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☆ I've stayed in 13 countries for free by house sitting. Here are 3 tips for starting your own house-sitting journey.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In 2017, Marius Schmidt sold all his stuff and left Münster, Germany, to travel the world full time. Schmidt used to stay in Airbnbs, but discovered house sitting in 2020 and now his stays are free. When COVID began to relax in Europe, I thought maybe I'll try house sitting out and see if I can actually do it myself. I've heard from a few other house sitters that sometimes it is really messy or not a very nice house. There's a lot of communication and I also try to leave the house better than it was before.

☆ A digital nomad discovers the downside of remote work: no locals want to hang out with her
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The digital nomad community has grown in tandem with the rise of remote work. Tayler GillThe Digital Nomad Village was established in February 2021 by the Regional Government of Madeira through Startup Madeira. "By the time we got there, the Digital Nomad Village was already pretty established," Gill told Insider. "Their whole thing was to build a community and foster that community for digital nomads coming in." It's easy for the village's digital nomads to socialize with each otherPonta do Sol's Digital Nomad Village isn't just a perch in the sun for folks with laptops.

☆ I moved from New York to Arizona after falling in love with the state on vacation. The drivers are worse, but I was actually able to buy a home.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

John Saverino moved from Long Island, New York, to Glendale, Arizona, in April 2022. I lived in Long Island, Nassau County — two miles from the beach. My commute to work now actually ends up being about the same mileage as in New York, but sometimes the traffic is actually worse here. Saverino was tired of the constant traffic on Long Island. fotog/Getty ImagesIn Long Island, the drive was more highway.

☆ Our family is living on a four-bedroom boat while cruising the eastern seaboard for a year. It's not like the 'fabulous lifestyles of the rich and famous' that might come to mind.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Cinda: We're doing what's called the Great American Loop, which is a way to circumnavigate around the eastern seaboard of the US and Canada. A 6,000-mile journey around the eastern seaboardCinda: We started in Stuart, Florida, which is just north of the Palm Beach area. When you think of living on a boat, most people think fabulous lifestyles of the rich and famous. Mark: Some people go all in and sell everything and buy the boat, and the boat is their home residence. We bought our boat specifically to do the loop and we'll sell it when we're done with the loop.

☆ We paid $4 million for a cabin on a cruise ship that will sail the world year-round. We want to travel in total comfort, without the 'bag drag' from place to place.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

His family vacations often and the ship's annual fee will be on par with their former travel budget. Hammond's cabin will have a roughly $132,000 annual fee that includes most food and beverages on the ship, WiFi, and housekeeping, among other perks . Originally I had no desire to take a vacation on a cruise ship, because I thought it was going to feel like being at work. I enjoy traveling, but I crave the comfort of my own bedWe love to travel, but doing the bag drag from destination to destination can get tiring. The annual fee is about the same as our yearly travel budgetEvery unit has its annual fee that, for the most part, should cover everything.

☆ How a pro skateboarder went from making $800 a month to being a financially independent real-estate mogul with a portfolio worth millions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Mikey Taylor started his career as a professional skateboarder making barely enough money to get by. He now runs a real-estate fund and educates investors on how to create a road to financial freedom. "There was a part of skateboarding that really changed the way I looked at the world," Taylor told Insider. "One hundred grand as a professional skateboarder doesn't feel like one hundred grand in a more conventional career because our careers are so short," Taylor told Insider. Setting the groundwork for his life after skateboarding, Taylor started investing in the stock market and bonds at age 20.

☆ See inside a writer's historic houseboat that travels England's canals. The nights are cold, she's always covered in coal oil, and the lifestyle can be dangerous, but she wouldn't have it any other wa
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Warwickshire, England, native Elizabeth Earle lives on a narrowboat and chronicles her adventures. The upkeep of living on a boat all year can be exhausting, but Earle does it for the adventure. The author and illustrator from Warwickshire, England, has lived on a 70-foot narrowboat that traverses the country's canal system since April 2022. "This boat's absolutely rinsed me," Earle told Insider. "I just want to lead an extraordinary life," she told Insider.

☆ People are moving to North Carolina for its natural beauty and country vibes, but finding it doesn't offer a lower cost of living or diversity
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

She and her family considered places like Tennessee and Florida , but ultimately chose North Carolina because of its hands-off government and lush scenery. Five recent movers highlight what stands out about North Carolina, from its natural scenery to its lack of diversity. One thing she's had to get used to in North Carolina is the lack of diversity in food. An Ohio man liked North Carolina so much he moved there twiceJohn Yuschak first dipped a toe in North Carolina in 2012 after moving from Columbus, Ohio. They were pleased with the four seasons North Carolina has to offer, but anticipated higher savings.

☆ I was the CEO of Arby's. I'm auctioning off my Texas mansion with a lowly $2.5 million starting bid because my wife and I are getting older and neither of us wants to live here alone.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Businessman Len Roberts, who served as CEO of Arby's and RadioShack, is auctioning his Texas estate. The 11,792-square-foot home in Fort Worth was built for hosting fundraisers and galas. Bidding starts on April 24 , with the starting bid at $2.5 million and a 10% buyer's premium. Even though the house is in Texas, it features traces of our early lives in ChicagoMy wife really built this home. Interluxe AuctionsWe orchestrated some of the biggest galas and charity events in Fort Worth, Texas, in this beautiful home.

☆ See inside a few of the coolest offices in North America, where frozen yogurt is served out of Airstreams and conference rooms have holograms. Should your office be on the list? Let us know.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Office use on average is around 50% of prepandemic levels in major cities like New York. Employers are responding with amped up perks and spaces that allow for hybrid work. From an Airstream trailer serving frozen yogurt to fort-like meeting rooms, see a few office perks. Take a peek at a few of the offices that are pulling ahead of the pack. If your office opened after 2020 and you think it should be on this list, email reporter Jordan Pandy at jpandy@insider.com.

☆ A 26-year-old influencer tried working from Mallorca for a month. She realized she can explore during the day and still keep East Coast hours.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Olivia Marcus is over the lack of work-life balance in the US, so she tried working from Spain. Her 9-to-5 on the East Coast is a 3-to-11 gig in Mallorca, giving her all day to explore. While in Mallorca, Marcus continued to work her 9-to-5 job, but on a 3-to-11 schedule. (Mallorca is five hours ahead of the east coast of the United States.) She said working East Coast hours while in Spain was more than doable.

Last year VCs invested $19.8 billion into these property-technology, or proptech, startups. We surveyed venture capitalists to identify the hottest proptech companies right now. Climatetech and AI-powered tools are major themes of the proptech industry in 2023, just as they are in the wider venture world. Insider asked more than 20 venture investors who focus on real-estate and construction technology to nominate the most exciting proptech startups in 2023. Here are the 26 buzziest proptech companies right now, presented in alphabetical order.

☆ The housing market is cooling — but tell that to the 300 people who lined up to see a one-bedroom house for sale in the middle of nowhere
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

More than 300 people lined up to take a peek inside a 1,168-square-foot home in Durham, Connecticut. A photo on Reddit from the open house shows a long line of prospective buyers waiting their turn. Jennifer Schulten Photography"A lot of people want to expand the property," O'Connell said. This open house harkens back to the feverish housing market of 2021 and 2022The open house's attendance is reminiscent of the housing market early on in the pandemic, when mortgage rates fell giving prospective homebuyers an opportunity to enter markets they normally couldn't . Home seekers dove into the market in droves — that is, where they could find homes to purchase — leading prices in some markets to rise .

☆ I've worked remotely abroad since 2016. I'm never going back to Canada because life overseas is so much more affordable.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

I first started working remotely in 2016 as a freelancer. I've been working remotely full-time as a project manager for eight months or so. I would say if you were to make $3,000 a month and live in Colombia, you'd be able to live like royalty. Because I'm able to afford my living expenses and my food, it makes everything else so enjoyable. I'm able to just be comfortable.

☆ Current and former Rokt employees told Insider about blackface, booze, and blurred lines
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

They told my colleague Jordan Pandy that Charlotte seemed affordable and diverse on paper. The photo was shown at a company-wide meeting to highlight how "fun" working at $2 billion ad-tech startup Rokt was, an Insider investigation reveals. He said blackface isn't a big deal in Australia, where the company was founded and where the photo was taken. But more than 30 current and former employees told my colleagues Jack Newsham and Madeline Stone that they had a different experience. Come behind the scenes of Rokt with us, where Insider reports that booze and blurred lines flow rampantly.

☆ We moved to North Carolina but are about to leave because the salaries aren't high enough and the diversity we value ended at the city limits
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

They opted to rent in Charlotte, North Carolina, because of the affordability and diversity. North Carolina isn't as affordable as it seemsCielo: We bought our house in California in 2018 for $432,000. We decided to rent in North Carolina because when we were looking into housing, it was getting expensive. Everyone we spoke to says that that's an issue with the entire south, not just North Carolina. Did you move to North Carolina recently?

☆ These million-dollar luxury condos used to be the storied offices of a big Wall Street bank. See inside the transformation.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Developer Macklowe Properties converted a Financial District office building into a condominium. The 1.25 million-square-foot tower is the largest office-to-residential conversion in New York City. The New York landmark was completely reconfigured inside, including removing 30 elevators. Developer Macklowe Properties took on the challenge of creating 566 luxury residences while maintaining the original Art Deco aesthetic of the 1.25 million-square-foot building. Once most of the inside was gutted, it made for a clean canvas for Smith to reconstruct office space to residential, she said.

☆ I'm a 34 year old who lives on a boat in the canals of England. It was the least expensive way to buy a home and allows me to lead an extraordinary life.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Elizabeth Earle is a freelance author and illustrator in England who lives on a 70-foot narrowboat. Earle said living on a boat is cheaper than a house, but licenses and insurance also come at a cost. I moved to the Caribbean, renovated this boat, and adopted a street dog who hated sailing. I don't have a mortgage, but I still have monthly expenses to payThere are several things you need to live the boat life. Earle is happy living on a boat and has no current plans to settle on land.

☆ 3 people who thought they could work remotely for good bought homes hours from their offices. Now they're being called back and facing the decision to quit or sell.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Three weeks ago, the company asked him to work from the office in the northeastern region of Florida. An increasing share of employees who have taken jobs with promised work-from-home benefits and moved away are facing a similar bind as they're called back to office. Sexton bought a house in Salem, Oregon, when she thought she could work remotely indefinitely. The median rent in the city of London is £1,475, or about $1,745, according to the Office of National Statistics. With a higher mortgage than before, he can no longer afford to rent in London.

☆ I'm a 34-year-old CEO who worked remotely from different cities for 5 months. I learned that a walk-in closet doesn't make a great office and I need at least 3 weeks to get to know a new place.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Roman Pedan founded short-term rental platform Kasa Living in 2016. He traveled the country for five months and stayed at Kasa properties while working remotely. Previously, my longest stint fully living in Kasa properties was a few months in 2021 when I was between moves. But most of the time you're working. Sometimes one of us was working in the walk-in closet while the other one was working in the kitchen area.

☆ Cash-strapped homeowners are swarming to HELOCs at the fastest rate in more than a decade to pay for food, gas, and renovations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Higher mortgage rates have curbed cash-out refinancing, one way of tapping the equity. HELOC rates have climbed, too, but homeowners have flexibility with how much financing they buy versus taking out a 30-year loan on the house. HELOC rates averaged 7.8% in mid February. High mortgage rates have created a lock-in effect in the US housing market as the majority of US home loans were created with 30-year rates below 4%. Since October, when he bought the property and started renovations, the interest rate on his loan has increased from 6.5% to 7.5%.

☆ Meet the 'boommates': These two baby boomers live together to cut costs and build a relationship
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Miller had an extra room in her home and thought why not find a roommate to help pay the mortgage. She called her local senior center, and they suggested she try Silvernest, a home-sharing platform founded in Colorado in 2015. According to Miller, Mears pays $650 on a month-to-month basis for her lodging and utilities. Longmont, Colorado, where Mears and Miller live, is located 40 miles north of Denver. After less than a week, Miller and Mears were eating dinner together regularly, taking turns cooking for each other.

☆ People who moved to Tennessee for cheaper homes and a laid-back life say they're happy — for the most part
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The 50-year Florida resident decided to pack up and move to Memphis, Tennessee, for a more manageable mortgage payment while on a fixed income. Foster said clients have recently moved to Tennessee from New York, New Jersey, and California. He traded snowy Buffalo for the ease of southern livingMichael and Danielle Ekstrum moved to Tennessee after becoming empty nesters in 2018. A retiree fed up with California's overcrowding bought a home in Tennessee without thinking twiceMichael and Bonnie Tyler moved from Sacramento, California, to Jonesborough, a historic town in eastern Tennessee. "There's too much traffic, too many people, it's way too expensive, and there's no water," Tyler told Insider.

☆ Be on the lookout for these six red flags in the homebuying process. It could save you thousands, a real-estate attorney said.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

He said real-estate agents can work in their best interest, not their clients', if a contract is weak. Purposefully confusing contracts and some real-estate agents' self-serving motives have some homebuyers getting themselves into tricky positions, said Douglas R. Miller, a veteran real-estate attorney in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Commissions are usually around 6% of the home's sale price and split between the buyer's agent and the seller's agent. Negotiating your broker's fee can be key in saving you moneyIn a home sale, buyers' agents are actually paid by the seller. "Affiliated business arrangement" is the textbook term, and it can be dangerous for buyers, Miller said.

☆ 5 reasons so many people are moving to Tennessee, according to a 25-year-old broker who's helped Californians and New Yorkers relocate there
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Taxes are lowerPeople leaving states like California or New York often cite high income and property taxes as key motivations for their departure. (It's not all cheap: some new Floridians have been surprised by rising property taxes.) Like Florida, Tennessee has no income tax, as well as a property tax rate well below the national average. According to financial information and advice company SmartAsset, Tennessee's median annual property tax paid is $1,317, which is about half the national average. "One of the reasons why they're considering Tennessee is because of the affordability in terms of taxes," Foster said.

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