• Home prices have surged, raising required income for homeownership by 49.5% since 2020: Bankrate
• Two-thirds of states saw an increase in needed income of over 50%; Utah leads with an 89% rise.
• But some states, like Ohio, Alabama, and Missouri, are still more affordable.

Buying a home has gotten a lot more difficult since the pandemic.

With home prices surging around the country since 2020, the average household income needed to purchase a home at the median national price has risen by 49.5%, according to a new report from Bankrate.

About two-thirds of states have seen a surge in required income more than 50%. Utah comes in on top with an 89% increase in the last five years, the report said.

But on an absolute basis, some required household incomes to buy the average home are still fairly reasonable, well below the US average of $116,986 — which buys a $418,489 home.

Still, given the nationwide rise in the required income to buy a home, the report listed a few tips for breaking into the market, like improving your credit score to secure a lower mortgage rate; finding out about down-payment assistance programs; looking at cheaper options like condos; and simply waiting until you're in a better financial position.

Below are the 10 states with the lowest household incomes needed to buy the state's median-priced home, ranked in descending order, according to the Bankrate study. The increase in income required since 2020 is also included, as is the median home price and its monthly mortgage payment.

10. Alabama

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $77,262

5-year increase in salary needed: 49.4%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,471

Median home price, January 2025: $278,600

9. Louisiana

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $76,145

5-year increase in salary needed: 26.0%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,328

Median home price, January 2025: $251,500

8. Missouri

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $74,263

5-year increase in salary needed: 45.9%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,356

Median home price, January 2025: $256,900

7. Michigan

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $74,228

5-year increase in salary needed: 43.8%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,319

Median home price, January 2025: $249,800

6. Arkansas

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $73,330

5-year increase in salary needed: 57.2%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,351

Median home price, January 2025: $255,900

5. Indiana

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $72,342

5-year increase in salary needed: 65.3%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,363

Median home price, January 2025: $258,100

4. Mississippi

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $72,072

5-year increase in salary needed: 48.5%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,304

Median home price, January 2025: $246,900

3. Ohio

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $71,080

5-year increase in salary needed: 51.9%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,257

Median home price, January 2025: $238,000

2. Iowa

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $70,437

5-year increase in salary needed: 42.8%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,211

Median home price, January 2025: $229,400

1. West Virginia

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $64,179

5-year increase in salary needed: 54.3%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,335

Median home price, January 2025: $252,900

Buying a home is a high-stakes game, often with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line. Making a wrong decision can lead to foreclosure and bankruptcy; making the right decision can generate wealth that is passed down for generations.

When people are ready to settle down, they're confronted with all the usual dilemmas: whether to buy a home; where to buy a home; what kind of home to buy; and how much to spend. These highly emotional decisions are all more manageable using the lessons of behavioral economics, which I studied as an economist.

When I took a new tech job offer in 2017, it meant leaving San Diego for Seattle. As I set out to find a new home for myself, my husband, and my mom in my new city, I wanted to avoid getting caught up in the competitive pressure of beating out other buyers and making rash decisions that I might later regret. So I decided to divide my search into two phases. In the first, I would take my time getting to know the city and its various neighborhoods by renting a home. In the second, once I had a clear sense of my preferences, I would begin making offers on properties that met my criteria. By taking this approach, I hoped to avoid the pitfalls of hasty decision-making and make an intelligent, informed choice.

For about five months, I spent a great deal of time exploring the different neighborhoods and assessing their pros and cons. From historic homes dating back to the 19th century to midcentury modern homes from Seattle's post-World War II boom to modern new construction, there were plenty of options.

The most significant tradeoff to be made when choosing is location versus home size. I initially thought of a short commute and a large home as must-haves, but given my budget and the need to have space for three adults and three dogs, I had to sacrifice on the length of my commute. Many homebuyers make this same compromise. According to a Redfin survey, 89% of homebuyers would rather purchase a single-family home with a backyard than a unit in a triplex with a shorter commute.

Soon we focused our efforts on West Seattle, a neighborhood located on a peninsula across the sound from downtown. My commute to the office would take about 30 minutes each way by bus, where I could at least get some work done with the complimentary WiFi. This was a decent tradeoff, given that homes in West Seattle were about $100,000 less than homes closer to the downtown office.

Now in phase two, when I began viewing properties and making offers, I became hyperconscious of how my emotions might influence my decision-making. Common mistakes made by homebuyers include becoming too attached to a particular home, fixating on the list price instead of the market value, following the herd, and letting fatigue cloud judgment.

You must try to avoid falling in love too quickly with a home. Once you start picturing your future in a home, it can become challenging to walk away, and it can suck you into a fierce bidding war. Block out any and all thoughts about hosting holidays or your children playing in the backyard. Yes, it is a good idea to consider whether the home will suit you in the future, but if you become too attached to that future, you're working against yourself. People value a home more if they already feel like they own it.

Behavioral economists have a term for this: the endowment effect. The behavioral economist Jack Knetsch has found that people's willingness to sell an item they own was lower than their willingness to buy an item they did not own, even when the subjects knew ownership was assigned randomly. In one experiment, test subjects were given either a lottery ticket or cash. Most people opted to keep whatever form of compensation they had received first instead of trading it for the other option. For a variety of reasons, whether an aversion to feeling loss or a bias toward the status quo, people tend to get attached to the bird in their hand, even when there might be two in the bush.

List prices can also be misleading. In a hot market, sellers may advertise their homes for significantly less than what buyers are ready to pay in order to spark a bidding war. This amounts to a bait-and-switch.

As a buyer, don't take the bait. Don't anchor your expectations on the listed price. The anchoring effect refers to a person's tendency to focus on the first piece of information they hear while making decisions. In a famous lab experiment by the late Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, research subjects spun a wheel of fortune with numbers from 0 to 100. The participants were then asked to guess the share of African countries that were members of the UN. Participants whose spin landed on a lower number were more likely to guess a low number. Participants whose wheel spin landed on a high number were more likely to guess a high number. The number the needle of the wheel landed on was completely irrelevant, yet the research subjects still used it as an anchor for their guesses.

The list price of a home may contain some helpful information about what the seller believes its value is. But ultimately the value of the house is set by the market.

If you need to, take a break. Losing bidding war after bidding war — which happens a lot — fosters fatigue and impatience, which can lead you to give up too soon or to buy a home you later regret.

Behavioral economists have repeatedly found that the quality of decisions deteriorates when an individual is overburdened with too many options. A study published in Health Economics found that orthopedic surgeons made worse recommendations toward the end of their shifts. Doctors were less likely to recommend surgery for patients who would have benefited just as much from surgery as patients seen earlier in the surgeon's shift.

Also, avoid following the herd. If others are ready to bid high, you could be tempted to do the same and stretch your budget. Herding behavior, another behavioral economics term, can lead to bubbles in the housing market or the stock market and was one of the culprits for the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. The best way to avoid getting caught up in speculation bubbles is to not speculate in the first place and make offers appropriate only to your personal financial circumstances.

After spending a few weeks touring homes in the area, I came across a property that immediately caught my eye. It had everything my family was looking for. But there was one giant red flag: the home had been on the market for nearly a year without any offers.

Upon further inspection, I noticed that the house was located across the street from a strip mall and had a strange layout. Even though I liked the home, I wanted to avoid paying more than other buyers might think it was worth. So I kept looking.

When buying a home, you have no choice but to concern yourself with resale value. Life is unpredictable; there is always the chance you might not stay in the home long term, and you don't want to pay more than what you can resell it for.

There is tension in this advice: a homebuyer must avoid herding behavior by thinking for themself while simultaneously considering how other people might value homes in the future.

The way to walk the middle path is detached observation — recognize the behavior patterns of others without letting it unduly bias your decision-making.

About a month later, we found a home that seemed too good to be true. Ample space, close to public transit, even a view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. However, the home was 70 years old, so we would need to update the electrical, plumbing, and heating. Since we were renting elsewhere, we could delay moving to get this work done.

Things go wrong after you buy a home. Thinking that these problems won't end up costing you significant time and money is what behavioral economists call optimism bias: the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of favorable outcomes and underestimate the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes. The challenge, then, is to consider the risks and whether they are worth the reward.

As I prepared to make an offer to buy a home, I thought back to the hundreds of homeowners going through foreclosure that I interviewed while interning at the Boston Fed. They experienced bad luck on top of bad luck — deaths, divorces, medical emergencies, job loss, and a global recession. Any of those things could happen to me.

With all the repairs the house needed, I determined the maximum amount I could afford to pay was $950,000. I liked this particular home more than any other home on the market priced below $950,000, so I reasoned that this amount must be my value for the home. But I still had a nagging feeling that I was overextending myself and overpaying.

What if the roof sprang a leak? And what if, because I had already spent my savings repairing the plumbing, electrical, heating, and cooling, I didn't have any money left to repair the roof?

I could have kept going down the list of unlikely catastrophes. Instead, I focused on the unlikeliness of the scenario rather than the pain of the scenario. This helped me get out of my head and back to the task at hand. In economics, expected utility theory hypothesizes that individuals weigh uncertain outcomes according to their likelihood and the net benefit of each outcome. I shuddered at the thought of a bad scenario, like being laid off during a severe recession and housing-market downturn. However, according to expected utility theory, I should weigh that feeling against the likelihood of that scenario, which I reasoned to be a once-in-a-century event. In all likelihood, my job was safe, the economy was fine, and the value of homes would keep going up.

The home was listed at $840,000. I submitted my bid on the home for that amount. When you're deciding whether to bid above or below the asking price, look up how competitive the housing market is in the neighborhood and how the home compares to what else is on the market. If the market is cool, it's advisable to come in low. However, if the market is hot, the seller may completely ignore your offer if it's below the asking price.

Even though I offered $840,000, I was ready to go as high as $940,000. Later that day, my agent called me to deliver the good news: we won the home at list price. No one else even submitted a bid.

Daryl Fairweather is the author of "Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work" and the chief economist of Redfin.

This story is adapted from "Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work" by Daryl Fairweather, to be published by the University of Chicago Press on April 11, 2025. Copyright © 2025 by Daryl Rose Fairweather. Printed by arrangement with the University of Chicago Press.

• Real-estate investors can lower taxes with cost segregation and 179D studies.
• Cost segregation accelerates depreciation, offering significant tax deductions for investors.
• 179D studies can maximize energy-efficient deductions for commercial property owners.

If you own a rental, you can likely lower your taxable income by deducting expenses associated with managing the property.

Business Insider spoke to Kristel Espinosa, a CPA and partner at JLK Rosenberger with expertise in real estate, about tax strategies and deductions that real-estate investors should pay attention to.

Espinosa pointed to two that can help investors minimize taxes on their rental income.

1. Do a cost segregation study to accelerate the depreciation of your property

One major deduction worth strategizing around as a real-estate investor is depreciation, which is the loss of an asset's value.

Investors can claim the value of depreciation as a tax deduction for the entire expected life of the property, which the IRS has determined is 27.5 years for residential buildings and 39 years for commercial buildings. To calculate depreciation on a rental, you divide the value of the property (not including the value of the land) by 27.5 or 39, depending on the property type.

A cost segregation study can help an investor accelerate depreciation by considering all of a building's internal and external components, some of which may qualify for a shorter depreciable life.

"You can now take this huge depreciation deduction instead of having to wait the whole 39 years to get that depreciation," said Espinosa. "You can take a big chunk in those first couple of years and basically put yourself into a loss position because the deduction is so large, and not have to pay any tax — and that loss generally carries over. If you don't need all of the loss in the current year, that loss carries over into subsequent years, so those losses could shelter the rental income from this property for years to come."

A cost segregation study isn't free — it can cost $5,000 to $15,000 — and it can take up to two months, but it could be worth looking into. Espinosa said that it's saved some of her clients over $1 million in taxes.

"I feel like this is often a missed opportunity just because a lot of people don't know about it or maybe they just don't want to pay the fee," she said. "But somebody needs to do that analysis for them and say, 'Hey, this is the fee that you're paying for this cost seg study, but these are your tax savings, so it's up to you if you want to do this or not. Is it beneficial?' And 99% of the time it's going to be a yes."

2. Do a 179D study to maximize the energy deduction

The 179D deduction is for commercial building owners who have certain energy-efficient components.

"A lot of these commercial buildings now, especially in California, are required to be energy efficient to a certain standard," said Espinosa, who is based in Irvine. "But our clients like to go above and beyond that sometimes and put in other energy-efficient structural components within their commercial buildings."

She recommends a 179D study for that type of client. It works similarly to the cost segregation study, in which you hire a specialist to analyze your building and its components.

She said one of her firm's clients recently did a 179D study and "found an easy $400,000 deduction."

"So, it's not a depreciation deduction, but it is a deduction that they're rightfully able to take. It's a federal-only deduction — California does not conform — but still, it saves them dollars, so they may want to look into that a little bit more if the property is an energy-efficient type of property."

The tax savings become more significant if you are a real-estate professional

If you qualify as a "real-estate professional," you could reduce your overall tax liability even more. This status allows you to offset rental against other income.

"Generally, if you're just a regular person like me who has a job as an accountant and is investing in real estate on the side, then the losses that I'm talking about offset the rental income from that property — but I can't take that loss from that rental and offset it with my W-2 income," explained Espinosa.

That's because they're two unrelated activities. However, if she was considered a real estate professional, "it all becomes one big activity," she said. "Those big losses from that cost segregation now can offset the commissions that you earn as a real estate agent or whatever other income you earn in real estate because now it's no longer passive in nature."

Being a real-estate agent automatically deems you a professional, but if you don't have that license, you may qualify if you meet certain requirements, including spending more than 750 hours on real-estate activities.

"I feel like this is an often abused area," noted Espinosa. "You can have other jobs but you just have to be able to show that to the IRS if ever audited that the real-estate business really is your main thing."

She recommends documenting everything, from how you spend your working hours to the mileage you drove to visit properties, even if you aren't a real estate professional: "If you're holding real estate and renting it out and taking deductions on it, you should always document everything and always track your expenses."

If you meet the requirements, "Then, of course, designate yourself as a real-estate professional," she said. "It obviously has huge benefits. But then also be aware that this is a highly scrutinized area by the IRS too, so that's why you want to have your documentation in place."

Cambridge, Massachusetts, may seem like an unlikely site for a YIMBY revolution.

The historic Boston suburb is home to both Harvard University and a bevy of affluent homeowners opposed to any new development. The city even features prominently in the book "Neighborhood Defenders," a seminal work about anti-building, not-in-my-backyarders. Despite all that, the city recently passed a series of laws that could pave the way for a cascade of new housing construction.

Cambridge could certainly use the new units. Data from Zillow shows the city's average rent is $3,400 a month — slightly higher than San Francisco's estimated average rent of $3,200. Homelessness in Cambridge has also been on the rise, particularly since the pandemic. In an attempt to ease this pressure, pro-housing groups that fall under the YIMBY umbrella (short for "yes in my backyard") — particularly the local group A Better Cambridge and the statewide organization Abundant Housing Massachusetts — have been trying to get more homes built in Cambridge for years.

In recent years, that work has started to bear fruit: The city enacted a 100% affordable housing overlay in 2020, which allows developers of below-market-rate apartment complexes to build more densely than would be permitted under base zoning. Three years later, Cambridge rezoned its Central Square neighborhood, allowing apartment buildings to rise up to 18 stories high.

But the latest measure is perhaps the most radical, and most promising. A measure passed in February will legalize the production of four-story apartment buildings across the entire city, with some larger lots zoned for up to six stories. Sure, these newly possible buildings aren't quite as dramatic as an 18-story tower, but this latest change is by far Cambridge's most ambitious. Unlike the geographically confined Central Square upzoning, the newest pro-housing ordinance has the potential to remake the entire city. The city's planning staff estimate that the new law may increase Cambridge's housing development capacity over the next 15 years from 350 units to 3,590 — a more than tenfold increase.

The likelihood that some neighborhoods will become denser has provoked the usual opposition from local homeowners. But viewed from another angle, this densification could make the city a more vibrant and beautiful place to live. There's a reason the Cambridge city councilmember Burhan Azeem has called the city's new plan "Paris-style zoning." As it turns out, Paris is a good model for midsize American cities to follow. By allowing more European-style construction, places like Cambridge can both lower housing costs and look good doing it.

Alongside the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, one of Paris' most iconic architectural hallmarks may be its most ubiquitous: the Haussmann-style building. Georges-Eugène Haussmann (better known as Baron Haussmann) was the famed urban planner who, under Emperor Napoleon III, redesigned central Paris in the mid-19th century. Paris became a city of wide boulevards and midrise apartment complexes with distinctive limestone facades — the aforementioned Haussmann buildings. Thanks in no small part to the prevalence of these structures, Paris has achieved a density higher than any other major city in Europe or the United States — although the city of lights still struggles to keep up with demand for housing.

While Haussmann buildings are specific to central Paris, plenty of other European cities have equivalent structures: four- to six-story apartment blocks with no buffer area between the front door and the sidewalk. Unlike the boxy, cheap-looking American five-over-one apartment building that has come to dominate much of our development — and which many people regard as an eyesore — Euro-style apartments generally contribute to the beauty and charm of dense, walkable tourist destinations like Stockholm and Rome. Plus, they're more efficient: thanks to European building codes and zoning rules, European-style apartment buildings can be built for less, on smaller lots, and with more family-friendly apartments in the interior.

"Sure," you might say, "but what's good for Paris, Stockholm, and Rome won't work in an American context." That's a common refrain from skeptics — citing cultural differences, the need for abundant parking, or their own gut instincts — when YIMBYs propose allowing more European-style zoning in the United States. But these assumptions are incorrect for two reasons.

First, upzoning cities like Cambridge is not the same thing as requiring them to build up to Parisian density. If you own a single-family home in Cambridge, and your lot has been upzoned to allow for the construction of a four-story building, you remain at liberty to keep your single-family home. If you want to redevelop the property into a multifamily building, that's great; if you decide to sell your home to a developer who will replace it with an apartment complex, that's great, too. But nobody is compelling you to do either of those things if you like your existing home.

Second, Cambridge — like many other older cities in New England and the mid-Atlantic region — already has a fair number of dense apartment buildings and townhomes. Rather than destroying the culture or character of these cities, building more Parisian-style housing would signal a return to the pre-single-family era. Many of Cambridge's mid-rise apartment buildings were constructed before single-family zoning became ubiquitous in the United States in the early 20th century. And the ones that have survived are now highly coveted as luxury homes and architectural treasures; yet, for decades, it has been effectively illegal to build more of them. As Azeem wrote on X, Cambridge's previous, single-family-focused zoning laws meant that "85%+ of the existing housing" in the city would be illegal to build. In other words, Cambridge's upzoning may actually help to preserve the city's architectural heritage and New England character. At the same time, it is a model for how other cities can upzone in a manner that actually eases housing costs.

While the patchwork nature of American land-use policy can slow progress in important ways, it can also be an engine for experimentation and friendly, productive competition. Pro-housing activists in cities across the country — in places like Minneapolis, Austin, and Sacramento — and far beyond, in the case of Auckland, New Zealand, have inspired each another, shared insights and tactics, and provided a push to see who can push through the most ambitious land-use overhauls. These pushes can even get a little cheeky: YIMBY advocates in Montana sold zoning changes by urging conservative lawmakers to move away from "California-style zoning." While it will take some years to assess the full impact of these revisions, the early data from places like Auckland is very promising.

Some changes make a bigger impact than others. One lesson from the past few years of YIMBY experimentation is that smaller tweaks to local zoning codes may yield negligible results; ambition is vastly superior to cautious incrementalism. Take Minneapolis, one of the recent YIMBY success stories. Citywide, the production of more housing has helped to keep rents and home prices in check, but as the housing researcher Zakary Yudhisthu has found, there's more going on underneath the hood. The parts of Minneapolis that moved from single-family to duplex or triplex zoning have seen little housing growth, while the corridors that allow for denser construction have seen more permit applications. In other words, going just a few steps further is how you get real results.

But to truly unlock housing production at the necessary scale, high-cost cities cannot stop at upzoning. They also need to reshape permitting rules and other onerous building requirements, such as off-street parking mandates. True European-style zoning would allow for mid-rise apartment buildings with no off-street parking and a single central staircase. (Five-over-ones exist in part because most American cities require multiple staircases in any apartment building over a certain height.)

So while other expensive cities should take inspiration from Cambridge, they should also see if they can go even further. There's still plenty of room for another jurisdiction to take the lead in the race to be America's YIMBY-est city. Any takers?

Ned Resnikoff is an urban policy consultant and writer. He is a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and is currently working on a book about cities with an expected publication date of Fall 2026.

• In the early 2000s, artist Michael Townsend spotted an unused corridor inside a Rhode Island mall.
• Townsend and other artist friends moved into the space as a protest of the city's gentrification.
• Four years later, security guards discovered the hideout, which is the subject of a new documentary.

In the early 2000s, Adriana Valdez Young heard a radio commercial for the brand-new Providence Place mall, a then-groundbreaking development built to draw luxury shoppers to Rhode Island's capital.

In the ad, a woman breathlessly fawned over the shopping center, exclaiming she wished she could live there since it had everything she could ever need.

"I just had this idea: Oh, we should live in the mall," Valdez Young, an artist, said in a new documentary.

That idea grew into a four-year adventure spearheaded by Valdez Young and her then-husband Michael Townsend, also an artist. Slowly, their group of friends moved cinder blocks, a sofa, a dining table, rugs, and a PlayStation console into a hidden hallway deep within the mall's maze-like system of underground corridors and emergency exits.

The hideaway — and the art the group created there over four years — is documented in director Jeremy Workman's latest film, "Secret Mall Apartment," now screening in Providence and New York City. The film will have a wider release in Los Angeles and additional cities in April.

Local artists saw the secret apartment as a protest against a changing city

In the 1980s and 1990s, city officials were determined to revitalize Providence's downtown to make it a destination, and not just a stop on the way to other major cities like New York City and Boston.

The Providence Place mall was designed to be an economic engine, with higher-end department stores like Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom and its own movie theater.

When the mall finally opened in 1999, it prompted real-estate developers to reconsider building other new projects in surrounding areas. One target was the nearby abandoned factory known as Fort Thunder, which served as a performance space, playhouse, and artists' lofts.

Fort Thunder was demolished to make way for a planned strip mall and grocery store, which angered members of the creative community who felt steamrolled by the process.

"There was no effort to bring people along," Valdez Young said in the documentary.

The apartment was peaceful and felt like a television set

Providence Place Mall has a unique design. With a river cutting through the center and rounded edges to accommodate nearby interstate I-95, its odd floor plan created the perfect hidden alcove.

"The building has a bunch of weird interesting shapes. The space we discovered was really a negative space in between two planes of the building," Colin Bliss, one of the artists who helped build the apartment, said in the film.

The group of friends accessed the secret apartment in two ways. First, they could shimmy between open spaces within a stairwell in the parking garage.

Second, they could get to their hideout from inside the mall through a series of emergency exits and hidden hallways. Footage in the film shows the group letting the exit alarms blare until they eventually turn off while sneaking items into the space.

Over the years, the group bought an antique china cabinet, a sectional sofa, a glass-top dining table, and other domestic wares from the Salvation Army and snuck them into Providence Place. Sometimes they would make a purchase from the food court so they would have a receipt in case they were stopped.

The apartment even had its own waffle maker.

"It made you feel really relaxed," Valdez Young said in the documentary. "It's a little prison-like, because there's this cement wall and no natural light, and you could be discovered at any moment. There was this weird sense of freedom."

Mall security guards eventually foiled the artists

The group mostly used the apartment as a meeting space to brainstorm and plan various art projects, including custom installations in children's hospitals and a New York City portrait project honoring 9/11 victims.

They may have slept overnight there, but many of the artists said in the film that they also had other homes at the time.

After four years, the group started to suspect mall staff were onto them. Various items from the apartment, like photo albums and the Playstation console, went missing.

The group believed security guards had found the apartment and were using it as their own hangout when the artists weren't around. They decided to only visit the apartment after hours to avoid getting caught.

One day, Townsend broke the rule because he wanted to show the hideaway to a friend who was visiting from out of town. During their visit, security broke in and caught Townsend and his friend. He was banned from the mall for life and the apartment was permanently sealed.

The ban, however, has apparently been lifted. Townsend recently attended screenings of the "Secret Mall Apartment" documentary at Providence Place itself, according to local newspaper The Providence Journal.

• Champion boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. said he purchased a 62-building Manhattan apartment portfolio.
• But there is no evidence there has been a sale.
• The deal is one of several claims Mayweather has made about his real estate that appear exaggerated.

Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. earned his nickname by reaping more than a billion dollars during an illustrious boxing career and spending big on designer clothing, palatial homes, and ultra-exotic sportscars.

More recently, the 48-year-old retired champion has sought to refashion himself as a budding business mogul, with interests in liquor, nutritional supplements, apparel, and, increasingly, commercial real estate.

In late February, Mayweather announced his biggest single deal to date, the purchase of a sprawling portfolio of 62 rental apartment buildings in upper Manhattan.

"All the buildings belong to me, I don't have no partners," Mayweather proclaimed in a video posted on his Instagram account that also included a slideshow of him touring some of the buildings. "And all the retail down below, on my buildings, all belong to me. Guess what? You can do the same. It's all about making power moves."

Mayweather posted that his real estate investment firm, Vada Properties, paid $402 million for the properties.

Yet the boxer's bold claims do not appear to match reality. A month after Mayweather's announcement, none of the buildings have changed hands, according to New York City property records, which are usually updated within days of a sale, several experts said. A deal to sell the properties outright to Mayweather does not seem imminent.

The NYC Housing Partnership, a non-profit group that is a partner in a majority of the properties to help them qualify for tax breaks and grants and preserve the affordability of the portfolio's apartments, said through a spokesman that it has not been alerted of a pending sale.

"The Housing Partnership has not been advised of any sale, pending sale, or change in ownership," the spokesman said. "Generally, the partnership would be advised of the transfer and would be party to the transfer. That has not occurred."

A person directly involved in the deal with Mayweather said that Mayweather had purchased a small minority ownership interest in the portfolio, with options to expand that stake over time or acquire the buildings in their entirety. It is not clear if Mayweather will exercise those options. The person asked to remain anonymous to speak about a confidential arrangement with Mayweather.

"Floyd Mayweather continues to be a reliable partner and a great ambassador for affordable housing," a spokesman for Black Spruce Management, the real estate company that owns the majority of the buildings in the portfolio, said in a statement. "To date, Mayweather has performed on all of his obligations."

Meyer Orbach, the chief executive of the Orbach Group, a firm that owns the remaining handful of buildings in the portfolio, according to public records, did not respond to multiple calls and emails.

Asked about acquisition, Ayal Frist, the CEO of Vada Properties, Mayweather's property firm, patched in a man during a telephone call who introduced himself as James McNair, an executive involved in Mayweather's business ventures.

The man's voice, however, was starkly different from existing recordings of McNair.

The person insisted that Mayweather had acquired the portfolio, but declined to discuss details of the transaction on the record. He said that Mayweather had lived in affordable housing as a child and had been drawn to the properties, in part, because they include rent-regulated apartments.

"He felt that it's so cool because: I give back to the community and I make money," the person said. "And once that clicked in his head, he is like, I want to buy it all."

McNair did not respond to calls and text messages.

Lawyers for Mayweather did not respond to requests for comment.

From boxing to New York City skyscrapers

The deal is one of several large real estate investments that Mayweather has touted.

A chance encounter more than a decade ago appears to have helped Mayweather make some high-placed connections in commercial real estate.

At a Knicks game, Mayweather happened to sit next to Jeff Sutton, a major owner of Manhattan retail space, and Andrew Mathias, who was then a senior executive at the large commercial landlord SL Green. The men hit it off and developed a friendship, according to two people who were present at that introduction. Both wound up counseling Mayweather on real estate investments.

In a podcast interview in 2022, Mayweather said that, during his boxing career, with the help of his former manager Al Haymon and "my Jewish friends and my white friends," he initially invested $5 million in commercial real estate and began to net $50,000 a month in proceeds — an impressive 12% return on his money.

He suggested during that interview that he held a stake in One Vanderbilt, a 1,400-foot-tall Manhattan office tower controlled by SL Green.

"I'm a part of that project," Mayweather said, adding incorrectly that the skyscraper is "the tallest building in New York City."

The man who spoke to Business Insider claiming to be James McNair said that Mayweather had invested $88 million into roughly 20 loans that SL Green had originated and that were tied to commercial properties in the city. He said the company lent the money out as mezzanine debt, a type of higher interest rate loan sometimes used in real estate investments.

"It was a nice opportunity for them to make money for Floyd, who they have a great deal of respect for," the person said. "And at the same time, it was also a good marketing opportunity for SL Green to be associated with him."

Alexendra Zarchy, a spokeswoman for SL Green, said in an email: "We don't comment on questions regarding individual investors."

SL Green hasn't disclosed investments with Mayweather in public filings. The company, which is public, typically announces large deals involving the sale of ownership stakes in its assets.

During an investor call in December 2014, Marc Holliday, SL Green's CEO, introduced Mayweather as "somebody who's been a big fan of the company, probably own some shares," according to a transcript of the call by AlphaSense.

"You're the right team, SL Green," Mayweather responded.

Mayweather also recently claimed to have invested an undisclosed sum into 601W Companies, an owner of office assets, according to a report. A call to a senior 601W executive was not returned.

He announced last year that he had purchased a stake in a portfolio of luxury rental apartments owned by Black Spruce Management and the Orbach Group — the owners of the uptown Manhattan portfolio.

On his property website, Mayweather lists 1196 Avenue of the Americas among his holdings. Ownership of the building, a three story property in Manhattan's Diamond District that is filled with retail tenants in the jewelry business, also has not been sold, according to property records.

"That hasn't closed yet," the man who claimed to be McNair said.

A close associate with a checkered past

Mayweather has credited another executive — one with a less reputable past — with propelling his business career.

"A close friend of mine, Jona Rechnitz, a great guy, great person, helped me a lot," Mayweather said during a recent interview on Fox News to promote a new sports supplement line.

Rechnitz pleaded guilty and served as a government witness in a federal criminal corruption case against Norman Seabrook, then the head of the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, a union that represents jail guards in New York City.

Rechnitz admitted to delivering a bribe to Seabrook, who then placed $20 million in correction officers' pension money he controlled into a hedge fund managed by a friend of Rechnitz's. Nineteen million dollars in funds were later lost in the investment. Rechnitz was ordered in federal court to pay restitution to the union and has given back about $1.2 million dollars, according to his attorney. Seabrook was convicted in 2019 and sentenced to 58 months in prison. He served less than two years before being released.

Rechnitz's sentencing was vacated in 2023 when an appeals court found that the judge in the case had had a conflict of interest. He is due to be resentenced in June.

• A cruise ship is being transformed into luxury residences at sea.
• The Navigator, originally built in 1999, will undergo a multimillion-dollar renovation.
• Condos on the ship will cost upward of $750,000, and residents will have access to butlers.

A two-decades-old cruise ship is undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation to become a floating residential community for the ultrawealthy.

Regent Seven Sea Cruises' Navigator is set to become the first ship of the Crescent Seas fleet. Crescent Seas announced in an Instagram post that the ship is scheduled to set sail on December 31, 2026, following a $70 million renovation.

Originally constructed in 1999, the Navigator underwent a major refurbishment in 2016. In its current form, it has eight decks, 248 suites, a pool, and a putting green.

After the refurbishment, it will feature 210 private residences, offering buyers the chance to purchase homes and live on board as it travels the globe.

Russell Galbut, the cofounder of real estate development firm Crescent Heights, which launched Crescent Seas, told Bloomberg that the price of homes on the ship will range from $750,000 to $8 million.

He said owners will pay maintenance fees starting at $210,000 a year, which will cover butler service, meals, housekeeping, and access to Starlink internet.

Sales of the luxury residences are set to begin on April 9 this year.

A spokesperson for Regent confirmed in an email to Business Insider that the Seven Seas Navigator will leave its fleet on October 14, 2026, as part of the terms of a new long-term agreement with Crescent Seas.

The ship's final voyage under Regent is scheduled to depart on October 2 next year, from Turkey to Egypt.

They added that guests whose trips are canceled due to the agreement will receive a full refund.

Galbut told Bloomberg that Crescent Seas is negotiating with three other ships and is in talks to commission a new vessel as part of long-term plans to develop more options for residential living at sea.

The company's website said the design firms MAWD, Lissoni & Partners, and Journey will lead the Navigator's redesign.

Luxury residential cruise ships already exist, including the Villa Vie Residences, where villas on board start at $129,999, and The World, where condos cost between $2 million and $15 million each.

The World is equipped with a large spa, a tennis court, and personalized concierge services.

Peter Antonucci, who lived on The World for six years, told BI last year that it is like the "Four Seasons on Steroids."

• My husband and I decided to relocate from Melbourne to Bright, Australia, three years ago.
• We own our home in Melbourne and decided not to sell it.
• Renting it out to tenants and finding a rental in Bright offers us flexibility.

Three years ago, my family moved from Melbourne to Bright, Australia. We'd lived in Melbourne for eight years and were ready for a change.

One night in October 2021, my husband put an idea on the table. He asked if I wanted to turn over a new leaf and move to Bright, where his family was based. We'd already vacationed there plenty of times, and I'd enjoyed it, so I said, "Sure, let's do it." Soon, we were planning our escape from Melbourne.

We decided not to sell our home in Melbourne when we moved

We'd been living in the home we'd bought together for four years, and though we were ready to leave Melbourne, I had reservations about selling. We also didn't want to buy in Bright because I didn't know whether I'd enjoy living in such a small town. I suggested we spend a year there and then reassess after that.

The first major hurdle we faced was finding a place to live. Though small, Bright is a popular tourist destination known for its wineries, hiking, and gold rush history. It's surrounded by beautiful mountains and is a short drive from Mount Hotham, a popular ski resort. Rental properties in the area are in short supply, but we were lucky enough to find accommodation at a friend's place while they were overseas for the year. We relocated at the end of January 2022 and rented out our home in Melbourne to tenants.

Our family quickly fell in love with the slower pace of country life. Later that year, in August, we welcomed our third child to the family.

Renting in Bright means we have more flexibility

As a growing family, we needed our own space, so in January 2023, we moved into a simple three-bedroom house conveniently close to town. Then, last October, we found our current rental home — a beautiful three-bedroom, two-bath property in a green, family-friendly part of Bright.

My favorite thing about the property is the big back garden. Birds love it, too, and pink galahs and crimson rosellas visit every day. There are three small vegetable plots where we grow tomatoes and strawberries, and my children spend hours outdoors in nature.

Financially, renting where we want to live and owning a property elsewhere has been a good decision. Our rent each week is less than our weekly mortgage repayment (which is pretty much covered by the tenants), so we are essentially saving money.

Renting also means we can move freely and live where we can't afford to buy. Bright is much more expensive than Melbourne, and the median house price is over $1 million. We get to live here while paying off our mortgage in Melbourne, and that's a big drawcard.

We might not rent forever, but it works for us for now

Sometimes, my husband feels guilty about the kids not having a "proper" family home. They've never owned a pet because it's easier to get a rental property without one, and that makes me sad. Our son is 9 years old, and he's lived in six different houses, which is not ideal. But I try to think of it as a positive — it certainly keeps life interesting!

While my husband and I don't want to rent forever, for the time being, it's working well for us. When the market in Melbourne picks up, we may decide to sell our property there and buy one in Bright. But renting has definitely given us options.

• There are a variety of ways to invest in real estate beyond buying rentals.
• Investors are using private money lending, build-to-rent, and syndication to build wealth.
• Private money lending and syndication are relatively hands-off while offering good returns.

One of the most straightforward ways to get into real estate is to buy and hold a rental. Another popular strategy is flipping properties.

However, there are multiple ways to invest in real estate.

Business Insider has spoken with investors who are using less traditional strategies to hit financial independence. Here are three.

1. Private money lending. If you want to participate in the real estate space without actually buying and managing properties, one option is lending capital to other investors.

It's one strategy that financially independent couple Carl and Mindy Jensen are using to continue to grow their net worth. Having spent years buying property and doing time-consuming "live-in flips," they appreciate how passive lending can be.

The way it works is they'll lend other real-estate investors' money to rehab a house, for example, and earn interest on the loan. The terms are determined by the lender and borrower and vary from deal to deal. The Jensens said that they're earning between 10 and 12% from lending.

"The private lending generates such a nice return that it's difficult to be like, 'No, we don't want to have the easy money. Let's go do another live-in flip,'" Mindy told BI.

2. Build-to-rent. Brannon Potts likes the idea of owning rentals but has found it challenging to make the numbers work in his area: "The resale market is a little bit harder to pencil out and work financially."

His solution is to build his rentals. He admitted that the strategy is "a little more niche," and time-consuming. He's designing the layout and working with a builder to bring it to life — a process that can take up to nine months for a multi-family property. "But I'm seeing a lot more financial reward from it at this moment than doing the resale side."

As of March 2025, Potts has 10 completed doors and said he's averaging $330 a month per door. That's about $40,000 a year of relatively passive income, as his properties are new builds and don't require much maintenance or attention. He expects to hit financial independence once he gets to 20 doors, which he plans to do in the next five years and before turning 60.

He's earning more than just financial reward.

"I love building — to be able to put my fingerprint on a property," he said. "I really wanted to be proud of what we did so that our tenants got something wonderful that they could live in and hopefully take better care of it because it's just a little bit nicer than the ordinary."

3. Real-estate syndication. With real-estate syndication deals, a group of investors pools their capital to purchase a single property managed by the syndicator.

New England-based investor and self-made millionaire Tess Waresmith owns rentals, but she started investing in syndications in 2023 and says the strategy comes with unique advantages: It opens the door to bigger investment opportunities and is much more passive than managing rentals.

"I check out the deal and make sure it's something that feels good to me, and then when I invest the money, I'm hands-off," she said. "I'm not involved in the day-to-day decision-making of the property. But as an investor, I get to benefit from investing in the larger unit properties."

The Jensens, who are in two syndication deals, also appreciate the hands-off nature, but it can be difficult to predict your returns.

"The people running these syndications will tell you they're expecting numbers, and it's infrequently accurate," said Carl. Keep in mind that the syndicator is "probably using their best, sunny-day scenarios."

That said, "every syndication we've had has actually outperformed the original numbers."

• My wife and I moved from Florida to Medellín, Colombia, where we could afford a life of luxury.
• I had a private chef, a cleaner, and a personal trainer; I also had great healthcare.
• Now that we are back in the US, I can't justify the costs anymore.

I was born, raised, and spent most of my life in Milwaukee. I married and had three children with my first wife there.

After vacationing in Maui, Hawaii, in my 30s, my wife and I decided to move there in 2014. We fell in love with the island and its slow pace of life. I stayed for two years but ended up getting divorced; I moved back home to the mainland.

In 2018, I started dating a friend, Cindy, who I would marry. We dated long-distance at first because she lived in Florida. After all three of my children graduated from high school, I moved to Florida to be with her. My kids liked visiting their dad in a warm climate.

Eventually, Cindy and I decided to sell everything and travel full-time, but we quickly got sick of traveling to a new country every month. That's when we decided to settle down once more in Colombia.

I decided we should move to Medellín, Colombia

Medellín is a popular destination for expats and digital nomads. I enjoyed my previous visits to Medellín. I knew my wife and I could have a good quality of life there.

I knew Colombia has great healthcare and a lower cost of living than the US, so I decided to make it our home to recover from constant travel.

I applied for and received a two-year student visa to study Spanish. Cindy was still traveling between Colombia and visiting family in the US, so she had a tourist visa.

We got to Medellín in June 2022 and got to work on setting up our lives.

I lived in the best part of Medellín, the Golden Mile in Poblado, and optimized my life. The Golden Mile is a great area because it's walkable to everything one needs. I secured a beautiful two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in a fancy building in Poblado.

Two malls, with many restaurants, were within a 10-minute walking distance. American brands such as Starbucks are also nearby. My language school was also located there.

I lived a life of luxury for less in Colombia

I hired a cook, cleaner, and personal trainer to come to the apartment daily. These professionals freed up my time to focus on building my business and getting healthier.

I had great healthcare in Colombia and used it frequently with no copays. While there, I had some issues related to a vasectomy and needed to go to the hospital. The stay, procedure, and doctor's visit didn't cost me anything out of pocket.

I also used Rappi — a cross between Uber Eats, Amazon, and an errand service — almost daily. You can order food, get medicine from the pharmacy, have groceries delivered, have Rappi run errands for you, and even get cash delivered. It's an all-in-one app that made me never want to leave my apartment.

In Colombia, I had all the comforts of a wealthy life without the high costs, and I didn't have to hustle to earn those comforts.

My wife and I moved back to Florida in 2024 to be near our grandkids

After two years in Colombia, my wife and I returned to the US for our families. We are back to paying a large amount for rent, so I can't afford any of the comforts I could before. I can't imagine how much it would cost to hire professionals.

We're in the process of leaving the country for good because I can't justify living in the US anymore. I can't keep lying to myself about paying the always-increasing cost of living, and I'm afraid a medical emergency while in the US will bankrupt us.

Life abroad offers us a better quality of life and saves us money. We can save, invest, and work toward our goal of financial freedom without sacrificing our quality of life.

• A small Nebraska city with less than 900 residents has unveiled an incentive for newcomers.
• Pawnee City is offering $50,000 in down payment assistance to qualified new residents.
• Officials hope that the payments to help people buy newly built homes spark a "rural renaissance."

Fans of "Parks and Recreation" can finally live out their dreams of living in Pawnee — sort of.

Pawnee City, Nebraska, which is about 90 minutes south of Lincoln, Nebraska, and two hours north of Kansa City, Missouri, is offering $50,000 to new residents who qualify.

Between March 14, when the program was announced, and March 27, 115 people have applied, Pawnee City Chamber of Commerce official Aaron Sawyer told Business Insider.

The city's plan, dubbed Vision 2030, starts with a commitment to build 25 new single-family homes on currently empty lots. Plans on the Vision 2030 website show ranch-style homes with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, two-car garages, and spacious backyards priced at $325,000. (The average home value in Pawnee City is $102,705, according to Zillow.)

The program's $50,000 payouts will go toward down payment assistance for buyers of the new houses.

Applications are open to families, single professionals, or retirees. Qualified homebuyers must make less than certain income caps, which range from $69,450 for a one-person household to $115,100 for a six-person household.

Interested homebuyers must complete an application form that asks for their current employers, monthly incomes, and household sizes.

In November 2024, workers broke ground on the first home, which is expected to be ready for move-in by this summer, according to the Vision 2030 website.

Remote work can be a source of tension between employers and their workers, with Amazon and J.P. Morgan calling employees back to the office five days a week five years after their initial COVID-19 shutdowns. But for those who still have the flexibility, the opportunity to move somewhere with a financial incentive can be enticing in today's expensive housing market, where older homes may cost just as much as new builds.

Pawnee City is dreaming of a 'rural renaissance'

The down-payment assistance initiative is part of Pawnee City's effort to spark a "rural renaissance" that could rejuvenate the town, according to the Vision 2030 website.

Its population has dwindled. Pawnee City has 865 residents, according to the most recent data available from the US Census.The city has experienced a 50-year decline from a population high of 1,280 residents, according to the civic group Pawnee Bold.

For such a small place, Pawnee City has still produced several notable figures, including the first governor of Nebraska, David Butler; vintage Hollywood star Irish McCalla; and famous comedian Larry the Cable Guy.

"It's a great place to grow up and raise kids," said Sawyer, who has ties to the city through his grandparents. Pawnee City has its own school, hospital, two parks, and a brand-new amphitheater that just opened last year, he added, which is notable for a town of its size.

This summer's amphitheater programming will include a polka band, a rock concert, and a screening of "Cars" that features a visit from the hometown hero himself: Larry the Cable Guy.

• Lumon, the sinister corporation at the heart of the Apple TV+ series "Severance," isn't real.
• But the somewhat menacing building that Lumon operates from is — and it's just 40 miles outside NYC.
• In real life, it's Bell Works, the former home of Bell Labs and now a "metroburb."

Be honest: Have you ever fired up Apple TV+ to watch an episode of "Severance," and thought to yourself that, while Lumon Industries might be an evil mega-corporation/cult that kills innocent goats and kidnaps people, they sure do have excellent taste in office design?

If you're anything like me, the answer is yes. So when I found out that Lumon's headquarters, which is seen multiple times throughout both seasons of Apple's hit series, is just 40 miles from New York City in Holmdel, New Jersey, I knew I had to pay a visit.

The real Lumon is actually the Bell Works "metroburb," the former headquarters of telecommunications company Bell Labs. Since Bell Labs vacated the campus in 2006, it's been redesigned as a mixed-use office building, but there's so much more going on at Bell Works besides offices. It's actually more of what some folks have started calling a "third place."

Here's what it's like to spend a day at the real-life Lumon.

"Severance" films across New York and New Jersey, but the series' most iconic location is the Bell Works building that serves as Lumon's home base.

"Severance" debuted on Apple TV+ in February 2022 to instant critical acclaim.

If you've somehow missed it, here's the gist: The show takes place in a universe where a shady mega-corporation, Lumon Industries, has pioneered a process they called the severance procedure, which entails getting a chip planted into your brain that effectively splits your consciousness.

It means that you have one personality, an "innie," that only comes alive when you're at the office and has no memory of the outside world or who you are. Meanwhile, the other half of you, your "outie," doesn't remember anything about work. All you know is that you got to work, clocked in, and then (seemingly) clocked right back out at the end of the day.

It's a clever satire of what it's like to be in a corporate environment today — more than ever, large companies are discussing the "work-life balance" — in addition to a thought-provoking look at what makes a person who they are.

The Bell Works complex, built in 1962, is located in Holmdel, New Jersey.

Bell Works was completed in 1962 and was the home of the iconic telecommunications company Bell Labs. The site was first home to a research site for Bell Telephone Laboratories and was where scientist Karl Guthe Jansky invented radio astronomy.

The complex was designed by Eero Saarinen, a Finnish architect who was behind iconic structures such as the TWA Hotel at JFK International Airport in New York City, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, and the passenger terminal at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC.

At its peak, over 6,000 engineers worked at the 2 million-square-foot building, but when Bell Labs was acquired by telecommunications equipment company Lucent (and then Alcatel-Lucent), there was less need for such a large complex, and it was put up for sale in 2006.

It sat dormant for seven years until the property was purchased by Inspired by Somerset Development for $27 million in 2013. Since then, it's become a mixed-use facility that has been dubbed a "metroburb" by its landlord, Ralph Zucker.

In addition to being a functioning office campus, it's essentially a bustling suburb in one building.

According to Business Insider's Alex Nicoll, the office and retail space inside Bell Works was 95% leased in 2023, up from the pre-pandemic figure of 75%. In 2024, that rose to 99%, per New Jersey Business Magazine.

What's the appeal? For one thing: the convenience. Imagine going to the office and being able to drop off your kid at pre-school and your dog at the groomer, squeeze in a quick game of basketball, get a tasty lunch, check out a library book, and take a pilates class all in one place.

It's also a popular filming location — besides "Severance," other shows like "The Crowded Room" and "Law and Order" have shot there.

In "The Crowded Room," another Apple TV+ series, Bell Works doubled as a bustling airport.

After the devastation of the season two finale of "Severance" — and the anxiety of another three-year wait between seasons — I decided to visit.

Season one ended in April 2022 on a jaw-dropping cliffhanger, and then the show didn't return until January 2025.

Season two wrapped in March, with an equally tantalizing cliffhanger. Hopefully, we won't have to wait until 2028 to see how it's resolved — thankfully, at least, the show has officially been renewed.

On an appropriately gloomy day, I headed to Holmdel — or should I say Kier?

"Severance" takes place in a fictional place named Kier, PE.

It seems to be stuck in a perpetual winter, so it wouldn't have been right for me to visit on a sunny day.

Bell Works was plopped in the middle of a well-to-do NJ suburb. According to the 2023 census, the median income was $172,566.

The census also estimated that the population of Holmdel in 2023 was 17,402.

As I exited the highway for the campus, signs advertised things to do at Bell Works.

The signs advertised events, classes, and amenities at Bell Works.

Then, all of a sudden, I turned a corner and the building loomed ahead of me.

Bell Works is encircled by two ring roads, each going one way. If you can find an aerial view of the grounds, you might catch on to the retro-futuristic vibe.

A parking lot might not seem that interesting until you remember it's the one Mrs. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) was whipping her little car around.

The image of her swerving around the parking lot in both seasons is something I won't soon forget.

After parking, I got a closer look at one of the entrances of the building.

The building was nicknamed the "The Biggest Mirror Ever" by the now-defunct magazine Architectural Forum, and it's easy to see why. The entire six-story facade is covered in reflective glass panels.

"Severance" lovers will surely recognize this entryway.

We've seen Mark, Helly, Cobel, Mr. Milchick, and more walk up and down these stairs … or have menacing conversations at them.

Bell Works is open to the public, but of course, there are some ground rules.

Bell Works is open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m., and the first floor is entirely open to the public.

However, anyone under the age of 13 must be with a guardian after 6 p.m., and anyone under 18 must be with a guardian after 9 p.m.

I was surprised the building is pet-friendly, and I saw plenty of people walking their dogs inside the building.

When I walked in, the first thing I saw was a giant concrete pillar and a large swath of artificial turf.

Maybe I've been thinking about "The Brutalist" too much, but I was definitely getting some László Tóth vibes from all the concrete.

The turf had floor cushions and seating for people to take a break and imagine themselves lying on the grass on a sunny day. When I got there, it also seemed like the pre-school was using the turf for playtime, since it was too rainy to go outside.

The entire perimeter of the atrium-like interior is lined with storefronts.

I went into this convenience store at the end of the day to buy snacks for my long drive home.

There's also a dentist, multiple fitness studios, clothing stores, a preschool, and more.

There's even an escape room, a bank, an urgent care, VR golf, a drama studio, a podcast studio … I could go on.

There's even a branch of the Monmouth Country Library — I was starting to see where the term "metroburb" came from.

I would love to have a library inside my office building.

While the ground floor is public, the upper floors are rentable office space.

The office space is almost entirely rented out. Among its tenants are technology firms like Nvidia and Cisco.

I spotted a recruiting agency, a law firm, and a wealth management group from my ground-floor vantage point.

There are interior elevators you need an ID badge to access — as a "Severance" fan, I wasn't keen to hop in any elevators anyway.

I swore I could hear the trademark "ding" somewhere in the distance.

One end of the building almost looked like a forest with all the trees.

Hey, if you're going to sit inside an office all day, you might as well bring in some greenery.

This was also where I saw my first seating area, with these unique chairs and tables.

When I first arrived, these were empty, but on my way out, I noticed that all these chairs were full.

Before sitting down to grab food and do some work, I took a lap around the rest of the building.

This side of the atrium had a working fountain that was filled with coins people had tossed in.

There were also exterior elevators here, but like the other ones, you needed a badge to get on.

Before long, I spotted the area that serves as Lumon's reception area.

Mark and our other severed friends walk up to this desk every day to clock in for work.

Like the rest of the building, this area had a very '60s feel — it was almost like a conversation pit.

Part of Bell Works' design — and Lumon's — is that it's somehow both futuristic and quite retro. This conversation pit was the first time I really felt like I was stepping back in time.

Nearby was a piano for anyone to play — throughout my visit, I heard a couple of people tickling the ivories.

Someone even played "loml" by Taylor Swift.

On the other side of Bell Works was a basketball court.

The basketball court is open to the public, but you have to provide your ID at the front desk to reserve it.

There were also ping-pong tables and shuffleboard nearby.

I did note that the convenience store sold ping-pong balls.

Downstairs, there's a theater, ballroom, conference rooms, and other event spaces.

Again, the severed floor is in the basement — whatever goes on down there is not my business.

In all seriousness, the Bell Theater has 285 seats and has many concerts and plays lined up for the rest of the year.

After all that walking, it was finally time to sit down, drink a matcha latte, and read about the insanity of the "Severance" finale.

Personally, I have problems working in a completely silent environment — at college, I could never study in the library, which I found too quiet.

Instead, I was most productive at my university's student center, which was a bustling mixed-used building — just like Bell Works.

While sitting at this table, I was able to lock in more easily than I do at home, or even at the office, which is usually on the quieter side.

One section of Bell Works is essentially a food court.

There were plenty of options, including a greens and grains spot, a cafe, Italian food, ramen, and more.

There was also plenty of seating for people to have lunch together (or alone), take coffee meetings, and more.

There's also a fully functioning bar.

Since I was there on a Monday morning, the bar wasn't open. But there were signs all over cautioning people not to bring alcohol out into the main atrium, which leads me to believe it can get pretty poppin' at this bar.

After doing some work and observing the other people around me, I concluded that I would enjoy working at a "metroburb."

I saw plenty of small groups of people working, eating, and talking together. I also saw parents meeting up to hang out after picking up their kids from school, and teenagers utilizing the ping-pong tables.

If I lived in the Holmdel area, I would definitely make time to visit Bell Works for a change of pace.

But the interior office space is just part of Bell Works' appeal — there's also the grounds.

It was rainy, so I only saw one other person out there. Even though the weather was poor, I wanted to take a short stroll around.

There's an entire pond with gravel paths to walk around. I imagine it's lovely in the summer.

There were benches along the path.

Like everything else at Bell Works, the grounds were immaculately kept.

I enjoyed the landscaping.

There was, however, one slightly rundown structure that, for the first time, gave me the eerie feeling I get when watching "Severance."

There were no signs anywhere that explained what this was, but it was rundown in a way that made me think it's an original building that's been there since the '60s. It looked like it'd been left to the elements.

With that, it was time to go. The rain was getting heavier and rush-hour traffic was starting to pile up.

It took about 2 1/2 hours to get from Holmdel to my hometown on Long Island, around 60 miles away.

On the way out, we passed the water tower that also plays a part in season two of "Severance."

Real fans will remember that during the stop-motion video Lumon produced to show the "innies" on their first day back, the water tower was voiced by "SNL" star Sarah Sherman. The Lumon building, of course, was voiced by Keanu Reeves.

As I took one last look at Bell Works, I was struck by the irony of how Bell Works doubles as Lumon — the "metroburb" idea is the opposite of the concept of severance.

The idea of having everything you could need in one place, in order to mesh your work and home lives together, is the exact opposite of what "Severance" is exploring — namely, if you would be happier having your work and home lives be completely, well, severed from each other.

It might be slightly dystopian, but I wouldn't mind working at a place like Bell Works. It's a one-stop shop for anything you could need, including socializing.

Yes, only needing to go to one location to get everything you could need in your life sounds slightly scary.

But on the other hand, Bell Works reminded me of the concept of the "third place" that's been slowly dwindling since the pandemic.

A third place is what it sounds like: a place that's not home or work/school to get social interaction.

Loneliness is on the rise in this country, and one of the ways to combat this is to have multiple "third places" in your life to meet people — think Central Perk in "Friends," the diner in "Seinfeld," the Peach Pit in "90210." One of the most prevalent third places, as BI has pointed out, is the library.

Bell Works has combined the workplace with multiple third spaces, such as the library, gym, cafés, and the theater.

If a "metroburb" is a way to get more people out of their homes and into the world, I'm all for it — and I won't be advocating for the severance procedure anytime soon.

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed eliminating property taxes in the Sunshine State.
• The move is aimed at reducing financial strain on homeowners who've seen their taxes soar.
• But the revenue is critical for local government services, including the public school system.

Watching your home value soar is a great feeling for many homeowners. Getting hit with a much higher property tax bill as a result, not so much.

In Florida, Republican lawmakers are responding to homeowners' uproar over the rising levies, which have surged in recent years as demand for real estate has skyrocketed and prices have followed. Gov. Ron DeSantis recently began pushing to eliminate property taxes in the Sunshine State through a constitutional amendment.

Florida homeowners have faced some of the sharpest surges in property taxes in the country recently. The median property tax bill in Jacksonville and Tampa rose almost 60% between 2019 and 2024, a Redfin report found. Miami and Fort Lauderdale homeowners saw their taxes rise 48% in the same period.

The median Florida homeowners' tax bill spiked 47.5% between 2019 and 2024, the property data firm CoreLogic found.

Overall, US median property taxes rose from $2,287 to $2,826 between 2019 to 2023 — a 23.6% increase, BI reported earlier this year.

Florida's average effective property tax rate of 0.79% of a home's assessed value is a little below average compared to the rest of the country.

Real property taxes paid as a share of owner-occupied housing values tend to be higher in the Northeast, according to a Tax Foundation analysis of 2023 rates.

You can hover over the map below to see what rates looked like in each state and Washington, DC.

New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut had the highest rates among states and Washington, DC. Hawaii had the lowest rate at 0.27%. Rates were low in some Mountain states, including Colorado and Nevada.

Older homeowners have told BI that the growing taxes, alongside higher home repair and insurance costs, are particularly hard to manage on a fixed income. Florida is home to many of these property-owning retirees and has also seen a particularly sharp rise in insurance costs, adding to the burden on homeowners.

Property taxes fund critical local services and infrastructure, including schools, police and fire departments, and roads.

In Florida, which has no personal income tax, the locally-imposed levy brings in about $50 billion in annual revenue. Property taxes in the Sunshine State generate between 50 and 60% of school district funding, 18% of county revenue, and 17% of municipal revenue, the Florida Policy Institute recently reported.

Without the tax on homeowners, the state would need to double its sales tax to 12%, at least, to generate sufficient revenue, the Institute reported.

Florida would be the first state in the US to eliminate property taxes, though others have tried. Last year, North Dakota voters rejected a ballot measure to end property taxes based on a home's assessed value.

• US apartment prices are near all-time highs before the busy moving season begins.
• Consumers are bracing for higher inflation this year, and they may be right.
• A real-estate veteran shared why rent may reach record highs in the coming months.

Renters who are thinking about moving this year may want to strike before they're priced out.

Although apartment prices have drifted downward in recent months, there's reason to suspect that they'll accelerate to record highs during the bustling spring and summer seasons.

A one-bedroom unit in the 100 largest US cities went for $1,524 in March, according to a recent report from real-estate site Zumper. That's almost identical to February when it was $1,525, and the median cost of a two-bedroom setup was unchanged at $1,905.

However, each of those rent figures is up considerably from this time last year. One-bedroom places are 2.5% more expensive, while two-bedroom fixtures are up 3.1% versus last March.

Rent is rising alongside inflation expectations. Consumers surveyed in March were anxious and said they thought prices would increase 6.2% in the next 12 months, up from 5.8% last month, according to The Conference Board's new consumer confidence report.

As rental demand picks up in the warmer weather, real-estate analysts say rent could surge.

"It feels like the calm before the storm," Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades said in the report.

Record rent may kick-start inflation

In many parts of the US, the metaphorical tempest is already in full force.

Apartments got more expensive in 59 of the 100 cities tracked by Zumper, including 17 markets where prices rose at a double-digit rate. Units in major metropolitan areas are right around record highs, even during a seasonally quiet stretch.

San Francisco apartments soared 10.3% to $3,200 — its highest mark in nearly five years. And New York City units rose 6.4% from last March to within $30 of their all-time high, Zumper noted.

Jonathan Miller, the cofounder of New York-based real-estate firm Miller Samuel, recently said his research shows that median rents in the Big Apple have never been higher. Apartment costs steadily rose from October through February — long after the peak season of July and August.

Unless there's a recession, which some economists say is increasingly a risk, this may continue.

"If a record was set in February before the market really gets going — barring any change in the state of the economy — we could very well see new records being set quite a few more times this year," Miller told Business Insider.

Although that observation is primarily about the New York market, Miller said it could apply to the rest of the US as well, with the possible exception of the supply-dense Sun Belt region.

Apartment inventory soared to a 50-year high last summer, especially in warmer areas that became popular during the pandemic. But these supply increases may have gone too far, Miller said, as rents are now tumbling in places like North Carolina and Texas.

"Within the Sun Belt, it seems very unlikely because of overbuilding and oversupply," Miller said of rent records. "Outside of the Sun Belt, there's definitely potential for record or near-record prices, but it's really a local phenomenon."

The rental market is prone to the boom-bust cycle that commodities experience, so if apartment supply rises too much and brings down prices in the Sun Belt, builders will pull back. Indeed, Zumper noted that construction permits for new multi-family units are plunging right now.

In the meantime, renters may have plenty of options in the Sun Belt, but apartment availability elsewhere may be more limited. Limited supply combined with lofty mortgage rates, which take home purchases off the table for many, mean that people may contend with higher rent prices.

"We're looking at weaker economic conditions in 2025 generally, but not a recession," Miller said. "And I just think that, even with a weak economy, there's still a potential for higher prices."

More expensive apartments could fuel inflation, and vice versa. Zumper researchers noted that the shelter component of the consumer price index lags their firm's monthly rental data, which could mean that the consumers expecting inflation to reaccelerate may be right.

"The continued rise in annual rent growth across the national rent index signals potential inflationary challenges for the Federal Reserve as it considers future rate cuts," the note read.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) terminated some mortgages for illegal immigrants in an effort to ensure federal home loans don't go to those living in the U.S. illegally. 

HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced the move Wednesday, a day after news of a joint effort with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to focus on homeownership for Americans. 

"Today, HUD terminated Biden's taxpayer-backed FHA mortgages for illegal aliens," Turner wrote on X. "American taxpayers will no longer subsidize open borders by offering home loans to those who enter our nation illegally."

HUD TERMINATES OBAMA-ERA HOUSING RULE THAT TRUMP WARNED WOULD ‘DESTROY’ HOME VALUES

In another post, Turner said HUD-backed mortgages should benefit Americans "who play by the rules and work hard, not those who enter our country illegally."

"Today, HUD acted to protect the American Dream of homeownership," he wrote. 

On Monday, Turner and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem signed a memo to end "wasteful misappropriation" of taxpayer-funded public housing resources going to illegal immigrants rather than U.S. citizens. 

ICE NEARING HISTORIC DEAL WITH IRS TO AID IN DEPORTATIONS: REPORT

The initiative will help with data sharing between the two agencies via newly established lines of communication, officials said. A news release said U.S. veterans stood to benefit from the move.

"American tax dollars should be used for the benefit of American citizens, especially when it comes to an issue as pressing as our nation’s housing crisis," Turner said Monday. "This new agreement will leverage resources, including technology and personnel, to ensure American people are the only priority when it comes to public housing. 

"We will continue to work closely with DHS to maximize our resources and put American citizens first."

Roughly 9 million people live in subsidized housing across the country, according to HUD. About 59% of noncitizen households — those including green card holders or illegal immigrants — use one or more public assistance programs, costing taxpayers as much as $42 billion annually, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for lower immigration levels.

Upon taking office, President Donald Trump called for greater oversight to stop illegal immigrants from accessing taxpayer-funded resources. 

During the Biden administration, tens of millions of dollars were spent on housing for migrants, including for all-expense-paid stays at hotels for some.

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Some states, such as Pennsylvania and Arizona, passed measures during the Biden administration aimed at ensuring illegal immigrants do not take public housing resources from Americans who need them. 

Fox News Digital's Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

Shopping for homes online once had the feel of an open-air market: crowded and sweaty, maybe, but free for anyone to drop by and see what's for sale. The experience these days, though, is quickly turning into that of a nightclub, with the hottest new listings sequestered behind velvet ropes. If you want to party with the cool kids — in this case, score access to homes before regular folks — you better know a guy.

The wide-open nature of the housing market has been breaking down for a while. Most real estate agents have traditionally taken a maximalist approach to marketing homes, sharing listings widely through local databases known as multiple listing services. Agents browse the MLS to get details on homes available for sale, while search portals like Zillow pull the data onto their own websites for regular home shoppers to scroll through. The thinking is simple: More eyes on a listing means more potential bidders, giving a homeowner the best chance of selling quickly and lucratively.

This model is even backstopped by the National Association of Realtors, a powerful industry group that sets the rules for most MLSes around the country. NAR instituted a rule in 2020 known as the clear cooperation policy, which says that once a real estate agent starts marketing a home publicly — on a website, through an email blast, or even with a "for sale" sign in the front yard — they must list it on the MLS within one day. The rule was meant to prevent freeloading and encourage participation in the MLS, keeping listings in one place for other agents and their clients to see.

In recent years, however, the clear cooperation rule has been challenged by some of the biggest players in the game, who want to act as the new bouncers for VIP rooms filled with exclusive home listings. In particular, Compass, the country's largest real estate brokerage by sales volume, wants to take charge of the aforementioned velvet rope. Compass agents are increasingly hoarding their listings internally, shunning the MLS and making homes available only to buyers who work with other Compass agents. The company's founder and CEO, Robert Reffkin, has also been crusading against the clear cooperation policy. Reffkin argues that sellers should reject the one-size-fits-all approach of the MLS and exert more control over how their home is marketed. His campaign has stoked fierce infighting among real estate agents and raised a fundamental question: Who should be able to see the homes for sale in the US?

For now, the fight is ongoing. After months of debate, NAR said Tuesday it would leave the clear cooperation policy intact while adding another rule that functions as a small concession to Compass. The apparent attempt at compromise will probably end up pleasing no one. But while clear cooperation remains in place for now, the housing market continues to hurtle toward a decidedly uncooperative future.

Those in favor of clear cooperation argue the rule is responsible for America's uniquely transparent housing market — the reason you can hop on Zillow or Realtor.com and get the lay of the land. The policy was supposed to stem the rise of so-called "pocket listings," homes marketed for sale but unavailable on the MLS. If agents stop contributing listings to the shared databases, many in the industry warn, a once unified housing market could break up into silos, with home listings distributed among clubby groups of brokers known as "private listing networks" or gatekept within brokerages like Compass.

In this world, some agents will have access to a lot more properties than others. Pick the wrong rep, and you could unknowingly miss out on your dream home. And while there are good reasons someone might not want their house touted on the MLS — a celebrity like Brad Pitt, for instance, probably doesn't want their business aired out for everyone to see — conventional wisdom says sharing a home widely is the best way to get top dollar.

"Everybody benefits when we all pool our listings, and we do so in a timely manner," Saul Klein, a longtime real estate executive who's the CEO of the San Diego Multiple Listing Service, previously told me. "And people are hurt, potentially, when we don't do that."

But it's become increasingly clear that the advocates for the open system are losing. Yes, NAR kept the clear cooperation rule in place, but it also introduced an option for privacy-conscious sellers to list on the MLS while delaying their listings from popping up on sites like Zillow or the landing pages for other brokerages. The idea is to give sellers more flexibility to market their homes as they see fit, catering to those who may prefer to "premarket" their home before blasting it out widely. The move doesn't go nearly as far as Compass would have liked, but the company still frames this as a validation of its rallying cry for more seller choice.

"With NAR introducing a new MLS policy to 'expand choice for consumers,' they acknowledged the clear cooperation policy restricted home seller choice," Reffkin said in a statement. "Expanding choice means that NAR is still not letting homeowners choose precisely how to market their homes, but this is a small step in the right direction."

Compass may not be totally happy with NAR's most recent decision, but the company has already succeeded in shaking up the real estate landscape. The brokerage has made plenty of hay by exploiting a glaring loophole in the clear cooperation rules. While an agent has to add the listing to the MLS database once they publicly put the home up for sale, the rule allows agents to share new properties within their brokerages without adding them to the MLS. This method, which Compass dubbed the "Private Exclusive" route, essentially creates a walled garden with homes that can't be found anywhere else. Compass drives traffic to its website, collects a commission from both sides of the deal, and can lure both agents and clients by offering access to its inventory. Private exclusives have become a key strategy for the brokerage giant: Reffkin told analysts in February that 35% of the company's active listings nationwide were only available by working with a Compass agent or visiting Compass.com.

This isn't just some self-serving maneuver, either, Compass execs argue. They say sellers benefit from spurning the MLS and marketing their homes within the safe confines of the Compass network. The MLS and search portals like Zillow show how long a house has been on the market and whether the price has been slashed, data points that buyers can use to put pressure on homeowners in negotiations. The Compass website doesn't show price cuts or days on the market, theoretically allowing a seller to test their ideal price without any repercussions if they have to backtrack. And if they don't sell that way, they can always turn to the MLS and go the conventional route for maximum exposure. Compass likens this strategy to beta testing a product with a smaller audience before launch.

"We firmly believe that homeowners should have full control and flexibility in choosing how they market their home, period, full stop," Ashton Alexander, the head of strategy at Compass, tells me.

Brian Boero, the CEO of 1000Watt, a brand and marketing agency for real estate companies, doesn't buy it. Compass, he says, is really after control. Under the existing rule, the company may be free to pursue its "Private Exclusives" strategy, but it can't, for instance, publicly market a home on its website without also contributing to the MLS.

"They want to make Compass.com a destination where they control the inventory publicly, and they want to have free rein to continue to expand their private listings program," Boero tells me. "So they didn't get what they wanted."

Compass is far from the only large brokerage to employ this kind of strategy — Coldwell Banker, for instance, has "Exclusive Look," Howard Hanna has "Find It First," and one large Keller Williams franchise, KW Go, has dubbed its offering "Private Collection." More companies have threatened to follow the lead and keep listings off the MLS if it helps them compete for agents and clients. The clear cooperation policy has always been tough to enforce, too, with the onus placed on local MLSes to keep agents in line. Some MLSes, fearing litigation, have already backed off enforcement, tacitly allowing agents to market homes however they like. This could enable private listing networks — groups of typically high-achieving agents from different brokerages who share off-MLS listings among each other — to flourish.

NAR's decision to keep clear cooperation is a small victory for those who favor the status quo, but it will hardly end the practices fracturing the housing market. Compass hasn't ruled out the possibility of litigation over the rule, either. For now, the real estate industry is stuck in a sort of limbo. No one doubts that secret listings will continue to rise, but the fight over the clear cooperation policy isn't going anywhere.

"Everybody loses here, in a way," Boero tells me. "Nobody's happy."

James Rodriguez is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Discourse team.

• Warning signs for the economy are flashing in 44 US states, Rosenberg Research said.
• Rising unemployment signals "recession pressures are broadening out," founder David Rosenberg said.
• Trump's tariffs and Musk's government job cuts could weigh on stocks and real estate, he said.

Recession signs are flashing in all but six states as the Trump administration's policies threaten to throttle growth, a recent analysis found.

The unemployment rate in 44 states has jumped by at least 0.5 percentage points between this economic cycle's low and January, Rosenberg Research said in a recent note.

The only six states not to see an increase of that magnitude are Connecticut, Delaware, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and South Dakota, according to a table provided to Business Insider by the firm.

"The breadth of the increase we have seen in the unemployment rate means recession pressures are broadening out regionally," founder and president David Rosenberg told BI, adding that "88% of the country has a labor market blanketed" in recession.

The metric used by Rosenberg's firm is an iteration of the "Sahm rule," which says that when the three-month moving average of the unemployment rate rises by 0.5 percentage points or more from its lowest point in the previous 12 months, a recession reliably follows.

Rosenberg, who called the Great Recession when he was the chief North American economist at Merrill Lynch, warned that a combination of tariff-fueled price increases and an easing labor market could put a "serious squeeze" on incomes and reduce consumer spending.

He also underscored that Trump's efforts to curtail public outlays and shrink the federal government are a "huge shift" from the massive stimulus of recent years.

Negative implications

"Elon Musk is turning that prior stimulus into restraint long before any tax cuts get passed into law," Rosenberg told BI, referring to the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's efforts to ostensibly cut government fraud and waste with his DOGE agency.

"The implications for asset prices, both equities and residential real estate, are decisively negative."

David Wigglesworth, an economist and data scientist at Piper Sandler, told BI the number of states triggering the traditional Sahm rule dropped from 24 in July to 18 in January, but that tally was still elevated compared with historical norms.

"With short-term labor risks building — from the roll-off of federal Covid grants to states, to DOGE firings, tariffs, elevated general uncertainty, etc. — we may not see it improve much further," he said.

Wigglesworth hailed Rosenberg's measure as "handy" but emphasized it's "much more forward-looking than the Sahm rule, which relies on three-month averages and a trailing 12-month window." Those constraints might help the more conventional measure to avoid noise in the data caused by monthly swings, as well as older cycle lows.

National unemployment has hovered between 3.4% and 4.2% since January 2022, but inched up to 4.1% last month. State-level unemployment data for February is due on Friday.

A BI analysis of official jobs data found that unemployment rose in all but seven states in the year to January, and was flat in a further two. A full 28 states saw joblessness rise by at least 0.5 percentage points from historical lows set since the start of 2022, the analysis found.

For example, Rhode Island's unemployment rate rose from 2.6% in June 2023 to 4.6% in January this year. Similarly, California's rate jumped from 3.8% in August 2022 to 5.4% in January.

It's worth noting that state-level unemployment spiked last year yet a national downturn didn't follow. Rosenberg has also been predicting a recession for several years and has yet to be proven right.

• US home sales hit rock bottom in 2023 and 2024.
• Trump's tariffs are keeping mortgage rates high and sales depressed.
• But there's a silver lining for buyers in this tough market: less competition from other home hunters.

It's been difficult to sell a home for so long now that sellers are starting to get desperate.

It's a bittersweet picture for housing affordability because it may mean some power is shifting back toward buyers.

"With the passage of time, you essentially have some people really needing to move, despite the higher mortgage rates," NAR's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, told BI. "Changes in life circumstances — marriages, divorces, looking for a better school district, a new job in a different location, or a death in the family — all these life-changing events are constantly occurring, and they accumulate."

However, fewer existing homes were sold last year than in any year since 1995, according to the National Association of Realtors. For buyers, that presents a silver lining for affordability: A pent-up desire among homeowners to sell is helping reduce competition among buyers. For those buyers who can — or must — brave the market, power seems to be shifting in their favor as listings rise relative to the number of house hunters.

While home prices are still trending upwards in tight housing markets across the Northeast, Midwest, and Southern California, they're falling in many markets in the South and Southwest. Price cuts, particularly in the South and West, are becoming more common, and the length of time the typical US home sat on the market — an indicator that prices may continue to soften — has risen for almost a full year, Realtor.com reported.

Homebuyers are "not getting into bidding wars as often," Daryl Fairweather, Redfin's chief economist, told BI. "Because there are fewer buyers, they have more negotiating power."

The way things are going, she added, some sellers will need to cut their asking prices. But that doesn't mean they won't get a good deal. Home prices are still 45% higher than they were just before the pandemic, according to Redfin.

Are you putting your move on hold or struggling to sell or buy a home? Share your story with this reporter at [email protected].

An uncertain future

After home prices soared amid the pandemic and the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates in 2022, many homeowners who'd bought or refinanced during the period of super-low mortgage rates in 2020 and 2021 opted to stay put. US home sales hit rock bottom in 2023 and 2024, as prices stayed high.

Although the "lock-in" effect is easing, housing affordability is expected to stay dismal in many markets across the country this year.

Before the 2024 election, economists and housing researchers expected cooling inflation and interest rate cuts to boost home sales in 2025. But President Donald Trump's tariff threats and other federal policy changes have scrambled that picture, creating uncertainty that is keeping mortgage rates elevated and buyers out of the market. Now, it looks like mortgage rates are staying closer to 7% rather than cooling off as hoped.

While we're still waiting to see the full impacts of major federal policy shifts on the housing market, consumers are already reacting. Consumer housing sentiment is down year-over-year for the first time since 2023, driven by the belief that mortgage rates won't come down as quickly as previously thought, according to new data from Fannie Mae. While the percentage of people who said it's a good time to buy a home rose from 22% to 24%, the portion who said it's a good time a sell a home fell from 63% to 62%.

"If you're not sure what's going to happen in the US economy, then you probably don't want to make a massive financial decision," Hannah Jones, an economic research analyst at Realtor.com, told BI.

Broader consumer sentiment has plummeted under Trump, falling 22% since December, according to recent data from the University of Michigan. Consumers expect inflation to rise over the next year, and their confidence in the job market, stock market, and their own personal finances is down.

It's still possible this could all change. If Trump lifts his tariffs, inflation subsides, and the economy remains resilient, mortgage rates could come down and we could see a housing market recovery, Fairweather said.

"We're kind of in this in-between time, intercession if you will," she said. "There's maybe like a 20% chance that everything turns around in time for the spring season."

• Park City's 84060 ZIP code is the priciest in Utah, with a median home value of over $2 million.
• Celebrities and millionaires hide out in the luxury ski hub's private, slopeside neighborhoods.
• I recently visited Park City and discovered why it attracts the ultra-rich.

Welcome to 84060 — the most expensive ZIP code in Utah, home to the luxury ski hub of Park City. In the wealthy hot spot, you'll find modern slopeside mansions and private neighborhoods where millionaires and A-listers hide out.

A November 2024 study by Zillow found that 84060 had the highest median home value in the state, sitting just above a cool $2 million — nearly double what it was five years ago.

I spent three days exploring Park City's multimillion-dollar neighborhoods. Here's what I learned about how the ultrawealthy live and vacation in this rich winter wonderland.

Park City is a skier's utopia where home values have been increasing for decades.

According to World Population Review, the roughly 20-square-mile ski town has about 8,000 residents.

Real-estate agent Derrik Carlson has lived in Park City for over 20 years and began selling homes in the area in 2012. He told Business Insider that the town has grown significantly since he first moved in — and so have market prices.

"Prices have continued to increase and hold strong. I ran a report last month on a couple of homes that had traded twice within 12 to 18 months, and they were up anywhere from 8 to 12%," he said.

From tech and finance bros to retirees, Park City draws an eclectic demographic from US cities and coasts.

Carlson said about 25% of his clients move from California, and the rest come from New York, Chicago, and Florida. The city is a part of the Silicon Slopes — a fitting nickname for a stretch of land along the Wasatch Front that's grown into a tech hub over the past two decades.

But it's not just techies making their way to Park City.

"One of the most enjoyable things about working up here is everybody has a different background," he said. "You have the tech people, the finance people, the CEOs, and small business owners."

From New York City laundromat owners to Midwestern factory owners, Carlson said people of all ages are starting over in Park City.

"It's not like you can just go after a specific type of buyer because it's pretty mixed out here," he added.

About half of Park City buyers are part-time residents.

Carlson said Park City is a popular place to own a second home, especially for retirees. He added that roughly 50% of Park City's incoming residents are vacation home buyers, though the demographic makes up about 85% of his client base.

"I work a lot in the second home frame. It's people who have worked really hard to be where they're at today and now have the means to come out here," he said. "They're here for one to three months out of the year."

Location is a large pull for incoming residents.

Carlson said he moved to Park City because of its stunning natural landscapes and location near the well-connected Salt Lake City International Airport.

"One of Park City's big draws is having an international airport 30 to 45 minutes away, depending on where you are in town," he said. "With Salt Lake being so close, whether going to the airport or running to Costco, you have all the options you want."

The town's amenities are another big draw.

Park City's public amenities, including public restrooms downtown and a free bus system, have been around since Carlson first moved to the area.

The private amenities have expanded since Carlson moved in, from improved ski slopes to affluent golf clubs.

"It's a great life out here. It's a time to really unplug, and you have all the amenities you need," he said.

During my trip, I visited the St. Regis Deer Valley, which gives guests access to the slopes at Deer Valley Mountain Resort. I wasn't a hotel guest, and I was surprised to learn that anyone can take the hotel's free funicular up to a patio at the top of the slopes.

I appreciated watching skiers glide down the mountainous winter wonderland without paying a cent.

There are plenty of neighborhoods to choose from, including the walkable Old Town.

Carlson said some clients opt for Old Town, the bustling downtown area filled with shops, restaurants, and ski access. I found a ski lift right in the heart of it.

"Downtown is designed to be walkable to get to Main Street or skiing," he said, adding that there's always something going on in Old Town, from summer concerts to the winter Sundance Film Festival.

I noticed a mix of mansions and more affordable real estate here. Current Zillow listings range from $690,000 to $28 million.

The ultrawealthy tend to move to neighborhoods with ski-in and ski-out access, like Deer Valley.

Many of Carlson's clients move to Deer Valley, the Canyons — which is in the 84098 ZIP code but still a part of Park City — and the Colony. The neighborhoods are known for direct access to skiing from residential properties.

"You just go right out the door and pop on your skis, and you're on the slopes," he said, adding that these areas are coveted and real estate comes at a high price.

According to Realtor.com, the most expensive home on the Park City market is a 13-bedroom, 18-bathroom mega mansion in Deer Valley listed at $50 million.

Curbed reported that A-list celebrities, including Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber, live and vacation in the private and exclusive Colony neighborhood.

Other pricey neighborhoods have private golf clubs.

Golf is a popular pastime for Park City residents when the snow melts. Carlson added that neighborhoods dotted with multimillion-dollar homes like Tuhaye and Promontory are known for their exclusive, members-only golf clubs.

The most expensive Zillow listings in Promontory exceed $18 million, and Tuhaye listings on Christie's cost nearly $12 million.

Unlike many tourist destinations, Park City has designated resort communities.

Park City is a popular luxury skiing destination for second homeowners and visitors alike, and its tourism areas are classified as such. For example, Deer Valley is a resort mecca with a slew of accommodations lining the slopes. Meanwhile, short-term rentals are only allowed in certain zones.

"Where you can and can't have nightly rentals in Park City is really well-defined," Carlson said of the restrictions. "That matters for people looking to move here full-time so they know what will be around them in the future."

Park City's market growth has some moving to nearby suburbs.

According to the Park City website, the luxury ski town needs more affordable housing to keep up with demand.

Carlson said that nearby suburbs are a great option as an affordable alternative to Park City.

"The Heber Valley and the Kamas Valley are a 15 to 30-minute drive from Park City," he said. "Everybody would love to live ski-in, ski-out at a really low price, but that's not how beachfront properties can operate either."

Both suburbs have plenty of listings on Zillow costing less than $1 million for those who aren't ultrawealthy but crave a slice of the luxurious lifestyle.

With the opportunity for a diverse and balanced lifestyle, it's easy to see why people around the US are starting over in Park City.

Utah's most expensive ZIP code offers walkable strips and public transportation — must-haves for city dwellers like me.

It also offers isolated homes and a range of outdoor adventures. It's a place where you can ski in the winter, golf in the summer, or go to a concert after a scenic hike.

With the blend of lifestyle options in Park City, it makes sense why people would look to the destination for an escape.

Brian and Kristi Culhane have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on health and wellness amenities for their Scottsdale, Arizona, home.

The couple and their three kids now enjoy a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, UV air scrubbers, a steam room with aromatherapy and light therapy, a cold plunge, an indoor basketball court, and more.

They consider themselves biohackers, part of a group focused on a regimen of diet, exercise, and supplements that they believe will help them live longer.

"When I got into biohacking, I thought, 'Instead of going to the health club every day, why not bring everything to my house?'" Brian Culhane, the 50-year-old cofounder and former president of the real-estate brokerage eXp Realty, told Business Insider. "This wasn't just a novelty anymore; it was a lifestyle. If you're serious about it, you need all your tools at home."

The biohacking movement, most recently popularized by Bryan Johnson — a venture capitalist turned longevity guru who has invested millions in health technologies that he hopes will reverse his "biological age" — is now influencing luxury real estate. Some affluent homeowners are moving beyond traditional features like gyms and adding cutting-edge amenities from infrared saunas to ozone generators to take their wellness to the next level.

More people are integrating wellness-focused amenities into their homes, from wet rooms and private gyms to meditation rooms and gardens, according to Zillow. The real-estate giant found that as of December, the share of for-sale listings mentioning wellness-oriented amenities had risen by 16% from the year before. Homeowners today want more than just attractive spaces — they want places that actively support their physical and mental health.

The Culhanes' house is a case study of the lengths to which some people go to bring healthy habits home. Let's take a look.

Only the best amenities will do

Brian Culhane's desire to be present for his children and outlive his own father, who died at 63, led him to biohacking.

Brian recalled a 2015 conversation with a life coach who pressed him about his dreams: "He asked, 'What's your most probable future?' I answered, 'End up like my dad.' He asked again, 'What's your goal?' I replied, 'To not die young.' That conversation began my commitment to living a healthy life."

That commitment is reflected in the home that the Culhanes have built and refined since 2019 when they paid $546,000 for 1.1 acres in Scottsdale's exclusive Troon at Glenn Moor neighborhood. The couple hired an architect to design a 10,000-square-foot home with five bedrooms and 6½ bathrooms.

Nearly every inch of the home is customized with features they believe are essential for their health, including a built-in smart sound system from Crestron Home, which can cost between $300,000 to $400,000 to install. Brian, who has dubbed himself "The DJ Dad," cues up various "mood music," from techno to reggae to classical. The system also plays megahertz music, which fills the house with vibrations similar to white noise.

"We designed the house with wellness in mind," Brian said.

It has 16-foot sliding doors and 15- to 20-foot floor-to-ceiling windows, which Brian said were designed to let in natural light that aligns with the family's "circadian rhythms."

Don't forget the three $5,000 Toto toilets and the heated floors. The HVAC system is equipped with UV-light air scrubbers, which, Brian said, clean pet dander, mold, airborne pollen, and carcinogens. For relaxation, there's a rooftop deck for stargazing, a 7-foot-deep heated pool, and a six-person spa.

"My friend asked, 'Why do you ever have to leave the house?' I replied, 'I don't need to,'" Brian said.

Big budget, big benefits

Among all their health amenities, California Pool and Spa's customized six-person cold plunge, worth about $60,000, might be the most covetable.

Cold plunges involve soaking in very cold water, sometimes as low as 30 degrees Fahrenheit. While some people believe cold plunges improve mood and reduce inflammation, there's not enough evidence to suggest they significantly affect human longevity.

Positioned just steps from their master bedroom and next to the outdoor shower and private patio, the Culhanes' cold plunge is left uncovered and remains frigid 24/7.

"I'd wake up at six, go to the gym, work out for an hour, then spend 20 minutes in the sauna, five minutes in the cold plunge, five minutes in the steam room, five minutes in the hot tub, and another five minutes in the cold plunge," Brian said. "That routine took me two hours every morning. With kids to get ready for school, I realized, 'I need to be able to do this as soon as I wake up.'"

An entire room is dedicated to the sauna, built for about $100,000 by Spa Steam and Sauna, the same company that supplies saunas to the Ritz-Carlton and other luxury hotels.

Finnish saunas are the most widely used saunas worldwide, so more scientific studies on their benefits exist. Research suggests they could help flush toxins from the body, improve heart health, and boost the immune system.

The family said they practice yoga, breathwork, and aromatherapy in the sauna, which features a wall of Himalayan salt they believe is beneficial for the respiratory system. Healthline found that studies on non-dietary uses of Himalayan salt are "relatively weak" and require further investigation.

Another notable feature of the house is the basketball court, which features NBA-grade flooring, a rim, protective pads, a scoreboard, lights, a 100-inch TV, and various gym equipment. The court cost about $250,000, and lighting and additional features were an additional $80,000.

Brian said he grew up playing basketball in a modest Chicago neighborhood, but his family couldn't afford the private courts some of his peers had access to.

"Several of my friends had indoor courts. It was a treat to play there, though they rarely let me," he said. "I thought it was the pinnacle of success and always thought, 'I want that.'"

The Culhanes own multiple infrared light systems, including an advanced LightStim device typically found in luxury spas that they paid $4,411 for. This device uses specialized LED, or light-emitting diode, therapy to stimulate collagen production and reduce the appearance of fine lines, acne, and wrinkles.

Kristi uses the machine daily.

"I get up and turn it on first thing in the morning, and it lights up the whole room. I sit under it for about 15 minutes," she said. "It actually improves my mood."

The Culhanes also said their home's extras have not only boosted their quality of life but also increased its value. A 2022 appraisal report valued their home at $6.1 million.

Some people love the house, while others are a bit skeptical

The Culhanes' biohacking journey has gradually won over their friends and family.

"If they're not already converted, they're well on their way," Brian said.

Gaining approval from the neighbors in their community, however, has taken time.

"We're an active family, and it's just not the neighbors' lifestyle," he explained. "It's a quiet community, a golf club with mostly retirees. They all have dated, quiet homes, while we've got this big, bright glass house with a lot of kids and plenty of outdoor activities."

Brian said it was sometimes challenging to follow all of their homeowners association's rules for construction and architecture.

"We probably had 10 complaints against our build and property, ranging from leaving the porta potty open to materials blowing around, dust, and soil erosion," Brian said.

Another wellness-focused construction project lies ahead

The Culhanes also take various supplements every day to enhance their health, including an array of Purium Superfoods for nutrition, Ultimate Human Molecular hydrogen tablets with methylene blue added for its reported antioxidant properties, and activated charcoal for detoxification.

They underwent Viome gut biome mapping, which analyzes blood, stool, and saliva to identify foods to avoid and detect any deficiencies.

"We each got our genetic test once, get our blood work done every six months, and have gut biome testing yearly," Kristi said. "The goal is to get off supplements."

For readers who are interested in trying this kind of supplement regimen, longevity-medicine doctors recommend first getting bloodwork through your primary care physician to check your vitals. Then, start slow — take one supplement for a few months, rather than starting a lot at once.

The Culhanes have joined several Facebook groups for people focused on health and fitness to stay ahead of the latest biohacking trends. Before permanently adding any new element to their regimen, they personally test it and only incorporate it if it fits into their "daily protocol," as Brian put it.

They're already planning their next project. In 2021, the Culhanes purchased a 15-acre ranchette along Oak Creek in Sedona, about a two-hour drive north of Scottsdale, for $900,000.

They took out a $2 million construction loan to build a 4,000-square-foot cabin on the land, which features ATV trails, hiking and biking paths, and areas for kayaking and fishing. In addition, they put in roads and brought in 36 dump trucks of sand to create a man-made beach the size of a football field. They also plan to build a treehouse, plant an orchard, and grow grapevines.

So far, they've spent $250,000 on the Sedona project, Brian said.

Their ultimate goal is to turn the property into an off-grid, self-sustaining health retreat for themselves, friends, and family, with the potential to rent it out.

"I want the best of both worlds," Brian said. "I want to recreate the healing elements we brought into our Troon home and turn our Sedona property into a master retreat. I envision something like being on top of Sedona, tapping into the powerful vortex energy of the earth."