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The experience of lying in bed late at night and scrolling through a nearly infinite feed of homes is a modern miracle — not merely because of all the tech packed into your iPhone, but for the simple reason that all those houses are gathered in one place. Open up Zillow, Redfin, or any of their competitors, and you'll have a clear picture of almost all the homes up for grabs around the country.That may be about to change. Real estate's power players are engaged in a bitter standoff over who exactly gets to see the millions of homes listed for sale in the US each year. At the center of the debate are the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-agents-lawsuits-buy-sell-homes-forever-housing-market-2023-6">multiple-listing services</a>, or MLSes, local databases that gather pictures and details of homes for sale. Almost as soon as a real-estate agent starts touting a home publicly — via an email blast, a post on their website, or a sign in a front yard — they'll throw the listing on the MLS to be fed to other agents and aggregator sites like Zillow. Smart business move? Sure. But agents also don't have a choice, thanks to a rule handed down five years ago by the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lawsuits-verdict-realtors-brokerages-real-estate-agents-home-buying-selling-2023-11">powerful National Association of Realtors</a> called the "clear-cooperation policy," which requires them to list a home on the MLS within one business day of marketing it to the public.Some of the industry's high-profile figures are pushing for the NAR to loosen the rule or get rid of it, which they say would give sellers and their agents more freedom to choose where — and to whom — they advertise their properties. The NAR's top brass are set to consider the change in the coming months.The cynical take is that those in favor of a shake-up — including the leaders of some of the country's largest real-estate brokerages, like Compass and Anywhere Real Estate, the owner of big-name brands like Coldwell Banker and Century 21 — just want to hoard listings on their own websites. As gatekeepers, the thinking goes, they'll be able to lure agents and clients with exclusive access to these properties, growing their businesses and padding their bottom lines. The result would be a more fractured market; instead of going to just Zillow or Realtor.com, a buyer might have to comb through individual brokerages' websites. Agents might be emboldened to share listings among private networks of in-the-know brokers rather than market them to everyone. More homes could trade hands out of view of the average homebuyer."If you were to ask people, 'Should houses be hidden?' most people would say no," Brian Boero, the CEO of 1000Watt, a brand and marketing agency for real-estate companies, told me. "If you asked people, 'Should everybody be able to see the houses that are for sale on the market at any time and have, at least, access to them?' I think most people would say absolutely."It's not quite so cut-and-dried. Opponents of the rule say sellers should be able to market their homes however they see fit, arguing that there are all kinds of reasons someone might not want to list their home on the MLS. And if the goal is a transparent market that prioritizes consumers, the clear-cooperation policy is a flawed tool. It contains a glaring loophole that critics say may have actually pushed more home sales into the shadows.This latest conflict pits Goliath against Goliath, but the stakes are highest for the millions of Davids just trying to put roofs over their heads. The typical buyer wants to see all the homes available, while the typical seller wants a quick sale and a good price. Which kind of housing market will get them there? Both sides claim to know the answer, but their visions for the future of homebuying are miles apart.In the not-so-distant past, MLSes distributed home listings via books — thick, unwieldy tomes that were outdated by the time they made it into a real-estate agent's hands. The introduction of the online MLS around the turn of the century was a revelation, providing a central repository of reliable info on an area's available homes. The system isn't perfect: Access to the MLS is often restricted to licensed agents who pay hundreds of dollars in dues each year to belong to their local, state, and national Realtor associations, on top of MLS fees. Since there are more than 500 local MLSes in the US, an agent might have to pay dues to several of these groups just to see all the homes within an hour's drive of their office. But the databases are still widely considered a model for the rest of the world.While an agent doesn't technically have to participate, the MLS's trove of data is practically a necessity to do the job. And in order to play in the MLS sandbox, you have to follow the MLS rules. About 97% of local MLSes are effectively controlled by the NAR, a trade group with roughly 1.5 million members who pay for the "Realtor" designation and agree to abide by the organization's ethical and professional guidelines. The NAR doesn't own the MLSes directly, but it sets the rules for most of them. Five years ago, the organization's leaders pinpointed a growing problem: Some agents weren't playing fair. They were keeping select listings off the MLS and marketing them on their own websites or among clubby groups of brokers known as private listing networks. The prevalence of so-called pocket listings has always been hard to quantify, but pretty much everyone agrees they were on the rise in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. Redfin estimated that in the second quarter of 2019, about 1.7% of listings, or some 18,000 homes, were likely pocketed. Those homes were marked "sold" or "pending sale" the same day they were put in the MLS — a sign that the transaction may have already been wrapped up in private. Agents promoting pocket listings might argue that they were acting in the best interests of their clients; a seller going through a messy divorce, for example, may prefer a quiet sales process rather than the fanfare of a public listing. The MLS also displays information that may not be favorable to a seller. It shows the number of days a home has been on the market and keeps track of price cuts, offering buyers leverage points that would never be found on a listing broker's website. There are, of course, self-serving reasons an agent might prefer to advertise a home off the MLS. If they find an unrepresented buyer, they may be able to pocket the portion of the commission that would have otherwise gone to the buyer's agent, upping their haul from the sale to, say, 6% instead of the typical 3%. Belonging to private listing networks could also help drum up business: Work with me, an agent could tell a buyer, and you'll get access to all these listings that Joe Schmo at XYZ Brokerage doesn't even know about. Indeed, Top Agent Network, a destination for high-achieving brokers to share "not-yet-on-MLS properties" with each other, claims on its website that agents can help buyers find their dream homes "by staying ahead of the market."The whole point of the MLS, though, is to have all listings in one place for everyone to find — the system falls apart if agents get to pick and choose which ones to contribute. The NAR's answer to this chaos was the clear-cooperation policy. The rule, which went into effect in May 2020, tightened the screws on agents by requiring them to put a listing on the MLS within one business day of marketing it to the public. For-sale sign in the front yard? Better get it on the MLS pronto. Gush about it on your Facebook page? Clock's ticking. Teasing homes in a private listing network without also posting on the MLS was a no-go.The idea was that any alternative to the MLS would harm both consumers and their agents. A seller risks getting a lower price if there are fewer eyeballs on their listing. A buyer might know of only a fraction of homes for sale at any time, limiting their options. Agents can't make money off shadow listings that they don't even know about. MLSes are also <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bad-real-estate-agents-realtors-homebuyers-sellers-housing-market-2023-7">huge sources of revenue</a> for the many local Realtor associations that own and operate them — the NAR has a direct interest in making sure they remain valuable."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, told me. "And people are hurt, potentially, when we don't do that."The new rule, however, included a loophole. It allows agents to market a home to other agents within their brokerage without sharing it on the MLS, a practice known as "office exclusives." The carveout effectively allows for private gardens within each brokerage, filled with homes you can't find anywhere else. Large brokerages like Compass, which has more than 30,000 agents across the country, can make a pitch to a seller like this: "We'll maintain your privacy by keeping your home off Zillow and test your chosen price across our huge network. We can limit the showings so you don't have random people traipsing through your home. And if you're not satisfied, we can always turn to the MLS later."Today, many large brokerages tout offerings that attempt to capitalize on this state of play. Compass, for instance, will offer to list your home as a "private exclusive" within its brokerage before launching it to the public. Howard Hanna's "Find It First" program allows sellers to "benefit from broad exposure without compromising on control," the company's CEO, Howard Hanna IV, said in a statement. In a lawsuit after the unveiling of the rule, Top Agent Network accused the NAR of privileging large brokerages (which belong to the association) while stamping out the competition from alternatives to the MLS. It complained that the organization's rule was "a transparent attempt at protecting its turf, not helping consumers."The clear-cooperation rule faded into the background as the pandemic upended the industry. But as the market settled and other big changes, like the class-action lawsuits over agent commissions, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/homebuyers-real-estate-revolution-nar-lawsuits-new-rules-realtors-agents-2024-4">reached a resolution</a>, a group led by Compass' CEO, Robert Reffkin, began publicly pressuring the NAR to reconsider clear cooperation. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-housewives-mauricio-umansky-agency-daily-schedule-2022-8">Mauricio Umansky</a>, a celebrity agent and brokerage CEO known for appearing on "Buying Beverly Hills," "Real Housewives," and "Dancing with the Stars," was already part of the opposition to the rule, having sued the NAR over his attempts to start an MLS alternative known as the PLS, or the Property Listing Service. Executives at Anywhere Real Estate, one of the largest brokerage companies in the country, have pushed for the rule to be loosened but not eliminated — one suggestion is to give agents more time to market a home publicly before listing it on the MLS. On the other side, executives at Zillow and Redfin decried the potentially disastrous consequences of a fractured housing market. In a recent op-ed article, Redfin's president and CEO, Glenn Kelman, argued that the end of clear cooperation would allow large brokerages to control more inventory, forcing buyers, sellers, and their agents to flock to big players rather than smaller outfits."The goal in weakening Clear Cooperation is to make being bigger matter — more than being better," Kelman wrote. "That is the law of the jungle, masquerading as freedom."It's not clear, though, that the clear-cooperation rule made things much better for consumers. In a hot market, it's easier for brokers to market a home off the databases and still get it sold. Redfin estimates that in the second quarter of 2021, the share of listings that were likely pocketed increased to 2.8%, or almost 35,000 homes. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-ice-age-higher-home-prices-fewer-sales-inventory-2023-5">The market has since slowed</a>, and Redfin's estimation of pocket listings was down to 1.8% of sales in the second quarter of this year, roughly in line with the same period in 2019. These are imperfect estimates; it's possible for a home to debut on the MLS in the morning and have a sale pending by the end of the day without anything unscrupulous happening. They could also be undercounts, since some homes may never be listed in the MLS at all. Ultimately, the data from one of clear cooperation's biggest advocates doesn't prove that the rule has actually reduced off-MLS sales. What has changed since the rule went into effect is brokerages' eagerness to control access to home listings. Home sales volume has plummeted since the heady days of 2021, which means <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/compass-layoffs-robert-reffkin-housing-market-2023-1">less revenue for the businesses that make their money by taking a cut of their agents' sales commissions</a>. Without clear cooperation, brokerages could drive more traffic to their own websites by publicly advertising homes that aren't available in the MLS or on sites like Zillow. And they could continue to tease office exclusives that are accessible only if you work with their agents.Both sides of this debate can reasonably claim that the industry will face legal trouble if they don't get their way. The Department of Justice, which has been fighting to reopen a wide-ranging investigation into the NAR, has signaled that the organization's control of the MLSes could be anticompetitive, stifling the development of alternative databases. What incentive is there for someone to start an MLS rival, the thinking goes, if basically everyone who uses the new database would still have to put their listings on the MLS anyway? On the other hand, proponents of clear cooperation argue that not showing homes to everybody could run afoul of fair-housing laws designed to ensure that buyers have equal access to the market."The fact that every listing is contributed to the MLS and that every consumer has access to that information is an enormous and overwhelming benefit to support fair housing," Victor Lund, a founder and managing partner of Wav Group, a consulting firm for real-estate companies, told me. "There is too much opportunity for housing discrimination without it."There are a lot of ways this could go. The final call will rest in the hands of top leaders at NAR, whose board will likely mull over the issue at its annual convention in the second week of November. It could be months before a decision, however, especially since it's not clear what kinds of actions the DOJ may take against the organization. NAR leadership could keep clear cooperation as is, repeal it entirely, or revise it in ways that might not even be obvious right now. Several people I spoke with, including Kelman, told me they'd like to see the office-exclusive loophole closed — no more exceptions for agents marketing homes within their brokerages."If you haven't bought a home yet," Kelman told me, "there is nothing more unsettling than seeing a moving van outside a house that never showed up in any of your searches." An imperfect rule, he argued, is better than no rule. Those in Kelman's camp say a housing market without the current version of the MLS would be more divided and more difficult to parse. At the same time, it's impossible to brush aside the criticisms of the rule. There's no guarantee it will remain as it is when the dust settles.The lawsuits over agent commissions last year were seismic, but they were ultimately about the practical matter of consumers' wallets: how much they were paying agents and what they were getting in return. The debate over clear cooperation strikes me as much more existential. Its result will determine the kind of housing market we have in the future. Buckle up.<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/james-rodriguez">James Rodriguez</a> is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Discourse team.

Realtors are fighting over hidden listings. Their battle could make it harder to find a home.

Shares of Anil Ambani-led group firms -- <keyword id="20367971" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="reliance-home-finance" source="keywords">Reliance Home Finance</keyword> Ltd, <keyword id="6360089" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance-Power" source="Orion">Reliance Power</keyword> and <keyword id="46907" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance-Communications" source="Orion">Reliance Communications</keyword> -- hit their <keyword id="10112182" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lower-circuit-limits" source="Orion">lower circuit limits</keyword> on Monday as investors continued to desert the counters after markets regulator <keyword id="19901201" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sebi" source="keywords">Sebi</keyword> barred the industrialist and 24 others from the securities market for five years on charges of diversion of funds from <keyword id="19936674" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance" source="keywords">Reliance</keyword> Home Finance Ltd. The stock of Reliance Power dropped 4.99 per cent to hit the lower circuit limit of Rs 32.73 on the BSE. Shares of Reliance Home Finance Ltd tumbled 4.93 per cent to Rs 4.24 -- the lowest trading permissible limit for the day. Reliance Communications dived 4.92 per cent to touch the lower circuit of Rs 2.32. Reliance Infrastructure also declined 2.90 per cent to Rs 205.55. Shares of Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Power had slumped on Friday also. Sebi has imposed a penalty of Rs 25 crore on Ambani and restrained him from serving as a director or Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) in any listed company or Sebi-registered entity for five years. Besides, a fine ranging Rs 21 crore to Rs 25 crore has been levied on 24 entities. Also, the regulator barred Reliance Home Finance from the securities market for six months and slapped a fine of Rs 6 lakh on it. After receiving multiple complaints alleging the diversion/siphoning of funds of Reliance Home Finance Ltd, Sebi conducted an investigation for the period of FY 2018-19 to ascertain any regulatory violations. In its probe, Sebi found that <keyword id="19902194" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anil-Ambani" source="keywords">Anil Ambani</keyword>, with the help of RHFL's KMPs -- Amit Bapna, Ravindra Sudhalkar and Pinkesh R Shah -- have orchestrated a fraudulent scheme to "siphon off" funds from RHFL by disguising them as loans to entities linked to him. Although the board of directors of RHFL had issued strong directives to stop such lending practices and review corporate loans regularly, the company's management ignored these orders. Sebi, in its 222-page order on Thursday, noted the cavalier approach by the company's management and promoter in approving loans worth hundreds of crores to companies that had little to no assets, cash flow, net worth, or revenue. This suggests a sinister objective behind the 'loans'. The situation becomes even more suspicious when considering that many of these borrowers were closely linked to the promoters of RHFL. Eventually, most of these borrowers failed to repay their loans, causing RHFL to default on its own debt obligations. This led to the company's resolution under the RBI Framework, leaving its public shareholders in a difficult position.

Reliance Home Finance, Reliance Power shares hit lower circuit limits

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Welcome back! A 72-year-old VC investor still runs four marathons a year. He spoke to BI about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/training-tips-for-older-runners-from-72-year-old-marathoner-2024-10">how he fits the training into his busy schedule</a> as he tries to run 100 marathons before he turns 100.In today's big story, a final look at the impact a Harris or Trump presidency <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/election-preview-consumer-outlook-how-trump-harris-housing-taxes-2024-11">will have on your finances</a>.What's on deck:<ul><li>Markets: A survey exclusively shared with BI shows how a slice of Wall Street <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-election-predictions-professional-investor-survey-2024-11">thinks the election will go</a>.</li><li>Tech: Nvidia is replacing Intel in the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intel-struggles-qualcomm-deal-chip-industry-turmoil-2024-9">Dow Jones Industrial Average</a>.</li><li>Business: We spoke to more than 750 people about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cant-find-job-unemployment-applications-retirement-mba-age-competition-openings-2024-11">their struggles finding a job</a>.</li></ul>But first, let's go over it one more time.If this was forwarded to you, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><h3 id="7fa5f018-5b05-4a37-a8dc-d3f89138bcb3">The big story</h3><h2 id="5fd547b9-ec52-41fc-8e08-4f4b27dd8097">The White House and your wallet</h2><div type="image" title="Trump and Harris." height="1743" width="2323" msid="114952573" hostid="261" sizebytes="392138"></div>On the eve of election day, we're offering a final breakdown of how both candidates might affect your wallet.Business Insider ran a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/election-preview-consumer-outlook-how-trump-harris-housing-taxes-2024-11">five-part refresher series</a> last week examining how the policies proposed by Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump impact US consumers.With little middle ground between the two candidates, there are a wide range of implications. Let's get into it:<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/market-impact-presidential-election-scenarios-trump-harris-stocks-bonds-crypto-2024-10">Investing</a>: The corporate tax rate is the major difference between the two sides that'll likely have the biggest impact on markets. Trump's plan to reduce the rate, which stands at 21%, is viewed by most as beneficial for corporate earnings. Harris wants to raise the corporate tax rate, which would likely have the opposite effect.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-expensive-goods-price-impact-presidential-election-scenarios-trump-harris-2024-10">Cost of things</a>: Both candidates are looking to keep leveraging tariffs, but Trump's policy is much more aggressive. His broad-based 10%-to-20% tariff on most imported goods will ultimately make those products more expensive, according to most economists. When it comes to grocery prices, Trump previously said he'd restrict food imports to boost local farmers. Harris wants a federal ban on price gouging, but that'd only be applicable during national emergencies.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-affordability-supply-impact-presidential-election-scenarios-homebuyers-harris-trump-2024-10">Housing</a>: Harris wants to boost construction, with a goal of adding 3 million new housing units during her first term. The former president views his immigration plan — deporting millions of people from the country — as a way to address the housing shortage. Banning mortgages for immigrants living in the US illegally is another way to lower demand, according to Trump.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tax-cut-tariff-plan-outlook-presidential-election-scenarios-harris-trump-2024-10">Taxes</a>: Trump is expected to expand on the tax cuts he established in 2017. The highest earners in the country, those in the top 0.1%, would see a tax reduction of nearly $280,000 whereas middle-income Americans would get a $1,000 break on their taxes, according to one analysis. Harris' proposals will favor lower-income earners, although she's promised to not raise taxes for anyone making below $400,000. She does support a minimum income tax for billionaires.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/childcare-costs-presidential-election-scenarios-parents-paid-leave-harris-trump-2024-10">Childcare</a>: Both candidates have discussed increasing the amount of the child tax credit, which currently provides up to $2,000 per child. Harris has also zeroed in on childcare costs, promising to cap those expenses at no more than 7% of families' income. Neither candidate has suggested funding childcare facilities or boosting hiring, which is a key issue for the industry.<h3 id="77f31a4c-8462-4e3d-a71f-838cb79493fb">News brief</h3><h2 id="1fcd294b-3f53-425f-9f20-4093e8623b59">Top headlines</h2><ul><li>Harris leads Trump by three points in a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/harris-trump-iowa-polling-lead-swing-states-2024-11">new poll in GOP-leaning Iowa</a>.</li><li>TGI Friday's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tgi-fridays-files-for-bankruptcy-2024-11">filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy</a>.</li><li>Scoop: Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle brand Goop <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gwyneth-paltrow-goop-lays-off-employees-pivot-beauty-food-fashion-2024-11">conducted another round of layoffs</a>.</li><li>In an all-hands, Intel CEO addresses employee concerns about <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intel-chips-act-funding-all-hands-meeting-2024-11">the US election and CHIPS Act funding</a>.</li><li>WATCH: How Elon Musk is reshaping American politics. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-reshaping-american-politics-ahead-of-2024-elections-2024-11">A conversation with Politico and BI</a>.</li><li>How a free meal cost an investor <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-a-free-meal-cost-an-investor-his-retirement-savings-2024-10">his retirement savings</a>.</li><li>The China threat and the EV slowdown — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/auto-industry-faces-trouble-in-china-ev-slowdown-2024-11">2 takeaways from a busy few weeks in auto news</a>.</li><li>Record producer Quincy Jones has <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quincy-jones-dead-obituary-2024-11">died at 91 in his home in Bel Air</a>.</li><li>The US dollar is jittery, and it's not <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/us-dollar-presidential-election-fed-interest-rates-china-npc-stimulus-2024-11">only because of the presidential election</a>.</li><li>The Navy's top ballistic missile interceptor comes with a heavy price tag, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-top-interceptor-missile-heavy-price-tag-low-procurement-2024-10">but the US can't afford to go to war without it</a>.</li></ul><h2 id="8120060b-ae66-48dc-b149-f0489a30ffa2">3 things in markets</h2><div type="image" title="Photo of Wall Street with American flags" height="1333" width="2000" msid="114952577" hostid="261" sizebytes="241826"></div><ol><li>These investors give the slight edge to Trump. A survey of some of SumZero's investor community, which includes small hedge funds and family offices, found 53% believe <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-election-predictions-professional-investor-survey-2024-11">Trump will win the election</a>. That follows other signals the finance world is sending that it views Trump as the favorite, including European stocks trading at a discount due to concerns over tariffs.</li><li>Interest rate cuts are back. The Fed will announce Thursday what it plans to do with rates, with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interest-rate-cuts-federal-reserve-election-jerome-powell-inflation-jobs-2024-11">most traders expecting a 25-basis-point cut</a>. After that, there's one more chance for the Fed to cut rates in December, although JPMorgan's strategy chief said a Trump win <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-win-fed-pause-rate-cuts-easing-jpmorgan-david-kelly-2024-11">could give the central bank pause</a>.</li><li>Wall Street analysts are scratching their heads over Comcast's potential reorg. The company's president suggested it might spin out CNBC and MSNBC into a new firm while retaining NBC and adding a partner to its steamer. On paper the move makes sense, but analysts question how the cable networks could survive by themselves and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/comcast-cable-network-spinoff-peacock-partnership-deal-wall-street-analysis-2024-11">who would be willing to team up with Peacock</a>.</li></ol><h2 id="f4b54806-7f81-450c-ba32-92560d4fae9b">3 things in tech</h2><div type="image" title="Jensen Huang" height="3526" width="5289" msid="114952576" hostid="261" sizebytes="532426"></div><ol><li>A monumental swap. S&amp;P Dow Jones Indices announced Nvidia will replace Intel in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index, which looks to project the most relevant picture of the US economy. It shows <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intel-struggles-qualcomm-deal-chip-industry-turmoil-2024-9">how far Intel has fallen from relevancy</a>, and raises questions about the future role it'll play in computing and AI. BI's Emma Cosgrove explains <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-nvidia-replacing-intel-dow-jones-industrial-average-explained-2024-11">why it's such a big deal</a>.</li><li>Everything we know about the Apple Intelligence rollout. Some of Apple's long-awaited AI features rolled out last week, including a new Siri interface and enhanced Messages. However, other features unveiled at WWDC in June won't be available until 2025. We've got <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-intelligence-features-rollout-timeline-iphone-16-2024-9">an estimated timeline of the rest of the releases</a>, based on what Apple experts and the company have said since WWDC.</li><li>Some Democratic political advertisers are still betting on X. Though Musk's ownership has shifted the platform's political stance, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/democratic-political-advertisers-using-elon-musk-x-twitter-2024-11">a small number of Democratic ad campaigns still see opportunity</a>. Montana Sen. Jon Tester and Texas Rep. Colin Allred are among the Democrats still hanging on tight to X.</li></ol><h2 id="9260fa45-d397-4b3c-b4f8-4bb193976216">3 things in business</h2><div type="image" title="Fish with price tags." height="3000" width="4000" msid="114952579" hostid="261" sizebytes="975922"></div><ol><li>Endless options are ruining e-commerce. The allure of online shopping was the ability to compare a variety of options from the comfort of your home. But what happens when there are literally tens of thousands of products to choose from? Information overload, choice paralysis, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/online-shopping-ecommerce-comparison-burnout-too-many-choices-overwhelming-decision-2024-11">extremely frustrated shoppers</a>.</li><li>The great American shoplifting spree. Regular Americans are shoplifting everything from tape measures to blocks of cheese, and they don't feel particularly bad about it. Some of these opportunists view it as a way of fighting back against <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/middle-class-shoplifting-retail-theft-crime-stealing-stores-2024-11">goods that are unjustly expensive</a>.</li><li>The biggest woes of finding work. BI spoke to over 750 people who have struggled to find a job, from older workers just shy of retirement to eager recent graduates. They shared what they're most frustrated with, including fake job postings, competition from AI, and the feeling of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cant-find-job-unemployment-applications-retirement-mba-age-competition-openings-2024-11">being shut out from some careers</a>.</li></ol><h2 id="9f5d80ac-3466-429f-a50a-2ffbb70c65ff">What's happening today</h2><ul><li>Fox Corp, Goodyear, Marriott, and other companies report earnings.</li><li>Boeing's unionized workers vote on a new pay offer.</li></ul>The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Amanda Yen, fellow, in New York. Milan Sehmbi, fellow, in London.

Here's a final breakdown of how both presidential candidates might affect your finances 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Gen Z'er Teddy Sheehan always wanted to become a plumber by trade.</li><li>When he was 15, he and his dad devised an ingenious plan to attract the attention of a potential boss.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Teddy Sheehan, 21, an apprentice plumber. It has been edited for length and clarity.If everything goes to plan, I'll become a fully <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teacher-turned-plumbing-apprentice-career-switch-pandemic-2022-2">certified plumber</a> next summer at the age of 22.I've been an apprentice since September 2019, working four days a week for a small business in my <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/british-cities-compared-to-american-cities-with-the-same-name">home city of Birmingham, England</a>. The other day, I'm in technical college, learning more about the trade and studying for my qualifications.It's part practical and part theory. At the moment, I'm in a workshop doing installments of boilers and hot water cylinders.When I started the course at 16, my tutor was taken aback. I was the only student out of 25 who'd already got a paid position. Plumbing is a competitive career and the others were still looking for jobs.They asked me how I'd got the apprenticeship, and I had to smile. I did things a bit differently by thinking outside the box.I decided I wanted to be a plumber after doing some work experience during the British equivalent of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/college-gap-year-decision-pros-cons-2024-9">10th grade in high school</a>. I shadowed a family friend who had done the gas engineering at my parents' house.<h2 id="fe37fb66-d8b0-4ab1-82c7-f46ae2dfe301">Plumbing offers job stability</h2>I've always been handy and was also thinking about carpentry, bricklaying, or becoming an electrician. But during that week, I got real satisfaction from fixing plumbing connections and putting in fittings.It felt rewarding to be called by a customer at 8 a.m. and have their heat and hot water back up and running by midday. I also enjoyed the teamwork with the other guys.Unfortunately, they couldn't <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sheet-metal-apprentice-unknown-calling-apprenticeship-opportunities-2022-1">offer me an apprenticeship</a> because the boss was winding down the business. But I was determined to get into the industry. It had stability because people always need plumbers, especially commercial ones who serve places like offices and hotels.The average salary is about $45,000 annually. And, if you go on to run your own company, you could be earning as much as $60,000.I knew I was leaving school at 16 in July 2019 after completing my final exams. So, in April of that year, when I was still 15, I brainstormed with my dad about how to get a job.<div type="image" title="An apprentice plumber uses a wrench in a workshop." height="2268" width="3024" msid="113885619" hostid="261" sizebytes="231260"></div>We wanted me to stand out from the crowd and get noticed. We asked ourselves what workmen like and came up with hot breakfasts. Getting their attention through their stomachs seemed like a good strategy. And where do you find plumbers? Plumbers' merchants, where they buy their supplies.Dad and I made a list of hardware stores that mostly catered to tradespeople. They were all within a 10-mile radius of our house. Then, we laminated 200 <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/things-to-remove-from-resume-2016-11">copies of my résumé </a>— which included my work experience — to distribute both inside and outside the merchants.Every night for a week, Dad and I prepared giant-size <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/review-british-sausage-rolls-holiday-party-2022-12">pigs in a blanket</a>. We listened to playlists in the kitchen while we put together the sausage meat and pastry. Then, at around 5:30 a.m. the next day, we'd bake the batch of around 45 breakfast snacks in the oven.We kept them warm in insulator containers and drove to each plumber merchant, starting at 7 a.m. We'd give some to the merchants and ask if we could put my résumé on the counter. Then, as the plumbers came out of the store, we'd given them a pig in a blanket and a CV. We'd go to three different stores every morning.<h2 id="6a5b08e0-398e-4bf4-b913-524cc34fd982">The tactic was a solid investment</h2>I was shy at first, but after a while, I felt more confident and would chat about wanting a job. "It's good to see young people going out there trying to make a name for themselves," one plumber said as he ate the snack and put my CV in his van. "If I needed an apprentice, I'd hire you in a heartbeat," another said.The tactic worked. It didn't take long before the head of a commercial plumbing company called me on my cellphone. He'd gotten hold of my résumé. "I admire you for showing initiative," he said. Apparently, I'd become famous in the plumbing community as "the kid with the pigs in a blanket."He gave me a week's trial and then offered me the job. I was relieved to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/son-heading-to-college-fall-behaving-badly-2024-7">start college that fall</a>, knowing I was already earning a salary. Those free breakfasts had been a solid investment,I work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and get five weeks of vacation a year. I love what I do, and my family — especially my dad— is very proud of me.Do you have an interesting story to share with Business Insider about how you got a job? Please send details to <a target="_blank" href="mailto:jridley@insider.com">jridley@businessinsider.com</a>

I got my first job by giving away home-cooked breakfast with my resumé. I was 15 at the time.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri prioritizes diversity, equity, and inclusion.</li><li>Neri's DEI focus contrasts with companies like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-layoffs-dei-leader-email-2024-7">Microsoft</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/john-deere-ditches-dei-policies-conservative-activists-lgbtq-pride-pronoun-2024-7">John Deere</a> reducing such efforts.</li></ul>Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri started his career at the company as a "Customer Service Engineer" in a call center nearly 30 years ago. Today, that experience informs his commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion."Intentionality is important," Neri said in a recent interview with Business Insider.HPE has a workforce of more than 62,000 — double the size of Nvidia's, but it has nowhere near the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-stock-price-earnings-party-investors-cult-investing-memes-2024-9">name recognition</a>, especially since it split off from HP in 2015. HP makes computer printers for homes and offices. HPE provides data center and cloud service services and technology to businesses.Focusing on company culture was number two on Neri's list of top three priorities across the company this year, he told BI, and diversity plays a big part. (Innovation was number one).That sets him apart in the fast-shifting climate for corporate DEI. The list of companies ranking DEI that high may be shrinking. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-layoffs-dei-leader-email-2024-7">Microsoft</a> laid off one of its diversity, equity, and inclusion teams earlier this year, citing "changing business needs."In August, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-cutting-dei-activist-backlash-harley-davidson-deere-tractor-supply-2024-8">Harley Davidson</a> announced an end to its effort to buy from diverse suppliers, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/john-deere-ditches-dei-policies-conservative-activists-lgbtq-pride-pronoun-2024-7">John Deere</a> said in July it would not "participate in or support external social or cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events."A survey by the executive search firm Bridge Partners of 400 C-suite and HR leaders at companies with either at least $25 million in revenue or 250 employees found that the number of employers who said they had increased their DEI investments in the past year dropped to 66% in 2024 from 77% in 2023. Roughly one in four executives expressed a belief that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-data-driven-strategies-tools-refine-dei-belonging-efforts-decisions-2024-10">DEI programs were a fad</a>."My first job at HP was in a call center where we had 21 different languages and probably 40 different nationalities and every gender — every presence you can imagine," Neri said. "That was a fun place to work and we were a very high-performance team. So, to me, this is a natural way to do things," he continued.When he took over the CEO job in 2018, all 12 of Neri's direct reports were male. It took seven years, but that group is now 50% female and so is HPE's board. Across the company, women hold nearly 28% of director-level or above positions, according to the company's 2023 ESG report.Neri said he addresses DEI initiatives at the company in internal quarterly leadership discussions and company surveys multiple times a year. He's received no pushback on the company's efforts in this area, he said. On top of diversifying hiring, Neri likes to see employees moving up the ranks relatively fast."We need to look for the diamond in the rough in order to challenge people to continue to grow," he said. The younger generations, he said are often more "restless" for challenge.HPE measures and rewards managers based on the diversity of their hiring, retention, and promotion of employees — especially at higher levels.Letting employees coast in their comfort zones isn't on the agenda. In fact, he credits his rise to CEO in part to people who recognized his talent early on and pushed him into promotions he wasn't necessarily looking for.<h2 id="377dd04a-d95a-4a57-bac1-8797746cfffd">The CEO role has changed</h2>The 57-year-old CEO wants a diverse workforce that stays with the company and moves up the ranks. And those goals are baked into managers' performance metrics."Ultimately it's a part of succession planning. Who's going to be the next CEO down the road? It could be somebody from inside," Neri said.Neri took over the top spot at HPE from Meg Whitman, formerly CEO of eBay and current US ambassador to Kenya, seven years ago, and he said his experience of the job is very different from hers."The role of CEO has changed dramatically from what we knew a decade ago," Neri said. CEOs are asked to take positions now on issues that matter to employees.He wants to hear strong opinions internally too, he said, and he's not afraid to follow them and fail fast when it comes to innovation. "I need people to have an opinion. If you're sitting on the sideline, that means you're you're not contributing your best," he said.

Why one cloud CEO is redoubling DEI initiatives as some companies waver

Builders have too many new homes on their hands.Thanks to a construction boom years in the making, homebuilders are sitting on more newly completed homes than at any point since 2009, when the market was reeling from the global financial crisis. Despite the hefty ready-to-sell supply, a sizable chunk of those homes may never be sold to regular buyers. That strange reality says a lot about the hurdles for would-be homeowners right now.Both builders and buyers find themselves in a tricky position. Prices have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/mortgages/home-prices-drop">continued their climb</a> in most of the country. Mortgage rates dropped steadily over the summer, but that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/mortgages/how-does-fed-impact-mortgage-rates">turned out to be a head fake</a> — in the span of a month, the typical rate for a 30-year loan increased by almost a full percentage point, and could rise further. Throwing down for a starter home is about 45% more expensive than renting, a far wider gap than the historical average of about 15%, according to monthly expense data tracked by John Burns Research and Consulting. Builders, meanwhile, are luring buyers with some perks but are barely budging on prices. That's partly because these companies have another place to turn: the rental market.Given the strong demand for rentals and a tough sales market, some builders are choosing to convert for-sale homes into rentals or offload inventory to investors who specialize in single-family-home rentals. Opportunistic investors — mostly small and midsize players, who own the vast majority of single-family rentals in the country — are happy to oblige.Four walls and a backyard are still the bedrock of the American dream. For those who can't afford to buy a house (or don't want to right now), the only option is to rent. That simple fact gives builders some breathing room, but it also means that a glut of new homes may not deliver the price cuts buyers have been anxiously awaiting.A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-outlook-forecast-mortgage-rates-homebuilding-inventory-prices-2024-2023-12">golden run for homebuilders</a> is drawing to a close. When rising mortgage rates <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-mortgage-rates-outlook-home-prices-affordability-wealth-gap-2024-3">trapped many would-be sellers</a> in their homes two years ago, builders turned out to be the big winners — if you wanted to buy a home, your <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/house-construction-building-boom-last-hope-new-homebuyers-housing-market-2023-7">best bet was probably new construction</a>. One economist told me last year that builders were "the only game in town" in some areas. Builders not only offered a welcome alternative to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-ice-age-higher-home-prices-fewer-sales-inventory-2023-5">frozen resale market</a> but could cut deals to make their homes even more appealing to the average buyer: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/homebuilders-turn-to-mortgage-rate-buydowns-as-affordability-sours-2022-12">Mortgage-rate buydowns</a>, in which the builder pays the lender up front in exchange for lowering the buyer's loan rate, can save a new homeowner hundreds of dollars each month.Now, even with the freebies, builders are selling homes at a slower-than-expected pace as buyers grapple with worsening affordability, sharp swings in mortgage rates, and general uncertainty — people would rather sit on the fence than leap into a market with so many unknowns. With slower sales across the board, the number of homes on the market has climbed. There were 108,000 finished homes for sale at the end of September, some 48% more than at the same point a year ago. There were 258,000 homes under construction but not yet sold, another sizable figure — at the same point in 2019, there were about 194,000. Builders surveyed by John Burns Research and Consulting said they had an average of about 2.5 unsold homes in each of their communities in October, representing a 47% increase from a year ago. In October 2021, they reported only 0.4 unsold homes per community. Some of this increase is by design. Companies are building more homes "on spec," or before they have a buyer, to shorten timelines and compete directly with the resale market. But there's no question that builders have hit a snag.The answer might seem obvious: Cut prices! But builders will "try a lot of other things first," says Keith Hughes, an executive at the housing research firm Zonda. "And we're not seeing drastic price drops virtually anywhere." Buyers may not be flooding the market, but there are fewer homes out there, too. The number of available homes for sale at the end of October, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://Realtor.com">Realtor.com</a>, was about 21% lower than in the same month in 2019. Builders looking to move their product lean heavily on incentives — Lennar, one of the largest homebuilders in the country, said that the average sales incentives per home amounted to $48,100 from June through August, compared with $36,400 a year earlier. Builders are also completing smaller floor plans to match the needs of cost-conscious consumers.Builders have another fallback: the rental market. Over the past decade, homebuilders have forged relationships with companies that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/single-family-rental-investor-conference-buying-more-homes-2021-12">purchase thousands of single-family homes</a> and manage them as rentals — if a builder were looking to move a portfolio of homes, they might find a willing buyer in a company like Pretium, which owns nearly 100,000 homes, or Invitation Homes, which manages a portfolio of more than 85,000 homes. Builders have also started <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-single-family-rental-build-to-rent-houses-finance-2021-7">developing entire communities of single-family homes</a> to be rented out rather than sold, a strategy known as build-for-rent. The idea is to meet the demand of renters who want their piece of the American dream — a home with a yard in a safe neighborhood with good schools — but either can't make a purchase or don't want to. Builders can sell to a guaranteed buyer willing to purchase in bulk or hold on to the homes and enjoy the steady returns of rental income. Given these advantages, the build-to-rent pipeline has become robust. D.R. Horton, the nation's biggest homebuilder, recently said it had about $800 million worth of single-family-rental property on its balance sheet, consisting of 3,140 homes and about 1,900 lots on which it can build more. Invitation Homes, one of the largest owners of single-family rentals, recently said it expected to purchase nearly 2,500 homes in the next couple of years from builders in places like Tampa, Florida; the Carolinas; and Houston.Owners of single-family rentals have been around forever, but large, sophisticated SFR companies <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/single-family-rental-companies-institutional-backers-homes-wall-street-2020-12">arrived after the financial crisis in 2008</a>, when investors began raising billions of dollars to pick up homes on the cheap. Now these companies represent a "new category of buyers that would really help a builder during a downturn unload some inventory," John Burns, of John Burns Research and Consulting, said in a recent podcast with Don Mullen, the CEO of Pretium. "And you're playing that out right now, you're already doing that."But big companies actually <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/average-americans-beating-wall-street-new-homes-real-estate-homebuying-2023-11">own a small fraction of all single-family rental homes</a>, and they've been much more selective with their purchases as higher interest rates have made it tougher to get strong returns on their investments. The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mom-and-pop-landlords-homeownership-rent-wall-street-corporate-investors-2024-7">most active buyers right now are small and midsize investors</a> who own anywhere from a handful of homes to several hundred. With builders sitting on more homes, these investors are sniffing around for deals."I think investors are more or less saying to themselves, we're providing a solution here for builders, and that solution is inventory management and getting out of inventory that otherwise they're having trouble selling," says Adam Stern, the founder and CEO of Strata SFR, a real-estate brokerage focused on single-family rentals and build-to-rent homes. "We're that exit option."Data from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forecasa.com/">Forecasa</a>, a real-estate analytics firm, indicates investors purchased 3% to 5% of homes sold by builders in the past three months. That may not sound like much, but a year ago that number was closer to 1%. Some builders have recently been shuttling about 10% of their inventory to investors. Even then, these numbers may be undercounts, since some amateur rental owners may not be buying through the kinds of legal entities that tip off analysts to investor purchases."It may seem like a small percentage, but if you think about just the sheer volume of properties that are being moved, it's a fairly large number, especially because it's growing," says Sean Morgan, the CEO of Forecasa.Investors have mostly focused on Sun Belt markets like Nashville and Dallas in the lower half of the US, where new construction is most plentiful. Builders may offer a slight discount, but they get something valuable in return: homes off their balance sheets. Builders often take on loans of 12 to 24 months to construct homes — before time is up, they have to either find a buyer or get a new loan. Local and regional builders are more likely to feel the squeeze than a national company like D.R. Horton, which can afford to keep homes on its books longer. When builders are staring down that ticking clock, "investors are natural buyers," says Alex Offutt, the CEO of Business Purpose Capital, a capital provider for long-term investor loans. Builders don't even have to sell, though. Another route is to get a new long-term loan based on the rental income the properties will generate, then find tenants for the homes and wait to sell when the market is more favorable. Both Offutt and Ray Sturm, a managing partner of Tower1, which offers financing for residential lenders, tell me they've been having more conversations with builders and their lenders who are seeking out this option."They know if they work on a rental campaign, they've got an exit," Sturm says. "It's early, but it's bigger than I thought."This isn't the ideal scenario for most builders, especially since many aren't well versed in the minutiae of managing rental properties. But it could become another valuable off-ramp if they have trouble unloading homes.Most homebuilders are a long way from hitting the panic button. There's still a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-housing-affordability-home-shortage-market-construction-population-cities-zillow-2024-6">national housing shortage</a>, even if there's a short-term oversupply in some places, and builders are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-ice-age-homebuyers-mortgage-rates-spring-real-estate-2024-10">looking ahead to the spring buying season</a> as the true tell of where things are headed. Their embrace of the rental market says more about the obstacles for buyers than for builders. Prices and borrowing rates haven't provided relief for those looking to make a purchase. People who already own homes are reluctant to sell and move up, which means they're not freeing up the starter homes that first-time buyers crave. Would-be buyers have nowhere else to turn but the rental market — Redfin estimates that the number of renter households is growing three times as fast as homeowner households.The housing market "is in limbo," says Selma Hepp, the chief economist at the real-estate data firm CoreLogic. "It's sitting on the sidelines. It's waiting."<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/james-rodriguez">James Rodriguez</a> is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Discourse team.

How investors are about to profit from a tidal wave of new homes

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-residents-moving-leaving-climate-change-refugees-hurricanes-flood-2023-2">climate crisis</a> is an often-hidden financial risk when buying a house.</li><li>A few online tools can help you assess that risk and possible costs by address.</li></ul>If you're <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-man-refused-leave-hurricane-proof-home-basically-unharmed-milton-2024-10">shopping for a house</a>, you're probably thinking ahead and planning for your future.Here's the thing, though: By the end of a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/mortgages/will-mortgage-rates-go-down-this-year">30-year mortgage</a>, you'll be living on a pretty different planet.Even if companies and governments across the world make some drastic changes — and that's a big "if" — humanity's carbon emissions have already locked in some additional warming for decades to come. That means more intense and sometimes more frequent floods, wildfires, hurricanes, winter storms, and other forms of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-outlook-analysis-prices-rising-extreme-weather-risk-jpmorgan-2024-2">extreme weather</a>.You and your house could suffer everything from headaches and declining <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-higher-home-prices-climate-change-air-quality-impact-2024-2">property value</a> to giant bills and life-threatening events.That's why it's important to take stock of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-housing-market-prediction-sun-belt-climate-change-zelman-2024-7">climate risks your home faces</a> in the coming decades.It's impossible to know exactly what will happen, but a few <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tool-determines-home-climate-risk-heat-wind-bad-air-2024-3">online tools</a> can give you an idea of the risks — as well as the costs you could incur and what you can do about it — depending on which house you buy.<h2 id="f72716a3-6428-4f34-94f8-2f3ebf4d7693">Learn about the possible damages</h2>The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zillow-gone-wild-weird-unique-houses-homes-hot-homebuying-selling-2024-7">most popular real-estate website</a> in the US, Zillow, has a new feature to peer into the potential climate future of each listing. The new "climate risks" tool shows <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/map-shows-united-states-extreme-heat-belt-study-2022-8">how many days of extreme heat</a> and unhealthy air quality a property is expected to see over the next 30 years, assuming humanity is on track to stabilize climate change by 2100. The tool also shows the likelihood of more destructive events: floods, wildfires, and windstorms.<div type="image" title="group of people watch wildfire burning home in the hills with palm trees" height="1771" width="2500" msid="114374425" hostid="261" sizebytes="281278"></div>These assessments come from First Street, a former nonprofit that became a for-profit company this year, which uses computer models to quantify certain weather and climate risks for individual properties. First Street says it incorporates a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/maui-wildfires-lahaina-wooden-house-spared-among-rubble-2023-8">building's specific structural characteristics</a>, as well as local infrastructure like roads and utilities."If you don't take stock of the climate risk specifically, you could be in over your head," Jeremy Porter, the head of climate implications research at First Street, told Business Insider.For example, if the cost of flood or wildfire insurance spikes as it already has in places like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/homeowners-california-florida-insurance-issues-natural-disasters-wildfires-hurricanes-2023-10">Florida and California</a>, "all of a sudden your household budget doesn't make any sense for the property that you ended up buying," he said.The new Zillow tool also makes recommendations about insurance based on First Street's analysis.To dive even deeper, you can go to First Street's website and get a free trial of its paid service, which shows ballpark estimates of how much a flood or fire could cost you, expected cooling costs, and projections of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-insurance-hurricanes-extreme-weather-relocate-to-ocala-2023-10">insurance prices</a>. You can also toggle certain renovations to see how they impact those costs.<h2 id="0eef8ad3-480e-4072-aadf-cb64222742c5">Remember those estimates aren't a crystal ball</h2>Climate-science experts outside the company have some reservations about First Street's flood and wildfire estimates, though.Michael Wara, a senior research scholar at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://heatmap.news/guides/zillow-climate-risk-flooding-fire">Heatmap News</a> to take First Street's calculations with "a lot of grains of salt."Heatmap reported that First Street probably underestimates <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-wildfire-burns-multimillion-dollar-homes-in-california-orange-county-2022-5">wildfire risk</a> in wildfire-prone areas and that flood risk is very difficult to accurately model. You can try to cross-check flood risk with other sources like seeing if the town or city has flood maps available."Everything that we're offering are probabilistic risk estimates," Porter said."I think that just in general, the models give you a pretty good indication of which properties are riskier than other properties," he added.<h2 id="ea2c710b-3a7a-45fe-b58f-971596d4b019">Then check local building codes…</h2>Once you know the climate risks, you can assess <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-why-some-homes-survive-hurricanes-lessons-homeowners-2024-10">how well a property is built</a> to withstand them.<div type="image" title="slumping one-story grey and wood panel house with panels ripped away next to a standing yellow house" height="1500" width="2249" msid="114374424" hostid="261" sizebytes="407800"></div>A good indicator of that is the local building code and whether the house is built to its standards. The Federal Alliance for Safe Homes has a tool for checking that at <a target="_blank" href="http://inspecttoprotect.org">inspecttoprotect.org</a>.Not only does FLASH rate the local building code, but the tool also shows information about the area's past <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-how-profit-natural-disasters-hurricanes-wildfires-storms-investors-2023-8">natural disasters</a> and suggests upgrades.<h2 id="03112be6-cab7-49c5-9eed-55cc34037179">... and consider renovations</h2>In the FLASH tool, you can select the year a house was built to see what <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiny-home-renovation-old-abandoned-cottage-scotland-before-after-photos-2022-7">renovations</a> would strengthen it against different natural disasters. Each upgrade has a cost and impact rating.Taking matters into your own hands could make a big difference because, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/risk-management/building-science/bcat#:~:text=FEMA%20tracks%20the%20building%20code,simply%20by%20its%20acronym%2C%20BCAT.">according</a> to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, only about one-third of US jurisdictions have adopted up-to-date codes to match their natural hazards.Even then, building codes are often designed to protect the lives of people inside the house, but not necessarily to prevent <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-homeowner-milton-tearing-through-neighborhood-cant-sleep-2024-10">expensive property damage</a>."You got to at least have a good building code, but that's a starting point. It's not your gold standard, it's your minimum," Leslie Chapman-Henderson, FLASH's president and CEO, told BI.In some cases, renovations and upgrades can even help lower your insurance costs.

Before buying a home, check this hidden financial risk

Last summer, when I told my then-girlfriend that I had just hired a real-estate agent to help me buy an apartment, her response annoyed me: "Sounds like a scam."I didn't understand her suspicions. She had never purchased a home, and as a lawyer, I just assumed I knew how the system worked: The buyer has an agent, but the seller pays a commission (typically 6% of the sale price) that's split between their agent and the buyer's agent. So it's like I get free help to guide me through the morass of homebuying.I quickly learned how foolish I was, and how right she was. Three months later, when I bought my Brooklyn apartment, I ended up being my own agent. In the coming years, with real-estate agents facing pressure from sites like Zillow and from the National Association of Realtors' agreeing to an industry-shifting <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/national-association-realtors-lawsuit-settlement-housing-market-homebuying-agents-commissions-2024-3">$418 million price-fixing settlement</a> in March, it's likely that a lot more people will do what I did and represent themselves. That's because commission splitting may soon be a thing of the past.If you're thinking about buying a home, ask yourself the following three questions: Do you have an internet connection? Do you have at least a seventh-grade reading level? Do you like saving money? If you answer yes to all three, you're in fantastic shape to be your own agent.I wish someone had told me this before my house-hunting journey began.The thought of buying a home has always terrified me, but as New York City <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apartment-rent-increases-landlords-antitrust-lawsuits-real-estate-software-realpage-2024-4">rents</a> were ticking up by the millisecond in a historic housing crisis, I felt like it was now or never.For months I searched on my own, first zeroing in on my ideal neighborhood and then fumbling through the harrowing math exercise of deciding just what my price limit was. I even made custom maps on StreetEasy, plotting down to the block where I envisioned my future life.But having grown up hearing the NYC apartment market likened to the Hunger Games, I had no idea how to actually go from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-mistake-buyers-sellers-mortgage-rates-time-to-buy-2024-3">looking to buying</a>, and — I thought at the time — I desperately needed help. So when a close friend vouched for an agent who had represented her in several deals, I was ecstatic.Then I met my agent, and things began to feel off.The best part of having an agent was realizing just how much I had already figured out on my own. He said he'd want to know what my "requirements" and "nice to haves" were, so I made a chart, listing dozens of items. At least 900 square feet: requirement. In-building gym: nice to have. In-unit laundry: really nice to have. Looking at the list and the map, the agent told me what I'd known months before meeting him: "You might need to be more flexible." Strike one for Captain Obvious. But also: Wasn't an agent there for my pickiness? I knew that what I wanted was at the very outer limit of my budget, especially at a time with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-agent-commissions-steering-hiding-homes-housing-market-lawsuits-2024-3">record-low inventory</a>. But my list of "must haves" truly were the things I needed for buying an apartment to make sense. The list was already a small fraction of what I would have written when I started looking (farewell, pipe dreams of river views and sprawling private decks). And where I looked had already expanded far beyond the spots I ideally wanted. I wasn't asking for the impossible, just something very particular and very hard to find. Wasn't that the whole point of having an agent, someone paid to pluck for you your <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/baby-boomers-millennials-large-homes-inventory-affordability-election-2024-4">personal paradise</a> from the endless haystack of units you don't want or can't afford?Rather than find this magical listing, however, my agent went into sales mode, trying to explain to me why I should settle for places I had already ruled out. He was always very responsive and polite (until he wasn't, more on that later), sending me leads as soon as he saw something promising come on the market. But with a few exceptions, the "leads" my agent "found" were always things I'd already seen on StreetEasy, sometimes weeks earlier. Strike two.In fairness, all agents have a disadvantage here, because the internet has come to democratize homebuying. For many years, even though sites like Realtor.com existed, buyers were at the mercy of agents to know what was for sale. This was because, a 2005 antitrust lawsuit from the US Department of Justice lays out, Realtors used their control of the listing services to strangle the nascent online housing market and punish agents who listed homes publicly. All that ended in 2008, when a massive settlement opened up the floodgates of public listings. These days, most agents largely have the same listings the rest of us do.So my agent wasn't going to find me my <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-cant-millennials-buy-homes-first-time-buyers-mortgage-rates-2023-12">dream house</a>, and the work of hunting was basically on me. But I still needed his expertise to vet the apartment and negotiate a deal that would surely come with reams of byzantine paperwork. Didn't I?According to Stephen Brobeck, a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America, many of us don't. Homebuying, he says, is "not rocket science." But the real-estate industry has made it hard for many buyers to understand just how little having an agent can help. "I call it the 'Alice in Wonderland' world, because things are not as they seem. And when you understand them, they don't make much sense."For me, I finally climbed out of the rabbit hole and woke up when my agent led me into a bidding war.The apartment was bright, airy, just a few blocks from McCarren Park, and more than 1,200 square feet — practically a mansion by Williamsburg standards. But there were worrying signs. The unit's bottom floor was below street level, and the block itself was in a flood zone. After touring the unit with the agent, I had a bunch of questions. The inquiries I parroted, most of which I'd learned from Googling, were pretty straightforward: Any pending or anticipated building repairs, assessments, or compliance measures? For example, in New York City, larger buildings need to periodically erect costly scaffolding to inspect their facade — you want to know if that's around the corner. But to almost every due-diligence question I asked, my agent said, "That's something for the lawyers in diligence."It turned out that almost all the things that really concerned me — from the condo association's financial health to the building's historical flood data — were to be investigated after the sale had been negotiated, after my agent had done his part. Despite my concerns, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-bubble-home-prices-stay-high-crash-real-estate-2024-2">my agent</a> prodded me to go for a bid. He kept telling me that the apartment might sell very quickly, that we had to move soon. So we put in a bid. And when I saw it, I was shocked — not at the amount, but at the document. The whole thing was maybe a third of a page, summarizing the apartment's location, the amount of the offer, and a few other easy-to-understand details (like cash offer or mortgage). I was expecting something massive, confusing, and formal, but, again, it turned out that was for later, something for a lawyer to review, not the agent. I've read tweets from reply guys longer than the bidding document.The bid almost worked. It was down to me and one other buyer, someone very similarly situated and with a similar bid, according to my agent.This is when he finally struck out. When I made my bid, I went to the absolute maximum of what I felt comfortable spending, leaving zero wiggle room. But now my agent said that wasn't enough. He knew my finances and kept telling me how he knew I could afford to go higher. "What's 50k really going to mean to you over the lifetime of the apartment?" But I knew that was $50,000 more than I was willing to spend, $50,000 more than I thought it was worth. Buying a house can make even the largest sums seem negligible if you're not careful. But $50,000 is still $50,000. When I held firm, my agent couldn't hide his exasperation. He said something about me needing to "get serious." I realized he wanted the deal to go through more than I did. After all, that was the only way he got paid.I lost the bidding war, and a couple months later I was cosmically relieved I had. During record-breaking rains in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/city-state-budget-shortfall-deficit-california-denver-boston-new-york-2024-4">New York City</a> last fall, the corner with that apartment flooded several feet above street level. I imagined just how awful it would have felt to have overextended myself to buy that apartment only to end up financially and literally underwater.Brobeck described the real-estate industry as "rife with conflicts of interest," including many scenarios far worse than what I faced. Where my agent was merely pushy, others have gone on to "double-dip" on payments from both buyers and sellers, to drive up the price their client pays to increase the commission, and even share confidential information from one client with another. The National Association of Realtors' own 2015 report says, "The real estate industry is saddled with a large number of part-time, untrained, unethical, and/or incompetent agents."I didn't want to pay someone who I felt was working against me, especially when I didn't see what they were bringing me in return. So I fired the agent and had a go on my own. I typed up my own bid form (all of 174 words) and kept an eye on StreetEasy, and a few weeks later I toured an open house.The price was out of my budget, but the unit had been sitting on the market for a few months. So I came in with a low bid, the sort of tactic my agent had discouraged. Rather than toss it out, the seller and I negotiated. By the time they said "best and final," the seller had carved six figures off the asking price. Not bad for my first negotiation. Just before closing, while on a walkthrough with the seller's agent, I asked how my representing myself had affected things. He was candid: "Not splitting the commission meant they could do $50,000 lower." Like so many sellers, the prior owners had baked my agent's 3% commission into the selling price, and without it, I could save the difference. $50,000 is $50,000.The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lawsuits-verdict-realtors-brokerages-real-estate-agents-home-buying-selling-2023-11">class-action settlement with the NAR</a> is going to make it a lot harder for sellers to be forced to pay for buyers' agents. Going forward, for people like me without an agent, a savvy seller may pay just 3% of the sales price to their own agent instead of 6% to be split with a buyer's agent. Some homebuyers may still want an agent, especially those who don't feel comfortable representing themselves or don't have the time, but faced with the prospect of paying directly for agents who offer less and less of an edge, I expect many more people will go their own way, and save tens of thousands of dollars in the process. Experts estimate that nationwide, after the NAR settlement, buyers may save up to $30 billion a year.A few weeks after I moved into my new apartment, I ran into my ex-girlfriend. I told her I had bought a place, and she was thrilled for me. Then I sheepishly added: "So, that whole agent thing, turns out you're right. It was a scam after all." She just beamed more broadly.<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/albert-fox-cahn">Albert Fox Cahn</a> is the founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, or STOP, a New York-based civil-rights and privacy group.

The new first rule of home buying: fire your realtor

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Shannon St. Val pivoted from her job in finance to pursue a career in real estate.</li><li>She is now the founder and owner of a short-term vacation-rental company.</li></ul>Shannon St. Val is the founder and owner of <a target="_blank" href="https://ep-mg.com/">Elevate Vacation Rentals</a>, a short-term vacation-rental company based in New York. She left her job in finance to manage short-term rental properties and shares how she started, how she makes money, and the challenges of the industry.This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shannon St. Val. It has been edited for length and clarity.My career in property management hasn't been a straight path. My degrees are in finance and real estate, and I graduated in 2008 when the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/office-commercial-real-estate-cre-crash-2008-gfc-delinquency-vacancy-2024-3">subprime meltdown</a> happened. I thought I would be working in commercial real estate, but then all the real-estate jobs disappeared and I started working in finance.I worked at Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler, or KPMG, on the consulting side, specializing in financial operations for big banks and broker-dealers, specifically for investment-management firms.I knew I didn't want to work in finance for too long because the culture was intense. In 2016, I left my job to be my own boss. I took many of my finance and consulting skills and founded my own short-term property management company.At first, I started managing a few properties for myself, and then when COVID happened, I had to pivot and expand. I decided to take on clients outside New York instead of just managing my own. It's been my dream to return to real estate with property management.<h2 id="f5bbe9fe-75d5-46bf-9651-eee295b6fd7e">How I find clients</h2>A lot of my early clients came through word of mouth. I had friends, particularly people I met in the finance industry, who had houses in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marthas-vineyard-ferry-review-new-england-2024-7">Martha's Vineyard</a> or <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hamptons-hot-spots-visitors-buyers-from-real-estate-agent-2024-6">the Hamptons</a> and would ask, "Hey, you're managing properties. I have a house. Can you manage mine?" Some people will advertise on social media, but I've gotten my business through <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/small-business-founders-explain-grow-your-company-referrals-2023-10">referrals</a>. If you do good business, people will refer you to their network.Some property managers who are just starting have found success in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cold-email-formula-that-landed-me-response-from-meta-executive-2024-5">cold pitching</a>. This means reaching out to short-term rental owners and saying, "I know you may have a manager, but I'm willing to work for a lower rate for the first year." Then, if you meet their expectations, you can increase the rate.Some companies can do outbound emails or outbound marketing for you, where you blast local owners or anyone who recently bought a new house in that particular vacation-rental area, advertising your services.<h2 id="25cfe19f-2fc1-49c4-8eee-5946221a2bc7">How I earn a living from property management</h2>There are two ways to earn money from managing short-term properties. The first is by working with vacation-rental owners and charging a commission on the nightly rate. I've seen commissions as low as 10% and as high as 30%, but the industry standard is typically 15% to 20%.I also manage a building. It's a master lease, which means I pay a flat rate and collect rent from each unit as a short-term vacation rental. Some homeowners just want their flat-rate rent and don't want to be involved, so I'll do a short-term rental. You have to be a little more sophisticated in this because if you don't budget and know your expected revenue, you could misprice it and lose a lot of money. With that model, we want to get at least a 25% to 30% return to provide a buffer in slower months.<h2 id="10437455-20ce-4e54-81a9-64cada1f3402">My typical day</h2>Your typical workday will depend on how many properties you manage. We're managing roughly 30 properties now, so we have a team that handles guest support. I work about eight or nine hours a day, but the job is really 24/7. If there's an emergency, you need to be available.My typical schedule involves a lot of meetings. We always meet with the cleaning team to discuss maintenance and cleaning issues. We go over that once a week with one of the cleaning companies we work with. In the middle of the day, we'll work on pricing reports for owners, update the listings, and read through guest reviews.We also schedule <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/mortgages/home-inspection">property checks and inspections</a> at least once or twice a month, depending on the property. It requires a lot of coordination, so you'll have to get used to talking on the phone frequently, rather than texting or Slacking messages.<h2 id="6416bf44-fab1-45cc-8b50-23bbf7277ff0">The challenges and rewards of property management</h2>Managing properties is time-consuming, especially if you're doing short-term rentals. You have to have 24-hour guest support, and things like cleaning crews and a maintenance person have to be coordinated for each property. The logistics are significantly harder with vacation-rental management versus standard property management.The most rewarding part of the job is helping my clients or the owners see the untapped value in their homes and helping them earn more money than they would have anticipated. I get thrilled when I double their income. I'm also happy to get a five-star review or feedback that we were super attentive, paid attention to detail, provided great customer service, or resolved an issue quickly.<h2 id="be52c448-f4a1-4953-97a8-8fcbc0d51a77">Advice for transitioning to property management</h2>You have to be very organized, have structured processes, and be good at communicating with multiple stakeholders, including the vendors, owners, and guests. My corporate background helped me a lot because it had so much structure, and I came in with project management and logistical skills. I have a certification through the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pmi.org/">Project Management Institute</a>, but getting a degree or certification is optional.To break into the industry, I recommend working for a vacation-rental company before branching out independently. Use the time to learn some of their best practices before you move on. Check out national companies like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vacasa.com/">Vacasa</a> or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hostgenius.ca/locations/tampa">Host Genius</a>, which usually hire in different markets.You could also work with a smaller company like mine, where you just reach out and say, "Hey, do you have any roles?" There's always something to be done, and management companies are always looking for good help. Another way to break in is to attend a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vrma.org/events/event-calendar">regional or national vacation-rental management conference</a> to network. Find a conference in your area, and you'll meet a lot of managers in one setting.<h2 id="4fabd0d5-be6d-4e5a-ba5d-90ebef4300ff">What I wish I'd known before starting out</h2>Property management can be very rewarding, but I didn't realize how important it was to overcommunicate. I also didn't know how hard managing so many stakeholders would be. For every property, I usually have between four and seven different people involved. I have the owner, the lawn person, the trash person, the regular maintenance person, the cleaner for that house, and then I have my guest support.Sometimes, keeping track of who's who can be overwhelming. So if you want to manage a larger <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/financing-strategies-for-real-estate-investing-how-to-scale-portfolio-2024-5">portfolio</a>, you need a really good process and team to keep track of everything. You also have to be extremely organized, provide good customer service, and pay close attention to detail.

How I transitioned from a career in finance to short-term property management

The <keyword id="20449324" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Finance-Bill" source="keywords">Finance Bill</keyword> 2024 was passed by <keyword id="19895394" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lok-Sabha" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Lok Sabha" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Lok Sabha">Lok Sabha</keyword> on Wednesday evening, with a few amendments moved by the government. Replying to the debate, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman said the approach of the government has been to bring greater simplification of <keyword id="19987671" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tax" source="keywords">tax</keyword> laws and procedures and enable growth and employment in the country. She responded to points made by members. The Finance Minister clarified that in real estate, the roll over provisions have not been withdrawn and are applicable. She said if the capital gain in a property transaction is invested in buying another one or two properties up to a maximum value of Rs 10 crore, no capital gain tax is required to be paid on such profits. <keyword id="20619608" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="capital-gains" source="keywords">Capital gains</keyword> can also still be invested in bonds which are notified under Section 54 of the Income Tax Act up to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh annually and save on taxes. To give relief on budget proposals, Sitharaman also moved an amendment in the Finance Bill on the changes in the capital gains tax on <keyword id="20412285" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="property-transactions" source="keywords">property transactions</keyword>. The amendment implies that taxpayers can avail either a lower tax of 12.5% without indexation or a rate of 20% with indexation, if the property is acquired prior to July 23, 2024, the day union budget was presented in the Lok Sabha. Sitharaman clarified that taxpayers can compute taxes under both provisions and choose to pay tax under the scheme where lower tax is applied. Effectively, July 23, 2024, is now set as the cut-off date for the calculation of the capital gains versus the earlier cut-off of 2001. Sitharaman said she has proposed these amendments as some members have raised hypothetical calculation to prove that under new provisions taxpayers will have to pay higher taxes. The new tax proposals on capital gains tax was brought in to bring in parity among different asset classes like equities, mutual funds and real estate. In the Finance Bill introduced on July 23, the Finance Minister had proposed a flat long term capital gains tax of 12.5% with no <keyword id="943856" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="indexation-benefit" source="Orion">indexation benefit</keyword>s, prior to it property transactions used to be taxed at 20% with indexation benefit. The minister also clarified that the grandfathering proposal will be allowed only for individual and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) taxpayers and not for companies and Non Resident Individuals. They have to pay flat 12.5% LTCG tax without indexation. The proposed amendment will apply not only on real estate transactions, but also on unlisted equity transactions, which are done before July 23, 2024. All such transactions will be taxed at 10% long term capital gains instead of FY24-25 budget provision of 12.5% tax. With the opposition members demanding removal of <keyword id="19951327" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="GST" source="keywords">GST</keyword> on health insurance, Sitharaman said tax was there on medical insurance even before GST was introduced. "There was already a Service Tax on medical insurance, before the GST was introduced. This is not a new tax, it was already there in all the states. Those protesting here, did they discuss regarding the removal of this tax in their states? Did they write to the Finance Ministers of their respective states about it and asked them to raise it in the GST Council where states have 2/3rd part? No, but they are protesting here. This is their double standards, this is their drama," she said. "Wrongful protests have happened recently, and comments have been passed on the basis of a news report which suggested that the 'Centre has pocketed Rs. 24,529 crores of health insurance premiums alone'. This is incorrect and highly misleading. The GST rate of 18% on health insurance comprises of 9% CGST and 9% SGST. Thus, of the total collections of Rs 24,529 crores from health insurance in the last 3 years, Half of it, Rs. 12,264 crores, went straight to the states as SGST. It doesn't even come to the Centre," she added. The minister said that apart from this, roughly 41%of the Centre's share of GST collection on health insurance is devolved back to the states again, as part of Tax Devolution as per the Finance Commission's formula. Sitharaman said the new income tax regime is simpler and offers lower income tax rates for individuals. "It gives flexibility to the taxpayer to see where he wants to put his money in the absence of exemptions which is available in the old income tax regime. The old regime has not been dissolved and is still an alternative to the new tax regime. It still offers benefits of various deductions such as interest on home loan, etc. Individuals without business income can choose between regimes once and can revert back too. Hence, a choice has been provided to assesse," she said. For the previous Assessment Year 2023-24 till December 31, 2023, about 3.8% of taxpayers opted for the new tax regime, which equates to 30.93 lakh individuals, from a total of 7.98 crore ITRs filed in the categories of ITR-1 to ITR-4, she said. "However, for the Assessment Year 2024-25 until July 31, 2024, there was a dramatic increase in adoption of the new regime, with approximately 72.8% of taxpayers choosing the new tax regime. This represents about 5.25 crore individuals, out of a total of 7.22 crore ITRs filed in the same category." Sitharaman said this shows a substantial shift in taxpayer preference towards the new tax regime, over the span of just one year. "Taxpayers opting for the new regime does not mean savings and investments are not happening in the economy by the middle-class. Due to growth in fintech, better awareness, and ease of investment due to UPI, e-KYC, progressive regulations, investments in mutual funds have increased tremendously. On an average, 17.88 lakh new folios have been added every month in the last 5 years since June 2019. The number of unique mutual fund investors has grown from under 1 crore in 2014 to about 4 crore today," she added. The Finance (No.2) Bill, 2024 was passed after amendments moved by opposition were negatived. Sitharaman said the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been to establish a simple, efficient and fair technology-driven taxation regime in the country. "So, simplification and ease of compliance for the taxpayer has been the primary objective. In the last 10 years, and this year, in the third term of PM Modi, the approach to taxation has been to simplify it, reduce the burden on taxpayer and make sure it is transparent and equitable," she said. "This year also, our approach has been that we bring in greater simplification of tax laws and procedures, and that we enable growth and employment in this country," she added. Sitharaman presented the Union Budget in Parliament on July 23. This is the first full budget of the NDA government led by PM Modi. The BJP-led alliance won a third successive term earlier this year. The Lok Sabha took up discussion on the Finance Bill after the Appropriation Bill for the central government's expenditure for 2024-25 was passed by the House on Monday. The Finance Bill will now be discussed by Rajya Sabha. The passage of bill will complete the budget process.

Lok Sabha passes Finance Bill, provision on LTCG tax on property transactions amended

<ul><li> <keyword id="3422801" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="home-first-finance-company">Home First Finance Company</keyword> stock listed at ₹618, which is at a 19% premium to the set IPO price band at ₹517-₹ 518 per share.</li><li>The company's market value expanded to ₹5,514 crore after the listing.</li><li>The HFFC listing comes two days after the annual budget where Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised to extend support for affordable housing.</li><li>Home First Finance Company is an affordable housing finance company, which offers housing loans for buying or construction of homes with a special focus on first-time homebuyers in lower range and middle-income groups.</li></ul>It was a decent debut for the ₹1,153 crore initial public offering (IPO) of the Warburg Pincus-backed, Home First Finance Company (HFFC) on the bourses today. The stock listed at ₹618, which is at a 19% premium to the set price band at ₹517-₹ 518 per share. Within minutes after listing, the shares of mortgage financier Home First Finance Company gained nearly 3% of their value and were trading at ₹631 apiece at 10:05 am in a robust market. The company's market value expanded to ₹5,514 crore after the listing. <div type="image" title="IRFC share (2)" msid="80662663" hostid="261"></div> A good listing was already on the cards! The HFFC listing comes just two days after the annual budget where Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised to extend support for affordable housing. Home First Finance Company is an affordable housing finance company, which offers housing loans for buying or construction of homes with a special focus on first-time homebuyers in lower range and middle-income groups. Sitharaman extended the exemption for affordable housing until March 2022, making the section of the real estate sector quite attractive. While affordable housing is just one factor, the lender has managed to grow its profit five times over in just the last three years. <div type="image" title="HFFC" msid="80662623" hostid="261"></div> Nearly all the analysts' reports have given a 'subscribe' rating for the IPO, citing its resilient performance during the pandemic and increasing market share in home loans. The company’s strong fundamentals and stable asset quality strengthens its appeal. The public issue also received a decent response in the grey market — the shares were commanding a premium of ₹140-150 over the set price band of ₹517-₹ 518 per share. However, the grey market is not an official measure of the market premium. But it is a fair indicator of demand for the shares in the market. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/carlyle-brighton-park-invest-200-million-in-indian-healthtech-company-indegene/articleshow/80661573.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Carlyle, Brighton Park invest $200 million in Indian healthtech company Indegene</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/jeff-bezos-will-step-down-as-amazons-ceo-later-this-year-and-be-replaced-by-aws-ceo-andy-jassy/articleshow/80659795.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Jeff Bezos will step down as Amazon's CEO later this year and be replaced by AWS CEO Andy Jassy</a>

Warburg Pincus-backed Home First Finance Company IPO lists at 19% premium over the issue price

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Business leaders are speaking out on Election Day — including Starbucks founder Howard Schultz.</li><li>Schultz and JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon called for unity. Neither has endorsed a candidate.</li></ul>Election Day has finally come, and executives at some of the biggest companies are speaking out — with former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz urging a peaceful transition of power and Elon Musk reiterating his support for Donald Trump to the end.Major players like Musk and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman have <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/which-billionaires-support-donald-trump-campaign#steve-schwarzman-2">previously endorsed former President Trump</a>. On the other side, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-billionaires-investors-kamala-harris-mark-cuban-reid-hoffman-2024-8#michael-bloomberg-4">business heavyweights</a> like billionaire Shark Tank star <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-mark-cuban-campaign-swing-states-sec-chair-2024-10">Mark Cuban</a> and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman have been campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris.While some business leaders have been voicing their political opinions ahead of Election Day, others have been reluctant: As Business Insider's Bryan Metzger recently wrote, some of that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jamie-dimon-bill-gates-ceo-avoid-criticizing-trump-2024-10">hesitancy could be driven by fears of retribution from Trump</a> if he's reelected — or could simply be based on the belief that wading into politics is bad for business.Here's what some of the biggest business leaders in the US are saying Tuesday ahead of the election results:<h2 id="2def0177-407a-4684-b191-b59992c8a4c0">Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz</h2><div type="image" title="Howard Schultz" height="2000" width="3000" msid="114994483" hostid="261" sizebytes="90930"></div><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-coffee-howard-schultz-steve-jobs-bill-gates-acquired-podcast-2024-6">Howard Schultz</a>, who served several tenures as CEO of Starbucks over the course of four decades, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/howardschultz_we-do-not-know-yet-the-path-america-will-activity-7259321042072936451-SONT?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop">took to LinkedIn</a> on Tuesday to emphasize the gravity of this election and urge a peaceful transition of power."Make no mistake, this election is the most consequential decision our citizenry will take," Schultz wrote in his post."Once every vote is counted and certified, we must accept the results of the election and ensure the peaceful transition of power," he said. "In an age of rapid information distribution infecting so many of us with false narratives and lies, we have to remind each other of our founding ethos as a country."While the former CEO has not announced his support of a presidential candidate this election cycle, he previously <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-billionaire-howard-schultz-endorses-biden-for-president-2020-9">endorsed Joe Biden in 2020</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-ceo-howard-schultz-endorses-hillary-clinton-2016-9">Hillary Clinton in 2016.</a><h2 id="c7bb2462-e280-4964-84de-5af18eb3cdd0">LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman</h2><div type="image" title="reid hoffman" height="2784" width="4176" msid="114994464" hostid="261" sizebytes="523510"></div><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reid-hoffman">Reid Hoffman</a>, who cofounded LinkedIn and is now a partner at VC firm Greylock Partners, posted a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/reidhoffman/status/1853590670218506599">video message on X</a> on Tuesday to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/reidhoffman/status/1815103690912723274">reiterate his support</a> of Harris."My message for American voters and Russian bots: don't vote for the guy too busy selling you a scamcoin," Hoffman wrote on X above his video message. Trump launched his <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1846326266011762820">own crypto coin, $WLFI</a>, in October, following <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-going-for-crypto-bro-vote-world-liberty-financial-2024-9?utm_campaign=business-sf&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social">his foray into the decentralized finance market</a> with the crypto exchange platform, World Liberty Financial."Vote for Vice President Harris, who knows how to put business —and the American people — first," Hoffman's post said."She understands the importance of founders," Hoffman said of Harris in his video, adding, "She wants founders to succeed. And just for the country, not for her."<h2 id="60b847de-6405-451a-8d80-80908abc8781">Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk</h2><div type="image" title="Elon Musk smirking" height="2001" width="3000" msid="114994470" hostid="261" sizebytes="314740"></div>One of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-trump-superpac-donations-politics-2024-10">Trump's most outspoken supporters</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-trump-america-super-pac-2024-10">biggest donors</a>, billionaire SpaceX and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-ceo-elon-musk">Tesla CEO Elon Musk</a> continued his steady stream of posts on X on Tuesday.In addition to re-posting several pro-Trump messages from other X users, Musk wrote a few election-related posts of his own.In response to a video of MSNBC's Joe Scarborough criticizing Trump supporters and listing a number of Trump's more extreme statements, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1853820794083647548">Musk wrote</a>, "The legacy media hope that a hoax a day keeps DJT away. It won't work."The billionaire <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1853691543007137814">wrote another post</a> speculating that Trump will win Pennsylvania in a landslide if the same number of the state's Republicans vote in person for Trump this year as they did in 2020.<h2 id="2edf3c98-1b95-4c92-af6c-1f0adcf75720">Billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla</h2><div type="image" title="Vinod Khosla." height="2020" width="3030" msid="114994462" hostid="261" sizebytes="340034"></div><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-vinod-khosla-fixing-ai-image-2024-10">Vinod Khosla</a>, an OpenAI investor and founder of Sun Microsystems, has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-billionaires-investors-kamala-harris-mark-cuban-reid-hoffman-2024-8#vinod-khosla-7">pledged his support for Harris</a>. His name is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.vcsforkamala.org/signatories">one of hundreds</a> on the list of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-investors-raise-money-for-kamala-harris-over-zoom-2024-8">VCs for Kamala</a>.On Monday, Khosla made his opinions about Trump clear on X, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/vkhosla/status/1853476975169732827">criticizing the former president</a> for suggesting he may support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s call to ban some vaccines.Khosla, who has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/vkhosla/status/1815096257867923740">previously tussled with Musk</a>, responded on Monday to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1853329249614131365">a post from the X owner</a> that suggested all independent and swing voters are siding with Trump."Plain wrong," Khosla <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/vkhosla/status/1853584790609633640">wrote in response to Musk</a>. "I am an independent that isn't voting for Trump."<h2 id="b0378ce8-c632-491e-bde9-e9905a3ec8a3">Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick</h2><div type="image" title="A man stands at a Trump/Vance podium" height="2769" width="4300" msid="114994465" hostid="261" sizebytes="238422"></div>Howard Lutnick, the CEO of financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald and cochair of Trump's transition team, reaffirmed his support of the former president in identical Election Day posts on X and Truth Social."Today is the day. I am proud to vote for President <a target="_blank" class="css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1loqt21" href="https://x.com/realDonaldTrump">@realDonaldTrump</a>," Lutnick <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/howardlutnick/status/1853792377086828718">wrote</a>. "He will protect the American workforce, unleash our country's ingenuity, and strengthen our economy. Join me in going to the polls and we will Make America Great Again."Lutnick has suggested to <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" class="" href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/howard-lutnick-donald-trump-transition-committee-20241023.html">The Philadelphia Inquirer</a> and to the <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" class="" href="https://www.ft.com/content/8a8a470d-4bf6-4ac5-9f25-ad546eee31af">Financial Times</a> that loyalty to Trump will be one of the most important factors in deciding possible appointees for a second Trump administration.And the Wall Street financier's name has been floated as a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-will-be-in-trump-cabinet-billionaires-buiness-leaders-2024-5#howard-lutnick-4">potential member of Trump's Cabinet</a> for roles including Treasury Secretary or US ambassador in Jerusalem, according to <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-05/howard-lutnick-emerges-as-trump-s-no-1-salesman-on-wall-street?embedded-checkout=true">Bloomberg</a>.<h2 id="dc2eb88c-c930-44c2-9d96-aa9959bb918b">JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon</h2><div type="image" title="Jamie Dimon" height="562" width="1000" msid="114994476" hostid="261" sizebytes="23796"></div>JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon hasn't publicly endorsed a candidate this year, but he called in a statement for all Americans to rally behind whoever's elected next."Our country is now concluding one of the hardest fought and at times divisive elections in our recent history," Dimon said."Soon it will be time for all of us to unite behind our president-elect and all of our national leaders. We must begin the work of bringing our nation together and focusing on the pressing economic and global issues before us." Dimon's wife, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/judith-dimon-door-to-door-michigan-canvassing-votes-kamala-harris-2024-11">Judith Kent, was on the campaign trail for Kamala Harris</a> over the weekend.<h2 id="40098c61-dfdc-420a-b85d-2cfc49e9516b">Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey</h2><div type="image" title="Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus and Anduril Industries, speaks during The Wall Street Journal's WSJ Tech Live conference in Laguna Beach, California on October 16, 2023." height="2009" width="3013" msid="114994478" hostid="261" sizebytes="346272"></div><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-palmer-luckey">Palmer Luckey</a> — who founded defense tech company Anduril as well as VR company Oculus, which he later sold to Meta for $2 billion — urged people to get out and vote on Tuesday."Pokemon Go to the Polls!" Luckey <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/PalmerLuckey/status/1853833958313873758">wrote on X</a>.Luckey was <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaire-palmer-luckey-profile-trump-facebook-meta-ten-takeaways-2024-8">one of few tech executives to support Trump</a> during his first presidential campaign, and has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tabletmag.com/feature/american-vulcan-palmer-luckey-anduril">criticized other Big Tech leaders</a> for only jumping on the Trump bandwagon later in the game.The sometimes controversial billionaire, who has said that his <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/PalmerLuckey/status/1791264464135942354">"big league support for Donald Trump is no secret,"</a> has also been criticizing the Harris-Walz campaign's Fortnite Map <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/PalmerLuckey/status/1853195620506652898">on X</a> in recent days.<h2 id="d29c4181-4a9e-44c5-84dc-5b7d5a1ca15d">Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth</h2><div type="image" title="Meta' CTO Andrew Bosworth" height="2691" width="3969" msid="114994487" hostid="261" sizebytes="670952"></div><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-meta-executive-andrew-boz-bosworth-metaverse-2021-11">Andrew Bosworth</a>, Meta's chief technology officer, posted on Threads Tuesday about his excitement that the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/political-text-message-spam-election-stop-2024-11">political texting spree is coming to an end</a>."Happy no more political text messages day, to those who celebrate!" Bosworth <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.threads.net/@boztank/post/DB_waAiPa4K">wrote on Threads</a>, adding in a follow-up message, "(I voted weeks ago by mail. Go vote, if you haven't already)."<h2 id="1513d187-6021-4c9a-99fa-8953a7d997f3">Manufacturing and business leaders weigh in</h2>The National Association of Manufacturers and more than 600 business leaders from across the manufacturing sector <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://nam.org/600-manufacturing-and-business-leaders-pledge-to-work-with-next-president-urge-national-unity-ahead-of-americas-250th-anniversary-32528/?stream=series-press-releases">released a letter</a> on Tuesday addressed to the "president-elect," whoever that may be.In it, the leaders pledge to work with the incoming president, while stressing the importance of national unity and a peaceful transition of power."The days following a hard-fought election have always been a time for healing, finding common ground and renewing our focus on what unites us as a people," the letter said. "The peaceful transition of power is a hallmark of our democracy and is essential to ensuring continued confidence in the rule of law—a commitment that has made America exceptional."The letter's signatories include executives at major companies, including General Motors, Eli Lilly, Lockheed Martin, General Mills, Johnson &amp; Johnson, Penske, and Panasonic.

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