Author: Daniel snow

As a real estate broker of 10 years, working with clients whose budgets range from $300,000 to $3 million, I can confidently say that there is no perfect house.Many buyers begin their home search with a long list of “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves.” This is a great starting point, but you can quickly get stuck in the weeds. The real clarity comes once you begin touring homes in person, because that’s when you start to truly understand what you need versus what you want. But no matter the budget, location, or market conditions, every home comes with trade-offs. The key is knowing…

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Tackling an enormous load of laundry can feel nearly impossible at the end of a long work week. When your to-do list is growing — or a new episode of your favorite show is calling — the thought of paying someone else to pick up your dirty clothes and return them freshly folded can seem like a dream.But at around $2 per pound of laundry, or around $20 to $30 for washing an average load, it can be hard to determine if the convenience is really worth the ongoing cost, says Ben Smith, a certified financial planner in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.”As…

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As Americans gear up for summer travel, prices at the pump may be cooling off.This summer could bring the lowest gas prices in years, and the national average price of gas could fall below $3 a gallon as early as September, says Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.”It’s going to be the cheapest summer since 2021, when the economy was heavily influenced by Covid,” De Haan says.As of Tuesday, the national average for a gallon of gas in the U.S. was $3.21, up roughly 10 cents from two weeks ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.The…

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Steve Carell wants young people to foster a “simple” soft skill — something “we need more of in the world,” he said in a commencement speech at Northwestern University on June 15: being kind and respectful to others.Kindness can go a long way in life, the actor and comedian said. It can open doors to new opportunities, allow you to foster deeper connections with your colleagues and help you weather the fear and  uncertainty that can come with starting a new chapter in life, he said.”It’s difficult for me to process just how much you’ve all experienced in your young…

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China’s dominance of the global supply chain is starting to hurt automakers.On April 4, the country cut off exports of a class of minerals called “heavy rare earth elements,” and it sent the global auto industry into a panic.Rare earths are a class of 17 elements that have become indispensable in all kinds of applications — everything from fighter jets and submarines, to smartphones and appliances. You can even find them in sports equipment, like tennis rackets and baseball bats.They are also, of course, essential to the modern automobile. Gas burning cars use them to filter pollution through the vehicle’s…

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