Happy Friday, friends! If you read my newsletter last week, I’ve got an update: we’ve come back down to Earth and will be staying with what we love: finding and selling homes for amazing people 😉 Scott felt very grateful to be able to deliver the April Fool’s joke, instead of being on the receiving end like he usually is, but I digress…Maverick is settling into the Woodruff family quite nicely. His mellow, laid-back personality is such a surprise after feeling him audition for Soul Train for three straight months in my stomach. Maven has really taken to making our morning veggie juice with Scott each day. She loves pushing the celery and carrots down the tube and sampling each one as they go in. We’ll work on her order of operations, but for now we’re just happy to see her munching celery at 7:30 in the morning. Don’t forget to drink your juice and have a happy weekend!
Nearly every day, Compass’s Leonard Steinberg puts together a handful of real estate news bits that are always so interesting I have to share some of my favorites of the week. To receive these every day from Leonard, please click [_here](mailto:ls@compass.com “”) and include your full name and email address to get on his mailing list.
* Research has shown that the typical worker equates the value of working from home to an 8% pay raise. But…..if you need more space at home to work in, that is not free….. (CNBC)
* The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (about 10,000 square miles)…is growing fast. Home prices in the ultra-luxe area of Highland Park and University Park close to Downtown Dallas sell in the millions, but the Dallas area also boasts lots of housing options for around $400,000. This is the perfect mix to allow for economic growth and to attract large corporations: If housing is more affordable, wages that allow for workers to have a home – without huge salaries to cover the cost – becomes very attractive to corporations that aim for maximum profitability. Local economies that create affordable housing options will BOOM!
* Average Americans spends $2,000 on energy bills each year. $200-$400 may be “going to waste” from drafts, air leaks around openings and outdated heating and cooling systems. (U.S. Department of Energy). Home heating accounts for 45% of the average person’s energy use, and water heating for another 18%. Homeowners can get up to $500 a year for installing efficient exterior doors, $600 for exterior windows and skylights, plus $1,200 for insulation and air-sealing materials or systems. They can also get up to $150 for a home energy audit. The combined tax break for these projects is capped at $1,200 a year. So maybe do some in December and the rest in January? Other projects carry a separate, $2,000 annual cap: installing electric or natural gas heat pump water heaters, or heat pumps and biomass stoves and biomass boilers. (CNBC)
* Blackstone and Digital Realty are creating a new venture to develop $7 billion in data centers that will target the largest providers of online content, cloud services and artificial intelligence. The venture plans to develop 10 data centers on 4 campuses in Frankfurt, Paris and northern Virginia over the next 5-6 years. About 20% of the 500 megawatts in capacity at the 4 campuses is expected to be delivered by the end of 2025. (WSJ)
* Recent data suggests that inflation may have had less to do with overspending than it did with pandemic-related disruptions. Surging inflation became a global issue starting in 2021 as the economy roared back to life: pent up demand – combined with lots of Covid-related savings (and government spending/stimulus) – fueled a level of demand that outstripped the planet’s capacity to meet supply. Some are predicting dis-inflation next…..in areas. Crude Oil was trading for $120 in June, 2022: Today its hovering around $70, down over 41% off a high mostly attributable to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.