Happy Friday, friends! We’re writing this newsletter south of the border as we took a quick trip down to Cabo for Scott’s brother’s wedding! It’s been so amazing to be surrounded by family who are meeting Maverick for the first time and spending some time getting to know Maven more. We’re thrilled for Tim and Dana, can’t wait for the festivities this 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.
* 45% of real estate agents who own their firms said they had trouble paying rent on their offices in November. That’s 5% higher than in October and 10% higher than September’s reading.
* By a 6-to-1 vote on Tuesday, the Salt Lake city council ended single-family zoning. In Austin on Thursday, the vote was 9-to-2. The goal of ending single-family zoning is shared by affordable-housing activists nationwide, but its actual consequences hinge on how exactly it is done — and what exactly replaces it. Yet the rules governing the size of structures have not been changed. And if builders want to use the new multi-unit option, they have to designate half the units as “affordable” — i.e., offered at a discounted rent. Under these terms, people with experience in the housing industry estimate few if any projects would actually pencil out as profitable. (Bloomberg)
* Alcohol is the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. and the No. 1 risk factor for premature death among young men. 30 million Americans are in a clinically unsafe relationship with alcohol, and in addition to killing over 80,000 people per year through chronic illness, alcohol leads to nearly 60,000 acute deaths (drunk driving, overdoses, suicide) — including more than 4,000 among people between 18 and 24. Please take care with alcohol this festive season….don’t drink and drive: call an Uber or cab! Have a friend or colleague walk you/take you home if you’ve had a wee bit too much….
* Those evil billionaires! While not all billionaires are created equal, all have one thing in common. They give away LOTS, some more than others some are proponents of discreet giving: McKensie Scott has donated over $16.5 billion to more than 1,900 nonprofits, significantly impacting lives worldwide after receiving Amazon shares worth approximately $38 billion in her 2019 divorce settlement. Bill and Melinda Gates have donated over $50 billion to date. Warren Buffet has gifted $51.5 billion….. The great ‘redistribution of wealth’ sometimes takes decades….
* In 2022, the 60-to-69-year-old age group represented the largest share of people moving to Florida from other states, according to the data, taken from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The second-largest age group moving to Florida was people ages 50 to 59.
* As of 2020, the US was ranked 61st out of 237 nations in terms of life expectancy. California – home of Loma Linda, the US’ only official Blue Zone – was found by recent research to be the state most likely to produce more healthy and happy neighborhoods, scoring particularly high with the number of adults getting at least 7 hours of sleep and low with the number of physically inactive people. Its overall rating was 7.03 out of 10. Minnesota was 2nd, Utah 3rd, NOrth Carolina 4th, Massachusetts 5th, Maryland 6th, Virginia 7th, Connecticut 8th, Rhode Island 9th, and Colorado 10th. (NY POST)