• Multimillionaire "Shark Tank" star Barbara Corcoran says she prefers flying economy to first class.
• She said she would rather accumulate her free miles and give them to her family for free vacations.
• Airfares are lower now compared to the past, but many Americans still feel they're not getting good deals.

"Shark Tank" star Barbara Cocoran may be a multimillionaire, but she still prefers to fly in economy.

On Tuesday's episode of "The Jamie Kern Lima Show" podcast, the entrepreneur spoke about her flying preferences and why she doesn't think the more expensive cabins are worth it.

"Do you know what a first-class ticket costs?" Cocoran told podcast host Jamie Kern Lima. "Listen, the way I figure it is, a coach ticket is about 25% of a first-class ticket. I get the free miles and I can give them away. I have everybody in my family flying on my free miles."

To her, that's a better way for her to spend her airline miles because it means her family can enjoy free trips.

"What's more important — that everybody gets free vacations, or that I'm comfortable in first class?" she said. "I guess I could afford to do both, but I won't because I'll be in coach feeling really smug because I know I have three plane tickets that could take somebody somewhere. It accumulates, you know?"

And it's not just Cocoran who feels that way.

Even though airfares are more affordable now compared to three decades ago — when adjusted for inflation — many Americans still don't feel like they're getting a good deal.

"Airfare is the single most confusing and volatile purchase we regularly make," Scott Keyes, an airline industry expert told Business Insider previously. "Combine that with negativity bias and it's no surprise that even as airfare hits historic lows, people are more likely to think it's at historic highs."

BI's Monica Humphries reviewed the business class cabin aboard an Air New Zealand flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand, in summer of 2022. The ticket cost $6,000, and even though it was the best flight of her life, she said she wouldn't do it again.

"For the same price as a round-trip flight, in theory, I could've paid for another three weeks in New Zealand, covered months of rent, or put a down payment on a new car," she wrote in her review. The cost of a one-way ticket for the same flight for summer next year is still around $6,000, according to Air New Zealand's website.

In order to save money on airfare, travel hacks like "skiplagging" — which involves booking a flight with a layover in the intended destination and then bailing on the second leg of the journey — have gained immense popularity in the past year. However, many airlines have taken a stance against the practice.

In an essay for BI, travel writer Jonathan DeLise wrote that his favorite way of saving money on airfare involves taking "positioning" flights instead of direct ones. First, he flies to an intermediary airport with better ticket deals, and then he starts his journey to his destination. While this method allows him to save on flights, it doesn't save him time.

A representative for Cocoran did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by BI outside regular hours.

• Barbara Corcoran says it's "disturbing" how young people are being locked out of the housing market.
• The "Shark Tank" investor pointed to first-time buyers getting older and losing out to cash buyers.
• Corcoran said Trump-fueled inflation and stubborn rates are risks, and she doesn't see a bubble.

High prices, steep mortgage rates, and fierce competition are locking young people out of becoming homeowners, Barbara Corcoran says.

The "Shark Tank" investor and real-estate tycoon pointed to "disturbing" data from the 2024 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers during a recent interview on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" on the Fox Business Network.

The founder of The Corcoran Group said the share of first-time buyers dropped from 32% last year to a record low of 24%. The percentage of cash buyers — who tend to be investors or second-home buyers — hit a record high of 26%. Plus, the median age of first-time buyers climbed from 35 to 38.

The report suggests that first-time buyers are increasingly being outbid by investors or people buying second or third homes who are paying in cash, and many are having to wait until they're nearly 40 to become homeowners.

All about that rate

The median sale price for existing homes rose 4% to $407,200 in October, marking the 16th straight month of year-over-year price gains, per the National Association of Realtors. Sales did rise 2.9% from a year earlier, the first year-over-year increase since the summer of 2021.

Corcoran said transactions had picked up because buyers were used to higher rates and "got tired of waiting" for them to dip. Yet she emphasized that a significant fall in rates would be "incredible" for home sales.

"Anything with a 5% in front of it is going to make this market go ballistic," she said.

Bankrate data shows the average 30-year mortgage rate soared from 3.2% at the end of 2021 to a two-decade high of 7.9% in October last year, but has since dropped to 6.9%.

President-elect Trump's plans to cut taxes and impose tariffs have stoked fears that price growth could accelerate, pushing rates higher. "Inflation is on everyone's mind and I think it's risky," Corcoran said.

She predicted mortgage rates would hover around 6% or go lower. Any rise "would slow down the market, it would slow down the whole economy, it would slow down all the support services for the housing market — it would be a terrible thing."

Corcoran also dismissed concerns that the housing market is overheated and headed for a slump. She cited the low percentage of home purchases made as investments, saying a surfeit of investors "creates a bubble big time."

"This is nothing like the last bubble," she said. "I don't see a bubble at all."