Chua, said of Vance in an interview with NBC News. "It was love at first sight."

Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019, The American Conservative reported. Chilukuri Vance was raised Hindu.

When asked about their interfaith marriage in a June interview with Fox News, Chilukuri Vance replied: "There are a lot of things that we just agree on, I think, especially when it comes to family life, how to raise our kids. So I think the answer really is that we just talk a lot."

Vance's memoir details his working-class upbringing and the lives of poor, white Americans. He also wrote about how Chua, his professor, encouraged him to focus on his relationship with Chilukuri Vance as a Yale law student.

When Vance asked Chua to recommend him for a federal clerkship, she warned him that it's "the type of thing that destroys relationships."

"Amy's advice stopped me from making a life-altering decision. It prevented me from moving a thousand miles away from the person I eventually married," Vance wrote.

"Most important, it allowed me to accept my place at this unfamiliar institution — it was okay to chart my own path and okay to put a girl above some shortsighted ambition," he continued. "My professor gave me permission to be me."

Vance worked at Mithril Capital, a VC firm backed by Peter Thiel, in 2016. One former coworker previously told Business Insider that Vance was often away from the job promoting his book, "Hillbilly Elegy."

Thiel ended up being instrumental in Vance's rise to power in politics, donating $15 million to his Senate campaign and encouraging Trump to choose Vance as his running mate, The New York Times reported.

Vance went on to work at Revolution, a VC firm in Washington, DC, before founding his own firm, Narya Capital, in 2019.

Meanwhile, Chilukuri Vance worked as a litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson before leaving to clerk for Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the US Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts. Following her clerkships, she returned to Munger, Tolles & Olson, according to a bio on the firm's website that has since been removed.

Their first child, Ewan, was born a month before Chilukuri Vance began her clerkship with Chief Justice Roberts, NBC News reported. They also have another son, Vivek, and a daughter, Mirabel.

In the ad, Chilukuri Vance described her husband as "an incredible father" and "my best friend."

In an interview with Newsmax about the ad, Chilukuri Vance also responded to media reports about Vance's dramatic transformation from a "Never Trumper" to a staunch Trump supporter.

"Sometimes people say that he's changed a lot, but the truth is I've known him now for so many years and he's always been so true to himself," she said.

"I'm not raring to change anything about our lives right now, but I really believe in JD and I love him, so we'll see what happens with our lives," she told Fox News in June 2024.

On the first day of the Republican National Convention, when Trump announced Vance as his vice presidential pick, a spokesperson for Munger, Tolles & Olsen told ABC News that Chilukuri Vance had left the firm.

"Usha has been an excellent lawyer and colleague, and we thank her for her years of work and wish her the best in her future career," the spokesperson said.

Chilukuri Vance said that when they first met, Vance approached their differences "with curiosity and enthusiasm."

"Although he's a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food from my mother, Indian food," Chilukuri Vance said in her speech. "Before I knew it, he'd become an integral part of my family, a person I could not imagine living without."

After white nationalist Nick Fuentes questioned Vance's ability to "support white identity" with an Indian wife, Vance voiced support for Chilukuri Vance.

"Look, I love my wife so much. I love her because she's who she is," he said in an interview with Megyn Kelly in July. "Obviously, she's not a white person, and we've been attacked by some white supremacists over that. But I just, I love Usha."

He also hit back against the attacks on ABC News' "This Week," telling host Jonathan Karl in August, "Look, my attitude to these people attacking my wife is, she's beautiful, she's smart. What kind of man marries Usha? A very smart man and a very lucky man, importantly."

He continued, "Don't attack my wife. She's out of your league."

Chilukuri Vance appeared alongside her husband and members of the Trump family at the campaign's election night event in Palm Beach, Florida.

"THANK YOU!" Vance wrote on X after the election results came in. "To my beautiful wife for making it possible to do this. To President Donald J. Trump, for giving me such an opportunity to serve our country at this level. And to the American people, for their trust. I will never stop fighting for ALL of you."

After the inauguration, the Vance family will move into the official vice presidential residence on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory.

Grace Coolidge was all smiles in a gray dress and top hat to match President Calvin Coolidge's during his second inauguration.

Grace Coolidge was an immensely popular first lady whose friendliness balanced Calvin Coolidge's reserved nature, according to the White House.

Lou Henry Hoover wore a velvet dress with a zig-zag pattern to Herbert Hoover's inauguration.

In May 1929, she became the first first lady to appear in Vogue, Katherine A.S. Sibley wrote in "A Companion to First Ladies."

The shade of Eleanor Roosevelt's inaugural gown became known as "Eleanor Blue" at President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first inauguration.

Eleanor Roosevelt's dress and matching wrap were made of velvet, The New York Times reported. Her gowns were designed and made entirely in the US.

Eleanor Roosevelt chose a white Sally Milgrim design for her husband's second inauguration.

She wore another ivory dress for Franklin D. Roosevelt's third inauguration in 1941.

Eleanor Roosevelt wore a pink lace gown to her husband's historic fourth inauguration.

In 1951, the 22nd Amendment was ratified, placing limits on the number of terms a president could serve.

No inaugural ball was held when President Harry S. Truman was sworn in shortly after Roosevelt's death in 1945. Bess Truman wore a matching skirt suit set with a ruffled blouse when her husband took the oath of office.

In 1949, Bess Truman wore a fur coat to her husband's second inauguration. Later, for the inaugural balls, she wore a gray satin dress with a silver feather pattern.

Mamie Eisenhower wore a pale-pink de soie inaugural gown which was embroidered with over 2,000 rhinestones.

Mamie Eisenhower's 1957 inaugural gown, designed by Nettie Rosenstein, was embroidered with pearls, crystals, and topaz.

Jacqueline Kennedy attended the inaugural balls wearing a sleeveless off-white silk chiffon gown with a matching cape that she helped design in collaboration with Ethel Frankau of Bergdorf Custom Salon.

After President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, his vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, took the oath of office in a haphazard ceremony aboard Air Force One. Lady Bird Johnson wore a simple dress with a pearl necklace.

When Lyndon B. Johnson was reelected in 1965, Lady Bird Johnson wore a bright-yellow gown ordered from Neiman Marcus.

Pat Nixon also wore a yellow inaugural ball gown. Hers was made of silk satin and featured Swarovski crystals.

Pat Nixon wore a turquoise gown designed by Adele Simpson for President Richard Nixon's second inauguration.

There were no formal inaugural festivities after Richard Nixon resigned and President Gerald Ford became president in 1974. Betty Ford wore a blue skirt suit for his swearing-in ceremony.

Rosalynn Carter's blue chiffon inaugural gown, designed by Mary Matise for Jimmae, was the same dress that she wore to Jimmy Carter's inauguration as governor of Georgia.

Nancy Reagan wore a one-shouldered lace gown over silk satin to the 1981 inaugural balls. The dress and gloves were designed by James Galanos. Her beaded shoes were from David Evins.

Nancy Reagan wore another James Galanos gown for her husband's second inauguration. The white chiffon gown was embroidered with glass beads that reportedly took more than 300 hours to apply by hand.

Barbara Bush wore a royal-blue gown with a velvet bodice to the inaugural balls. The dress' designer, Arnold Scaasi, called her "the most glamorous grandmother in the United States," according to the Smithsonian.

Hillary Clinton wore a violet beaded lace sheath gown with a blue velvet silk overskirt to the 1993 inaugural balls. The dress was designed by Sarah Phillips and made by New York theatrical costume designer Barbara Matera Ltd.

For Bill Clinton's second inauguration, Hillary Clinton wore an ivory gown with metallic embellishments by Oscar de la Renta.

Laura Bush attended inaugural balls in a red gown by Texas designer Michael Faircloth. The dress was made of Chantilly lace embroidered with crystals over silk georgette.

Laura Bush chose a silver Oscar de la Renta gown for the 2005 inaugural balls.

Michelle Obama wore a custom white inaugural gown by Jason Wu. The dress was made of white silk chiffon and sparkled with organza flower embellishments containing Swarovski crystal centers.

She wore Jason Wu again in 2013, this time choosing a red cross-halter strap gown.

Melania Trump wore an off-the-shoulder white gown with a slit accompanied by a thin burgundy ribbon to the inaugural balls. The dress was designed by Hervé Pierre in collaboration with Melania Trump.

There were no inaugural balls in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Jill Biden did change into a white dress and matching cashmere coat by Gabriela Hearst for the small evening celebrations. The coat was embroidered with flowers representing every US state and territory.

Lefties have to reach around the flap and zip up from the other side.

Measurements in cups and ounces face right-handed users. Frequent bakers might want to invest in a left-handed version.

The rings make it impossible for left-handed people to lay their hands flat on the page and write normally. Notebooks with spirals on the top or right side are much easier to use.

In general, writing on paper is tough for lefties because they tend to smear pen ink or pencil graphite as their hands move across the page.

Right-handers get to rest their arms on the surface, but lefties have to keep their elbows hovering in midair.

When you pull the pen over to the left side, the cord gets in the way of what you're trying to write.

Other parts of banking are awkward, too.

Holding a credit card in your left hand and swiping it downward in a machine feels weird, but so does switching to your right hand if you're a leftie. Luckily, many machines are tap-to-pay now.

The cord may not be long enough to comfortably write with your left hand. If you use your right hand, your signature is probably going to be less legible.

Lefties have to reach across the can and turn the crank at an awkward angle, which is difficult. There are left-handed can openers to avoid this issue.

Grabbing a piping hot coffee with your non-dominant hand can be a recipe for spillage.

A few companies do make left-handed keyboards for those who like to hit the number keys with their dominant hands.

The mouse is probably on the right side, for example.

Left-handers have to angle the blade to make an accurate cut and then squeeze the two handles together in an uncomfortable way.

Some, like Jimi Hendrix, simply play a typical guitar upside down.

If a vegetable peeler only has one sharp side, left-handed cooks may find it difficult to position the blade and get a smooth peeling motion.

It may take left-handers a bit to adjust to a camera's setup.

The numbers on left-handed rulers move from right to left so lefties can see them clearly as they move their pens.

It's still readable, but it's a little more inconvenient.

Righties have an easier time using these switches for safety and better control whereas lefties should be extra cautious.

Lefties are the odd person out at rectangular dining tables. To avoid bumping elbows with the person next to them, they need to be selective about where they sit. This is less of a problem at circular tables.

This article was originally published on November 16, 2016, and was last updated on January 15, 2025.

Woodrow Wilson lived there until he died in 1924, and his wife, Edith Wilson, lived there until 1961.

The house features a marble entryway, a Palladian window, a sunroom over the backyard garden, and a Steinway piano that is over 100 years old.

The Trumans had lived at 219 North Delaware Street since they married in 1919, according to the National Park Service. The lot was originally purchased by Bess' grandfather, George Porterfield Gates, in 1867. 

The former president retired without any Secret Service protection or chauffeur, and he was often spotted walking around the neighborhood.

During the Cold War, Eisenhower held meetings with world leaders there.

The grounds include gardens, a teahouse, a skeet range, and a putting green, and the home features a marble mantle from the White House, according to the National Park Service.

Johnson grew up on the ranch and is buried there.

His home was known as the "Texas White House" since he often hosted meetings and world leaders on the ranch, according to the National Park Service.

Nixon often entertained dignitaries, celebrities, and politicians at the 15,000-square-foot home.

After he resigned, Nixon wrote his memoirs in the home, which was listed for $65 million in April 2021, Mansion Global reported. It was removed from the market later that year.

The home sold for $1.7 million in 2012. It was only on the market for 11 days before buyers snatched it up, Palm Springs Life reported.

The decor was characteristic of the 1970s with lime-green drapes, floral sofas, and beige carpeting.

Carter was born in Plains, Georgia, in 1924 and died on December 29, 2024.

The house cost less than the armored Secret Service cars that followed him around, The Washington Post reported in 2018.

The 7,192-square-foot estate was built in 1954, according to Zillow.

Nancy Reagan was pictured with former Sen. John McCain outside the home in 2008. The home last sold for $15 million in 2016.

The Bushes also had a post-White House home in Houston, Texas.

Charles Gibson of ABC News filmed an interview with the Bushes at their Maine home in 2007.

The home cost $1.7 million, The New York Times reported.

Bill Clinton gave Oprah Winfrey a tour of the home in 2004.

The Bushes often took vacations there during his presidency, earning it the nickname of the "Western White House."

The 1,600-acre property contains 40 miles of bike trails, Architectural Digest reported. Jenna Bush and Henry Hager held their wedding on the ranch in 2008.

They leased their post-White House home from Joe Lockhart, who served as Bill Clinton's press secretary.

The mansion was listed for sale on Redfin at $5.3 million in 2014 before it went off the market.

The Mar-a-Lago Club is a 20-acre estate with 128 rooms and multiple pools and beaches. Trump spent a significant amount of time at Mar-a-Lago during his first presidency.

The club's main building features neo-Gothic and Andalusian accents. Inside, the main living room features high ceilings and gold-plated designs over every wall.

The Bidens' home, which overlooks a 10-acre man-made pond, features three bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms, according to Zillow.

The home also features a basement studio equipped for media appearances and virtual events.

Source: Los Angeles Daily News

Source: CBS News

Source: CNN

Source: Getty Images

The structure, which spans 67,000 square feet, includes a planetarium, observatory, and exhibits about the cosmos.

The Griffith Observatory wrote on Instagram on Wednesday that it will be closed until further notice due to the current weather and fire conditions.

The Hollywood sign has been featured in countless TV shows and movies over the years as the most iconic location in the city.

As of Thursday, the sign was not located in an evacuation warning area, but the site is closed due to damage from surrounding fires.

After false images of the sign burning began to circulate on social media, the Hollywood Sign clarified in a Facebook post that it "continues to stand tall!"

The famous 1.7-mile-long Sunset Strip along Sunset Boulevard is located between Hollywood and West Hollywood.

Part of Sunset Boulevard, which spans 25 miles, is located in Pacific Palisades. The Palisades fire caused heavy damage, and many buildings along the famous street have burned down.

The stadium also hosts its namesake Rose Bowl Game annually on New Year's Day.

Some sports games have been postponed due to the wildfires. On Wednesday, the National Hockey League delayed a match between the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames that was supposed to take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Designed by architect Richard Meier, the Getty Center houses collections of paintings, manuscripts, photography, and sculptures from Europe and the US.

Clouds of smoke billowed around the complex, but the museum was undamaged.

The Getty Villa, built by J. Paul Getty, is located about 11 miles from the Getty Museum.

Katherine E. Fleming, president and chief executive of the J. Paul Getty Trust, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times that the organization "had made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year."

"Some trees and vegetation on-site have burned, but staff and the collection remain safe," she said.

Also known as the Villa de Leon, the French Revival estate was built in Malibu in 1927 for wool merchant Leon Kauffman.

Winds of up to 90 miles per hour made the California wildfires difficult to control.

The Kauffman Estate, now a private residence, appeared to still be standing as of Tuesday evening, but the extent of the damage is unclear.

In the 1920s, Rogers built a ranch on the 359 acres of land he owned featuring a 31-room house, stables, and a golf course. His widow donated it to the California State Parks system in 1944.

"California State Parks mourns the loss of these treasured natural and cultural resources, and our hearts go out to everyone impacted by the devastating fires in the Los Angeles area," California State Parks director Armando Quintero said in a statement.

Trump was born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, on April 26, 1970.

She spent her childhood in Sevnica, a small town 30 miles away.

It has a population of 17,611, according to data collected by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia in 2022.

Slovenia became independent in 1991.

Sevnica produces over 150 kinds of salami, a feat celebrated at its annual Salamiada festival.

Sevnica's tourism doubled in the year before Donald Trump took office as interest in Melania Trump grew, a tour guide told Reuters in January 2017.

For 2017 as a whole, the number of foreigners visiting Slovenia jumped 17% when compared to the previous year, with a total of 3.4 million visitors, Reuters reported in January 2018. 

The small town capitalized on its claim to fame as the former FLOTUS' hometown, offering tours, foods, and souvenirs named after her.

Her father, Viktor Knavs, worked as a car salesman. Her mother, Amalija, worked at a local textile factory.

Trump has one sister, Ines Knauss, and a half-brother, Denis Cigelnjak.

Mirjana Jelancic, a friend of Trump's who went on to become principal of the school, told ABC News in 2016 that the young Trump was "an angel" and "a very good student."

When Trump and her sister, Ines, were in high school, the Knavs family moved to Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital. There, Trump was scouted by photographer Stane Jerko and signed with a modeling agency when she was 18.

Trump made the donation after her wedding in 2005, The New York Times reported.

Trump is the second first lady born outside the US. The first was John Quincy Adams' wife, Louisa Catherine Adams, who was born in London.

The wooden statue, modeled after Trump's blue Ralph Lauren inauguration dress, garnered mixed reviews.

A plaque at the site says the new bronze statue is "dedicated to the eternal memory of a monument to Melania which stood in this location from 2019-2020."

Carter's casket will lie in state at the Capitol until his state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday.

President Abraham Lincoln was the first president to lie in state at the Capitol after his assassination in 1865. Carter's casket lay on the catafalque, or raised platform, designed for Lincoln, according to the Architect of the Capitol.

The casket was first brought to the US Navy Memorial in a tribute to Carter's Navy service on the first fleet of nuclear submarines, then transported to the Capitol on a horse-drawn carriage.

Carter's four children — Jack Carter, Chip Carter, Jeff Carter, and Amy Carter — were all in attendance at the lying-in-state ceremony.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Majority Leader John Thune placed their hands over their hearts as they approached Carter's casket.

Pelosi, who is recovering from hip replacement surgery, entered the Rotunda using a walker and remained seated for the ceremony.

Sen. Raphael Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff, both Democrats from Georgia, joined other members of Congress at the Capitol.

Justices Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, and Elena Kagan stood quietly by Carter's casket with their heads bowed in respect.

"Throughout his life and career, Jimmy Carter retained a fundamental decency and humility," Harris said in her remarks at the event. "James Earl Carter, Jr., loved our country. He lived his faith, he served the people, and he left the world better than he found it."

"In the face of illness, President Jimmy Carter brought lifesaving medicine," Johnson said. "In the face of conflict, he brokered peace. In the face of discrimination, he reminded us that we are all made in the image of God."

After Carter's state funeral, he will be buried at his home in Plains, Georgia.

Mementos with photos of Carter were also available to visitors.

"May his life be a lesson for the ages and a beacon for the future," the vice president said of Carter in her speech.

Located 4 miles from downtown Wilmington, Greenville is a quiet town with a median home listing price of $1.11 million, according to Realtor.com.

The Bidens originally purchased the 4-acre lot for $350,000, The Wall Street Journal reported. Now, it's worth at least $2 million.

The home they built features three bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms, according to Zillow.

Biden wrote in his 2017 memoir, "Promise Me, Dad," that he considered taking out a second mortgage on the house to support his son Beau Biden's family during Beau's cancer treatment.

Biden wrote that when he told President Barack Obama of his plan, Obama said, "Don't do that. I'll give you the money."

Biden brought Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese out onto the patio overlooking the pond in September.

The home also features a swimming pool, an amenity Biden was known to enjoy at the official vice president's residence on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory.

In 2008, reporters from the Wilmington News Journal camped out at Biden's home and played Frisbee on the lawn while waiting to see if he'd be chosen as Barack Obama's running mate.

Secret Service members surveil the residence when Biden visits.

Shelves in the background of Biden's video calls appeared to hold books, photos, and other mementos.

Biden made frequent trips home to Delaware while serving in the White House, spending about half of his weekends in his home state.

As an outgoing US senator, Biden purchased the desk he used in the Senate to furnish his home.

The spacious office has wood paneling and plush leather armchairs.

In November and December 2022, Biden's attorneys discovered classified documents in the president's former office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, DC, and in his garage and turned them over to the National Archives. In January 2023, US Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed US Attorney Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate the mishandling of classified information.

The Justice Department searched Biden's home and recovered six classified documents. Biden's personal attorney, Bob Bauer, said that the search was voluntary and that some of the items dated back to Biden's time in the Senate and as vice president.

Hur interviewed Biden in October 2023 about his storage of classified material. The transcripts showed that Biden described himself as a "frustrated architect" and spent large swaths of time talking about how he designed and furnished his home.

"In order to try to convince me not to run for the Senate for the 19th time, my wife said, 'Look, you don't run, I'll pay for architectural school for you," Biden told Hur.

Biden also shared how he "set up a theater" in his house to conduct virtual events and television appearances in 2020 because "we were campaigning out of our basement."

After a yearlong investigation, Hur did not recommend charging the president with any crime, describing Biden as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." Hur's report was derided by Democrats and Republicans alike, but it foreshadowed Biden's poor debate performance, which ultimately led to him dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

Anderson's father, Harry Loy Anderson, became the youngest bank president in the US in 1970 when he took over Worth Avenue National Bank at 26 years old. He was also a philanthropist who supported numerous charitable causes including the American Red Cross, of which he was a board member. He died of Alzheimer's in 2013 at 70 years old, according to his obituary.

Her mother, Inger Anderson, is a philanthropist and business owner who operates Palm Beach Groves, an orange orchard and souvenir shop that she and her husband bought in 1978.

Anderson, 38, grew up on a Palm Beach estate known as Oasis Cottage that once belonged to fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau. Inger Anderson sold the state for $11.88 million in 2016, the Palm Beach Daily News reported.

Anderson has five siblings, including a twin sister.

Anderson earned a bachelor's degree in art history from Columbia University in 2009, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Anderson's résumé includes working as a business development manager for the pharmaceutical company TherapeuticsMD and as an independent consultant for the Florida-based investment company Merrick Ventures.

She has modeled for Quest Magazine, Palm Beach Illustrated, and Modern Luxury Palm Beach, in which she was referred to as an "ambassador of Palm Beach style and local 'it' girl."

Anderson also has over 51,000 followers on Instagram, where her profile features affiliate links to skincare products and her Amazon Shop.

Project Paradise funds filmmaking grants for documentaries about environmental conservation.

The organization released a short documentary, "The Water State," calling attention to the fragility of Florida's freshwater springs.

"One of the greatest focuses of my life is how I can be of service to others and a be steward of the environment," Anderson told fashion blog The Daily Front Row in 2022.

Anderson also volunteers with the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County and is a young patron of The Everglades Foundation.

At the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Anderson was seated behind Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, and other members of the Trump family.

In September, the Daily Mail reported that Anderson and Trump Jr. were seen kissing and eating brunch together in Palm Beach. Neither responded to a request for comment about the nature of their relationship.

The event featured former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Vivek Ramaswamy, all of whom went on to become members of Trump's administration.

Attending the dinner cost $100,000 per couple, and admission to a fireside chat cost $30,000 per couple, the Palm Beach Daily News reported.

On her birthday in December, Anderson posted a photo of a bouquet of flowers on an Instagram Story and tagged Trump Jr.

The card accompanying the flowers read, "Many have said you're aging out but I think you're perfect...happy birthday!"

Anderson and Trump Jr. were also photographed holding hands while exiting a restaurant in Palm Beach and celebrating Trump Jr.'s birthday together at Mar-a-Lago on New Year's Eve.

Trump Jr. has not confirmed his breakup with Guilfoyle, but told Page Six in a statement that he and Guilfoyle "will always keep a special bond" and that he "could not be more proud of her and the important role she'll continue to play in my father's administration" as ambassador to Greece.

Ivanka Trump and Kushner were both 25 at the time.

"They very innocently set us up thinking that our only interest in one another would be transactional," Ivanka Trump told Vogue in 2015. "Whenever we see them we're like, 'The best deal we ever made!'"

Kushner was raised in the modern Orthodox Jewish tradition, and it was important to his family for him to marry someone Jewish. Ivanka Trump's family is Presbyterian.

In his memoir, "Breaking History," Kushner wrote that Murdoch's then-wife, Wendi Murdoch, was a mutual friend who invited them both on the yacht.

The theme of the Met Gala that year was "The Model As Muse." Ivanka Trump wore a gown by designer Brian Reyes.

Kushner proposed with a 5.22-carat cushion-cut diamond engagement ring.

Ivanka Trump told New York Magazine that she and her fiancé were "very mellow."

"We go to the park. We go biking together. We go to the 2nd Avenue Deli," she said. "We both live in this fancy world. But on a personal level, I don't think I could be with somebody — I know he couldn't be with somebody — who needed to be 'on' all the time."

The couple invited 500 guests, including celebrities like Barbara Walters, Regis Philbin, and Anna Wintour, as well as politicians such as Rudy Giuliani and Andrew Cuomo.

"This morning @jaredkushner and I welcomed a beautiful and healthy little baby girl into the world," Ivanka announced on X, then Twitter. "We feel incredibly grateful and blessed. Thank you all for your support and well wishes!"

He was named for Kushner's paternal grandfather Joseph and given the middle name Frederick after Donald Trump's father.

"I said, 'Ivanka, it would be great if you had your baby in Iowa.' I really want that to happen. I really want that to happen," Donald Trump told supporters in Iowa in January 2016.

Ivanka Trump wore a red Ralph Lauren Collection halter jumpsuit.

On a 2017 episode of "The Late Late Show with James Corden," Anna Wintour said that she would never invite Donald Trump to another Met Gala.

The Liberty Ball was the first of three inaugural balls that Donald Trump attended.

Ivanka Trump and Kushner rented the 7,000-square-foot home from billionaire Andrónico Luksic for $15,000 a month, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Kushner and Ivanka Trump both served as advisors to the president. For the first overseas trip of Donald Trump's presidency, they accompanied him to Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Vatican, and summits in Brussels and Sicily.

All of the Trump and Kushner siblings were in attendance. A White House official told CNN that the couple was covering the cost of the party, but Donald Trump tweeted that the cost would be "totally paid for by me!"

"When Jared and I moved with our three children to Washington, we didn't exactly know what we were in for," she said in her speech. "But our kids loved it from the start."

Page Six reported that the couple purchased a 1.8-acre waterfront lot owned by singer Julio Iglesias, Enrique Iglesias' father.

The island where it sits has the nickname "Billionaire Bunker" thanks to its multitude of ultrawealthy residents over the years, including billionaire investor Carl Icahn, supermodel Adriana Lima, and former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula.

Donald Trump did not attend Biden's inauguration, breaking a long-standing norm in US democracy. While initial reports said that Ivanka Trump was planning to attend the inauguration, a White House official told People magazine that "Ivanka is not expected to attend the inauguration nor was she ever expected to."

Ivanka Trump and Kushner signed a lease for a "large, unfurnished unit" in the amenities-packed Arte Surfside condominium building in Surfside, Florida.

Surfside, a beachside town just north of Miami Beach that's home to fewer than 6,000 people, is only a five-minute drive from Indian Creek Island, where they bought their $32 million empty lot.

The Real Deal reported that Ivanka and Kushner purchased another Indian Creek property — this time, a 8,510-square-foot mansion situated on a 1.3-acre estate.

CNN reported that Trump was prone to complain about the 2020 election and falsely claim it was "stolen" from him to anyone listening and that his "frustrations emerge in fits and starts — more likely when he is discussing his hopeful return to national politics."

While Ivanka and Kushner had been living in their Miami Beach condo, not far from Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, they'd visited Trump less and less frequently and were absent from big events at Mar-a-Lago, CNN said.

The New York Times also reported that Kushner wanted "to focus on writing his book and establishing a simpler relationship" with the former president.

The Abraham Accords, which Kushner helped broker in August 2020, normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.

During their visit, Ivanka Trump and Kushner met with then-former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and attended an event at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem with former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"In addition to being arrestingly beautiful, which I knew before we met, she was warm, funny, and brilliant," he wrote of getting to know Ivanka Trump. "She has a big heart and a tremendous zest for exploring new things."

He also wrote that when he told Donald Trump that he was planning a surprise engagement, Trump "picked up the intercom and alerted Ivanka that she should expect an imminent proposal."

Ivanka Trump released a statement explaining her absence from the event.

"I love my father very much," her statement read. "This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena."

Ivanka Trump did not campaign for her father or give a speech as she had at past Republican National Conventions, but she and Jared Kushner joined Trump family members onstage after Donald Trump's remarks.

Kushner told Axios in February that he would not rejoin the Trump administration as a senior advisor for a second term, but CNN and the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported that he would serve as a Middle East advisor in an unofficial capacity.

The yacht, named after Sequoyah, a leader of the Cherokee Nation, measured 104 feet long. In its heyday, it had elegant cabins of mahogany and teak with brass finishings.

The US government bought it from a Texas oil tycoon in 1931 for $200,000, and it was soon reserved for use by presidents.

The vessel was berthed at Washington Navy Yard, a short drive from the White House.

Hoover was so enamored of the Sequoia he even used a picture of it on his 1932 Christmas card.

However, at a time when many Americans were suffering from unemployment and poverty due to the Great Depression, the card drew criticism from political opponents.

In the president's bedroom cabin, the presidential seal decorated the wall above the bed and the bedspread.

It was ideal for hosting family gatherings, or meetings with foreign leaders and their staff.

President Harry Truman added the piano to the salon after becoming president in 1945.

Lyndon Baines Johnson later added a drinks bar.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who used a wheelchair for much of his presidency, had an elevator installed so he could access each deck.

According to legend, he also decommissioned the vessel so he and Prime Minister Winston Churchill could enjoy alcoholic drinks on deck while they planned their strategy in World War II.

At the time, no alcohol was permitted on US Navy vessels.

The vessel was intended as a place presidents could use as a private retreat, and there are no official records of its guests. As a result, rumors have long circulated about what took place on board.

In June 1973, President Richard Nixon hosted Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev on the Sequoia, where the two negotiated the SALT-1 nuclear arms treaty.

It was Nixon who embarked on more trips on the boat than any other president, taking more than 100 in total.

During the Watergate crisis, he used the boat as a refuge.

Nixon told his family of his intention to resign the presidency over dinner on the Sequoia before retiring to the boat's saloon to drink scotch and play "God Bless America" on Truman's piano, CBS News reported.

On May 29, 1963, President John F Kennedy celebrated his 46th birthday aboard the Sequoia.

Among the guests for the dinner-party cruise were actors David Niven and Rat Pack member Peter Lawford, who was married to Kennedy's sister.

His brother Bobby Kennedy, the attorney general, was among the family who attended, alongside select members of Washington high society.

Guests described the event to The Washington Post as a raucous party, with French cuisine, flowing Champagne, and the president even making a pass at the wife of a party guest, a prominent journalist.

The birthday party was to be his last. Seven months later, Kennedy was assassinated on an official visit to Dallas.

Johnson would use a projector to watch Western films on board the ship.

He also used the Sequoia as a retreat to cajole potential allies and formulate policy.

On board, he hosted members of Congress whom he lobbied over his landmark civil rights bill and strategized with officials as the US became further mired in the Vietnam War.

"Of course, he can get on a plane and go to Florida or anywhere else, but that requires throwing the machinery into motion," Kissinger told Newsweek in 2012. "But here, he just can say at 5 o'clock: 'I'm going to the boat, I'm taking four or five people. And you don't have to call it a meeting and you don't have to prepare the papers.'"

When Carter took office in 1977, he sought to make good on his election pledge to strip the White House of the trappings of an "imperial presidency."

With running costs totaling $800,000 a year, the Sequoia had to go.

The New York Times reported it sold to a private buyer, Thomas Malloy, for $286,000, or almost $1.5 million in today's money, when adjusted for inflation. Malloy turned the boat into a tourist attraction.

Later, Carter revealed that selling the vessel was a decision he came to regret.

"People thought I was not being reverent enough to the office I was holding, that I was too much of a peanut farmer, not enough of an aristocrat, or something like that. So I think that shows that the American people want something of, an element of, image of monarchy in the White House," he told the JFK presidential library in a 2011 interview.

After its sale, the presidential yacht had a succession of owners.

It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, spent the '90s in a shipyard, and ran chartered cruises until 2014.

However, the Sequoia fell into disrepair in subsequent years amid a legal battle over its ownership. It sat decaying in a Virginia dry dock, overrun by raccoons.

Its current owner, investor Michael Cantor, began restoring the vessel in 2019 and plans to house it at the Richardson Maritime Centre in Maryland when the work is complete, Boat International reported.

In 1973, Arab countries that were part of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) imposed an oil embargo on the United States in retaliation for their military support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. As a result, gas prices skyrocketed and shortages caused long lines at gas stations. While the embargo ended in 1974, it exposed the vulnerabilities of US reliance on foreign oil.

In response to the 1973 energy crisis, Carter created the Department of Energy in 1977. He implemented tax credits for homeowners who installed solar panels and passed the National Energy Act into law in 1978, moving to reduce oil imports and promote energy conservation.

In his speech, Carter emphasized the importance of "harnessing the power of the sun to enrich our lives as we move away from our crippling dependence on foreign oil."

"Today, in directly harnessing the power of the sun, we're taking the energy that God gave us, the most renewable energy that we will ever see, and using it to replace our dwindling supplies of fossil fuels," Carter said in his speech.

Reagan moved to fulfill his campaign promise to abolish the Department of Energy in 1981, but he walked back his effort in 1985 due to insufficient support in Congress. He allowed Carter's solar-panel tax credits to expire in 1985, instead championing nuclear-power initiatives.

He also believed in allowing free-market capitalism to dictate the production and use of fossil fuels rather than government regulations, a policy that became known as "Reaganomics."

Carter's solar panels were removed during repairs to the White House roof and were not reinstalled. 

"Putting them back up would be very unwise, based on cost," Reagan's White House press secretary Dale Petroskey told the Associated Press at the time, according to Yale Climate Connections.

The White House remained without solar panels until 2002, when the National Park Service installed three solar energy systems that provided hot water for grounds maintenance staff and the White House pool, according to the White House Historical Association.

In 2017, Carter leased 10 acres of his farmland in Plains, Georgia, to the solar energy company SolAmerica Energy, The New York Times reported. The company built 3,852 solar panels, enough to provide more than half of the power for the 683-person town.

"It's very special to me because I was so disappointed when the panels came off of the White House, and now to see them in Plains is just terrific," former first lady Rosalynn Carter told The New York Times.

The 30-acre campus houses The Carter Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conflict resolution, eradicating diseases, and promoting human rights around the world. The grounds also contain a restaurant, non-denominational chapel, reception hall, and meeting rooms for retreats and training sessions.

The Bible that Carter was sworn in on. The "red phone" that sat on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office that he used to communicate with the US military in crisis. Presidential speeches with Carter's handwritten notes. I figured there would be some notable artifacts at the presidential library and museum, but I didn't realize just how many and how significant they would be.

Carter grew up in the small farming town of Plains, Georgia, which is about 150 miles south of the presidential library in Atlanta. In a section about Carter's youth, a display case held Carter's sixth-grade report card, high-school diploma, class ring, and an essay that earned him an "A." I loved that the museum focused on his childhood, as well as his presidency.

The replica was designed to look exactly like the Oval Office did during Carter's presidency, complete with the same pink, gold, and green striped couches and oval-shaped rug.

In the audio tour of the room, Carter said that people would often walk into the magnificent office and feel so awestruck that they'd forget what they were going to say. Even though it was just a recreation of the actual room, I could feel the same gravitas.

Sheen narrated an introductory video at the museum's entrance and the "Day in the Life of the President" exhibit, which chronicled Carter's schedule of meetings and memos on December 11, 1978.

Sheen told Empire magazine that President Bartlet in "The West Wing" was partially inspired by Carter as well as John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton.

"We wanted to represent the very best that we had in that office in recent history and those three men covered all of the territory that Bartlet would inhabit," he said.

This was my first visit to a presidential library, but it won't be my last. I'm determined to collect stamps from all 15 across the US.

City: New York City and Tel Aviv

Year founded: 2019

Total funding: $64.31 million

What it does: Agora is a financial software firm that helps real-estate investors process payments, keep track of tax records, raise money, and generally organize data.

Why it's hot: The firm, which raised a $34 million Series B round in May, said it helps landlords and developers with much-needed modernization.

"Real estate is the largest asset class in the world. However, the market still relies on legacy software providers, inefficient workflows, outdated, fragmented systems, and manual, tedious work," Asaf Raz, Agora's head of marketing, told Business Insider.

"Investors expect a digital-first experience — they're tech-savvy and need access to information quickly. Firms can't work without it, and clients need a platform like Agora more than ever," Raz said.

A challenge it faces: Real-estate investors are still grappling with relatively high interest rates, which makes it harder to borrow money and scale up, and the relatively high price of materials, which makes it tougher to renovate or upgrade properties. Those market forces could make customers more reluctant to spend money on new software.

Agora CEO Bar Mor told business news site Pulse 2.0 earlier this month, however, that Agora might still appeal to customers because its suite of products could help them "enhance efficiency and save costs."

City: New York

Year founded: 2021

Total funding: $5.1 million

What it does: Arcol is a web browser-based design tool predominantly used by architects to create and collaborate on 3D models of buildings and explore their feasibility.

Why it's hot: Architects — Arcol's target audience — have traditionally relied on software design tools like AutoCAD and Revit, which require paid licenses and aren't as collaborative. Arcol has set out to solve that issue with a browser-based format easily shared and edited by anyone involved in a building project.

"These people are core to our society; they're literally building the built world, yet they hate using their tools," said Paul O'Carroll, the son of an architect and founder of Arcol. "The design tool we use to design buildings, we want to rethink for the browser to be collaborative and to be performant."

So far, demand is high. Arcol, run by a team of six, has a waitlist of over 18,000 users, O'Carroll said.

A challenge it faces: There are several other startups in the BIM, or Business Information Modeling, space. Competing with established players like Revit could take a lot of time and money, according to AEC Magazine. (AEC stands for architecture, engineering, and construction.)

Also, Arcol is currently only useful to architects during the conceptual modeling phase, and the company hopes to expand the tool to help with other stages of construction.

City: New York City

Year founded: 2018

Total funding: $11.76 million

What it does: Branch Furniture sells office products, like chairs and desks, to businesses and directly to consumers.

Why it's hot: The company's first iteration sold office furniture the old way: B2B, catering to employers outfitting a huge space who would often purchase items in bulk. After the pandemic changed how (and how often) workers occupied offices, Branch pivoted to sell to regular people — wherever they work.

"We launched our D2C business to cater to the future of work, which was definitively hybrid, both during COVID and after — and that's where we sit today," Sib Mahapatra, cofounder of Branch Furniture, told Business Insider.

Branch's ergonomic chair is a bestseller with a 4.6 rating out of five with over 6,000 reviews — it's rated among the best in its category by Business Insider, Architectural Digest, and Wired for its adjustability and sleek design.

In addition to desk chairs — in colors that range from a standard black to salmon-y orange hue called "poppy," the company also sells desks and lamps to outfit a home office. Its inventory includes meeting tables and even phone booths ($6,395) for more commercial office spaces.

A challenge it faces: Branch's products are physical, so it's been plagued by supply-chain delays. Branch is also up against competitors in the good-looking-furniture-that-is-also-comfortable arena, including Herman Miller and Steelcase — though Branch's offerings are often cheaper.

The company is also gaining ground regarding velocity, or the speed at which new products are developed and released.

"We're learning a lot about the pace of iteration in our product category," Mahapatra said. "It's definitely not software, but the benefit is that you get more time to really get things right and to iterate with purpose, and you end up being a little bit more deliberate about how you iterate the product — it just takes longer."

City: Oakland, California

Year founded: 2022

Total funding: $6.67 million

What it does: BuildCasa helps California homeowners subdivide their lots — thanks to new state laws — and then connects them with local builders who pay the homeowners for a portion of their land and then build new housing on it.

Why it's hot: The national housing crisis is particularly acute in California, which recently passed a series of laws to encourage more building. While others look to transform construction to make cheaper housing, BuildCasa uses technology instead to find more buildable lots in desirable locations like San Francisco and San Jose.

Most massive home-building companies focus on large, master-planned communities, often far from city centers. BuildCasa's vision, said its founders Ben Bear, CEO, and Paul Stiedl, CPO, is to become a large homebuilder focused instead on finding land in already desirable cities and suburbs.

The company works with homeowners to subdivide their land, creating a new, buildable lot. Those lots can then be sold to a local real-estate developer to build on, or BuildCasa can work in partnership with a local builder to erect and then sell a completed home.

A challenge it faces: New laws have simplified the process of subdividing lots, but building in infill areas still requires technical expertise and good relationships with local officials. Building on these smaller lots may be becoming easier, but it still isn't easy.

City: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Year founded: 2018

Total funding: $14.68 million

What it does: Conservation Labs developed a smart water sensor that can identify leaks and wasteful water use. The H2know sensor uses machine learning to decode sounds in water pipes and translate them into insights for commercial property owners, including restaurants and hotels.

Why it's hot: The startup is at the intersection of two buzzy topics: AI and sustainability. H2know trains on thousands of hours of water pipe acoustics so that, over time, it becomes more accurate in detecting leaks and inefficient water use in buildings. Customers use that information to fix problems and conserve water, saving them money on utility bills while lowering their overall carbon footprint. Some 20% of home energy use goes to heating water.

"There's a very strong relationship between net-zero carbon emissions and water consumption," said Mark Kovscek, founder and CEO of Conservation Labs.

He added that H2know has detected leaky toilets in nearly every building in which it's installed. Some large properties are wasting 1 million gallons of water a year, he said.

A challenge it faces: H2know starts at $129, and it could be hard to convince cash-strapped commercial real estate owners to spend money to install sensors when the office market is struggling in many parts of the US.

Kovscek said the goal is to scale up to 100,000 sensors installed as soon as possible, or five times what Conservation Labs is currently on track to sell this year. To support that growth, the company needs to hire some of the "best and brightest" data scientists and engineers to further develop the machine-learning platform that underpins H2know, Kovscek said.

City: New York

Year founded: 2019

Total funding: Almost $380 million

What it does: Large general contractors use Constrafor's software to onboard and pay their subcontractors on time — sometimes before the contractors themselves get paid by the clients. Contractors can also use the software to help purchase the supplies and services needed to complete a construction project on time and within budget.

Why it's hot: There's the money raised. In November, Constrafor announced that it raised $14 million in Series A funding as well as a $250 million credit facility.

The issues the firm is trying to address are also key. Construction is booming across the US, thanks in part to President Joe Biden's $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. The rise of AI is also leading to a corresponding increase in the construction of data centers.

The actual process of construction, however, can often be long and complicated. That's why Constrafor's role as a one-stop shop appeals to large general contractors.

"So far, everyone has been focused on just building a very, very small point solution," said Anwar Ghauche, Constrafor's founder. "We're combining multiple different workflows, multiple different departments, all on the same platform."

The main challenges it faces: Next up: Constrafor must try to convince subcontractors to subscribe and pay for its software, too.

Gauch added that Constrafor's contractor clients can face cash-flow crunches. Those can lead to delays on important projects.

After Hurricanes Helene and Milton severely damaged parts of Florida, North Carolina, and other parts of the Southeast, Constrafor launched a disaster relief effort that would allow local contractors who are part of rebuilding efforts "to overcome delays, purchase materials, and ensure timely payment for their teams."

City: New York

Year founded: 2022

Total funding: $13.95 million

What it does: Ease Capital helps private equity firms and large investors lend to smaller apartment landlords. It uses data and technology that allow the biggest players to lend $5 million to $50 million in deals that would typically be too small for them.

Why it's hot: Sophisticated private lenders usually focus on the largest apartment complexes, meaning that most apartment-building owners have to turn to banks and agencies to borrow money to purchase or refinance properties. However, current high rates have dramatically slowed bank and agency lending and the large private lenders usually won't lend for small—and medium-sized projects.

Ease uses data and technology to make it easier and more efficient for these large lenders to lend on smaller deals when the need is the highest. In 2023, the company announced a $450 million partnership with major real estate owner and asset manager Taconic Capital Partners, and has already announced multiple successfully originated loans.

CEO Charlie Oshamn told Business Insider earlier this year that the company is often seeing up to $1 billion in loan requests a month. Unlike other firms, which provide an estimated rate upfront that could potentially change over months of negotiation, Ease Capital sticks to its initial offering, eliminating the guessing game for potential clients.

A challenge it faces: Though the founding team has successfully launched other major proptech businesses, like flexible office and event space provider Convene and real-estate data firm Reonomy, it still needs to prove itself as a lender.

City: Colombia and Mexico

Year founded: 2019

Total funding: $564 million

What it does: Habi has built Latin America's largest proprietary database and utilizes AI-based pricing algorithms to facilitate transactions and financing for homebuyers and sellers. Habi also buys and sells homes, offers mortgages, and posts and publicizes listings of properties for sale.

Why it's hot: The company operates in Colombia and Mexico without centralized MLS. MLS, or multiple listing services, are databases designed to help real estate brokers identify available homes for sale. These systems are abundant in the US, whereas they are scarce in Latin America. Without an MLS, it means homebuyers and sellers in Colombia and Mexico have difficulty knowing which properties are available for sale, their prices, and their listing and pricing history.

By gathering and sharing information on more than 20 million homes, Habi has addressed a critical need in these countries' real estate sector, establishing itself as an authority on housing in the region.

"We've become a household name for low and middle-income sellers and consumers and brokers in Mexico and Colombia," Brynne McNulty Rojas, CEO and cofounder of Habi, told Business Insider.

A challenge it faces: A combination of factors, including shifting economic and political conditions, has stalled the growth of Latin America's real-estate market. To achieve the same level of ubiquity as Zillow in the US, Habi must get real-estate brokers and sellers to list their properties on its platform and entice buyers to use it.

City: Lafayette, California

Year founded: 2021

Total funding: $21.35 million

What it does: Founder Vishwas Prabhakara envisions Honey Homes as a "primary care physician for your home." For a monthly fee, a dedicated handyman will come once or twice a month to knock off "lightweight" home improvement projects like fixing a leaky faucet, installing a new ceiling fan, or repainting a room.

Why it's hot: With a cooling housing market, Prabhakara believes many homeowners are staying in their homes longer and interested in investing resources in — and enjoying — the property they currently have.

The main challenge it faces: Homeowners who already hire their preferred handymen may not be willing to pay for a service that sends new people, and bigger projects might require more specialized repair professionals. Then there's the cost and current smaller scale of the company: Subscriptions start from $295 a month, or $3,940 a year, according to the company website. The service is only available in parts of San Francisco and the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Orange County, and Dallas, according to the site.

City: San Francisco

Year founded: 2021

Total funding: $25 million

What it does: Impulse Labs made a battery-powered induction cooktop that, unlike most of its competitors, which may require an electrical upgrade, can plug into a standard 120-volt outlet. The cooktop can boil water at lightning speeds, and sensors hold heat levels steady even at high temperatures.

Why it's hot: Impulse Labs founder Sam D'Amico said the cooktop offers a better cooking experience than gas burners while promoting more climate-friendly homes. Cooking with gas emits pollutants like methane, benzene, and carbon monoxide, which harm our health and the planet. But it can cost thousands of dollars to rewire a home for an electric induction stove. Impulse Labs' induction cooktop avoids those pollutants and the cost of home retrofits.

The battery in Impulse Labs' stove also stores enough power to make three meals if the power goes out, D'Amico said.

"One of the cheapest ways to deploy battery storage is in the appliances we have to buy anyways," he added.

The main challenge it faces: The cooktop costs $5,999. The price is high, D'Amico said, but similar to other premium appliances. The price is lower if buyers qualify for tax breaks and rebates from federal and state governments, as well as some utilities. It's also only a cooktop — not a full stove — but D'Amico said the company eventually wants to sell a suite of appliances that can be a whole-home battery solution. Impulse Labs is accepting pre-orders, with plans to ship in the first quarter of 2025, according to its website.

City: New York City

Year founded: 2020

Total funding: $43 million

What it does: Keyway uses machine learning and AI to aid institutional investors in sourcing, underwriting, and managing portfolios of properties.

Why it's hot: Companies that use AI have become commonplace today, but Keyway believes it is ahead of the pack in adopting and applying AI technology to real-estate investing.

"We were very early on in the AI game in 2020, and I think we've built a really strong backend of data with lots of APIs that allows us to integrate very segregated data very fast," CEO and cofounder Matias Recchia told Business Insider. "The fact that we built our system in a modular way also allows us to customize our product to a lot of our customers — so it's really not one solution fits all."

The main challenge it faces: New technology like Keyway can be hard to push on seasoned real-estate investors as they're used to using old-school methods like manually sourcing, underwriting, and managing portfolios.

"We're merging two cultures that are very different," Recchia said. "The real-estate industry requires a lot of proof to show them that data can really help them make better decisions. So there's a little bit of a culture shift that we're bringing to real estate as we sell them these tools and we partner with them."

City: Brooklyn, New York

Year founded: 2023

Total funding: $8.82 million

What it does: Latii is a sourcing platform that uses AI-powered tools to help North American-based architects and contractors save up to 60% by connecting with Latin American, southern European, and northern African window and door fabricators.

Why it's hot: Architects often include custom windows and doors in their designs, but hiring contractors and craftspeople overseas can cost their property-owning clients thousands of dollars. The architects who work with Latii, however, can source materials faster and at lower costs, cofounder and CEO Santiago Bueno told Business Insider.

"We're able to produce either equal or higher quality products at a less expensive rate," Bueno said.

In October, Latti announced that it had raised $5 million in seed-round funding, which it will use to expand in the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, and the New York tri-state area.

The main challenge it faces: When working with fabricators in Latin America, challenges can arise in managing certifications, enforcing warranties, and overcoming language barriers. The region's use of the metric system can also be difficult for North America-based architects to navigate.

City: Scottsdale, Arizona

Year founded: 2020

Total funding: $713.8 million

What it does: Lessen's software allows commercial and residential landlords to track maintenance needs, connect with service providers, and buy products.

Why it's hot: In August, Inc. magazine named Lessen the fastest-growing private software company in the US, citing its $1.1 billion valuation.

The valuation preceded a major acquisition in 2023: Lessen spent $950 million to buy property maintenance management firm SMS Assist in what the Commercial Observer called the largest proptech acquisition in history.

Lessen's software is widely used, handling 3 million work orders a year across 250,000 properties, according to Fifth Wall, an investor in the firm. Lessen also launched Lessen Advantage Marketplace, which allows its landlord customers to buy materials like glass, floors, and doors and find better insurance and loan rates.

The main challenge it faces: Like many real-estate firms, Lessen faces an overall slowdown in both the commercial and residential sectors, with mortgage rates remaining elevated. One big potential client base for Lessen is office building owners and property managers, but the office market right now is struggling, with vacancies around the US at record highs.

"We typically grow hand-in-hand with our clients, serving them in additional properties and markets as they expand. So, for example, interest rates can influence growth in some areas of our business," said Michael Tanner, senior vice president of marketing at Lessen.

A dearth of tradespeople is also a challenge for the company's platform that connects them to landlords, Tanner said.

Finally, the firm competes in a crowded market of competitors offering software for landlords, including Stessa, AppFolio, TenantCloud, and more.

City: Santa Monica

Year founded: 2017

Total funding raised by the company: $1.93 billion

What it does: Metropolis uses a computer vision platform powered by artificial intelligence to enable checkout-free payment at parking facilities. After registering their vehicles on the Metropolis app, customers can simply drive in and drive out without the hassle of paying with credit cards or ticket machines.

Why it's hot: Metropolis announced its acquisition of SP Plus, the largest parking network in North America, for $1.5 billion in October 2023 and closed the deal in May 2024. The move allowed Metropolis to rapidly scale its technology and reach 50 million customers across 4,000 locations.

"We've seen success and are continuing to scale and grow because Metropolis' checkout-free experiences give people the gift of time back, so they can spend it on the things that matter the most," cofounder and CEO Alex Israel told Business Insider.

The main challenge it faces: Israel said that most of the parking payments and transactions in the world are still analog.

"We envision a future where checkout-free payments travel with you, but scaling this technology across industries is complicated — it requires remarkable proprietary technology and boots on the ground," he said.

City: Boston

Year founded: 2020

Total funding: $13.17 million

What it does: PredictAP makes real estate invoice processing simple and easy. It uses AI to code invoices quickly.

"So the accounting rules can become very complicated in commercial real estate at big companies," said CEO and founder David Stifter, describing the journey of how an invoice is processed.

He said an invoice would come in first, and someone would need to determine which accounting rules to apply. Predict AP will be useful at this stage because the AI will understand and use the accounting rules correctly. Then, it will go through the rest of the accounts payable process, a department responsible for paying vendors for services or goods at the company. Then, someone will approve it and then pay for it.

Why it's hot: Predict AP serves every corner of the real estate sector. The company said its customers are publicly traded companies that own real estate, private companies that own and operate real estate, or customers who provide services for those big companies.

The company has been able to help AP specialists and property managers face difficulties entering invoices because it takes a lot of time and effort.

"We're able to help folks with that difficult task of coding invoices and it's particularly painful in real estate where there's a lot of complexity," said CEO and founder David Stifter. He added: "Nobody wants to be typing 15-digit invoice numbers; that's not fun."

Russell Franks, the president and cofounder of Predict AP, added to his comments and noted that Predict AP could process an invoice in 30 to 40 seconds faster than the normal processing time of five to 10 minutes.

The main challenge it faces: The company shared that it is hard to find funding in this tough economy, and it is not easy to grow and expand.

City: Boston

Year Founded: 2022

Total funding: $7.97 million

What it does: Propexo's unified API, or application programming interface, helps other real-estate tech companies quickly and easily integrate with property-management systems.

Why it's hot: Real-estate tech companies use APIs to integrate with data from external sources, like lead generation systems or rent roll systems.

However, existing APIs and the technology around them are outdated.

That means companies lose time and money that could be used to develop their product while trying to integrate with these APIs, said COO Ben Keller.

Propexo's unified API improves the developer experience by making the integration process simpler, faster, and cheaper. "We're really the first engineering infrastructure product in the proptech ecosystem," said Keller.

The main challenge it faces: It's not easy to convince property managers and owner-operators to change how they've been running their businesses for many years.

In August, the Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against RealPage, alleging that the property-management software company allows landlords to coordinate and unfairly keep rents high. This is causing some landlords to rethink how they handle and process information, according to trade publication Multifamily Dive.

City: Chicago

Year founded: 2020

Total funding: $4 million

What it does: Rent Butter has created an alternative tenant screening process that gives landlords a more comprehensive view of applicants' financial history.

Why it's hot: Landlords have historically relied on static credit reports and background checks when evaluating potential tenants. Doing so creates a barrier for applicants with financial difficulties early in their adult lives, as credit scores are a difficult metric to improve.

Rent Butter is trying to eliminate that barrier and change the narrative around who is a "good" candidate by providing landlords with additional information that can more accurately assess a person's financial reliability.

Their application connects to an applicant's bank account, credit history, and employment, criminal, and rent payment history to provide a detailed one-page report highlighting their financial behaviors and potential risks.

"Our whole approach is: How do we show who the person is today — not who they were seven or 10 years ago," cofounder and CTO Christopher Rankin told Business Insider.

The main challenge it faces: Rent Butter partners with landlords, rather than selling directly to consumers, which makes scaling a challenge. Most landlords already have a tenant-vetting process, so it could be hard to convince them to change to Rent Butter.

City: San Francisco

Year founded: 2021

Total funding: $22.27 million

What it does: Shepherd is a Managing General Underwriter (MGU) leveraging tech to make underwriting commercial construction insurance more efficient. It also wields data to create more informed risk selection and price recommendations, often leading to upfront and long-term savings for policyholders.

Why it's hot: Insurers partner with MGUs to provide clients with insurance, with the MGU underwriting policies for clients and selling to potential policyholders. Shepherd adapts the typical MGU model by cutting the underwriting process from weeks to hours and incorporating risk assessment tech into its platform, making it a one-stop shop for insurers and clients. By working faster and putting these services in one place, Shepherd can better serve construction companies and insurers while fostering more involved relationships.

The main challenges it faces: Both insurance brokers and potential clients have some healthy skepticism about a new model for commercial construction insurance, so it falls on Shepherd to earn their trust to gain their business.

City: Austin

Year founded: 2020

Total funding: $60.1 million

What it does: Steadily is a digital insurance company for real-estate investors that promises a "faster, better, and cheaper" underwriting experience.

Why it's hot: Steadily founder Darren Nix first encountered the outdated nature of insurance underwriting, trying to find quotes for his own rental property in Chicago.

Terrible customer service and shockingly high quotes stopped him in his tracks.

"It was like rolling back the clock to the mid-1990s," he told Business Insider. Focusing on selling insurance to real-estate investors has helped Steadily grow to about 140 employees across Austin and Kansas City, Missouri.

In November, Steadily announced it had started to actively write new business on its own insurance carrier. "Nothing says 'we believe in the product we've built' more strongly than underwriting risk as the carrier," Nix said in a statement.

The main challenge it faces: Steadily has started selling insurance to short-term-rental investors, which presents different challenges than underwriting more traditional, longer-term rentals.

The market represents significant growth — accounting for nearly 20% of Steadily's current business — but the pricing is tricker.

"The people coming in and out of those properties don't take care of them at the same level of responsibility," Nix explained. "One of the things that a host can do to demonstrate that they are a good insurance risk is to point to their Airbnb or VRBO history and show that they're a super host, they take great care of their property, they don't host ragers."

City: Medfield, Massachusetts

Year founded: 2020

Total funding: $20.35 million

What it does: Tour24 is an app that lets prospective tenants take self-guided apartment tours without a leasing agent present.

Why it's hot: In many cities, renting an apartment can be cutthroat, with open-house lines and bidding wars to nab a good unit at a reasonable price.

More than ever, people are deciding on places to live quickly — sometimes even committing before they've even seen the unit because they aren't able to schedule a walkthrough that jives with their working hours.

Tour24 allows users — who are ID- and credit card-verified — to tour apartments when leasing agents aren't available, such as on evenings and weekends.

"We are seeing that certainly millennials really prefer self-guided experience," Georgianna W. Oliver, the founder of Tour24, told Business Insider.

Oliver said many of their leasing-agency clients offer Tour24's self-guided tours as well as leasing agent-led tours and virtual tours — and have given feedback that the more options they give potential renters, the better.

"People have the options," she said. "And they really like having the options."

The main challenge it faces: Since the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic, many individual leasing agencies have been offering some version of a self-guided tour on their own with their own video Tour24 also competes with other self-guided rental-tour apps like Rently and CareTaker.

Tour24 seems to be holding its own: The startup announced in October that it raised $5 million in a Series B round, noting that it had doubled in size in 2024 to reach 525,000 units across over 2,060 multifamily properties.