The first-time homebuyer tax credit can now be used as a down payment, according to a mortgagee letter released by HUD today.
It can be used either as secondary financing (second mortgage) or as a short-term loan, otherwise known as a bridge loan, enabling homeowners to come in with little or zero down (it can also be used for closing costs and other prepaid expenses).
There are some rules and regulations tied to the so-called tax credit advance loans, like qualifying debt-to-income ratios and no cash in-hand, but it still seems like an irresponsible move given the financial climate.
“We all want to enable FHA consumers to access the tax credit funds when they close on their home loans so that the cash can be used as a downpayment,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in prepared remarks.
“So FHA will permit trusted FHA-approved lenders and HUD-approved nonprofits, as well as state and local governmental entities to “monetize” the tax credit through short-term bridge loans.”
Unfortunately, this very practice led to billions in losses at the FHA; similar seller funded down payment assistance loans accounted for just 14 percent of all FHA loans outstanding, but accounted for 31 percent of all FHA foreclosures.
In fact, Donovan recently noted that the FHA would have needed appropriations of $2.5 billion to operate had the loans not been recently banned.
First-time homebuyers, defined as those who have not owned property in the three years preceding purchase, are entitled to receive up to $8,000 that doesn’t need to be paid back if the home is retained for three years.
It’s a dollar-for-dollar reduction and also refundable, meaning the tax credit may be claimed even if the homebuyer doesn’t have sufficient federal income tax to offset it.
It seems to be more of an incentive for homebuilders than homeowners, but that’s just one opinion.
Since the Making Home Affordable Program was launched in early March, more than one million borrowers have refinanced and 55,000 loan modification offers have been extended to qualifying borrowers.
Of course, most are simply refinancing due to the low mortgage rates on offer, helped on by Treasury buying of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities, which was part of the original Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan.
Additionally, Fannie Mae has more than 233,000 eligible Home Affordable Refinance applications, with 51,000 having loan-to-value ratios between 80 percent and 105 percent.
“In just over two months, the Make Home Affordable program is up and running, helping our economy recover and making a difference in the lives and livelihoods of thousands of American homeowners,” said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, in a statement.
“Today we are announcing a new program component to help homeowners obtain modifications in areas suffering from home price declines. If a modification is not possible, we are also announcing steps to encourage the quick private sale or voluntary transfer of property, which will save homeowners money and protect their financial future.”
In other words, qualifying borrowers unable to complete a MHA modification will be able to pursue a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure via a streamlined process.
Meanwhile, mortgage lenders will receive so-called “home price decline protection incentives,” compensation payments based on recent home price declines intended to facilitate more modifications in hard-hit areas of the country.
“Together the incentive payments on all modified homes will help cover the incremental collateral loss on those modifications that do not succeed. HPD P payments will be linked to the rate of recent home price decline in a local housing market, as well as the average cost of a home in that market.”
The Home Affordable Refinance program ends in June 2010, while the loan modification program will run from now until December 31, 2012 (loans can only be modified once).
“Fourteen servicers, including the five largest, have now signed contracts and begun modifications under the program. Between loans covered by these servicers and loans owned or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, Home Affordable Modification participants now account for more than 75 percent of all loans in the country.”
The typical options investor is trying to leverage options trading to speculate on directional moves in the prices of underlying assets. However, there are more sophisticated traders who would like to profit from other characteristics of options.
To pursue these trading strategies, investors need to minimize the effect of price changes and create portfolios that profit from and are more sensitive to these other factors. Delta neutral approaches allow investors to create these portfolios.
What Is Delta?
Delta is one of the Option Greeks and measures how much an option will change in price, given a $1 change in the price of the underlying asset. By definition, the delta of the underlying asset is always 1.
What Does Delta Neutral Mean?
Delta neutral means that a position’s value will not change when there are small market price changes. By holding a combination of assets and options, or combinations of various call and put options, a trader can create a portfolio with an overall delta of zero (in actual practice, very close to zero).
Traders use delta neutral strategies to minimize the effect of price changes while aiming to profit from shifts in implied volatility, the time decay of options, or simply to hedge against price movements.
How Does Delta Neutral Function?
A portfolio’s overall delta is determined by the sum of the deltas of its individual positions. Let’s take a closer look at the delta in options and securities.
Basic Mechanics
A trader holding shares (“going long”) benefits one-for-one from increases in the stock price. The delta for long shares is 1.
Investors short a stock will experience losses one-for-one as the share price rises, but they will benefit in the same amount when it falls. The delta for short shares is -1.
In the options trading world, a long call option has a delta of 0 to 1, while a long put option has a delta of –1 to 0.
Deep in the money long call options are most likely to feature a delta near 1. Deep out of the money long call options will have a delta near 0. At the money long call options typically have a delta near 0.5.
Deep in the money long put options typically have deltas near -1. Deep out of the money long puts have deltas near 0 and at the money long puts have deltas near -0.5.
Deltas values are for each individual security held and need to be adjusted based on your actual holdings. If you own 200 shares of stock, the delta for this position is 200. If you own an at the money call options contract, the delta for this position would be 100 x 0.5 or 50 due to options representing 100 shares of the underlying asset.
If you are writing (“going short”) options, the deltas values are reversed. If you write a call option with a delta of 0.75, then the delta for the position would be -75. Similarly, the delta for shares sold short is -1 per share.
The investor must also be aware that any delta neutral portfolio will only be neutral over a range of asset prices. An option’s delta is always in flux as it moves in and out of the money. A portfolio must be constantly adjusted to maintain delta neutrality – many delta neutral trades must be executed.
An Example of Delta-Neutral in Use
A trader might employ a delta neutral trading strategy when they are long shares of stock but are concerned about a near-term pullback in its price. Assume the trader owns 100 shares of XYZ stock at $100 per share. A long stock position has a delta of 1. Multiplied by 100 shares, the position has a total delta of 100.
The goal of a delta neutral strategy is to use a combination of calls and puts to bring the portfolio’s net delta to 0. One possibility is to purchase at the money put options that have a delta of -0.5. Two of these put option contracts have a total delta of -100 (-0.5 multiplied by 200 options). Recall that an options contract represents 100 shares of stock.
Here, the $100 strike is the delta neutral strike. As the underlying price moves away from $100, the delta of the portfolio will move.
Combining the deltas of 100 shares together with 2 long put option contracts with a -0.5 delta yields a delta neutral portfolio.
Stock position delta = 100 shares x delta of 1 = 100
Long put position delta = 2 contracts x 100 shares/option x delta of -0.5 = -100
Portfolio delta = stock position delta + long put position delta
Portfolio delta = 100 + -100 = 0 or delta neutral
The net position is protected from losses by being long put options while still having exposure to upside from the long stock position. Of course, there is a cost to purchasing put options.
A diagram might help illustrate what is delta neutral.
Profit & Loss Diagram Using the Above Example (Not Including the Put Option Cost)
Profiting From Delta-Neutral Trading
It is possible to profit from changes other than price movements in the underlying stock. For example, an options trader can use delta neutral strategies to benefit from declining or rising volatility. Vega is the Options Greek that tells a trader how much the price of an option will move in response to changes in volatility.
Delta neutral strategies can also be used to profit from time decay or – as in the earlier example – to hedge an existing long stock position. Writing options allows you to benefit from the effect of time decay, but there is a risk of assignment. If the underlying stock price moves significantly, the contracts could be assigned to you.
Shorting Vega
Shorting vega is a more advanced options trading strategy. A delta neutral approach can be used to benefit from collapsing volatility.
You might look to short volatility after a period of extreme movements in the market or a single stock. The key is to short vega when implied volatility is still high and you expect it to come back down.
When implied volatility is high, you pay a significant premium to be long options. You can take advantage of expensive options when implied volatility is high by selling options while still being delta neutral. The risk is that implied volatility levels continue to jump, which can lead to losses on a short vega play.
Waiting for Collapse in Volatility
A short vega position relies on the implied volatility on the underlying security to drop in order to turn a profit. It might take patience for implied volatility to drop to historical norms. To remain delta neutral, other positions might have to be put on to mitigate the risk of a change in the underlying stock price.
Pros and Cons of Delta Neutral Positions
Some of the pros of crafting a delta neutral portfolio have been highlighted, but there are downsides as well. Having to closely monitor your portfolio can be a burden, while trading costs mount as you constantly layer on or reduce hedges to keep near delta neutral.
Pros
Cons
Profit from variables other than the price movement of the underlying asset
Requires frequent trades, which could be costly, to maintain a delta near 0
Traders hold stock for the long run while protecting against near-term declines
Deltas are constantly changing resulting in being over- or under-hedged
Delta Neutral Straddle
A delta neutral straddle uses a combination of puts and calls to keep the position’s delta near zero while having exposure to volatility changes.
For example, if XYZ stock trades at $100, and it’s at the money call has a delta of 0.5 and it’s at the money put has a delta of -0.5, you can buy the put and call with the goal of selling them after implied volatility jumps. With this delta neutral long straddle strategy, your delta is effectively 0 but you are long volatility.
A delta neutral short straddle is an options trade that seeks to profit from minimal changes in the underlying stock price and a large drop in implied volatility. So, the reverse of a long straddle can be used when you believe implied volatility will drop.
Other options trading strategies used to profit from changes in volatility and time decay are calendar spreads, diagonal spreads, iron butterflies, iron condors, among others.
The Takeaway
Building and maintaining a delta neutral portfolio can be a challenging task, but profiting from time decay and changes in volatility can make it worthwhile and profitable.
Delta neutral trading can also hedge your portfolio from short-term declines while continuing to hold stock for the long-term.
Qualified investors who are ready to try their hand at options trading, despite the risks involved, might consider checking out SoFi’s options trading platform. The platform’s user-friendly design allows investors to trade through the mobile app or web platform, and get important metrics like breakeven percentage, maximum profit/loss, and more with the click of a button.
Plus, SoFi offers educational resources — including a step-by-step in-app guide — to help you learn more about options trading. Trading options involves high-risk strategies, and should be undertaken by experienced investors.
With SoFi, user-friendly options trading is finally here.
FAQ
How do you make money with a delta neutral strategy?
You profit from a delta neutral option strategy when there are changes in a stock’s variables other than its share price. Changes in implied volatility create opportunities to go long or short volatility while being agnostic to the stock price’s change. You can also benefit from time decay by selling options while being delta neutral.
What is a delta neutral strike?
A delta neutral strike marks the price at which a portfolio is precisely delta neutral. In practice, it is more of a theoretical price rather than an exact level. When the underlying asset price moves up or down from the delta neutral strike, its delta will stray from zero; it will take additional hedging trades to get back to delta neutral.
How can you calculate the value of your delta neutral position?
To calculate your position’s delta, simply multiply each security’s delta by your position size. For example, one call option contract with a delta of 0.75 has a delta of 75 (0.75 x 100 options per contract). While being long 100 shares of stock with a delta of 1 has a delta of 100 (1 x 100 shares).
You combine the deltas of all positions in your portfolio to determine your overall delta. At that point, you can trade options to make your portfolio delta neutral.
Photo credit: iStock/Delmaine Donson
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Options involve risks, including substantial risk of loss and the possibility an investor may lose the entire amount invested in a short period of time. Before an investor begins trading options they should familiarize themselves with the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options . Tax considerations with options transactions are unique, investors should consult with their tax advisor to understand the impact to their taxes. SOIN223504
If you can make it anywhere, can you make it here?
When looking into the bustling metropolis of New York City, it’s easy to be swept up in the kaleidoscope of city lights, towering skyscrapers and the ceaseless symphony of life that dances through its streets. However, amidst the hypnotic allure of the city that never sleeps, practical considerations emerge. Considerations like the economics of living in this urban paradise. A particular question looms large: “What is the average salary in New York, and how far does a $100,000 salary stretch?”
The average salary in New York is a topic of interest for both locals and those considering a move to this vibrant city. While the average salary in NYC currently hovers just above $50,000, for many, $100,000 seems to be a gold standard, a signpost that one has ‘made it.’ However, the reality of living in New York with this salary can prove more challenging than you might think in a metro that has this much to offer.
Rent
In terms of housing, the median rent in New York as of July 2023 is $4,364, translating to over $52,000 annually. That’s more than half of a $100,000 salary spent on accommodation alone. Yet, New York’s diverse range of neighborhoods offers options for different lifestyles and budgets. While Manhattan may command sky-high prices, boroughs like Queens or the Bronx may offer more affordable rents without compromising the quintessential New York experience.
Transportation
Transportation, another major consideration, can be relatively affordable. Opting for public transport, the subway costs $2.75 per ride, with a monthly MetroCard costing $127. This equates to a yearly expense of $1,524 if one is commuting daily — a mere fraction of the $100,000 salary. Of course, for those desiring the convenience of a car, parking fees, insurance and fuel costs can add a significant amount to this figure.
Food
Food and entertainment are areas where New York truly shines. The city’s multicultural tapestry has created a food scene like no other. Eating out in New York can be an adventure, with price points to suit every pocket. For a foodie earning an average salary in New York, a mix of dining out and cooking at home can balance the budget nicely. Let’s say you spend about $400 per month on groceries and $200 on dining: That’s a total of $7,200 annually.
Entertainment
The city’s entertainment scene is equally diverse. A night out at a Broadway show, a visit to one of the city’s many world-class museums or a concert in Central Park could set you back, but it’s part of the allure that makes New York, New York. An allocation of $500 per month towards entertainment, while on the generous side, equals $6,000 per year.
Everything else
Add in additional expenses like utilities, health insurance and personal care, and you’re looking at another $10,000-$15,000 annually, depending on individual needs and choices. All these expenses combined, a $100,000 salary in New York can offer a comfortable lifestyle, though without much room for extravagant splurges.
New York job market at a glance
New York’s economic tapestry is just as dynamic as the city itself. The city is a magnet for talent, driven by a wide range of industries that form its thriving economic ecosystem. While it’s nearly impossible to encapsulate every facet of this ever-evolving landscape, a few industries and employers emerge as the city’s backbone.
Finance
New York’s Wall Street is globally synonymous with finance. It is the heart of the world’s financial markets, housing the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, two of the largest stock exchanges worldwide. Major employers in this sector include Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. Not only does the industry provide direct employment, but it also fuels ancillary services like law, consulting and real estate.
Healthcare
Healthcare is a top employer in New York, contributing significantly to the city’s employment landscape. The city boasts world-class hospitals and research institutions, including NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Mount Sinai Health System and Northwell Health. These organizations offer a wide range of roles, from clinicians to administrative staff, reflecting the sector’s diversity.
Tech
New York’s tech scene has experienced explosive growth over the past decade, earning the moniker ‘Silicon Alley.’ The city is home to tech giants like Google and Amazon, who’ve set up major outposts here. Additionally, it hosts a solid startup ecosystem, featuring companies like Etsy, MongoDB and Datadog, just to name a few.
Media and entertainment
New York’s media industry is renowned worldwide, with numerous media conglomerates calling the city home. These include Time Warner, ViacomCBS and The New York Times. The city’s thriving entertainment sector hosts Broadway, a global beacon for theatre and major television networks like NBC and ABC.
Retail and fashion
New York is a global fashion capital, playing host to renowned fashion houses and designers. Do Vera Wang, Michael Kors and Donna Karan sound familiar? It’s also home to retail giants like Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. The fashion week in New York further bolsters the city’s reputation as a leader in fashion and retail.
Tourism and hospitality
New York’s iconic landmarks, from Times Square to Central Park, attract millions of tourists each year. This fuels a vibrant tourism and hospitality industry, with major employers including hotel chains like Marriott and Hilton, as well as tons of restaurants and service providers.
Education
With prestigious institutions like Columbia University and New York University, education is a major employer in New York. These institutions offer employment opportunities in teaching, research, administration and support roles.
Find a new apartment in New York
Given these numbers, it becomes clear that while a $100,000 salary is substantial, it’s also relative. What it offers depends on a variety of factors — lifestyle choices, neighborhood, family size and more. Overall, a prudent financial approach can help navigate the complexity and allow one to savor the flavors of the Big Apple without biting off more than they can chew.
When it comes to purchasing a home in Michigan, buyers may have difficulty finding financing beyond the conforming loan limit. If this is the case, you may need a jumbo loan. Whether your sights are set on a home in Grand Rapids or a condo in Detroit, let’s break down what a jumbo loan is in Ohio, the 2023 conforming loan limits, and what’s needed to qualify for this type of loan.
What is a jumbo loan?
A jumbo loan is a type of mortgage that’s designed to help you finance the purchase of a home that exceeds the limits set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In Michigan, this type of loan is often needed for high-end homes or properties located in expensive housing markets. With a jumbo loan, you can get the financing you need to buy your dream home, even if it’s more expensive than what a standard mortgage can cover.
If the home you’re purchasing will require you to borrow more than the conforming loan limit (CLL), you’ll need to apply for a jumbo loan. However, because of the larger loan amounts and the risk involved, jumbo loans often come with stricter requirements and higher interest rates than conventional loans. Lenders typically require a larger down payment, higher credit score, and more assets on hand to qualify for a jumbo loan in Michigan.
What is the jumbo loan limit in Michigan?
In Michigan, the conforming loan limit is $726,200 across all counties. For example, the conforming loan limit in Wayne County is $726,200, so any mortgage that surpasses the loan limit designated for your county by even one dollar is classified as a jumbo loan.
Keep in mind that the loan amount is what determines whether or not you’ll need a jumbo loan, not the home price. In this case, your loan wouldn’t be considered a jumbo loan. So, if you were to put $100,000 down on a $780,000 home in Detroit, the loan would be $680,000, which is under the conforming loan limit for this area. In this case, your loan wouldn’t be considered a jumbo loan.
This FHFA map will give you more specific information related to the conforming loan limits in your county.
What are the requirements for a jumbo loan in Michigan?
As previously mentioned, the requirements for a jumbo loan are much more stringent than the requirements for a conforming loan. The specific requirements can vary from lender to lender, but below are the typical requirements for borrowers seeking a jumbo loan.
Higher credit score: In order to be eligible for a jumbo mortgage, lenders generally expect borrowers to have a credit score of at least 720. While some lenders may consider a score as low as 660, a credit score of less than that is typically not accepted.
Larger down payment: Obtaining a jumbo mortgage typically requires a larger down payment compared to a conforming loan. Lenders may require a down payment of 10% to 20% or more, depending on the specific loan program and the borrower’s financial situation. If you’re approved with a down payment less than 20%, keep in mind you’ll most likely be required to purchase private mortgage insurance (PMI).
More assets: Jumbo loan borrowers are typically required to have additional assets. In particular, lenders may require borrowers to demonstrate sufficient liquid assets or savings to cover one year’s worth of loan payments.
Lower debt-to-income ratio (DTI): To qualify for a jumbo loan in Michigan, lenders typically look for a debt-to-income ratio (DTI) of no higher than 43%, and ideally closer to 36%. The DTI is calculated by dividing the sum of all monthly debt payments by the borrower’s gross monthly income. This requirement ensures that borrowers have a strong ability to repay their loan and manage their debt.
Additional home appraisals: When you buy a home in Michigan, your mortgage lender will require a home appraisal to confirm that the property’s value is equal to or higher than the loan amount. In some cases, a lender may require an additional appraisal for a jumbo loan. In regions with very few comparable property sales, the cost of the appraisal may be higher than in places with more frequent sales.
The decline of Fort Morgan didn’t happen suddenly. There wasn’t a giant factory that closed or a natural disaster that devastated the small, farming town on the plains in the northeastern corridor of Colorado.
Instead, Fort Morgan’s story is a familiar one playing out across rural America: children moving away to find better jobs in the cities and big-box stores and online shopping leading to empty storefronts on Main Street. But this isn’t how the story ends for Fort Morgan, about an hour and 15 minutes northeast of Denver.
HGTV is turning its star power on Fort Morgan with the Season 2 premiere of “Home Town Takeover.” The show will feature its biggest name stars, including Ben and Erin Napier of “Home Town” and Dave and Jenny Marrs of “Fixer to Fabulous,” as they take on revitalization projects around town. The six-episode series is to premiere on Sunday.
The popular network has a strong track record of transforming struggling, down-on-their-luck, small towns and cities into popular tourist and real estate destinations. Several of these communities have credited the shows built around them for their turnarounds. Can HGTV and its talent re-create the magic in Fort Morgan—and perhaps inspire other struggling towns to invest in their own revitalizations?
“At the end of the day, millions of people are going to see this show,” Jenny Marrs tells Realtor.com®. “They’re going to be inspired either to go and visit Fort Morgan, which would be amazing and help the town as far as tourism, but also just be inspired to maybe do the same thing in their own town.”
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Watch: Exclusive: Is HGTV’s ‘Renovation 911’ the Most Dramatic Home Improvement Show Yet?
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Over the four months of filming for the show, the teams completed 18 projects. They included fixing up homes of local heroes, businesses such as the town’s bowling alley, and community spaces such as the downtown business district and a local park.
“Our town could use a jump-start,” says local artist Ann Iungerich. “The last 10 to 15 years, it’s gone through a slump. We could use a boost to get us back on track.”
Helping out on the projects were guest stars Jonathan Knight, star of HGTV’s “Farmhouse Fixer” and former vocalist for New Kids on the Block; rapper Lil Jon, who also has a show, “Lil Jon Wants To Do What?”; and Ty Pennington of “Rock the Block,” among others.
“These towns each have a special story,” says Jenny Marrs. She was most impressed by the people she met in Fort Morgan and how they rallied together to improve their community. “People stop, they say hello, they wave at you when you drive by, they know your name at the grocery stores. These sort of simple things can be really powerful.
“Families have lived in these small towns for generations. This is their family legacy and history,” she continues. “They shouldn’t have to move if we can help make the town viable again.”
The HGTV effect on real estate markets
The Texas city of Waco is perhaps the best example of the power of HGTV and its charismatic stars.
“Fixer Upper” premiered in 2013 and launched Chip and Joanna Gaines into the stratosphere. The couple built an empire off of that show, with a furniture line at Target, eight bestselling books between them, and even their own network, called Magnolia. But their greatest accomplishment might have been transforming the public image of Waco.
Before the popularity brought by the Gaineses, the city had been best known for a deadly standoff in 1993 between federal agents and a religious cult run by David Koresh. Now, tourists flock to the city to shop at the Gaineses’ stores and eat at their restaurant, Magnolia Table.
The Silos District in Waco, TX
(Courtesy of Magnolia)
Average home prices in McLennan County, which includes Waco, surged almost 52.1% from 2015 to 2019, according to data previously provided by local real estate broker Camille Johnson. (“Fixer Upper” ran from 2013 to 2018 on HGTV. It was rebooted as “Fixer Upper: Welcome Home” on the Magnolia network in 2021.)
Before “Home Town” began filming in Laurel, MS, Mayor Johnny Magee flew out to Waco. He wanted to see the impact that “Fixer Upper” had on the struggling city.
“What we saw were tourists everywhere, and people were claiming that the same could happen in Laurel. We were doubtful,” says Magee. He didn’t realize how popular the show starring the Napiers would be when it premiered in January 2016.
Today, Laurel is booming. Its hotels and restaurants are full, home sales have risen as more people have moved here, and the town’s tax base has increased.
Home list prices surged in Laurel, shooting up 84.1% from July 2016 through July 2022, according to Realtor.com data. That’s compared with a 71.9% increase nationally and 60.8% in Mississippi over the same period.
“I am a native Laurelite who is amazed about what has happened since Ben and Erin Napier have begun the ‘Home Town’ show in Laurel. When the show began, downtown was like a ghost town,” says Magee. “What we have experienced has blown the minds of everyone who knew Laurel pre-‘Home Town.’”
Bentonville, AR, where “Fixer to Fabulous” is filmed, is a bit of an exception as it’s a city of more than 55,000 residents. It’s also the birthplace and headquarters of Walmart.
However, the Marrses have seen tourism tick up as a result of their show. There are now golf cart tours of the homes that have appeared on “Fixer to Fabulous.”
“It’s a powerful thing,” Dave Marrs says of the HGTV effect on Bentonville.
But there are a few downsides.
Home prices can rise as a result of being in the spotlight, say the Marrses. The number of properties for rent and sale is likely to drop even further as out-of-towners move in. That’s likely to make it harder for locals to find places. And those who grew up in the community might find themselves competing with deep-pocketed investors and retirees.
When home prices increase, property taxes can also rise. That was a substantial problem that homeowners in Waco experienced.
Fort Morgan’s already benefiting from ‘Home Town Takeover’
Since the news broke in July that the new season of “Home Town Takeover” would be filmed in Fort Morgan, commercial properties downtown have been selling quicker, says Brian Urdiales, a Fort Morgan councilman and Compass real estate broker.
“It isn’t typical to see three commercial properties on Main Street go onto the market and then close in a short time,” he says. “It would be great to see all the foot traffic and people on Main Street like when I grew up.”
Tourists have also begun to trickle in, says artist Iungerich, 61, a lifelong resident of the town. She submitted the town’s original application to be on the show when it launched just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020. And she created an art installation that will be featured on the show: a 5-foot-tall bowling ball, a 9.5-foot-tall pin, and a crown, all placed in front of the local bowling alley.
The recent trickle of tourists is certainly something new for Fort Morgan, founded after an eponymously named military post opened in the mid-19th century along the South Platte River.
Today, the fort no longer remains and Fort Morgan is primarily a farming and ranching community of about 11,500 residents. There is a large Cargill beef processing plant, a mozzarella cheese processing facility, and a historic sugar factory.
The old railroad depot is boarded up, but folks can still catch an Amtrak train to Denver or into Nebraska. There are some restaurants, and the movie theater has recently been remodeled.
Fort Morgan has “the blue-collar jobs. They have the farming. They just didn’t have the draw to keep people there,” Dave Marrs tells Realtor.com. “So a lot of our focus was ‘Hey, you’re working here, stay here. Spend time here, spend money here so the town can develop even more.’”
Despite the town’s struggles, Fort Morgan’s real estate market has remained appealing to buyers priced out of more expensive parts of the state. During the pandemic, many Denver-area buyers came to Fort Morgan seeking more affordable properties, more space, and a more rural lifestyle. Homes sold briskly in a single weekend, often for over the asking price.
The real estate market has since come back down as higher mortgage interest rates are forcing many would-be buyers to the sidelines. Home list prices are mostly back to pre-pandemic levels, at a median of $330,550 in March, according to Realtor.com data.
Homes in Fort Morgan are still attracting buyers, especially as prices are about half of Denver’s median price tag of $663,000 and roughly $100,000 less than the national median of $424,500 in March.
“Our market’s always been pretty strong,” says Urdiales. He’s still seeing bidding wars, investors making all-cash offers, and first-time buyers jumping into the fray. “People are still buying.”
And the international exposure the town is about to receive is expected to be positive for the real estate market, especially as many viewers are working remotely and can live just about anywhere.
“It brings this aura of glamour to the small-town lifestyle,” says Jeff Engelstad, a real estate professor at the University of Denver. “You get on a million people’s radar, and you’re going to land a few of them.”
Home prices surge in Wetumpka after ‘Home Town Takeover’
Ben and Erin Napier in Wetumpka, AL
(Anders Krusberg / HGTV)
Perhaps the best blueprint of what’s in store for Fort Morgan might be what happened in Wetumpka, AL. The small town was featured in the first season of “Home Town Takeover,” which premiered in May 2021.
As HGTV broadcast this small town into living rooms all over the world, the real estate market caught fire. Prices rose and homes flew off the market. Homes for rent or sale were scarce.
Home list prices in Wetumpka grew 42.3% from January 2021 through January 2023, according to Realtor.com data.
While some of that is due to the hot housing market during the pandemic, Wetumpka saw much larger run-ups in prices than the state or rest of the country. Over the same period, prices rose 26% in Alabama and 23.9% nationally.
The market has since slowed along with the rest of the nation, but some homes are still receiving multiple offers, says Wetumpka real estate broker Beverly Wright, of Re/Max Cornerstone Realty.
“It’s pretty crazy,” says Shellie Whitfield, executive director of the Wetumpka Area Chamber of Commerce. “We’re still building housing, and once the shovel’s in the ground, they’re sold.”
When she moved to Wetumpka in summer 2017, about 40% of the stores downtown were boarded up. Now, only two storefronts are empty and busloads of tourists visit the town’s new bookstore, ice cream parlor, pet store, and even a high-end olive oil and vinegar store.
“They sped us up about 15 years. It’s been really great,” says Whitfield. “They just catapulted us just far beyond anything anyone could have imagined.”
Whitfield is confident the show will have a similar effect on Fort Morgan.
“They definitely will see some impact because there is such a strong following for the show,” says Whitfield.
The Marrses want viewers to be inspired to take action to turn their own towns around.
“I hope that people watch this show and say we can do that,” Jenny Marrs says. “It’s a spark that gets the fire started.”
Anyplace, a marketplace startup that offers people find flexible-term furnished housing, aims to draw digital nomads and other temporary residents to the fold. A recent email outreach from their PR company (EZPR) prompted the following early assessment.
Anyplace landing page
Started back in 2015 with angel capital from East Ventures, Anyplace works with extended stay hotels, serviced apartments, furnished rentals, and co-living companies to supply turn-key mid-term accommodations, has just raised another $2.5 million. The round, headed by UpHonest, FundersClub, East Ventures, and others, should extend the startups reach.
The startup, which prides itself on its B2C core logic, is being billed as a predictability value over Airbnb and other shared property innovations. With a growing roster of longer-term stays from San Francisco to Guadalajara in Mexico, the company says they’re looking to expand to Europe and Asia by 2020. This may, in fact, come to pass, but “listing” 50+ properties in 9 cities for any rental marketplace should not be seen as a market takeover. The market for such an endeavor exists, but here’s where I see Anyplace in the current scheme of things.
Anyplace at iTunes I cannot find out if theres an Android version
The website traffic numbers at Anyplace do not speak of massive volumes of business people relocating at Anyplace offerings, but this says nothing for the company’s mobile app numbers. But, 6 reviews at the iTunes app store do indicate slow uptake, however. A slim Facebook (under 500 likes) presence, along with one social post per 3 months does not a modern digital age game changer make. Ditto for Twitter (111 followers), Instagram (35 subscribers – no posts), and LinkedIn (No posts). The lack of effort here is symbolic of companies I’ve seen hit the TechCrunch “dead pool” before.
If you can afford $4000 a month in rent you may not need a rental app
In addition, the fact the Anyplace team is searching for backend and full-stack engineers willing who are founding members does not bode well for the extended development this far into the funding. What this means to me is that the CTO and co-founder Kouichi Tanaka is probably doing most of the app and backend development with a very small team. And while this is not a bad thing, it is not $2.5 million dollar investment level staffing. Looking at LinkedIn profiles for Anyplace employees I found the front-end user interface developer, a freelancer from Germany named Martin Broder, iOS engineer Arpit Agarwal, and front-end developer, Michal Ittah of the 17 employees listed for the startup.
The digital world is not without places to book extended stay each city has its own solution
I hate pouring cold water on a PR outreach since I once owned one of Europe’s most successful boutique hotel tech PR companies, but there’s some homework left to do at Anyplace, PR and otherwise. Short version, Anyplace needs to step up its game now. The fact they closed this round in 2018 and are only now reaching out for media is another negative for anybody who looks close. Given the massive potential for Alt Living innovations, Anyplace has a big potential, so my cautions should be taken with a grain of industrial salt.
This report at NFX reveals the positive side for Anyplace’s founder and investors. Lifestyle shifts, non-traditional transactions, technology empowered markets, and so forth – make Anyplace a good prospect. The downside is the lack of commitment of both funding and human resource. One thing I really like about this startup is its B2C heart – which flies in the face of Airbnb and the customary access economy giants. In my former business, hoteliers were literally freaking out over lost business to Airbnb. Anyplace-like value can mitigate at least some of this lost revenue. But that’s far off in my view, at a point when this startup has $100 million in funding and 25,000 Facebook fans.
Silicon Valley legend Jason Calacanis
As it stands, Anyplace needs a solid product, a solid marketing team, and a tech PR firm listed at O’dwyer’s if they can afford it. A final note, an old associate of mine, Jason Calacanis of East Ventures, has invested in some of the most successful startups in Silicon Valley history including; Uber, Facebook, and many others. One of Silicon Valley’s most ethical and intelligent investors, I’m surprised Anyplace is not farther along. Jason, get these boys some help, will you?
Phil Butler is a former engineer, contractor, and telecommunications professional who is editor of several influential online media outlets including part owner of Pamil Visions with wife Mihaela. Phil began his digital ramblings via several of the world’s most noted tech blogs, at the advent of blogging as a form of journalistic license. Phil is currently top interviewer, and journalist at Realty Biz News.
Real estate teams of all sizes continue to perform, according the Streamlined Quarterly Team Benchmarking Report, which looked at the financial performance of more than 200 teams across the nation.
Steamlined, based in Arizona, has a roster of hundreds of U.S. real estate teams and individual agents as clients for their accounting and bookkeeping services. The firm confirms actual financial and operational details of these businesses and assemble the data in useful benchmark studies to help their clients assess how effectively they are operating.
This is extremely valuable information, not only for teams but also for the brokerage firms with whom they are affiliated. A clearer understanding of the performance of teams helps everyone understand the impact of the growth of the organization and performance of teams and confirms the importance of LG in the industry.
Small teams lead in retained gross margin
The smaller the team; the higher the retained Gross Margin (GM) — what the team had after paying their internal agents. For teams under $300,000 in gross commission income (GCI), gross margin was 79.5%. while for the largest segment — those teams having over $3 million in GCI, the GM was 45.7%.
“Our view is that smaller teams generally have a closer-knit cultural fabric,” said Steve Murray, senior advisor to HW Media and a partner with RTC Consulting. “The relationships between the leader of the team and the agents of the team are necessarily tighter than larger teams with dozens or more agents. The value provided is more frequently reinforced. Some of these same trends have been noted among larger versus small brokerage firms for years based on data from RealTrends + Tom Ferry The Thousand and America’s Best agent and team rankings,” he adds.
How are teams spending money?
The largest expense for teams was employment cost — salaries, wages, employment taxes and contract labor. As a percent of GCI, the smallest teams had employment expenses of 11.2% of GCI, while the largest teams experienced costs of 17.4% of GCI. Much like any business, scale brings the need for higher personal costs.
“Larger teams have more personnel as the division of labor gets expanded as a firm gets larger. This is true not just for teams but for businesses of all shapes and sizes (outside of a few giant technology firms.),” says Murray. “The tasks handled by the leader of a small team are far more numerous and it is only when a team grows that these duties are dispersed to others in the organization. This factor enables a team to grow beyond the expertise of the owner of the team.”
Lead generation costs
What we found highly interesting is that lead generation expenses did not vary nearly as much as we would have thought between the smaller and larger teams. The percentage spent on lead generation by the smallest team category was 9.7% of GCI. The largest teams spent 10.2%. It makes sense that larger teams spend more absolute dollars on leads, but here scale does benefit larger teams.
Say Murray, “Lead generation is, of course, at the heart of a successful team regardless of its size. RealTrends has noted that as teams grow, they don’t require proportionately more spending as a percentage of gross revenues on lead generation for a few reasons. First, the cost per lead decreases as a team buys more of them.”
Second, generally larger teams have developed processes that enable them to process and capture more transactions per dollar spent on lead generation, “thus lowering the need to ramp up exponentially as they grow,” he says.
Operating expenses
In total operating expenses, when expressed as a percentage of GCI, the larger teams had the lowest number at 30.8% of total GCI spent on operations (these are costs not associated with the team’s agents.) The smallest teams spent 42.6%.
“There were no surprises in this category of expenses,” says Murray. “Larger teams are more efficient in operating overhead the same way larger brokerage firms have the same experience. Whether it be in accounting, marketing, occupancy, insurance, etc., larger firms will spend less per dollar of revenues than small entities.”
Extrapolating actual dollars is a bit imprecise but helpful. Taking the minimum of the smallest team and the maximum for the largest teams and the midpoint for the four categories in between, it indicates that actual dollar profits are $110,700 for the smallest teams and $444,000 for the largest teams.
In the middle, for example, teams producing between $550,000 and $800,000 in GCI showed a dollar profit on average of $226,800. It appears that while the largest teams, on average, are 275% larger in terms of GCI, they are only 96% larger in terms of their average profit.
Streamlined, RTC Consulting and HWMedia are teaming up to share this data with our readers to help create transparency in the results of over 200 teams. We will publish these results on a quarterly basis roughly 45 days after the end of each calendar quarter.
David Pittiglio is the CEO of StreamlinedBusiness Solutions.
SmartAsset Advisors, LLC (“SmartAsset”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Financial Insight Technology, is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment adviser. SmartAsset’s services are limited to referring users to third party registered investment advisers and/or investment adviser representatives (“RIA/IARs”) that have elected to participate in our matching platform based on information … [Read more…]
It’s no secret that mental health is an incredibly important part of overall well-being. From anxiety to depression and beyond, our emotions, moods, and behaviors are impacted by how we take care of ourselves. But with all the demands on your time, it can seem daunting and overwhelming to give yourself the attention needed for good mental health—right? Wrong! There are some simple steps you can take each day that will help keep your brain in tip-top shape!
1. Work Out
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One user shared, “Working out. Made all the difference.”
Another user replied, “I swear by this. Worst bout of depression in 2021 until I started exercising. Even now when I have a sh*tty day, an hour of exercise makes all the difference. It’s like the sweat washes away all the negative toxins from your body or something.”
One Redditor added, “This. I can’t stress it enough. I would work out 24/7 if I could as it just blocks out all my thoughts and lets me focus on the gains.”
Another commenter said, “That’s it. For me it’s really the feeling of being in control and actively working on feeling better. It also does something to your biochemistry that is extremely beneficial but if you just look at factors that lead to depression, losing control or feeling like other people determine your fate is quite at the top of the list. I feel like I’m turning that around somewhat by working out.”
2. Delete Social Media
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One user commented, “Not having any social media accounts.”
Another Redditor asked, “Does Reddit not count?”
The OP answered, “I also deactivated all social media except for Reddit and Twitter (which I will soon deactivate too) I feel these two platforms are different in the sense that they don’t lead the users to constantly compare themselves or expose you to falsehoods of what a ‘perfect’ life others have. This wasn’t personally the reason I deactivated, for me it was a useless time suck that I just wanted to eliminate.”
3. Keep a Gratitude Journal
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“Journal of gratitude. Writing in it every night before bed. Keeps me focused on positives,” one user replied.
One user added, “I moved to Japan. I originally visited temples and shrines because I like the environment and collecting the official seal from each. Somewhere along the way it turned into an exercise of gratitude. At each place, I think about how the aspect of the place is there for (Love, knowledge, travel, etc) has been good for me and give thanks. It gets really niche sometimes (Last month I went to a shrine about teeth!) but what that means is that there’s so much I realized I can be thankful for.”
Another user concluded, “I love this idea.”
4. Practice Sobriety
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One Redditor added, “Sobriety. More than any other single change. Second biggest? Taking one or two meds that could help with the symptoms I couldn’t resolve myself.”
“Same. Got my 2 month chip today. It’s still new but yeah,” another user replied.
One user commented, “Congrats! keep it up! It just gets better.”
Another user added, “I can’t begin to tell you how much of a difference this has made for me. I am coming up on 9 months sober on July 5th. My psychiaTRIST kept asking me to quit the alcohol but I kept drinking for years. Now that I am feeling the benefits I am just blown away. I’ve already decreased my psych meds once and I feel like I am ready for another decrease.”
5. Get Professional Help
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“Seeing someone about it,” one user commented.
Another Redditor replied, “Seeing a private therapist about it and starting ADHD medication the past 6 months has helped so much more than 5 years of various medication and therapy in the public psychiatry did it was truly wild the difference it made being properly medicated with something that actually worked for me (compared to all the antidepressants, antipsychotics and anxiety medications i’ve been on) along with a therapist who genuinely was willing to help me, rather than one who just wanted me out of the psychiatric system as soon as possible.”
One also confirmed, “Counseling really helps.”
6. Take Medications
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One user commented, “My medication. Thank you Lithium and Seroquel for controlling my type two bipolar which enables me to participate in my life in a meaningful way. It has also made it possible for me to deal with unresolved issues and now I only need the meds listed above. Been almost twenty years now and not a hint of mania or depression.”
Another user replied, “How is your memory with seroquel? I’ve only been on a very low dose for 3 weeks but my memory is horrible all of a sudden. I’m also sleeping a lot.”
Another user shared, “It can take up to six weeks for it to reach therapeutic levels. The sleepiness will abate. I don’t recall specific memory issues when I started but I was also dealing with the memory issues of the depression I was slowly coming out of. Talk to your pharmacist about the side effects. They will know what you should be concerned about and what will pass.
“Getting the right meds at the right dose requires patience but it is so worth it. Hang in there. Being able to meaningfully participate in your own life once you get this sorted is a blessing I can’t describe. I am grateful every day for my meds.”
7. Make New Friends
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One Redditor shared, “Leave all my old friends behind and look for new ones to forget my old struggles. I know it’s bad but I don’t care. I love my two only friends and they are enough for me.”
Another user affirmed, “It’s not bad at all; sometimes you must leave people in the past.”
8. Positive Existentialism
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One user stated, “Optimistic nihilism. One day I realized I’m not actually going to be here forever, and the things I do now aren’t going to matter in the long run. Did something embarrassing? So what, they’ll forget about it eventually. Made a mistake at work? Dude the bosses make way more money anyway, why should I care if I already gave it my all? I’ve learned that I can be a good person and still not give a shit, that the only opinion that matters is mine, and if someone wants to stomp all over that I don’t need them in my life. Edit: it’s officially called absurdism/existentialism! I recommend looking it up.”
One user responded, “I call this ‘zooming out’. I do it periodically. I think it’s healthy to recognize that each of us is 1 in 8 billion living people, probably 100 billion ever. That only spans a few thousand years. The world has been around billions of years before us, and will last billions of years after we’re gone. Our tiny planet is one of billions (trillions?) of planets that have existed or will exist. We are so small.”
Another user added, “Yes! So many people are miserable because they want to look good for everyone else, but what’s the point when in a year, a month, even a week from now no one will remember what you said or did. Most people are too absorbed in their own insecurities to focus on yours, and the ones that make it a point to focus on yours aren’t worth it. In the end, you’ll be gone and no one will remember you, even celebrities will be distant memories one day.”
9. Delete Toxic Messages
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“Deleting my ex-wife’s emails without reading them,” one user commented.
Another user replied, “Boss move. Well done!”
10. Leave Unhealthy Relationships
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One commenter posted, “Being single again. Two weeks after being dumped, I was still feeling less emotional distress than what I did on a regular basis while in that relationship.”
11. Plant a Flower
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“Moving into a house with a garden after years in a flat, sitting out in nature is so relaxing, being able to enjoy the fruits of my labour by seeing the flowers and plants grow that I planted is so rewarding, especially when you see bees enjoying the flowers. I have honestly gone from around a 2-5 in mood up to a 9-10, even on the most difficult days, the garden is my sanctuary, I didn’t think it could make such a difference, but it does,” one Redditor added.
Another user added, “That’s happy! Nature makes such a huge difference in well being. Being outside pretty much immediately improves/regulates my mood.”
12. Go Outside Near Water
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Another user shared, “Going to the beach.”
One added specifically, “Newport Beach, Crystal Cove Beach. . . California.”
“Little Corona,” another commenter responded.
One user suggested, “Rio Del Mar, Capitola, Santa Cruz CA.”
13. Meditate
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“Meditation,” one user posted.
Another Redditor confirmed, “Yes meditation has done wonders. For me guided meditation. There are tons of free ones on YouTube. It can take a few times but it does help big time.”
One commenter asked, “Please suggest a good yt video if you can. If you don’t know of a good video, can you please take the pain of writing it? I will be so grateful…”
Another user said, “Look into Dr Joe Dispenza.”
14. Get a Dog
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One user shared, “Getting a dog.”
Another user replied, “Ooff, so much agreement here. A dog gives you routine, which is key when your life is disrupted by big events.”
“Honestly, I’ve noticed my anxiety always gets a lot worse when I have no routine. Even little things like going to the gym/walking everyday, getting up at a certain time, etc helps me,” one commenter added.
Another Redditor responded, “I was going to write the same. My furry little friend has made a huge difference.”
15. Don’t Watch the News
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One user suggested, “I stopped watching the news about 7 years ago. I cannot describe how blissful ignorance is.”
Another replied, “Fr tho.”
16. CBD
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One user posted, “Unironically, smoking a bunch of weed. That’s not saying it’s a healthy way to go about it, but when I’m baked, I want to be as comfortable as possible. To get that, I actually had to clean my living space and do basic hygiene. Over time, taking care of those things was a bit easier because I wasn’t letting mountains of trash pile up. Cleaner space and slightly healthier living gave me a morale boost I wasn’t expecting and it pushed me to be more diligent in cleaning myself and my area. I’m still not in a great place mentally, but I’m leagues ahead of where I was a year ago.”
“Exact opposite for me. Weed takes away any energy I have to actually make my life better. It systematically ends up destroying any good intentions I have,” replied by one user.
17. Get a Better Job
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“A better paying job with more interesting work, better coworkers, less hours and a boss who believes in making sure people have what they need to function instead of putting pressure on them. Give me far more time to be at home to take care of things there (and to chill, mind you) plus a bigger spending range and so much more happiness in the job itself,” one Redditor shared.
18. Quit a Toxic Job
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One online user shared, “Quitting my job!! I’ve been at a new job for about three months now and have really been doing so much better. I had previously worked in an animal control facility for about 3.5 years. I had been promoted several times, was the head of my department and several unrelated projects and was completely overwhelmed. Asking for help because I didn’t have time to do everything I needed to was met with unhelpful answers about figuring out how to balance everything. Not having any ideas of how to balance it, I was literally told, ‘It’ll be easier when you figure out how to balance everything.’ I took a $4 pay cut to go to a new job. I’m the newest and dumbest person in an art department, have no customer interaction, and don’t see animal death daily. This is the best pay cut I’ve ever taken. I’m only now starting to notice how much the compassion fatigue at animal control was affecting me.”
19. Set Boundaries With Family
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“Pulling away from family. I love them, truly, but no one needs constant reminders of mistakes in their teens when you’re almost 30. Not to mention I have the kind of family if I return such a favour that I am told I am a child for bringing up the past. I used to call my brother and sister almost daily and I stopped last month. Best decision I have made in a long time,” one user commented.
Do you have more healthy ways of keeping up your mental health aside from the list above? Share it in the comment section!
Source: Reddit.
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