It’s not every day you get a chance to live in the White House—especially without the pressures of leading the free world.
But if you have the funds, the opportunity awaits. A palatial estate known as the “Western White House” has landed on the market for $38.9 million. The 24,350-square-foot home was built in 1915 and while it’s within commuting distance of San Francisco, it occupies a world all its own.
Alex Buljan holds the listing with Pierre Buljan, both with Compass Real Estate. The splendid estate’s price tag puts it on the Realtor.com® list of this week’s most expensive homes. It has certainly captured plenty of attention for its price and history.
“This property is a historic jewel set in the town of Hillsborough,” Alex Buljan says. “This week, when the home landed on the market, the mayor, Christine Krolik, visited the property because she recognized its historic value and had never been before. As soon as she saw it, she asked if she could host a city event at the property. She was that blown away.”
An architectural gem
The home was redesigned by legendary architect, Julia Morgan. Born in 1872, Morgan attended college at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned a degree in civil engineering. After graduating, she enrolled at Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris to pursue a graduate degree in architecture, becoming the first woman to graduate from the program.
Morgan returned to the Golden State and became California’s first licensed female architect. She opened her own firm to design homes and iconic buildings, taking on some 700 commissions during her career.
She tackled the redesign of the Western White House, when George Hearst hired her to completely revamp the home and property after it sustained major fire damage. Morgan accepted the commission in 1930; the original house dates back to the 1870s.
Hearst was introduced to Morgan by his tycoon father, William Randolph Hearst, who’d previously hired the architect to design his now-iconic Hearst Castle in San Simeon in 1919.
Morgan redesigned the Hillsborough home to mimic the presidential White House in Washington, DC, with an Oval Office and a rose garden.
An outstanding estate
The 11-bedroom, 14-bathroom residence features an 8-car garage and is perched on three acres, much of which is forested, with a meandering creek that winds its way through the trees. The home is private, beyond the view of passersby.
The landscaped grounds include mature trees, terraces, lush green lawns, rose gardens, marble hardcaping, a gorgeous swimming pool with a hot tub, and a pavilion with its own kitchen, bathroom, and sauna.
The Western White House is reported to have last been purchased by long-time neighbor and real estate investor Mehrdad Elie, who heard the home was going up for sale. Elie offered $15 million and, when the offer was accepted, immediately began investing in an overhaul and upgrade that deliberately reflected Morgan’s and Hearst’s vision.
Elie poured millions into the project, updating all 14 (nine full, five half) bathrooms, ripping up carpets to install hardwood floors that would match Morgan’s original flooring, and polishing every architectural detail. When the project was finished, Elie decided the home was too large for his family of four and placed the property on the market.
The lay of the house
When you walk in, you’ll find a formal entry parlor, two powder rooms, a replica “East Room” with a fireplace, a formal dining room, gourmet kitchen, butler’s pantry, breakfast room, family room, and a replica “Oval Office.”
The second level features five bedroom suites, including the primary with its two spacious bathrooms, expansive dressing rooms, private executive office, plus an additional bedroom.
A recreation room, home movie theater, snack bar, powder room, oversized bathroom with changing room, one bedroom suite, and two additional bedrooms make up the top floor.
The lower level offers a fitness room, family room, lounge, wine cellar, two bedrooms, one bathroom, a powder room, and laundry center.
The estate also boasts a rooftop sun deck, extensive solar panels, a dumbwaiter, room-sized bank safe, and a panic room.
One of the oldest rules of personal finance is the simple admonition to pay yourself first. All the money books tell you to do it. All the personal finance blogs say it, too. Even your parents have given you the same advice.
But it’s hard. That money could be used someplace else. You could pay the phone bill, could pay down debt, could buy a new DVD player. You’ve tried once or twice in the past, but it’s so easy to forget. You don’t keep a budget, so when payday rolls around, the money just finds its way elsewhere.
And besides: What does “pay yourself first” even mean?
To pay yourself first means simply this: Before you pay your bills, before you buy groceries, before you do anything else, set aside a portion of your income to save. Put the money into your 401(k), your Roth IRA, or your savings account. The first bill you pay each month should be to yourself. This habit, developed early, can help you build tremendous wealth.
Why Pay Yourself First?
If you’re just getting started in the Real World, saving may seem impossible. You have rent, a car payment, groceries, and maybe student loans. Sure, you’d like to save, but there’s just no money left at the end of the month. And that’s the problem: Most people save what’s left over — left over after bills and after discretionary spending.
But if you don’t develop the saving habit now, there are always going to be reasons to delay: you need dental work, you want to go to Mexico with your friends, you aren’t making enough to pay your bills. Here are three reasons to start saving now instead of waiting until next year (or the year after):
You’re Prioritizing Saving
When you pay yourself first, you’re mentally establishing saving as a priority. You’re telling yourself that you are more important than the electric company or the landlord. Building savings is a powerful motivator — it’s empowering.
You’re Developing Good Financial Habits
Paying yourself first encourages sound financial habits. Most people spend their money in the following order: bills, fun, saving. Unsurprisingly, there’s usually little left over to put in the bank. But if you bump saving to the front — saving, bills, fun — you’re able to set the money aside before you rationalize reasons to spend it.
You’re Prepared for Money Emergencies
By paying yourself first, you’re building a cash buffer with real-world applications. Regular steady contributions are an excellent way to build a nest egg. You can use the money to deal with emergencies. You can use it to purchase a house. You can use it to save for retirement. Paying yourself first gives you freedom — it opens a world of opportunity.
I’ve never met anyone who does not wish they had started saving earlier. Nobody tells themselves, “Saving was a mistake.” No matter what your age, begin saving now. And if you already save, consider boosting how much you set aside each month.
How to Pay Yourself First
The best way to develop a saving a habit is to make the process as painless as possible. Make it automatic. Make it invisible. If you arrange to have the money taken from your paycheck before you receive it, you’ll never know it’s missing.
Part of your savings plan will probably include retirement, but you should also save for intermediate goals too, such as buying a house, paying for a honeymoon, or purchasing a new car. Here are three easy ways to begin doing this yourself:
If your employer offers a retirement plan — such as a 401(k) — enroll as soon as possible, especially if the company matches your contributions. Matched contributions are like free money.
Starting a Roth IRA is one of the smartest moves a young adult can make. These accounts allow your investments to grow tax-free. Because of the extraordinary power of compound interest(and compound returns), regular investments in a Roth IRA from an early age can lead to enormous future wealth.
Open a high interest savings account at a bank like Capital One 360 or FNBO Direct. Set up automatic transfers into this account, either directly from your paycheck or from your regular bank account. Treat these transfers like you’d treat any other financial obligation. This should be your first and most important bill every month.
Putting “Pay Yourself First” into Practice
For many people, saving is tough. Between housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, credit-card debt, student loans, and other expenses, there never seems to be enough left to set aside for long-term savings. And that’s the problem. Most people try to save something out of what’s left over instead of saving first.
But what’s the best way to do it? What’s the most effective way to pay yourself first?
While I was writing Your Money: The Missing Manual, I benefited greatly from the advice of Dylan Ross, a Certified Financial Planner (from Swan Financial Planning) and a long-time GRS reader. One thing Dylan stressed over and over was that I was looking at savings wrong. I kept writing that you should take whatever money you have leftover in checking at the end of the month and move it to your savings account.
“There’s a better way,” he told me. “People often have more success if they put money into savings first, and then transfer what they need to checking.”
It took me a while to understand what he was trying to say; it seemed like he was splitting hairs. Now, however, I realize that Dylan was espousing the true spirit of “pay yourself first”.
Savings First
This probably seems a little vague to many of you. How would you actually go about following Dylan’s advice? Here’s a simple three-step process to make savings a priority instead of an afterthought:
Open a high-interest savings account. Although “high-interest” is something of a misnomer lately, eventually it’ll make a difference. I use ING Direct for my savings, but there are many other great options. (If you’re curious, you can read more than 1700 GRS reader reviews of high-yield savings accounts here.) I’m a fan of keeping my savings account at a different bank than my checking account — it just makes it that much harder for me to tap my savings on a whim.
Deposit your paycheck to your savings account. If possible, have your paycheck automatically deposited. (The more you can automate this process, the easier it will be to save.) This is the key to Dylan’s plan. By putting the money into savings instead of checking, you don’t have “extra” cash sitting in your bank account at the end of the month that can be mindlessly spent on other things. Plus, the money’s already in your savings account, so you don’t have to remember to move it.
Set up regular transfers from savings to checking. Based on whatever system you have — a detailed budget, a rough guess based on last year’s spending, whatever — schedule monthly (or weekly) transfers into your checking account to take care of routine expenses. The money left in savings stays in savings.
The difference between the checking-first and savings-first systems may seem trivial, but Dylan swears it works. As he reviewed the manuscript to my book, he flagged every every instance where I encouraged readers to save by moving money from checking to savings. “You have it backwards, J.D.!” he said.
Another Variation
I have my own method of paying myself first, and it’s similar to Dylan’s advice, but on a bigger scale. I don’t pay myself first with each paycheck; instead, I try to front-load my saving every year.
That is, for the first few months, I save as much as I can. I set money aside for retirement, taxes, and other goals. I’m more frugal during the first half of the year, and there isn’t much left over for indulgences.
Once I’ve set aside all the money I think I’ll need, I’m able to loosen up and spend more on the things I want. I still save more throughout the year, but after I’ve met my initial goals, all other savings are a “bonus”.
How to Overcome the Challenge of Saving
The real barrier to developing this habit is finding the money to save. Many people believe it’s impossible. But almost everyone can save at least 1% of their income. That’s only one penny out of every dollar. Some will argue that saving this little is meaningless. But if a skeptic will try to save just 1% of his income, he’ll usually discover the process is painless. Maybe next he’ll try to save 3%. Or 5%. As his saving rate increases, so his nest egg will grow.
If you’re struggling to find money to save, consider setting aside your next raise for the future. As your income increases, set your gains aside for retirement and savings. Once you’re contributing the maximums to your retirement (and you’ve built emergency savings), you can begin to use your raises for yourself again. Sure, this means your effective salary will stagnate for a year or three or five. But it also means you’ll force yourself to develop the saving habit.
Example: My wife is a perfect case study. She started by having 8% of her pre-tax income set aside in her employer’s retirement plan. As her salary increased, she increased the amount she saved, routing it to various retirement accounts. Because she never saw the money in her paycheck, she never missed it. Now she saves 30% of her income, and she receives a 6% employer match! How did she do this? By paying herself first. (I should note that Kris just came to me the other night for advice on how to save even more. My wife is awesome.)
5 Ways to Pay Yourself First
If you are just starting to manage your money or you simply struggle when it comes to budgeting in the first place, paying yourself first may seem like one of those personal finance concepts that sounds good in theory but is difficult to put into practice in reality.
Fortunately, you can start small, get some good habits in place, and scale up from there. Here are five strategies to help get the ball rolling so you can start paying yourself first.
Strategy 1: Reduce Your Spending and Bank the Difference
The first step in implementing this strategy is similar to how you start to budget:
1. Figure out where your money is actually going. Using an app like Mint may help you identify and categorize your major expenses. (Full disclosure: Mint is at its best if you use a debit or credit card for all your transactions. Cash spending is a little trickier, though not impossible, to track.)
2. Figure out what to cut or reduce. Maybe you downgrade your cable package to a plan that doesn’t have the premium sports channels, switch to a no-contract cell phone plan, and increase the deductible on your auto insurance to lower your premium.
Now comes the trick:
3. Bank the difference. Add up your monthly savings from the changes and set up an automatic transfer to your online savings account for that amount. After all, what is the point of saving money if you don’t actually save it?
This can be addictive! If you channel your savings into one sub-account, then as you see it grow each month, you may be inspired to make even more cuts so you can increase the amount of your transfer and watch the savings grow.
Strategy 2: Start Small
But maybe that first strategy sounds intimidating though you aren’t sure you can actually save that much each month (especially if you’re currently spending more than you earn). If you really are starting from nothing, part of the problem may just be a matter of perspective. It’s unreasonable to think that you’ll go from zero to thousands of dollars in savings overnight.
Instead, try starting with $20 per month. Surely you have that much to spare, right? Set up an automatic transfer for that amount and see how it feels. This is actually how I started to save money, although it was for a different reason.
Back in the day when I opened my first savings account, an automatic transfer of at least $25 per month was required for the account fees to be waived. That’s no longer the case, but the transfer was already set up, so I never changed it. See? Laziness working in my favor!
Here’s the trick with this strategy:
Once you’ve been successful doing this for a month or so, bump that amount up. Can you save $40? $50? More? You’ll realize when you’ve hit your limit. And while the amount you are saving may not seem like much in the beginning, starting easy with something you can accomplish is kind of the point. Plus, the balance will grow quicker than you think!
Strategy 3: Bank Your Side-Gig Income
So you’ve got a side gig or second job. You’re in good company! Anyone can start a side business these days. But where does the money from your supplemental income go? If the answer is to your regular checking account and you’re still not saving any money, you may be able to put those funds to better use by funneling them directly to a savings account.
If it’s a second job, then go ahead and set up direct deposit to go straight to a savings account. Out of sight, out of mind — until you log in and admire your new-found savings! If your side gig is your own business, then hopefully you’ve got a business checking and savings account set up so you’re not mixing those funds with your personal money.
Keeping personal and business funds separate can make tax time easier and help you determine whether your side gig is successful. It also makes it clear how often you are paying yourself and how much you’re earning. Better yet? When you cut yourself a paycheck from your business, deposit it into your savings account rather than your checking account. Bank it, baby!
Strategy 4: If You’re Coupled Up, Live Off One Income
This one’s simple too. If you’re a member of a dual-income couple, then try to live off only one of your incomes. In this scenario, one of you has their paychecks direct-deposited into checking, while the other (preferably the higher earner, but do what works for you) has their paychecks deposited into savings.
A true one-and-done, this strategy probably enables saving the most money, and doing so very quickly. But here’s a couple caveats to remember: Obviously, both parties should have access to both accounts, and you should both be on the same page when it comes to saving and spending goals. Communication is key here.
However, assuming that is the case, the sky’s the limit. This strategy is especially effective for those who are planning to go down to one income at some point anyway — for example, those who want one spouse to stay home with a future family. Even if you don’t have plans to become single-income in the works, an accident or illness may make the decision for you, so it’s best to be prepared.
Strategy 5: Participate in Your Employer’s Retirement Plan
OK, this one is kind of a gimme, but it bears repeating. If your employer offers a 401(k) or similar retirement plan, you should be contributing! Saving for retirement is the ultimate form of paying yourself first.
The benefits are numerous. You may reduce your taxes in the here and now. You allow compound interest to work its magic on your behalf. If your employer offers a match, you literally get free money! I’m not seeing any downsides here.
Plus, participating in a retirement plan through your employer is another one-and-done method of saving. Rather than having to remember to do something every single month, you fill out the forms, turn them into HR, and — boom! — you’re providing for your future self. What could be simpler?
Further Reading
No matter what your age, you should make it a priority to develop a regular saving plan. Establishing this habit early can lead to increased financial security later in life. But even those of us who got a late start should do our best to pay ourselves first. I didn’t begin doing this until just a few years ago. Better late than never.
Though many personal finance books briefly explore the idea of paying yourself first, David Bach’s 2003 best-seller, The Automatic Millionaire is devoted exclusively to the subject. The entire book is a step-by-step guide to developing the saving habit and making it automatic. If you’d like more ideas about how to make this work in your life, this is the place to look. Any good public library will have a copy. Finally, here’s a recent Get Rich Slowly discussion about how much you should save for retirement.
Pay yourself first, my friends. It’s a habit that you will never regret.
Get Rich Slowly Philosophy
This is the fourth of a fourteen-part series that explores my financial philosophy. These are the core tenets of Get Rich Slowly. Other parts include:
Imagination and kids go hand-in-hand. And when it’s playtime, children should have a room filled with toys that spark their imagination and creativity. Whether it’s a kitchen play set for an aspiring chef or a crafting table for all sorts of creations, the options are endless. If you’re looking for a way to highlight your child’s creative mind in your home, this Redfin article is for you.
So, whether you live in a house in Duluth, MN, or a Wilmington, NC, apartment, read on for 12 expert-backed kids’ playroom decor ideas to help spruce up your kids’ spaces.
1. Make sure every item has a dedicated place
First, focus on design and organization. It’s important to design a playroom with purpose so kids can learn valuable skills and make the most out of their space. “A great way to do this is to make sure that there is a place for each of their items,” says Adriano Tori, founder & CEO of RexMont Real Estate. “This not only makes the room less cluttered, but it also teaches kids about organization and respecting their belongings.”
2. Include an organizing system
No matter the space, make sure to include an organizing system. Bins are a great way to do this. “Bins are perfect for filing, categorizing, and storing different things,” says the team at Biltmore Design Galleria. “Use a variety of sizes filled with similar items to make your organized system work best,” they suggest. “You can also bring this system to many areas of your home, including bathrooms, closets, and even small spaces.”
3. Label storage with pictures and words
When using storage bins, take photos of the contents and label them with both the picture and the words. “Not only does this help keep toys organized, but it also promotes literacy skills as children connect the written words to the image,” comments Stacey Grumet, founder & CEO of Paper Pinecone. “And don’t forget to make books easily accessible.”
4. Choose a fun theme
Consider designing a playroom around a theme that reflects your child’s interests, like travel, outer space, or under the sea. “Incorporate fun wallpapers, murals, stencils, and decals, while adding small on-theme decorative touches throughout,” notes the team at GTC Design. “Once you establish your overall theme, complement them with cozy cushions, accessible bookshelves, art supplies, and anything else your kid desires.”
Regardless of your theme or decor, prioritize safety by choosing child-friendly furniture, securing heavy items, using non-toxic materials, and adding soft foam mats as necessary.
5. Use playful colors
One of the first items on your kids’ playroom decor list should be invigorating, playful paint colors for the playroom’s walls. “Options include sky blues, sunshine yellows, or warm greens,” says Heather Sheridan, owner of Decorating Den Interiors. “If you decide to go with a specific theme, such as a jungle theme or princess theme, use wall decals that are easy to peel off the walls,” she suggests. “Regardless, make sure your kid likes the colors and that they will stand the test of time.”
6. Create an engaging art room
Build a colorful art space that will evoke creativity and help kids be naturally attracted to it. “When you’re designing an art room, first, figure out what your kids like to do, what development stage they’re in, and how you want the room to look,” suggests Ann Cox, owner of Ann Cox Design. “Then, display enough art items that encourage without feeling too cluttered,” she says. “If you have room, try to fit some of your kids’ original artwork in the design as well.”
7. Invest in fun, transitional furniture
Furniture should grow with your kids, so it’s important to choose quality items that are safe and fun for your kids’ playrooms. “Instead of getting cutesy tiny chairs, choose a couple of great armchairs or a sectional that you can use solo or for family time,” notes the team at Mecc Interiors. “If you want them to be cleanable, get some custom washable slipcovers that will allow you to clean and swap out simply and easily.”
8. Include ways for kids to get their energy out
Kids need to move, so their playrooms should encourage it. “Incorporate items like a toddler trampoline, nugget play couch, and wood climber that take the place of small toys and get all that toddler energy out,” suggest Kyle and Kim Griffiths from State of Play Kids.
9. Create zones for maximum efficiency
Since kids tend to get bored with the same toys each day, use zones to create an area where items can be rotated out every day. “This way, you don’t have to have each and every toy organized and out on display all of the time,” advises Jess Klein, owner of Jess Klein Studio. “For toy storage, consider getting a bunch in one color, since toys can already be visually overwhelming.”
10. Carve out a hideaway underneath the stairs
A fun, space-saving option is to create a secret hideout by adding some fun, festive lights and shelves to the nook area under your stairs. “This is a great area to build towering block castles, do puzzles and experiment with science kits,” says the team at Green Piñata Toys. “Plus, a monthly subscription to a toy or science rental service keeps your hideout freshly stocked and clutter-free.”
11. Stock the playroom with open-ended, age-appropriate materials
Toys should have multiple uses, especially if they’re going to last for more than a year. “Examples include wooden blocks, art supplies like play dough, and even things from nature like sand, water, rocks or sticks,” notes Lauren Besack, Ducklings Early Learning Franchise Director of Curriculum Development. “These toys encourage creativity, experimentation, trial and error, problem-solving, and critical thinking.”
12. Incorporate custom millwork to maximize space
No matter the room, custom millwork is great for tailoring a space to your kids’ specific needs. “You can add multi-use, custom-crafted built-in furniture to fit a variety of play styles,” says Genevieve Chambliss from Vieve Interiors. “Options include bunk beds with lots of cozy features, a built-in desk, a reading nook, or a custom closet,” she suggests. “These options will maximize space and give your kids more floor space to spread out and play.”
Out of 72 million Millennials in America, roughly 600,000 are already millionaires according to Coldwell Banker.
Like the generation they represent, Gen Y’s own one-percenters come from diverse backgrounds and share a bootstrapping attitude to building wealth and success. Their paths to riches range from the tried-and-true to the clever and lucky; some of their methods are merely admirable, while others are easily repeatable.
So who are the Millennial millionaires? How did they build their fortunes, and what can we learn from them?
Let’s investigate six Millennial millionaires, their paths to wealth, and extract one takeaway from each journey.
What’s Ahead:
Jeremy Gardner: crypto
In 2013, at age 21, Jeremy Gardner bought some bitcoins from a friend purely out of curiosity.
At the time, all he really knew about “crypto” was that it was the preferred currency of Silk Road, a darknet eBay for drugs and illegal activity. Shady traders on Silk Road liked Bitcoin because it was unregulated and difficult for authorities to trace.
The FBI shut down Silk Road in 2013 but Bitcoin lived on – and soon, Gardner began to see its true merit.
“There was this realization that I could — with just an internet connection— exchange value with anyone in the world who also has an internet connection,” he told Business Insider. “No longer did I have to rely on a centralized intermediary, a troll under the bridge, such as a bank or a government.”
Gardner converted all of his cash and holdings into Bitcoin and dedicated his life to evangelizing cryptocurrency. He won’t share his net worth publicly, but considering Bitcoin traded for as low as $50 in 2013 and now hovers around $50,000, it’s safe to say he’s beyond mere “millionaire” status.
So what does a crypto millionaire do all day?
At the time of his Business Insider interview, Gardner lived in a three-story townhome in San Francisco dubbed “The Crypto Castle.” He claims that most of the other tenants who have rotated in and out of the Castle have become millionaires as a result of cryptocurrency investing.
Despite residing in one of the most expensive cities on earth, Gardner’s biggest living expense was apparently “alcohol.” That’s because he loves taking people out to party, wax poetic about crypto, and pick up the tab.
During the day, Gardner worked “fairly full-time” at venture capital firm Blockchain Capital, which focuses on seeding crypto-based startups, for a salary of $0. He’s since moved to Miami for the lower cost of living.
Even at the time of his interview in 2017, Gardner acknowledged the possibility of a bubble popping – it may be at $60,000, $100,000, or $500,000 – so to protect his wealth, he has plenty of cash on reserve. That cash will continue to pay for his living expenses and, of course, be used to scoop up more Bitcoin after the bubble bursts.
What we can learn from Jeremy Gardner’s millions
An investment in cryptocurrency can provide generous returns, but it’s not without risk or challenges. Cryptocurrency investments are not FDIC-insured, for example, and the regulatory landscape is still unfolding.
Still, crypto can lend some high-risk, high-reward diversity to your portfolio. I’ll be covering crypto in more detail in the coming months, so stay tuned.
Shan Shan Fu: pandemic-based startup
Chinese-American immigrant Shan Shan Fu, 33, was already working hard enough when the pandemic hit in Q1 2020. Her mother and father had been an engineer and a doctor back in China, respectively, but since their degrees weren’t recognized in America they had to work in grocery stores to make ends meet. Their salaries plummeted but their work ethic stayed the same.
Inspired by her folks, Fu took on a second role in addition to her hard-enough nine-five consulting job. As soon as the pandemic hit, she saw an immediate need for high-quality, breathable face masks. So from five to one each night for seven months, she built and launched Millennials In Motion, a boutique mask and fashion vendor.
Her income from Millennials In Motion soon surpassed her consulting salary, so she left her steady gig to focus on growing her startup.
Shan Shan Fu’s financial success is doubly impressive considering everything working against her during the pandemic. She already had a full-time job, the economy was tanking, and she was an Asian woman, suffering from increased judgment and discrimination due to increasing anti-AAPI bias.
“When you immigrate from China, it’s already so difficult because you’re judged based on how you look, your accent. Your education isn’t valued as much as if [it were from the U.S.],” she told CNBC. “It’s tough to go through so much adversity and be hated on for [a pandemic] that has nothing to do with you…”
Launching Millennials In Motion wasn’t Shan Shan Fu’s first financial success. Fu briefly lived in Vancouver, where she spotted a beautiful condo for an affordable price. She called it “the Millennial dream” and sensed it would be a good investment. It was – since she bought it for $500,000 in 2015, the condo has more than doubled in value.
Technically speaking, Ms. Fu is barely a millionaire – in fact, I’d estimate that after being hammered by self-employment taxes, her net worth might have lost a digit. But I have no doubt that she’ll rebound immediately; if she can launch a successful one-woman startup during a pandemic, the sky’s the limit.
What we can learn from Shan Shan Fu’s (eventual) millions
There are four traditional paths to becoming a millionaire in this country: earning, investing, launching a successful business, and inheritance. Most rich Americans got that way by picking one, maybe two lanes at max so they can work less and stay focused. Ms. Fu is unique in that she built wealth equally between lanes one, two, and three throughout 2020. But even someone with a work ethic as incredible as Ms. Fu realized that 17-hour days aren’t worth it for any amount of money, and focusing on two lanes is just fine.
Keith Gill: high-risk stock trading
Keith Gill is the only person on this list that I can provide an almost precise net worth for, down to the penny.
That’s because Gill is the de facto leader of the infamous amateur investing subreddit r/wallstreetbets where he posts his portfolio on a semi-regular basis. Gill’s “GME YOLO” updates show how he’s turned a $53,000 investment in GameStop stock into $25+ million, peaking at $50 million in February.
Granted, Gill’s “GME YOLO” updates only reflect his GameStop holdings, not his entire net worth. Still, it’s pretty safe to say they represent the majority of his net assets now, and that he’s definitely a Millennial millionaire several times over.
Gill, 34, got his Reddit username from the investing term “deep value.” Deep value investing involves building a diverse portfolio of cheap, undervalued stocks.
Calling upon his experience as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Gill noticed that GameStop stock (GME) had become severely undervalued in 2019, so he bought up 50,000 shares plus 500 call options. He didn’t just “YOLO” his cash into the wind, either, justifying his move with trends and data in a video he posted to his YouTube channel under the pseudonym Roaring Kitty. Critically, he never said he was sharing advice – just educational material.
Gill’s early investment in GameStop, and frequent posts justifying his positions, are credited with stimulating the now-famous GameStop short squeeze of Q1 2021. The movement got so serious that Gill was called in to testify to Congress on February 18th alongside Robinhood co-founder Vladimir Tenev. His two most famous quotes arising from his testimony are “I am not a cat” and “I like the stock.” To date, no legal action has been taken against Gill, and the day after his testimony he doubled his position in GameStop to 100,000 shares.
In many ways, Keith Gill was the hero Reddit needed in 2021. By all accounts, he’s just a normal guy who wants to promote financial literacy, notably the deep value investing strategy of seeking out undervalued stocks. He lives in a normal house in Brockton, Mass with a wife and young daughter, and despite their best efforts, the hedge funds have failed to charge, muzzle, or discredit him. He’s also made a lot of normal people a lot of money during a crippling pandemic.
What we can learn from Keith Gill’s millions
While Keith Gill’s gambit certainly paid off, it’s important to remember that r/wallstreetbets is full of terrible advice, too. Tons of people lose their livelihoods chasing meme stocks and trends, so it’s better to get your lols from WSB and investing guidance from a professional wealth advisor.
A better takeaway from Gill’s millions (that’s fun to say) is that financial literacy pays off. Even though he’s the figurehead of a subreddit that celebrates badly-researched trades, Gill did do his research on GameStop and it paid off. So if you’re looking to build wealth as an amateur investor, be like Gill – not like WSB.
Amandla Stenberg: entertainment
Remember Rue from The Hunger Games movies? Yeah, she’s crushing it now.
Born in 1998 to an African-American mother and Danish father, Amandla Stenberg got her name from the Zulu word for “strength.” Living up to her namesake, she followed her global debut in The Hunger Games by starring in Everything, Everything as Maddy, a young woman homebound by a debilitating medical condition.
Although her portrayal of Maddy won her universal acclaim and further propelled her to stardom (and millionaire status), Steinberg has garnered more well-deserved attention for her outspoken philosophies and political views.
Steinberg identifies as non-binary, preferring the pronouns “she/her” or “them/they,” and has used her newfound stardom to spread pro-acceptance and feminist messaging. In 2015 she published a five-minute YouTube video titled Don’t Cash Crop My Cornrows, directly confronting the disconnect between cultural appropriation and cultural acceptance of black Americans.
On a smaller but similarly profound note, Steinberg announced in 2017 that she’d stopped using a smartphone in favor of a “dumb phone.”
“I’m legitimately concerned about my generation and how phones are going to affect us psychologically.” she told Bust in an interview. “I think [social media] is a very important tool. But at the same time, I think it can create some serious effects on our mental health.”
Amandla Steinberg, who straddles the line between Millennial and Gen Z, evokes the best possible definition of “woke.” She carries a torch of acceptance and critical thinking for both generations, using her wealth and stardom to propel society forward in the right direction.
What we can learn from Amandla Steinberg’s millions
As a “Millennial millionaire,” Steinberg exemplifies how wealth, power, and influence can absolutely be forces for good. She may not give us a clear path to riches, since acting isn’t exactly a reliable cash cow – but she sure as hell shows us how to use it.
Whitney Wolfe Herd: dating apps
Are billionaires still millionaires? Asking for a friend.
Whitney Wolfe Herd was a millionaire, at least, before the Bumble IPO in February 2021. Then, in the ring of a bell, 31-year-old Wolfe became a bonafide billionaire and the youngest woman to take a company public ever.
Unlike Kylie Jenner, nobody dispute’s Whitney Wolfe Herd’s wealth or authenticity. Wolfe launched her first business in college when she began selling bamboo tote bags to benefit victims of the BP oil spill. Two years later, she joined an incubator where she became the third employee of a new Millennial-focused dating app. The app was all about immediate sparks, so she came up with the name Tinder.
Despite Tinder’s explosive growth, Wolfe Herd resigned just two years later and sued her former partners for sexual harassment. The whole nasty episode inspired her to move to Austin and launch a female-friendly dating app called Moxie. The name was taken, unfortunately, so her second choice was Bumble.
Between 2015 and 2019, Wolfe Herd swept awards and collected accolades for her unstoppable momentum in the male-dominated tech industry. In September 2019, she even testified before the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on the topic of explicit images sent within dating apps, further championing efforts to protect women from sexual harassment online: all before her 29th birthday.
When Bumble finally launched a successful IPO, Wolfe Herd’s hefty stake in the company reached an estimated value of $1.5 billion. But despite her 10-figure wealth and barrier-shattering success, Whitney Wolfe Herd’s path to riches is actually pretty old school.
What we can learn from Whitney Wolfe Herd’s (many) millions
If you work in a startup environment, ask for stock options. 10 years of startup salaries probably represent less than 0.05% of Herd’s net worth; the rest is entirely stock.
I myself have a few friends who were the 9th or 17th or 31st employees of no-name companies that have since become big-name companies. Even those that didn’t become Pinterest or Bumble were often bought out, resulting in massive capital gains for early employees and seed round investors. So just a few years of hard work in the right startup can make you a millionaire: as long as you get that stock!
Todd and Angela Baldwin: just save and invest
Todd Baldwin, 28, started out shoveling manure for $3 an hour. Today, his annual income exceeds $600,000. His wife Angela makes six figures also, which the couple can afford to put entirely into savings.
Todd and Angela began their relationship with a combined household income well under $100k. They couldn’t afford to live alone in Seattle, so they bought a $500k home with a small $19,000 down payment and rented out the other rooms to make their mortgage payments.
But by keeping their costs low and crushing it at work, the Baldwins were able to earn more, save more, and buy more. Within a year they invested in a second property. Now they have six.
Three factors enabled the Baldwins to keep purchasing property and build their real estate portfolio:
Their increased earnings at work.
Rent payments from tenants.
Their dedication to frugality and simple living.
Interestingly, Todd credits number three as their primary factor for success. For example, in college he couldn’t afford to take his soon-to-be-wife out for fancy meals, so he took a side gig as a mystery shopper. Now, instead of paying $60 for a nice meal, he’s paid $60 to take his wife out and report his experience. She doesn’t mind and enjoys their “free dates.”
Todd and Angela now live in a much nicer $900,000 duplex, but they still rent out their spare bedrooms, even their converted garage to cover 100% of their mortgage. The couple shares a 2009 Ford Focus, and Todd wears a $12 wedding band made of rubber.
Personally, I admire the Baldwins’ dedication to frugality – but if you find their lean lifestyle to be a bit… restricting, know this: as a result of cost-cutting, they’re able to save 80% of his income and 100% of hers. Even if they bought a pair of matching Mercedes and gave their roommates the boot, they’d likely still save more than half of both of their salaries.
The couple’s ultimate goal is to own 6,000 apartments by the time Todd turns 60, which would bring in $9 million a month in rent. If they pull it off, they’d be fast on their way to becoming a billionaire power couple: too recognizable to keep power shopping.
What we can learn from Todd and Angela Baldwin’s millions
The Baldwins aren’t startup heroes, lottery winners, or crypto zillionaires. Their path to riches didn’t even involve luck or months of 17-hour days. All they did was save and invest, save and invest.
The single most common path to becoming a millionaire in America is to invest 20% of your income for 30 years. The Baldwins were just a bit more aggressive (to say the least), investing 80% of their income for five years and counting. But the core principle still stands – you don’t need a six-figure salary, a massive inheritance, or an early stake in Bumble to get rich; just patience and the most fundamental investing knowledge.
Summary
The Millennial millionaires range from sage opportunists to Hollywood activists; glass ceiling-smashers to frugal investors. Their pathways to wealth are as diverse as the generation they represent, but each of the one-percenters on this list shares one thing in common: a plan.
When it comes to building wealth, luck plays a surprisingly tiny role, if it even factors in at all. Nobody on this list waited for luck; instead, they did their research, executed upon an opportunity, and worked hard for that second comma in their bank statement.
Welcome to San Diego, a city known for its stunning coastline, year-round sunshine, and vibrant lifestyle. If you’re in the market to buy a luxury home in this captivating city, you’re in for a treat. San Diego’s luxury real estate market offers an array of remarkable features and amenities that cater to the discerning tastes of potential homebuyers.
From breathtaking oceanfront properties with panoramic views to state-of-the-art smart home technologies and exquisite outdoor living spaces, this Redfin article explores the extraordinary features that make luxury homes in San Diego truly stand out. Whether you seek a serene retreat overlooking the Pacific or a modern oasis with the latest in luxury living, join us as we dive into the world of luxury home features in the San Diego housing market, where your dream residence awaits.
Top neighborhoods with luxury home features in San Diego
There are several neighborhoods renowned for their luxury homes and exceptional features in San Diego where homebuyers are willing to pay premium prices. With a median sale price of $4.2 million in May 2023, Rancho Santa Fe offers exclusive estates and sprawling properties, and is highly regarded for its privacy, elegance, and upscale amenities. Del Mar, known for its stunning coastal location, offers luxurious properties that provide breathtaking ocean views and beach access, and a vibrant lifestyle. Homes in Del Mar are also set at premium prices, with a median sale price of nearly $3 million. Lastly, homes in the La Jolla neighborhood, a prestigious coastal community, saw a median sale price of almost $2 million in May 2023. This neighborhood is celebrated for its cliffside estates, panoramic ocean vistas, and proximity to upscale dining and shopping.
6 popular luxury home features in San Diego
1. Seamless indoor-outdoor living spaces
You can expect a seamless fusion of indoor and outdoor spaces in luxury homes in San Diego, creating a harmonious connection with the picturesque surroundings. These homes often feature expansive walls of glass, retractable doors, or large sliders that effortlessly blend interior and exterior areas.
The inviting outdoor spaces are thoughtfully designed with spacious patios, lush landscaping, and resort-style amenities such as swimming pools, outdoor kitchens, and fire pits. Homeowners can enjoy the year-round pleasant climate, hosting gatherings that flow seamlessly from the indoor living areas to the outdoor oasis. Breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean, rolling hills, or manicured gardens provide a captivating backdrop, further enhancing the indoor-outdoor living experience. These homes redefine luxury living in San Diego, embracing the region’s natural beauty and offering an unparalleled lifestyle that seamlessly integrates with the outdoors.
2. Luxury living on expansive property
Homebuyers exploring expansive properties in San Diego can expect to find an array of luxurious amenities that elevate the living experience to new heights. These properties often boast meticulously landscaped grounds, including sprawling gardens, lush lawns, and serene water features such as fountains or ponds.
Outdoor living spaces are a common highlight, featuring resort-style swimming pools, expansive patios for al fresco dining, and fully equipped outdoor kitchens for entertaining guests. Sports enthusiasts may discover private tennis or basketball courts, while those seeking relaxation might find tranquil spa areas or meditation gardens. Additionally, expansive properties often offer ample space for guesthouses, home gyms, or home offices, providing versatility and room to customize the living space according to individual needs. With their abundant amenities and room for personalization, these properties exemplify the epitome of luxury living in San Diego.
3. Exquisite touches in the primary suite
An updated bathroom is an essential luxury home feature in San Diego, particularly the primary bath, where meticulous attention is paid to luxurious finishes and impeccable details to create a spa-like experience. Spacious walk-in showers with multiple shower heads, soaking tubs, heated floors, and smart technology for lighting and temperature control are common features that enhance the overall bathing experience. In the primary bathroom, it’s common to find both a soaking tub and a shower, providing residents with a serene spa-like experience to unwind and indulge in relaxation.
Separate walk-in closets in the primary suite have become an increasingly sought-after addition in luxury homes. Designed with meticulous attention to detail, these closets are tailored to maximize personal space and organization, offering an abundance of storage for clothing, accessories, and personal belongings. With dedicated sections for each partner, these closets go beyond functionality, creating a sense of luxury and harmony in the home. They provide convenience and ease during daily routines, eliminating the need to share or compromise on storage space. These thoughtfully designed closets often feature built-in shelving, specialized compartments, and ample hanging space, ensuring that every item has its designated place.
4. Sustainable features to minimize carbon footprint
Luxury homes today have evolved to encompass not only opulence and comfort but also sustainability and self-sufficiency to help minimize carbon footprint. These modern residences prioritize eco-conscious living by integrating features like solar panels, energy-efficient appliances, and systems.
By harnessing solar power, homeowners can reduce their reliance on traditional energy sources, and with energy-efficient appliances, including water heaters and HVAC systems, optimize energy usage while maintaining a comfortable living environment. Luxury homes also cater to the growing popularity of electric vehicles by offering car chargers for convenient at-home charging. This integration of self-sufficiency and sustainability has become a highly sought-after feature among potential homebuyers in San Diego, reflecting their increasing awareness and desire for residences that align with their eco-conscious values.
5. Picturesque view of San Diego’s beautiful landscape
Luxury properties in San Diego are often strategically positioned to maximize the beauty of the natural landscape, boasting breathtaking views that encompass the picturesque surroundings of the ocean, mountains, canyons, and open spaces. With expansive windows and thoughtfully designed floor plans, these homes ensure that the captivating scenery is always in view, creating a seamless connection between indoor and outdoor spaces.
6. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)
In the luxury market of San Diego, Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) have become a sought-after home feature due to their versatility and investment potential. ADUs offer flexibility for guest accommodations, home offices, or rental income opportunities, enhancing a property’s appeal. They maximize land usage while preserving privacy and independence, contributing to the trend of sustainable living. This additional space can also significantly impact the sale price of a listing in San Diego, reflecting high demand. For example, a recent Redfin Premier listing showcased a captivating compound-like setting, including a main residence, ADU, studio, pool, deck, and manicured garden. Buyers were drawn to the potential for multi-generational living, guest accommodations, home offices, and entertainment, creating a resort-like lifestyle within a private retreat.
As you embark on your search for the perfect home in San Diego, working with a Redfin Premier agent is essential. They’re equipped with the expertise and knowledge to guide you through the process, navigate the San Diego housing market, and buy your dream home.
“New home construction is taking on an increased role in the marketplace because many home owners with loans well below current mortgage rates are electing to stay put, and this is keeping the supply of existing homes at a very low level,” Alicia Huey, the NAHB chair, said in a statement. “While this is fueling cautious optimism among builders, they continue to face ongoing challenges to meet a growing demand for new construction. These include shortages of transformers and other building materials and tightening credit conditions for residential real estate development and construction brought on by the actions of the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.”
Although interest rates have more than doubled since 2021, home builders are still cautiously optimistic about business, something the NAHB attributes to builders’ usage of buyer incentives. However, as sales have picked up this spring and existing home sales remain at record lows, the use of sales inducements from homebuilders has slowed.
In May, the share of homebuilders reducing home prices dropped to 27%, down from 30% in April and 36% in November 2022, with the average price reduction hovering at 6%, unchanged for the past four months. Additionally, the share of homebuilders offering some type of incentive dropped to 54% in May, compared to 59% in April and 62% last December.
“Lack of existing inventory continues to drive buyers to new construction,” Robert Dietz, the NAHB’s chief economist, said in a statement. “In March, 33% of homes listed for sale were new homes in various stages of construction. That share from 2000-2019 was a 12.7% average. With limited available housing inventory, new construction will continue to be a significant part of prospective buyers’ search in the quarters ahead.”
The three other indices monitored by the NAHB rose in May. The gauge measuring current sales conditions rose to 56, up five points month over month. The component analyzing sales expectations for the next six months rose seven points to a reading of 57. Compared to a month prior, the gauge measuring traffic of prospective buyers rose two points to 33.
Regionally, the three-month moving averages for HMI rose in three out of the four regions, with the West gaining three points to a reading of 41, the South increasing three points to 52, and the Midwest rising two points to a reading of 39. The Northeast held steady month over month at a reading of 45.
Another survey, the BTIG/HomeSphere State of the Industry Report, also reported an improvement in homebuilder outlook.
According to the survey, nearly twice as many builders reported sales that were better than expected (38%), than those who report sales that were worse than expected (20%) in April. In addition, nearly three times as many builders saw traffic as better than expected (42%) versus worse than expected (15%). The share of builders reporting a year over year decrease in sales also shrank to 34% in April, compared to 40% in March.
The BTIG/HomeSphere study is an electronic survey of approximately 75-125 small- to mid-sized homebuilders that sell, on average, 50-100 homes per year throughout the nation. In April, the survey had 124 respondents.
Like the homebuilder confidence survey, the BTIG survey also found that homebuilders are easing up on buyer incentives. Of the 124 respondents, 17% cut some, most of all prices versus 22% last month, while just 22% of surveyed builders reported increasing some, most or all incentives compared to 27% a month prior. In addition, 30% of homebuilders reported raising some, most or all base prices in April, up from 21% in March.
“New home demand momentum has continued to accelerate throughout the spring season, which is in-line with anecdotal public builder commentary,” Carl Reichardt, a BTIG analyst, said in a statement. “With comparisons for both sales and traffic beginning to ease meaningfully, we expect results should become stronger on a year/year basis next month.”
In our latest real estate tech entrepreneur interview, we’re speaking with Tyler Irons from VRLY.
Without further ado…
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Tyler Irons and I’m the Founder of VRLY. VRLY is a Technology and Marketing partner for Real Estate agents. VRLY helps agents implement the latest technology into their listings. VRLY then helps agents monetize that technology by incorporating it into their marketing campaigns. VRLY helps our agent partners have leverage over their competitors and attract future clients with targeted marketing campaigns.
What problem does your product/service solve?
At our core, we here at VRLY understand digital marketing. We utilize scanning, Drones, 3D & 6D tech, listing websites, as well as other cutting-edge technology in our 3-Step Process to conduct hyper-targeted, focused digital marketing campaigns to put our partner’s brand and listings in front of future clients.
80% of home buyers start their search online. So, we help our agent partners marketing funds to where it truly matters: mobile phones. VRLY puts their face and brand in front of a hyper-targeted audience of buyers and sellers. We use the latest tech and marketing ad’s to help sell your current listing while attracting potential new listings.
What’s are you most excited about right now?
VR Pre Built 6 Degrees OF Freedom (6DoF) is HERE! VRLY is helping our agent partners incorporate 6DoF into their offerings. Having complete control over home tours of Pre Built homes is changing the industry for home builders. Our agent partners are winning and wowing builder clients with their fully interactive home tours that are usable on Desktop, Mobile, and VR.
What’s next for you?
VRLY’s Research and Development team is always working with the latest tech to incorporate with our agent partner’s businesses. We have many projects in the works currently that will be coming out over the next year. The best way to keep up with our latest products is to follow along with our social media pages.
What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?
VRLY has been blessed with amazing support from our home state of Nebraska. We’re passionate about helping the next generation have opportunities to travel, learn, and have positive life experiences. We have partnered with an incredible group at VRLY Storm Basketball. Storm Basketball has found a way to reach and connect with kids in our community. They’re helping kids from all over Nebraska and using Basketball as a connecting platform. We’re so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the impact they are making.
Thanks to Tyler for sharing his story. If you’d like to connect, find him on LinkedIn here.
We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop me a line (drew @ geekestatelabs dot com).
As the pandemic shut down office life in Los Angeles’ downtown financial district, Claude Cognian tried to keep his gastropub Public School 213 open. But the evacuation of white-collar workers made way for an influx of homeless people and drug users — and more than a few troublemakers striding in the front door.
“It was hard to keep hostesses at the door, because they got scared,” said Cognian, chief executive of the restaurant’s parent company, Grill Concepts Inc.
Three break-ins cost as much as $12,000 each time just to repair the windows, all while the bottom line was cratering in the absence of the office employees who used to gather for lunch and after-work drinks. With sales down 75% from pre-pandemic days, his company closed the downtown gastropub in August and is not planning to return.
“Our bet was that downtown was going to come back, and it hasn’t,” Cognian said.
For decades the Los Angeles financial district was the beating heart of downtown, the corporate muscle that gave the city of sprawl a soaring glass skyline. But the pandemic and the wave of remote work hollowed out its skyscrapers and helped shut many restaurants and businesses that relied on crowds of workers. Though the neighborhood shows signs of recovery, few expect it to return to being the bustling hive of suits and ties that it was.
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To many insiders — the urban planners, real estate developers and business owners with interests in it — the area will recover only if its identity grows more textured than a zone of white-collar office space.
Desirable office addresses were already spreading beyond the financial district before the pandemic, as downtown experienced a renaissance in housing, art and entertainment on blocks previously shunned by investors and residents.
To the south, billions of dollars were spent improving the blocks around Crypto.com Arena with hotels, housing and entertainment venues. Obsolete century-old commercial and industrial buildings to the east were renovated into desirable housing and fashionably unconventional offices. Billions more were spent north on Bunker Hill where the Music Center including Walt Disney Concert Hall and office skyscrapers have been joined by museums, apartments and a high-rise hotel.
The housing boom drew residents to the financial district as well, and that has kept it from turning into a ghost town.
But for the area to truly come back to life, many say it will need to follow the path of Lower Manhattan. The financial capital of New York faced an exodus after 9/11, but city officials and investors staved it off by making it a place of more diverse uses. It is still an office district but is far more lively than it used to be since it also became a residential neighborhood with more shops, restaurants, parks and hotels than it had before the attacks. A performing arts center will open in September.
“Cities evolve. That’s what they do,” said downtown L.A. business representative Nick Griffin. “From natural disasters, wars and pandemics. They evolve with market changes, customer preferences and cultural shifts. Downtown has evolved pretty dramatically over the last 20 years and the next five or so are going to be very interesting.”
Many companies have returned to their offices, but on a limited basis as their employees work some days from home. “For Lease” signs clutter building fronts, tacked over restaurants and bars that once served lively hordes of office workers. Graffiti marks windows.
At Public School 213, the chairs are stacked neatly on tables as if it just closed for the night. Other former restaurants have been gutted by their landlords. Sidewalks are quiet, sometimes eerily so.
Downtown’s centers of gravity have shifted numerous times since its days as a remote Spanish pueblo.
The plaza by Olvera Street near the Los Angeles River was el centro until the late 19th century. When the railroads arrived in the American era, the business elite shifted the commercial district south from the plaza toward 1st Street in the Anglo section of the racially divided city, said Greg Fischer, an expert on the history of downtown who worked on planning matters for former City Councilwoman Jan Perry. Main, Spring, Broadway and Hill streets became the business hub.
In the early 20th century, elite social clubs such as the Jonathan Club, the California Club and the Los Angeles Athletic Club erected new buildings on the west side of downtown where property was relatively cheap. Soon the rooming houses, small apartment buildings and ramshackle Victorian homes there gave way. Richfield and other oil companies headquartered there, the seeds of today’s financial district.
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In “the Jetsons era,” as Fischer described the 1960s, corporate leaders viewed the Spring Street-centered office district as increasingly obsolete and passé and moved to newer buildings in the financial district. Downtown lost a lot of itslifeblood during that time, he said.
“In the years after World War II, downtown was a shopping, office and entertainment area,” Fischer said. “By the 1960s the office component had shifted west, most entertainment went to suburbs and housing just evaporated.”
Among the big businesses with offices in the west were the Richfield, Union, Signal, National and Superior oil companies. Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. was headquartered there and Bank of America had a big presence.
The boundaries of the financial district are not officially outlined, but property brokerage CBRE defines it as the office center south of Bunker Hill and 4th Street, flanked on the west by the 110 Freeway and on the east by Hill Street and extending south to 8th Street.
By the 1980s, much of downtown was moribund; buildings that once thrummed with commerce were dilapidated and vacant or underused. There were pockets of vibrancy, notably the Jewelry District and a Latino-centric shopping zone that emerged among aging buildings along Broadway in the Historic Core. The Civic Center around City Hallremained one of the largest concentrations of public administrative buildings in the country, employing thousands of workers.
But the financial district was the shinythriving part of the city, a high-rise office park for lawyers, bankers and accountants who piled into their cars for a mass exodus at the end of each workday.
To many, the neighborhood felt like a corporate fortress, invisibly walled off from the rest of downtown. Business leaders were painfully aware that downtown L.A. lacked the vibrancy of other big cities because it had so few residents, but was stuck in a chicken-and-egg dilemma: People didn’t want to live there because it lacked restaurants, grocery stores and other typical city-life amenities, but merchants didn’t want to set up shop because few lived there.
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The stalemate began to break around 2000 with an ordinance that made it easier to redevelop obsolete office buildings into housing. The relocation of the Lakers, Clippers and Kings pro sports teams to the new downtown arena then known as Staples Center brought thousands of sports and music fans and led a wave of development south of the financial district.
Decades of efforts to add rail service and thousands of apartments and condominiums helped create a more vibrant downtown that was taking on the flavor of other big cities before the pandemic.
“All of a sudden people were walking dogs and pushing baby carriages,” architect Martha Welborne said. “New restaurants came in, even destination restaurants that weren’t just for the people who worked downtown or lived there.”
Fortunately for downtown’s future prospects, its apartment towers remain nearly fully occupied. More than 35,000 units were built after 1999, when so few people lived there that downtown didn’t even have a big-chain grocery store.
Three new hotels have recently opened and a 42-story apartment tower will start leasing later this year. Bottega Louie, one of the region’s top-grossing restaurants before it shut down during the pandemic, reopened in 2021. A few blocks away, legendary Beverly Hills steakhouse Mastro’s also opened a seafood restaurant last year near Crypto.com Arena.
And last week, Metro opened its new Regional Connector, a 1.9-mile underground downtown track adding three stations and linking different lines to make travel more seamless.
Though some business owners have abandoned the financial district, others see an opportunity to get in at an affordable price during what they hope is a temporary economic dip.
Restaurateur Prince Riley recently leased a spot on Grand Avenue that was last home to the Red Herring restaurant. He grabbed it because he liked the location and it was already built-out for upscale dining.
“You can see all the love and care that went into this space,” he said. “They were a casualty of COVID.”
Riley and his wife plan to open their restaurant, named Joyce, in July, featuring a raw bar and Southern-style seafood such as crudo and ceviche. They moved into the apartment building upstairs to be close to it.
The couple like being near Bottega Louie, a popular Whole Foods grocery store and the recently opened Hotel Per La, which took over a lavishly refurbished 1920s building last occupied by another hotel that closed early in the pandemic.
“I can see business picking up,” Riley said. “This is an opportunity from a terrible tragedy like COVID. We wouldn’t have had this otherwise.”
A key factor keeping downtown teetering between recovery and a further downward slide appears to be discomfort with the streets and the sense that they are not as safe as they were before the pandemic.
The blocks close to Metro’s underground 7th Street/Metro Center station, where multiple light and heavy rail train lines meet, are among those that have changed the most since the pandemic as the Metro system struggles to combat rampant drug use and serious crimes such as robbery, rape and aggravated assault on its lines.
Thegrowing number of homeless people on the streets has been an issue in other cities too, said Cognian of Public School 213. His company also closed restaurants in Seattle and San Francisco because customers at their urban locations trickled away as unhoused people commandeered the sidewalks.
“Hopefully, we as a city, as a state, find a solution for the homeless,” he said. “If the homeless situation doesn’t get solved in some fashion that allows tourists, office workers and businesses to operate, it’s just going to bring down the area.”
Real estate broker Derrick Moore of CBRE, who specializes in matching restaurant and shop operators with landlords, said leasing of retail space downtown has improved in recent months, especially compared to the dark days of the 2020pandemic shutdown when downtown fell silent.
“It seems like ancient history,” Moore said, “but it was very devastating to one’s psyche.” And to downtown businesses.
In the wake of the COVID shutdown, downtown overall lost more than 100 food and beverage establishments with a combined footprint of more than 1 million square feet, Moore said.
“That’s restaurants, bars and lounges, juice bars, boutique coffee operators and even national brands,” Moore said. “A good portion of those remain vacant.”
Replacement tenants like Joyce restaurant are starting to come in, he said, with leasing and property showings picking up in the first quarter at a “resoundingly” busier pace than early 2022. Moore has taken potential tenants to the empty Public School space, where across the street the failed Standard Hotel just reopened under new management as the Delphi.
Faced with a challenging market, retail landlords have cut their asking rents as much as 50% from pre-COVID prices, Moore said, and more than doubled the amount they are willing to spend on tenant upgrades such as installing restaurant kitchens and restrooms, and providing periods of free rent.
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The financial district also faces a struggle of changing tastes, with many firms bypassing the gleaming skyscrapers that were the height of prestige in the late 20th century in favor of campus-style offices anda more laid-back vibe.
Even legal firms, long a stalwart in the financial district, are turning elsewhere in some cases. One firm established in February recently opted out of putting its office there.
“When we started to look at space it became very clear to us that locating in the financial district was a very different proposition than it used to be,” said Matt Umhofer, a partner at Umhofer, Mitchell & King. “Downtown has changed dramatically, and we wanted to rethink what it means to be a law firm in Los Angeles and let go of preconceived notions of needing to be in the financial district in order to be relevant.”
The fledgling firm opted instead for an office in Row DTLA, a campus of shops, restaurants and offices created out of century-old warehouses near the Arts District, east of the financial center, even though office rents in the Arts District are often higher than they are in the glitzy skyscrapers.
“The short version is, being in the financial district isn’t as cool as maybe it was in the past,” Umhofer said.
The spotty attendance of office workers has changed the character of business centers across the country, said Mark Grinis, leader of consulting firm EY‘s real estate, hospitality and construction practice.
An analysis by EY found that offices are being used at only 25% to 50% of the level they were before the pandemic.
“In some locations, three-quarters of the people that normally would have gone in, didn’t,” Grinis said. “People are not on the subway, ordering sandwiches at lunch or having a drink after work.”
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Vacant offices and storefronts can hinder recovery, he said, because people shy away from empty spaces.
“Three blocks of vacant houses in a residential neighborhood ultimately becomes a negative,” he said. “An office center is not that different.”
The physical appearance of vacancy becomes more alarming when graffiti, litter and grime follow and create a bad “multiplier effect,” Grinis said.
Stopping the spiral starts with making the streets safe and getting homeless residents into better housing, but there are also public policy decisions that could help landlords convert office buildings to housing if they are no longer competitive on the office leasing market.
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And the market has been brutal. Owners of some of downtown’s office high-rises have faced defaults, foreclosures and rushed sales in the face of falling demand, real estate data provider CoStar said.
The owner of two of the financial district’s premier office towers, 777 Tower and Gas Company Tower, said in February that it defaulted on loans tied to the buildings. Other high-rise owners are in similar straits.
In the face of rising vacancy rates, “those defaults could signal pain to come for the 69-million-square-foot downtown L.A. office market,” CoStar said.
Owners of buildings facing foreclosure sometimes don’t have enough money to build out new tenants’ offices, as is customary, which hinders strapped landlords from recovering financially.
Commercial landlords are getting hit on multiple fronts, said Jessica Lall, managing director of the downtown office of CBRE.
“What we’re seeing is a perfect storm when it comes to the office distress in downtown L.A.,” she said.
Loans on large-scale properties are maturing at a time when interest rates are high, making refinancing a challenge, Lall said. There is widespread uncertainty among tenants about how much space they will need to rent in the future if employees work remotely at least some of the time.
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Those issues are compounded by “the general perception around downtown being unsafe,” she said. “All urban centers are grappling with that issue right now.”
The downtown office vacancy rate — the share of total space that is unleased — climbed to 24% in the first quarter, up from 21.1% a year ago, according to CBRE. More empty space is coming, the brokerage said, pushing estimated availability to a daunting 30% as some companies shrink their offices or move away from downtown.
Law firm Skadden, for example, a large longtime tenant in downtown’s Bunker Hill district, has decided to move its offices to Century City .
The landlord of the U.S. Bank Tower, downtown’s tallest office tower at 72 stories, remains bullish on the market in spite of its troubles and recently spent $60 million to make the building more attractive to tenants by adding hotel-like amenities.
“People need offices,” said Marty Burger, chief executive of Silverstein Properties, which owns the tower. “Not every company in every industry needs an office, but the majority of them do.”
Among the reasons for offices are collaboration and education, he said. “How do you mentor the young folks who are coming up in your industry if the older people aren’t in the office for younger people to learn from? There is a whole ecosystem where you need people in an office now.”
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Companies may end up using their offices fewer days of the week than they used to as remote work and shortened schedules grow in popularity, he acknowledged: “Fridays may never be Fridays again.”
Burger says his optimism about downtown L.A.’s potential for improvement has a foundation in New York, where Silverstein built One World Trade Center on the site of the Twin Towers.
“After 9/11, everyone said that no one would ever live there or work there again,” Burger said.
In 2001, the neighborhood had about 20,000 residents and saw little activity after office hours. Now rebuilt, the neighborhood has about 75,000 residents and a greater mix of office tenants including businesses in tech and advertising in what was mostly a banking center before, Burger said.
“It’s a vibrant 24/7 community,” he said.
Many see this as the best future for L.A.’s financial district.
The city’s tight housing market combined with the downturn in office rentals opens the possibility to convert some office buildings into housing or hotels.
More residents and visitors would make the neighborhood more dynamic and better able to support restaurants, shops and nightlife, said Griffin, executive director of the privately funded Downtown Center Business Improvement District, a nonprofit coalition of more than 2,000 property owners.
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“If we trade some office for residential, that’s a good thing.”
The pandemic’s blow to the office market “is an opportunity that none of us ever imagined happening,” Welborne said, “transforming office buildings into residential buildings and reimagining our entire downtown.”
If you want to save up to 50% on a Disney hotel stay, it doesn’t take a fairy godmother or a magic wand. All it takes is knowing how to rent Disney Vacation Club points.
One of the easiest ways to quickly save a potentially significant amount of money on a Disney vacation — without sacrificing much of anything — is to stay in a Disney Vacation Club villa using rented Disney Vacation Club points.
You can find these villas at Disney resorts such as Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas, Saratoga Springs or even Disney’s Aulani Vacation Club Villas in Hawaii.
The best part? You don’t have to be a Disney Vacation Club owner (or even know one) to rent Disney Vacation Club points and save money on a Disney vacation. There are services that match those looking to rent with those who have points up for renting.
Related: Guide to renting Disney Vacation Club points
Save up to 50% by renting DVC points
Some pretty big online companies essentially act as the middleman between owners of Disney Vacation Club points and those who want to rent them for a specific trip.
These companies will link Disney Vacation Club point owners with prospective renters so they can spend less money when renting anything from a one-room studio to a three-bedroom villa or even an overwater bungalow.
When you do this, you still get all the perks of staying on-site, such as early entry to the parks each morning and the opportunity to buy individual Lightning Lanes starting at 7 a.m. without paying full Disney prices.
We’ve rented Disney Vacation Club points numerous times in the past to save money on our family’s trips to Disney, both from other Disney Vacation Club owners and from a company called David’s Vacation Club Rentals.
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The name implies a mom-and-pop shop (or at least pop). It is a family-owned business, but the new reality is much more advanced; it has a few dozen team members listed on its site and frequent mentions on almost all Disney-related sites.
Here’s how it works: A Disney Vacation Club owner (Disney’s version of a timeshare) can use their points to book a stay for anyone at one of these resorts:
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas
Bay Lake Tower At Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Disney’s Beach Club Villas
Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
Copper Creek Villas and Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Hotel
Disney’s Riviera Resort
The Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa
Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa
Disney’s Old Key West Resort
Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
Disney’s Vero Beach Resort
Disney’s Hilton Head Resort
Related: These are the best hotels at Disney World
If an owner doesn’t plan to use their entire Disney Vacation Club points allotment for the year, they can make some or all of the points available for rent via a service like David’s. David’s Vacation Club Rentals pays a rate to the points owner (often $16 – $18 per point) and then charges more to the renter (often $21 – $23 per point). The company’s profit lies in the difference.
The best way to use David’s Vacation Club Rentals, or any other similar site, is to first familiarize yourself with the Disney Vacation Club points charts; also, familiarize yourself with the online availability search tools to learn how much something costs and whether it is likely to be available on your dates.
Across Disney Vacation Club, rooms start at just 7 points per night and go as high as hundreds of points per night, so there’s a wide spread of points costs.
If you paid $21 per point to rent a room that costs 7 points per night, your costs would be $147 for that night. In fairness, rooms that cost that amount of points are few and far between, but they do exist.
Let’s look at a booking available right now. If you want to stay two nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge in a Kidani Village Studio with a standard view from Dec. 21 – 23, that booking is available for 28 total points. Since that date range is already within seven months, it would cost $21 per point, or $588 total, for the two-night stay if booked with points rented at that rate from David’s Vacation Club. There are no additional taxes or fees due on Disney Vacation Club stays.
If you booked that same room directly from Disney, it’s selling for $589 per night, which is $1,326 for the two-night stay with taxes and fees. That’s more than twice the cost of renting the points.
It’s important to know that some Disney Vacation Club rooms, especially the cheapest ones, can and do sell out well in advance.
You want to book as far in advance as you can. The Disney Vacation Club booking calendar opens 11 months before your check-in date. If you book seven or more months in advance, you may pay a $2 per night “home resort” premium at David’s, as only those owners who own points at a particular resort can make reservations more than seven months in advance. Within seven months, owners can use their points at any of the available DVC resorts (with a few caveats).
Related link: Rent DVC points via David’s Vacation Club
How to use David’s Vacation Club rentals
Once you know where you want to stay and verify there is availability for your dates (here’s the tool I use), it’s time to ask David’s Vacation Club Rentals to make the booking. Note that availability is dynamic, and you don’t want to delay once you know what you want.
To rent using David’s Vacation Club, complete its reservation form and make a $105 deposit that is applied to your final rental price using a Visa, Mastercard or Paypal. (I recommend using a card with no foreign transaction fees since David’s is based in Canada.) If they can’t book what you want, that money is refunded.
Once you submit your request, you wait. It’s not a live availability booking process — it’s manual.
We have waited as little as an hour to be informed via email that our request could be fulfilled. We were then given a link to pay the balance of our reservation (minus the $105 deposit), and then the booking was secured. Within a few more hours, the entire process was complete, and we had a reservation in our names with a Disney confirmation number.
The booking should code as travel, so use a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve that awards a bonus on travel.
This Disney confirmation number you’ll get is a big deal because that’s what you’ll need to link the booking to your Disney account and unlock the perks of staying on the property.
In all of my stays, I have been able to successfully link the reservation to my online Disney account and easily check in under my name. Everything about my stays has been smooth. Once, we lived it up in a three-bedroom Grand Villa within walking distance to The Magic Kingdom for one night, thanks to renting Disney Vacation Club points. You can read our full Disney’s Bay Lake Tower review here.
Most recently, we rented a two-bedroom suite at Disney’s Animal Kingdom via David’s Vacation Club for a total of $840. The two individual bedrooms we would have otherwise needed would have cost more than the points than required to get the whole two-bedroom with the living room and kitchen. That particular resort is inching toward requiring a bit of a renovation to put it on par with some of the resorts more recently spruced up, but that’s true whether you booked with cash or Disney Vacation Club points.
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Downsides to renting DVC points
My experience and other online reviews show that David’s has the Disney Vacation Club rental process down to a science. However, there are downsides.
First and foremost, cancellations and changes are not permitted. This will be a non-starter for some folks. For others, look into travel insurance or be sure to use a credit card with built-in trip protections that might help you as a method of last resort.
Also, know that stays booked via the Disney Vacation Club do not come with full housekeeping (er, “mousekeeping”) the way that standard hotel rooms would (though only deluxe Disney resorts booked with cash get guaranteed nightly housekeeping).
Rooms booked via Disney Vacation Club get “trash and towel” service on the fourth night. If your stay is more than eight days, you get a full cleaning on the fourth night. Housekeeping also inspects rooms daily and may remove trash during that time.
If you want more housekeeping services, you can pay for additional cleaning at rates that range from $30 for a studio villa to $75 for a three-bedroom villa.
Look for last-minute specials
If you like the idea of renting Disney Vacation Club points to save as much money as possible, keep an eye out for last-minute specials where you can save even more. These reservations tied to a specific resort and date are currently available for as little as $16 per point. This can happen when Disney Vacation Club members have points they really need to rent out as soon as possible or risk letting them expire and go to waste.
Bottom line
I’ve rented from David’s Vacation Club Rentals multiple times since 2018. The site has a prompt online chat option for quick questions during working hours, and I’ve had real success renting DVC points to save money over cash rates at Disney World and beyond.
Read on to continue your Disney vacation planning:
You won’t believe you were living without these surprising home essentials.
Sometimes, we all need a little help with our daily chores to make our lives more manageable. Plus, if you’re short on space, keeping your apartment organized is important. Luckily, Amazon has a great selection of household items that can help you out.
They’ve got everything from bear claws for shredding meat to fabric defuzzers, which are super popular. Just make sure not to go overboard and clutter your home with things you don’t need. It’s always a good idea to check out customer reviews, too, because some products might surprise you with their usefulness.
So keep reading to discover some of the best problem-solving products you never knew you needed!
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1. Hotpop Baking Mats (4-pack)
Have you ever found yourself in the mood for some delicious freshly baked cookies, only to realize you’ve run out of parchment paper? These amazing baking mats are here to save the day. They’re crafted from super-strong, heat-resistant silicone that won’t stick to your yummy treats as they bake. Plus, they’re reusable and can be easily cleaned in the dishwasher.
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2. Brieftons QuickPush Food Chopper
If you find chopping vegetables a hassle, you might be tempted to buy pre-chopped produce at the grocery store. With this vegetable chopper, you can do your own mincing, dicing and chopping in minutes. The blades are super sharp, so you can quickly chop through even the toughest veggies. Plus, the container at the bottom can hold up to 8 cups of chopped veggies. The best part? It’s easy to clean and comes with a scraper to get every little bit of food out.
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3. Mifaso Outlet Extender with Shelf
Limited counter space and wall plugs can make it challenging to charge all your devices. Accidentally knocking your phone off the nightstand due to lack of space only adds to the frustration. Fortunately, this outlet extender solves all those problems by offering five outlets, four USB ports, a built-in night light and a small shelf to keep your phone off the floor.
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4. KPKitchen Pancake Batter Dispenser
Make cooking easier by using this batter dispenser for pancakes, cupcakes and more. You’ll get the perfect amount every time without making a mess. The dispenser has a handle for easy pouring and a spout on the bottom. Plus, there are markings on the side of the dispenser so you can keep track of how much batter you’ve used and follow recipes accurately. No more spills and drips on your countertop or stove. It’s a great kitchen tool!
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5. Mighty Handle Bag Carrier
When returning from the grocery store, do you follow the rule of carrying all the bags in one trip to your apartment? With this carrier, you can easily make one trip from your car and spare your hands from strain with its comfortable handle grip. This sleek carrier is suitable for transporting anything from groceries to shopping bags directly from your trunk to your destination.
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6. Conair Fabric Defuzzer
Are you annoyed with fuzzies all over your favorite sweater? Save yourself a trek to the dry cleaners with the Conair Fabric Defuzzer. This battery-operated device safely removes fuzzies from your fabric without damaging your clothes, making your sweater look brand new again!
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7. Snap ‘N Strain Pasta Strainer
Making pasta often results in more dirty dishes than necessary, with cumbersome colanders that need to be cleaned and held steady while pouring boiling water. The Snap ‘N Strain makes draining pasta effortless by conveniently clipping onto the pot and allowing easy pouring.
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8. Quakehold Museum Putty
Do you own cats, and are you tired of them knocking things off your shelves? With Quakehold Putty, you can secure your objects to any hard surface and prevent them from moving, even if your furry friend wants to play with them. Apply the putty to the base, wait 30 minutes for it to set, and keep your fragile items safe. The putty is non-toxic, reusable and removable without leaving any mess.
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9. ZOBER Purse Organizer for Closet
Having trouble finding enough space for your bags in your amazing apartment? Here’s the perfect solution for you. This over-the-door purse organizer is ideal for using unused space on your doors and creating more storage. With six slots of various sizes, you can keep all your bags in one convenient place while keeping them clean and dust-free. Hang this over your closet door, and you’re ready!
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10. ChomChom pet hair roller
Pets are our best friends, but their hair can be challenging to remove from clothing. Rather than using countless lint roller sheets, consider using the reusable ChomChom pet hair roller. It effectively removes pet hair from car seats, couch cushions, clothing and other surfaces. Not only is it more environmentally friendly, but it also leaves you with a hair-free environment.
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11. The Pink Stuff Cleaning Paste
The Pink Stuff may have caught your attention on TikTok, but make no mistake, it’s a top-notch cleaning product. This paste will leave your stove and countertops spotless and shining. Just scoop out a generous amount of paste and apply it to the surface with a sponge. Let it sit for a few minutes before rinsing it with water. The cleaning paste is highly effective at removing tough stains and stubborn grease. And best of all, it’s a breeze to use and clean up.
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12. Bear Paws Meat Shredder Claws
Although bear claws are commonly used in BBQ settings, they can also be extremely useful in your apartment kitchen. Bear Paws are the ultimate solution for shredding meat to perfection, sparing you the inconvenience and mess of using knives and forks. The ultra-sharp claws make it easy to grasp and shred pork, chicken, beef and more. These dishwasher-safe claws are made of BPA-free nylon and can endure heat up to 475 degrees.
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13. Brimma Fruit Infuser Water Bottle
Stay hydrated in the heat by infusing your water with fresh-cut fruit like strawberries and mint or a slice of orange with this water bottle. The flavors will gradually infuse into the water, making it more refreshing. Plus, the bottle is designed with non-slip grips on the sides, so you can keep a secure hold, even while exercising, and a flip-top lid to prevent spills.
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14. Colorful Taco Holder Stands
You’re ready to eat after making a bunch of delicious toppings, and your tortillas are cold. You can still enjoy Taco Tuesday by grabbing one of these handy taco holders. Just pop your tortillas into the holders and warm them up in the microwave for a few minutes. The best part? Each holder can hold up to three tacos to quickly warm up a whole bunch at once.
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15. 4-in-1 Knife Sharpener
It’s important to have sharp kitchen knives to make cooking a breeze, but also for safety reasons. Dull blades can easily slip and cause accidental cuts. Luckily, this knife sharpener has you covered with three slots that can repair, sharpen and polish your blades in one go. Plus, it’s great for sharpening all of your different knives with its four-in-one capability.
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16. Reusable Food Saver Sheets for Produce
Imagine spending your Saturday morning at the farmers market, picking out the freshest produce only to have it spoil before you use it. It’s a frustrating and wasteful experience. But with FRESHPAPER food saver sheets, your fruits and veggies can stay fresh up to four times longer in the fridge. It reduces food spoilage, saves money and lets you buy produce in bulk. Each sheet works for a month and can be added to your fruit bowl, berry container or crisper drawer — both in and out of the fridge.
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YOOCOOL Heat Resistant Toaster Bags
Have you ever thought about toasting an entire sandwich in your toaster instead of just the bread? Well, now you can toast it all with these heat-resistant toaster bags. You can warm up any sandwich, complete with mayo, cheese and tomato, without creating a mess. The end result is a mouth-watering, gooey sandwich.
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18. Whitmor Eco-friendly Dryer Balls
Skip the dryer sheets and use this set of spiked dryer balls will help keep your clothes fluffy and wrinkle-free as they tumble in your dryer. Not only that, but they also soften and fluff up your fabrics naturally and help separate your laundry while it’s in the dryer, which increases hot air flow and reduces drying time. And the best part? They’re eco-friendly and reusable, making them a great addition to your laundry room.
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19. EZ Off Jar Opener
Say goodbye to struggling with jars of pasta sauce with the EZ Off Jar Opener. It can be easily installed under a kitchen cabinet using the pre-attached adhesive and secured with the included screws. Its unique V-shape allows it to fit and open a range of lids, making it a versatile solution for all jar-opening needs. Plus, it’s renter-friendly and won’t take up any valuable counter space.
Still looking for a place to live? Start here.
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Muriel Vega is an Atlanta-based journalist who writes about technology and its intersection with arts and culture. She’s worked on content for startups like Mailchimp, Patreon, Punchlist, Skillshare, Rent. and others. Muriel has also contributed to The Washington Post, Eater, DWELL, Outside Magazine, Atlanta Magazine, AIGA Eye on Design, Bitter Southerner and more.