With its rich history, vibrant cultural scene, and warm Southern hospitality, Birmingham, Alabama is a great place to call home. Whether you’re moving to Birmingham or are a Birmingham resident, then you may be considering if you want to rent versus buy a home in the area. Even in today’s real estate market, there are pros and cons to consider if you’re renting or buying a home in Birmingham, making it that much harder to decide what fits your goals.
If you’re considering buying a home in Birmingham, it’s important to know the median sale price for a home is $255,000. The average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in Birmingham is $1,060 and $1,300 for a 2-bedroom apartment. For many residents of Birmingham, this means it may cost less to rent a home than buy a home in today’s market. It’s important to know that there may be a variety of reasons why buying a home may be best for you this year.
At the end of the day, the decision between renting or buying a home in Birmingham is personal and depends on many factors. Whether that’s having flexibility in where you live or your financial goals, there are numerous factors that can help you make the decision. We’ll guide you along the way as you decide between renting vs buying in Birmingham. That way, you can determine the right option that best meets your goals.
Advantages of buying a home in Birmingham
Affordability
One of the main advantages to buying a home in Birmingham is that home prices are affordable right now, especially compared to other markets. In 2022, the average home price was around $300,000 and today the median sale price is around $255,000. The area offers competitive salaries and relatively low living costs, too. Greater Birmingham consistently ranks among America’s most desirable places to work and earn a living. There are several factors that make Birmingham a favorable place for property investors too, such as its affordable home values, passive income potential, and overall market stability over the last few years.
Building equity
Owning a home provides a unique opportunity to build equity over time. Equity represents the difference between the market value of your property and the remaining balance on your mortgage. As you make regular mortgage payments, a portion goes towards reducing the principal amount owed, effectively increasing your equity. Additionally, as property values typically appreciate over the long term, your home’s market value can increase, further bolstering your equity.
Stable monthly payments
One of the biggest advantages to buying a home in Birmingham with a fixed-rate mortgage is that you’ll have the same monthly mortgage payment throughout the duration of your mortgage. Although your other monthly expenses may vary, your mortgage payments will remain the same, providing you peace of mind and stability.
Disadvantages of buying a home in Birmingham
Lower supply of move-in ready homes
There are several areas around Birmingham where most of the homes are older and have not been well maintained or are distressed. So, if you’re looking for a new construction or move-in ready home, you won’t necessarily find what you’re looking for in every neighborhood of Birmingham.
Maintenance costs
With homeownership comes the added responsibility of maintaining your home and property. Regular maintenance duties, such as cleaning, landscaping, and minor repairs, help ensure the longevity and functionality of the home. Additionally, periodic inspections and maintenance of systems like HVAC, plumbing, and electrical are essential for their proper operation and to prevent potential issues. While some maintenance tasks can be handled through DIY efforts, others may require professional assistance, leading to additional costs.
Large upfront costs
Keep in mind that there are more costs associated with buying a home than just the down payment. When saving up to buy a home in Birmingham, you’ll need to factor in additional costs such as closing costs, home inspection fees, and appraisal fees. But by diligently planning, exploring available assistance programs, and relying on the expertise of your agent, you might find that your dream of becoming a homeowner can happen sooner than you initially thought.
Determining if you are ready to buy a house in Birmingham
Whether or not you’re ready to buy a home in Birmingham depends on a variety of factors. Below are some of the key factors for you to consider to decide if it’s a good time for you to buy a home:
Financial stability: Before you begin your homebuying journey, it’s important to have a good credit score and a stable income. Make sure you set aside some additional funds for down payment, closing costs, and additional expenses that go into the homebuying process. You’ll also want to build an emergency fund in case of any unanticipated expenses.
Housing market conditions: The housing market in Birmingham is somewhat competitive, so it’s important to know how much you can afford in today’s market.
Long term commitment: Buying a home is a more significant time and financial investment, unlike renting. So, if you’re not sure you’ll be living in Birmingham for more than a few years, it may be better to continue renting vs buying a home.
Personal goals: Finally, you’ll want to assess your priorities and discuss your personal goals before making the step into the homebuying process. Are you looking for a home with certain amenities – a pool, chef’s kitchen, indoor-outdoor living space? Do you want to be close to public transit or something further from the city? Determine what’s important to you during your home search and if buying a home meets those goals.
If you’re undecided on whether now is the right time to buy, consider speaking with a real estate agent or your financial advisor to understand your options.
Is it competitive to buy a home in Birmingham?
The Birmingham housing market is currently somewhat competitive. Some properties that are move-in ready and well maintained are still getting multiple offers, and this is where most of the competition is. On average, homes in Birmingham are selling within 41 days and for about 2% below list price.
Advantages of renting a home in Birmingham
Flexibility
One advantage of renting vs buying a home is that one can move or relocate relatively easier and faster than if they own a home. When a renter’s lease is up, they can easily pick up and move to another neighborhood or city, whereas homeowners may not have this luxury.
Less expenses
Another advantage is not having to pay for homeowners insurance, which can be costly. In comparison, renter’s insurance is very affordable. Renters also don’t have to account for potential HOA dues or maintenance costs, which are typically the landlord’s responsibility.
Lower upfront costs
When renting a home in Birmingham, there are two upfront costs to keep in mind: first month’s rent and a security deposit. Sometimes a landlord may require last month’s rent, but this can vary. In comparison to the upfront costs associated with buying a home, these tend to be much lower.
Disadvantages of renting a home in Birmingham
Rent increases
Rent prices have been steadily increasing at higher rates than interest rates in Birmingham. Depending on your rental agreement, your landlord could increase your monthly rent when it comes time to renew your lease.
Not building equity
Another very important disadvantage of renting vs buying to consider is that the individual is not gaining any equity when they’re paying rent rather than a mortgage. Renting requires making regular payments to the landlord, but these payments do not directly contribute to building equity or financial security; rather, they solely grant you the use of a living space without any long-term financial benefits.
Less freedom of the living space
Whether you’re renting an apartment or a home, your ability to personalize your living space is limited since you’re living in someone else’s space. For example, you might not have the ability to paint walls or cabinets, install new finishes, or make permanent improvements without the approval of your landlord. On the other hand, a homeowner has the freedom to make minor cosmetic changes or take on larger improvement projects.
Renting vs buying in Birmingham: A real estate agent’s final thoughts
In my opinion, it ‘s always a good time to buy in any market as long as you find the right property and are in the financial situation to do so.
Whether you choose to rent or buy, the Birmingham area is an amazing place to call home. If you’re just starting the homebuying process, make sure you’ve done a thorough look into your finances to understand what you can afford now and in the future. Be sure to estimate your mortgage payment with an online mortgage calculator and see what homes fit your budget with a home affordability calculator.
Librarian Miki Goral has lived in the massive Westside residential complex Barrington Plaza for more than three decades. She swims in the large heated pool nearly every day and, from her one-bedroom apartment on the 10th floor, she has a view of the ocean. The building is a 15-minute bus ride from her job at UCLA and it’s rent-controlled, allowing her to retain some certainty over housing costs even as rents in the neighborhood have skyrocketed.
Like many of the Plaza’s long-term tenants, Goral had planned to stay for many more years.
This month, she learned that she and each of the residents of the complex’s 577 occupied units were being evicted so that the owner could install fire sprinklers and other safety upgrades. Most were given four months to leave, though Goral and others who are at least 62 or disabled can take up to one year. But Goral can’t imagine leaving.
“I don’t want to move,” she said. “I’ve been here for 34 years. It’s my home.”
Three months after the end of pandemic-era protections limiting the ability of landlords to evict tenants,the owner of Barrington Plaza has initiated one of the largest mass evictions in L.A. in recent years, pushing hundreds of Westside tenants out of their homes at the same time that the city grapples with a housing crisis.
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Landlord Douglas Emmett Inc. says the move is necessary to install the sprinklers and other safety equipment in a complex with a history of dangerous fires. It has invoked the Ellis Act, which allows landlords to evict rent-stabilized tenants to remove units from the rental market.
Some tenants are already in the process of leaving, facing a significant jump in rent and the potential cruel irony that their own evictions — hundreds of Barrington residents dumped into the market at once — might drive up prices even more.
But Goral and others believe the company is improperly applying the law and that it can make the safety upgrades without permanently displacing them. They say they will fight to stay.
“In a period where we’re dealing with homelessness throughout the city and county, it’s a major issue that this company would suddenly put almost 600 people on the housing market to compete for housing,” Goral said. “It’s not a sensible thing to do.”
Housing officials say the city has little discretion once a property owner says they are taking a property off the rental market under the Ellis Act but that they are working to help residents relocate. City rules require landlords to pay tenants relocation assistance, amounts that range from about $9,000 to about $23,000, depending on how long they have lived in the apartment, their age, income and other factors.
“The impact of this is profound,” said Greg Good, senior advisor on policy and external affairs for the Los Angeles Housing Department. “There’s no way around that. It’s 577 units, and it will create significant disruption.”
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When it opened in 1962, Barrington Plaza was celebrated as the tallest residential complex west of Chicago and the biggest urban renewal project ever insured by the Federal Housing Administration. There were extensive gardens, a nine-hole putting green and a unique intercom system that allowed residents to dial two digits to call down for maids, sitters and caterers.
Over the decades, the apartments would change ownership multiple times and residentswould raise repeated safetyconcerns at the complex, which was exempted from laws requiring fire sprinklers because of when it was built.
On New Year’s Day in 1971, a Christmas tree caught fire, causing the building to be evacuated and the elevators to be removed from service for several days. In 2013, another fire injured several people, including a toddler, and displaced the residents of dozens of units. And in January 2020, another fire left a 19-year-old exchange student dead and several others injured. News stories featured images of a man clinging to the outside of the building several stories up as he tried to escape the blaze.
After that fire, eight floors in the complex’s tallest building were red-tagged, and they have remained vacant since.
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Eric Rose, a public relations executive working for Douglas Emmett, said in written responses to questions that when the company submitted plans to rebuild the damaged floors, the city conditioned its approval on the installation of sprinklers and other safety equipment throughout Barrington Plaza’s three towers.
Those changes cannot be done without vacating the three towersat the same time, Rose said, because building systems are shared among them and “structural changes, including changes to ceilings and walls, need to be made in order to carry the weight of the sprinkler system.”
This month, the company notified the city that it would withdraw the complex from the rental market under the Ellis Act, a 1985 state law that allows landlords to evict tenants in rent-stabilized apartments if, for instance, they are taking the building off the rental market to convert the units to condos.
Under city rules, owners invoking the Ellis Act must seek “in good faith” to remove it “permanently from rental housing use.”
Tenants and advocates say they believe the long-term plan is to rent the apartments once again. Because of that, they say, the evictions would be an improper use of the law.
“They want to renovate it. And they clearly want to re-rent it, and that’s not what the Ellis Act is about,” said tenant rights advocate Larry Gross, of the Coalition for Economic Survival.
He said the company should have used the city’s Tenant Habitability Program, under which landlords doing major renovations can temporarily relocate residents to comparable units until the work is done.
Rose says the Tenant Habitability Program is typically used for renovations that last days or months, not years.
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“At this time, the owners of Barrington Plaza are removing the units from the market and have options as to how those units will change, be rehabilitated through new life-safety measures or become something different,” Rose said.
He suggested that the apartments could eventually return to the rental market under rules laid out by the city.
Any rehabilitation of the complex will take years, he said, and “after that time, if the units were brought back onto the rental market, the owner would follow the obligations relative to former tenants as provided in those state and local rules.”
There are no plans to build new condominiums on the site, Rose said.
Residents have struggled to make sense of the lack of clarity about the building’s future.
Attorney Nima Farahani, who has conducted legal clinics and met with several of the Barrington tenants, said that under the Ellis Act, “if you really, in good faith, can’t be a landlord, you can stop being a landlord.”
But, he said, “you’ve got to go out of the rental business. End of story.”
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Under the law, if within two years a landlord rents an apartment vacated under the Ellis Act, they can be liable to former tenants for damages.
But after that, the consequences are less severe. If they rent within five years of the evictions, they must offer tenants a right of return with the same rent that they were paying when they were evicted, plus certain approved increases.
If the company rents again between five and 10 years, it must offer a right of return but can charge a market rate rent.
Advocates say that after two years, most residents will have resettled and be unlikely to return.
Residents have formed a tenants association, and many are preparing for fight the eviction. Some see it as part of a larger effort to protect affordable housing in Los Angeles.
A majority of the building’s tenants — who include a mix of retirees, working-class and white-collar workers and students — moved into the building in recent years. But more than 100 residents have lived at the Plaza for five or more years, according to city records. The median length of residency among those long-term tenants was 12 years. Some have lived there since the 1960s.
But even among those who have moved in more recently, there are residents who don’t want to go. Many say they chose the building because it was rent-stabilized, and that finding something similar will be next to impossible.
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Jacqui Fournier, 56, moved in to Barrington Plaza during the pandemic, in August 2020. She pays $1,595 for a studio on the 10th floor, a rate she believes was lower than it might have been under normal circumstances.
“We want to stay in our homes,” she said. “We cannot get, on the Westside, a comparable apartment at what we are paying now.”
The going rate for a studio apartment in the vicinity of Barrington Plaza is about $2,600, said Ryan Patap, senior director of market analytics with CoStar, which tracks real estate data.
The median rent paid by tenants at Barrington is $2,295, according to city data. That amount includes studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.
Patap said it is possible that the large-scale evictions themselves could cause moderate rent increases in the surrounding neighborhood.
“This many renters probably would push up the rents. But to what extent, it’s hard to quantify,” he said.
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At the same time, it’s likely that many tenants won’t be able to remain in the neighborhood at all, because they wont be able to afford it, he said.
Chuck Martinez, a driver for Uber Eats, moved into Barrington Plaza in 2021. He knew it was the right place when he learned it was rent stabilized.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to need this,’ ” he said. “Looking back, I was happy I made the decision because now we’re dealing with inflation. The price of everything has gone up.”
He pays $1,850 a month for his studio on the 12th floor. From the windows that wrap around the corner unit, he can see Griffith Observatory and the Getty Center on a clear day.
“It’s a million-dollar view for $1,850,” he said.
For the last couple of weeks, when he’s not working he’s been meeting with other tenants, lawyers and advocates, trying to figure out if there is a way for him and others to avoid leaving.
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“I’m trying to save myself from losing my rent-stabilized apartment,” he said. “It’s the only way to try to keep something livable.”
Living in a studio apartment can be both challenging and exciting. With limited space, it’s essential to make every square foot count while creating a stylish and functional living environment, whether you live in a Sacramento apartment or you’re looking for apartments in Little Rock. If you’re looking to transform your studio apartment into a cozy and well-designed space, here are ten tips to consider for styling a studio apartment.
1. If you opt for a designer, find one who understands your lifestyle
When seeking the assistance of an interior designer, it’s crucial to choose someone who understands your lifestyle and specific needs. A designer who specializes in small spaces can offer creative solutions tailored to your preferences, ensuring that your studio apartment reflects your personality and enhances your daily activities.
“Home is a psychological experience,” says Christopher Travis, CEO of Truehome Design.Build. “Find a designer who listens to who you are and how you live. It is not the building that matters. It’s the experience you have when you move into that space.”
2. Use room dividers strategically
Creating defined spaces within a studio apartment can help create a sense of separation and privacy. Use room dividers strategically to delineate areas such as the bedroom, living room, and dining space. Consider options like bookshelves, curtains, or folding screens that can be easily moved or adjusted as needed.
“When styling a studio apartment, you have to create more with less,” according to Alexis Schuchert of Detroit-based interior design company Concetti Studio. “To do so, consider your paths of travel and what multi-functional furniture can be used to give you different living areas in one space. For example, you can float your sofa to create a divide in the room, use room dividers to create privacy and install a Murphy bed to maximize space.”
3. Get a media console
Investing in a media console serves multiple purposes in a studio apartment. Not only does it provide a designated spot for your television, but it also offers additional storage for media devices, books, and other items. Opt for a console with built-in shelves or drawers to maximize functionality while minimizing clutter.
“When designing a studio apartment, choose wisely,” says Robyn Branch of Robyn Branch Designs. “One of my constant pieces is a media console. It can house so many things and anchor your space as well as define the room. You can use it as a satellite bar and have extra storage.”
4. Be selective when bringing items into your studio apartment
Clutter can quickly make a small space feel overwhelming. Be mindful of the accessories you choose for your studio apartment and aim for a minimalist approach. Select a few meaningful pieces that contribute to the overall aesthetic while ensuring they serve a practical purpose.
“Clear the clutter- less is more,” says designer Julia Weinberg of Julia Robin Interiors. “Be choosy about which accessories and furniture you put in your apartment. Each piece on display should be either functional or beautiful (ideally both), and fit in with the overall design scheme. Get rid of anything else.”
5. Choose a cohesive color scheme
To create a sense of unity and flow in your studio apartment, select a cohesive color scheme. Opt for light and neutral shades to make the space appear more open and spacious. Add pops of color through accessories or artwork to inject personality and visual interest without overwhelming the overall aesthetic.
“Less color is more when it comes to choosing a paint color scheme for your walls,” says Janine from Fluff + Puff Staging and Redesign. “Try to avoid any dark or bright paint choices. Stick to just one or two neutral colors and by using the same color in one area, your space will feel more cohesive and larger.”
6. Embrace natural light
Maximize the natural light in your studio apartment to create an open and airy atmosphere. Use sheer curtains or blinds that allow sunlight to filter through while maintaining privacy. Mirrors placed strategically can also help bounce light around the space and give the illusion of a larger area.
7. Maximize your bedroom storage space
In a studio apartment, the bedroom area often shares the same space as the living room. To maintain a sense of separation and maximize storage, consider investing in furniture pieces with built-in storage capabilities. Opt for a bed frame with drawers underneath or a wardrobe with extra shelves to keep your belongings organized and out of sight.
Paige Loperfido from Decor and More Designs recommends wall mounted bedside storage with sconces above. “This frees up space on the nightstand, and keeps the room feeling less cramped while also giving a cozy hotel feel.”
8. Emphasize vertical storage
When horizontal space is limited, look up. Make use of vertical storage solutions to maximize your studio apartment’s storage capacity. Install floating shelves, wall-mounted hooks, or hanging organizers to keep your belongings off the floor and utilize every available inch of space.
9. Utilize versatile decor
Versatility is key when decorating a studio apartment. Look for furniture and decor items that can serve multiple functions. For example, a storage ottoman can be used as a coffee table, extra seating, and a hidden storage solution. A foldable dining table can double as a workspace during the day and a dining area when needed.
“The key to styling studio apartments is to marry function with beauty,” says Ashlie Adam, principal designer at Ashlie Adam Interiors. “When space is limited, it is important to have items serve more than one purpose. For example, you could select an ottoman for sitting but that opens up and has storage space.”
Maria Parra of Styly Home adds, “”Multifunctional furniture, for example, an ottoman that can also be used to store some blankets, is always a good idea for studio apartments because they are perfect for small spaces”
10. Keep it organized and tidy
Finally, maintaining an organized and tidy studio apartment is crucial for creating a visually pleasing environment. Implement storage solutions that work for you, develop a routine for decluttering regularly, and find homes for all your belongings. A well-organized space will not only make your studio apartment look more appealing, but also enhance your daily living experience.
Are you looking for ways to save money and enjoy some extra perks? Earning free gift cards is a great way to accomplish both goals. Luckily, there are many legitimate ways to get gift cards from popular retailers, such as Amazon or Target, without breaking the bank. In this article, we’ll explore some of the best strategies and apps that can help you get free gift cards.
Now, you might be skeptical about the idea of free gift cards, but they do exist.
Several platforms reward users with gift cards in exchange for completing simple tasks, participating in surveys, shopping online, trading in items, and more. So, whether you want to expand your shopping budget or treat yourself to something special, these methods are worth a try.
After trying out these suggestions, you’ll find that earning gift cards can be a fun and easy way to stretch your budget. Learning how to earn free gift cards can help you pay for things throughout the year for free, such as gifts, household items, treating yourself out to eat, and more.
Related content:
Ways To Get Free Gift Cards
Here’s a quick list before we begin:
Popular Rewards Websites and Apps
Earning free gift cards has never been easier, thanks to popular rewards websites and apps. In this section, you’ll learn about a few of these platforms that can help you get free gift cards.
1. Swagbucks
Swagbucks is one of the most popular rewards websites. With Swagbucks, you can earn points for completing a variety of tasks such as answering surveys, watching videos, online shopping, using Swagbucks as your default search engine, and playing games. These points can then be redeemed for gift cards to your favorite stores.
Swagbucks is a company that I started using years ago, and it has helped me easily earn some extra cash on the side, all from home or while traveling. In fact, I have earned over 105 free Amazon gift cards (I like to redeem my points for free Amazon gift cards) from Swagbucks over the years.
Here’s how Swagbucks works:
You join Swagbucks through my referral link (and receive a $10 bonus).
Earn points by taking online surveys on their website, searching the web just like you normally would with their search engine, watching videos on Swagbucks, shopping online, and so much more.
Then, you can use your Swagbucks points for PayPal cash or a wide variety of gift cards.
Free gift cards that you can get through Swagbucks include Amazon, Walmart, Apple, Target, Starbucks, Home Depot, Macy’s, and many other stores and restaurants.
2. InboxDollars
InboxDollars is another rewards platform that has many different ways for you to earn points, such as taking online surveys, watching video clips, redeeming grocery coupons, playing games online, and more.
You can also earn cash back on your online purchases at retailers that collaborate with InboxDollars.
With InboxDollars, you can get free gift cards to places such as Target, Amazon, PayPal, iTunes, Apple, Nordstrom, Xbox, Safeway, eBay, and more.
It is free to sign up and free to become a member on InboxDollars.
By signing up for InboxDollars, you can receive a free $5 too.
Participating in Online Surveys For Free Gift Cards
Participating in online surveys is a simple and effective way to earn free gift cards. Many companies are willing to reward you with free gift cards for sharing your opinions and experiences through these surveys by answering questionnaires on survey websites. The process is straightforward: sign up, complete surveys, accumulate points, and redeem your points for gift cards.
Remember to be honest and thoughtful while completing surveys, as the quality of your feedback is important. By dedicating a bit of time daily to participating in online surveys, you’ll gradually earn points that can be redeemed for free gift cards to use at your favorite stores.
3. American Consumer Opinion
American Consumer Opinion is a free online survey company. It’s free to sign up and you’re paid around $1 to $5 (longer surveys pay more than shorter ones) for each survey you answer.
They have paid out over $35,000,000 to survey takers and have posted over 20 million surveys. They have over 7,000,000 members as well.
They give out free gift cards all the time too.
You can sign up for American Consumer Opinion here.
4. Survey Junkie
Another survey company that you will want to check out is Survey Junkie. Complete three surveys daily on Survey Junkie and you can earn as much as $40 each month.
You can redeem your points for PayPal cash, free Amazon gift cards, free Target gift cards, and more.
You can sign up for Survey Junkie by clicking here.
5. Branded Surveys
Branded Surveys is an online survey company that pays around from $0.50 to $5.00 per survey that you answer. Like with all survey companies that I recommend, it is free to join.
Branded Surveys has paid out over $39,646,696.31 to its members over the years.
They also have over 100 different free gift card options, to places such as to Amazon and Apple.
You can sign up for Branded Surveys by clicking here.
6. Prize Rebel
Prize Rebel is another survey platform that pays in free Amazon gift cards, free Walmart gift cards, free Visa gift cards, and more.
One thing that makes Prize Rebel stand out is that it is open to those in the U.S., but to also many other countries around the world. So if you are finding it hard to find a survey site to accept your location, check this one out!
Prize Rebel has paid out more than $29,000,000 in cash and free gift card rewards since the year 2007.
You can sign up for Prize Rebel by clicking here.
7. User Interviews
User Interviews is a little different from the others in this section as it’s much higher paying than a traditional online survey site, but it’s a little more involved as well because it’s more of a market research study.
Participants can earn $50 to $100 per hour or more for sharing their opinions and feedback on User Interviews. The average pays over $65. These are typically completed over the phone or in a video call where an interviewer is asking you questions.
They launch over 2,000 studies monthly and they have paid over 87,000 people in the last year.
You can click here to sign up for User Interviews.
Earning Cash Back and Points For Free Gift Cards
Earning cash back and points is a great way to get free gift cards. In this section, I discuss several methods that you can use to start earning rewards to put towards free gift cards.
8. Honey
You can install the Honey browser extension, which automatically finds and applies available coupon codes and promo codes when you shop online.
Then, shop like normal and when you’re ready to checkout, Honey will instantly find and apply the best coupon codes directly to your shopping cart.
You can then redeem your points for cash, gift cards, or PayPal shopping credits.
It’s super easy to use – Honey only takes two clicks and it is 100% free.
You can learn more about Honey by clicking here.
9. Rakuten
Rakuten is a cash back website that allows you to earn free money for spending just like how you normally would online.
With Rakuten, you simply click on a store that you want to shop through (Walmart, Target, Chewy, Old Navy, Sephora, Best Buy, and over 3,000 other stores) and shop just like how you normally would shop online.
By using Rakuten, they earn a commission for referring you to the store, and then Rakuten gives you some of that money back as a reward for using their platform.
Rakuten does not pay you in gift cards, instead they give you a check or PayPal cash quarterly. But, I still wanted to include Rakuten because they are so easy to use.
You can sign up for Rakuten here and get a $30 sign-up bonus.
10. Upside
Upside is a cell phone app that gives you cash back for using the gas stations that are listed in their app. You simply sign up for a free account, and then look at the Upside app to find gas stations located near you.
With Upside, you can make up to $0.25 per gallon cash back at gas stations.
You can then redeem your earnings for cash to your bank account, but also for free gift cards to places such as Amazon, AMC Theaters, Dunkin Donuts, Kohl’s, Nike, Target, Uber, and more.
You can sign up for Upside by clicking here.
Also, you can also learn more by heading to my Upside Review.
11. Rewards credit cards
Rewards credit cards can allow you to redeem your points for free gift cards.
The way that rewards credit cards work is that every time you use your credit card, you can earn points for spending money. Yes, spending money just like how you normally spend money.
I have rewards credit cards and I earn points every single time I shop and I don’t have to do anything special. Just pay my bills and expenses like I normally do!
With rewards credit cards, you can earn plane tickets, free gift cards, cash back, and more. You can redeem gift cards through your credit card rewards, you can transfer the points that you have earned to your credit card as cash back, and more.
Two credit cards that I personally like include:
Credit card points can easily be converted into free gift cards, making them a great way to save money on items from your favorite stores. Most credit card companies offer points for purchases made on their cards, and these points can often be redeemed for gift cards at popular retailers like Google, Starbucks, and Sephora.
Note: Using credit cards for their rewards is only wise if you are a responsible credit card user. You do not want to add debt to your life to earn credit card rewards, as debt that gains interest is not free nor worth it! You need to make sure you’re paying your credit card balance in full each month for the gift card rewards to be worth it so that you are racking up high credit card interest rate charges.
Scan Your Grocery Shopping Receipts For Free Gift Cards
Did you know that you can get free gift cards just by simply scanning your receipts?
With the help of certain apps, you can turn those paper or digital receipts of your purchases into free gift card rewards.
These apps pay you for the data they get from your receipt. They don’t see your name or other private or personal information. Instead, they are observing trends in shopper behavior. The apps use this information to help their partners better understand their customer’s shopping habits.
In this section, I discuss several apps that you can use for this purpose.
12. Fetch Rewards
Fetch Rewards is my favorite receipt scanning app.
It is easy to use and I scan all of my receipts into this app as it literally takes less than a minute to do and you can earn points so easily.
Fetch Rewards gives you points for shopping that you’ve already done (both online and in-person shopping).
You can take pictures of your receipts from grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and anywhere else. They will accept a picture of any receipt from any store.
With your points, you can then redeem them for free gift cards to places such as Amazon, Walmart, Airbnb, Athleta, Barnes and Noble, and many, many others.
Below is how Fetch Rewards works:
Shop like you normally would, either online or in-person
Take a picture of your receipt after you’re done with your cell phone
Earn points on Fetch Rewards
What I do is – I go to the grocery store and shop like normal. You don’t have to open the Fetch Rewards app before you go. I then check out. Once I get home, I open the Fetch Rewards app and take a picture with my receipt. Fetch Rewards automatically scans my receipt and puts the points in my account. Takes just a moment to do!
You can sign up for Fetch Rewards by clicking here.
You can also read my review at My Honest Fetch Rewards Review.
13. Ibotta App
Ibotta is a cash back app that lets you earn gift cards by shopping at your favorite stores.
You can simply download the app, browse available offers, and complete the required tasks to earn cash back on your purchases.
You can then redeem your earnings for free gift cards to places such as Starbucks and Amazon.
You can sign up for Ibotta by clicking here.
You may be wondering – Is Fetch Rewards or Ibotta better?
Fetch Rewards and Ibotta are similar, and I recommend bot!.
Fetch Rewards is a little easier to use than Ibotta because all you need to do is scan your receipt into the Fetch Rewards app, and then you are done. With Ibotta, it’s more like clipping coupons and takes a little more time, but you may be able to earn a little more cash with Ibotta.
The great thing is that you can use the same exact grocery receipt for both Fetch Rewards and Ibotta, which will maximize your rewards. If you have the time, I recommend signing up for both so that you can increase your earnings by not doing too much more work.
Other Ways To Earn Gift Cards
There are many other ways to find gift cards. These include earning points through referral programs, trading in your unwanted items and selling them online, and finding sweepstakes and giveaways to enter. I will be talking about each of these in the sections below.
14. Referral Programs
Another popular way to find free gift cards is taking part in referral programs. Many companies offer refer-a-friend incentives, which can include free gift cards for both you and your friend.
One example of this is Gift Card Granny. When using Gift Card Granny, you can recommend their website to your friends, and whenever one of them makes a purchase through your unique referral link, you’ll receive $5 to put towards a gift card on Gift Card Granny.
Referral programs aren’t limited to gift card sites alone. Even credit card companies have referral programs allowing you to earn extra points, gift cards, or cash back for recommending their card to friends. This comes with the added benefit of helping your friends earn rewards and potentially free gift cards as well.
So, if there is a website, service, or product that you like using, you may want to see if they have a referral program.
15. Trading in and Selling Items
Trading in your unwanted items and selling them online can be a great way to earn free gift cards. Whether it’s an old cell phone, video game console, or other electronic devices, there are many different stores that will exchange your used stuff for gift cards.
Amazon Trade-In is one platform to start with. They accept trade-ins for a wide range of products like Amazon devices (such as Fire tablets, Kindle e-readers, Echo devices, Fire TV devices, Ring and Blink devices, and more), cell phones, voice speakers, and gaming consoles. In return, you’ll receive an Amazon gift card with the value determined by the condition and demand for your specific item.
Best Buy and Target also have trade-in programs for tech items that allow you to exchange your items for store gift cards. You can head to their websites to determine the value of your items.
You will want to keep in mind that different retailers might provide varying amounts for your trade-in, so it’s a good idea to compare offers. This can help you make the most money as one website may pay you more than another.
By trading in the stuff you no longer want or need, you can earn free cards to Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and more.
16. Find Free Gift Card Sweepstakes and Giveaways
If you are wanting free gift cards, then finding sweepstakes and giveaways can be an interesting option to look into. There are many ways to find these sweepstakes and giveaways to enter, and with a little patience and time, you might just win some free gift cards (along with other prizes too!).
The main downside of this, though, is that there is no guarantee that you will win anything, of course. As, it all just depends on your luck. So, it may take awhile for you to win your first prize, if ever.
But, luckily it doesn’t really take any skill. You simply are just entering giveaways!
Back when I was paying off my debt, I entered giveaways like crazy, and got lucky a few times. I’ve also hosted a fair bit of my own giveaways over the years as well!
One popular method to find sweepstakes and giveaways is by following your favorite companies or brands on social media platforms like Instagram. These accounts often host promotions where you can win free Amazon gift cards, Visa gift cards, or other types of rewards. Keep an eye on their posts and stories for chances to win.
Another way to find sweepstakes and giveaways to enter is to search related hashtags on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Many times, sweepstakes and giveaways are tagged with these hashtags in order to grow even more and so that people can find them. I used to enter giveaways all the time, and this is exactly how I would find giveaways to enter. Some hashtags to search or follow include:
#sweepstakes
#giveaway
#giveawayalert
#contest
#freebie
There are also sweepstakes websites that you can Google. These websites simply list all of the sweepstakes and giveaways that are available to enter, which makes it even easier as you can find a bunch to enter on one easy website.
Another way to earn free gift cards is by playing games on websites and apps that offer rewards to their users. Some of these platforms allow you to earn points by completing game-related tasks, which you can then exchange for gift cards. You may win other prizes as well.
Search engines can be another way to find sweepstakes and giveaways. It’s important to keep your data safe and secure while entering these contests, so be wary of scams and only provide information to reputable sources.
Frequently Asked Questions About Earning Free Gift Cards
If you have questions about how to earn free gift cards, I have included some common questions below:
Is it possible to get free gift card codes?
Yes, it is definitely possible to earn free gift cards.
In fact, I have earned many free gift card codes over the years!
I have earned over 100 free gift cards from Swagbucks alone. Swagbucks sends free gift card codes directly to your email inbox so that you can use them right away, and I have done it so many times over the years!
Plus, I have earned free gift cards from several other websites and apps on the list above as well.
My favorite type of gift card would be a Visa gift card, because you can use it anywhere just like you would with a credit card or debit card.
What are the best apps for earning gift cards? What app gives free gift cards?
There are several popular apps that can help you earn gift cards. These apps usually reward you for completing simple tasks, surveys, to watch videos, play games, and even shop. Here’s a list of the best sites to earn free gift cards:
These are available on your laptop, ios, or Android.
What websites can I use to earn gift cards?
Apart from the apps mentioned above, there are websites like Rakuten and Gift Card Granny that can help you earn gift cards. Signing up and using these websites may provide you with cash back, offers, or rewards for your online purchases or referring your friends.
How to earn gift cards without completing offers?
To earn gift cards without completing offers, you do have a few options.
One option is that you can use the Amazon Trade-In program, where you can trade in eligible items for Amazon gift cards. If you have items laying around your home that you can trade in, this can be a great way to declutter, while also earning some free gift cards.
You can also get paid to watch movies and earn free gift cards.
Can I earn gift cards by playing games on PC?
Yes, playing games on rewards sites such as Swagbucks, InboxDollars, and MyPoints will let you earn points that can be redeemed for gift cards. These platforms usually feature several casual and simple games that reward you for playing.
How to get a free $20 dollar gift card?
Many of the options above can help you to get a free $20 gift card.
One quick way is to find something around your home that you can trade in, such as a smartphone that you no longer use. Other ways to easily earn a $20 gift card that I would try include signing up for Fetch Rewards (I love how easy this app is to scan receipts!), Swagbucks, and more.
What are some ways to receive a $500 gift card?
Earning a free $500 gift card might require a bit of luck (well, a lot of time!), as they are usually part of sweepstakes or special promotions.
You can keep an eye out for such opportunities in the apps and websites mentioned above, and try to participate in any high-reward tasks (such as signing up for User Interviews), surveys, or competitions as much as you can.
Also, there is one way that may work and help you to earn a large amount on a gift card. If you have a lot of items that you could trade in, such as to Amazon, Best Buy, or Target, you may be able to earn enough to earn a free $500 gift card. This could be a gaming console, a cell phone, or several items traded in all at once.
How To Get Free Gift Cards
I hope you enjoyed today’s article on how to get free gift cards and that you find some ways that will personally work for you.
Getting free gift cards is a great way to save money and treat yourself or those in your life at your favorite retailers, like Amazon, Target, and Walmart, your favorite restaurants, and more. You can even earn a free Visa gift card to use anywhere with many of the options above.
With a little effort and the right strategy, you can easily find opportunities to earn free gift cards both online and in physical stores.
One simple way to earn gift cards is by answering paid online surveys and signing up for rewards programs. Many websites let you earn points or cash rewards that can be redeemed for gift cards.
For your everyday purchases, consider using cash back apps or websites such as Rakuten or Fetch Rewards. By shopping through these platforms, you can earn cash back rewards that can be exchanged for free gift cards from popular retailers like Amazon, Target, or even free Visa gift cards.
Also, joining loyalty programs from the stores you shop at all the time can also help you earn points that can be redeemed for free gift cards.
If you want a large amount on a gift card, then you may want to try trading in or selling some of the things that you own. For example, if you have old electronics or unwanted items, consider using the Amazon Trade-In program. This allows you to trade in your used items for free Amazon gift cards.
Another easy option is to look for sweepstakes and giveaways to enter online. You can keep an eye out for gift card giveaways on social media and enter for a chance to win. Both digital and physical gift cards are often given away by influencers, brands, or retailers as part of promotional events or contests. Try to sign up for as many as you can as it is all based on luck, of course!
Lastly, don’t forget to install browser extensions like Honey, which automatically apply coupon codes at checkout and offer cash back rewards. This way, you can save money while shopping at your favorite online stores and, at the same time, enjoy free rewards.
By following the above tips on how to get free gift cards, you’ll be well on your way to getting a lot of them.
Earning free gift cards can be a great way to get some breathing room in your budget, and so that you can spoil yourself. I know many people who spend all year finding ways to get free gift Amazon and Visa gift cards, and then save them for big things, such as all of their holiday gift spending. This way, they can save money and simply use their free gift cards to get the gifts that they need.
Of course, there are many other reasons to get free gift cards as well. It can simply make your purchases more affordable, and you can buy things for free as well!
What ways to earn free gift cards do you take part in?
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.
Dorothy was right: There is no place like home. Home is where we feel safe and relaxed in the familiarity of our surroundings — the sheets are just right, our favorite chair welcomes us, and we know, half-asleep and at 1 a.m., that we can get to the bathroom in exactly 10 steps.
But it turns out we might not be as safe as we think. According to the Home Safety Council (HSC), home-related injuries cause nearly 20,000 deaths and 21 million medical visits each year. HSC’s State of Home Safety in America report found that unintentional home injuries cost an average of at least $222 billion each year in medical costs between 1997 and 2001, far greater than costs from other home injuries such as violence ($98 billion) or suicidal acts ($96 billion).
Yet most of us, myself included, fail to take these numbers seriously. HSC polled Americans on the injury prevention actions they took in their homes and found that an alarming number failed to appreciate the risk and lacked either the motivation or knowledge to reduce it.
The good news is that most home injuries are avoidable with a few simple modifications, ranging in price from free to $40. Learn how easy and inexpensive it is to protect your family from the five leading causes of injury, as reported by the HSC.
Falls Each year 5.1 million Americans are injured by falls that occur in and around the home. Falls are the leading cause of home injuries and account for one-third of unintentional home injury deaths.
Recommended actions:
Put a nonslip mat or safety treads on the tub floor and use grab bars when you get out of the shower: $4-$10.
Turn on area lights when using stairs, steps, and landings: $0.
Use handrails on both sides of stairs and steps, and shoo pets away from your path (I know, easier said than done): $0.
Use a proper ladder for climbing instead of a stool or furniture: $0-$30.
Poisonings The second leading cause of home injuries, more than 2 million poisonings are reported to the Poison Control Center each year, yet only 1% of respondents in the HSC survey considered it a top concern.
Recommended actions:
Lock poisons, cleaners, medications, and other dangerous substances away from a child’s reach: $0.
Keep all cleaners in their original containers, and do not mix them. Even better? Buy non-toxic all-purpose cleaners from brands like Method or Seventh Generation, or make your own: $2-$6 for 32 ounces of self-made or purchased cleaner solution.
Use medications carefully, following the directions. Use child-resistant bottles, but don’t rely on them: $0.
Install carbon monoxide detectors in bedrooms: $20-$30 per detector.*
If someone is unconscious, is having trouble breathing, or is having seizures, call 911, but if someone seems okay and you think they may have ingested poison or you have a question, call the National Poison Control Hotline. Put the number in your phone’s address book or near the home phone (only one-fifth of polled Americans reported doing so) — it’s 1-800-222-1222: $0.
Radon is a cancer-causing, radioactive gas that you can’t see, smell, or taste. The Surgeon General has warned that radon is the second only to smoking as the leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. Test your home at least every two years or when living patterns change: $15 (or free — some state programs offer low-cost or free kits, contact your state radon contact for more information).
Fires and burns Of all fire- and burn-related injuries, 90% occur in the home. We know we should have a fire extinguisher and smoke detectors in the home (93% of the people polled did have smoke detectors installed), but most of us slack off on other precautions such as fire escape ladders (only 6% reported having one) and a family escape plan (just 26% had one).
Recommended actions:
Have working smoke alarms: about $3 to replace batteries, $20 per smoke detector.*
Create a family fire escape plan: $0.
Two story home? Keep a fire escape ladder near each upstairs bedroom window: $35+ per ladder.
Don’t leave the stove when cooking, especially when frying food, and consider keeping an easy-to-use fire extinguisher near the range: $0-$12.
Space heaters should be three or more feet away from anything flammable and turned off when you leave the room or go to sleep: $0.
If you smoke, smoke outside and put water in ashtrays before emptying. Lock matches and lighters away from a child’s reach: $0.
Blow out candles before leaving the room or going to sleep, or replace real candles with flameless ones — new battery-operated candles are made with scented wax and create a flickering glow: $0, or $10 for a 6-inch flameless candle.
Set the hot water heater at or below 120 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent burns, and test bathwater temperature before children climb in: $0.
Choking and suffocation The easiest way to prevent most choking-related deaths? Sit, and require children to sit, while eating. Only 39% of adults require children to do so.
Recommended actions:
If an item can fit through a toilet paper tube, it can cause a young child to choke. Keep small items out of children’s reach: $0.
Don’t put pillows, comforters, or toys in a child’s crib: $0.
Tie or clip the loops in window cords up high where children can’t reach them: $0.
Read the labels on all toys, especially the recommended age: $0.
Cut food into small bites for kids, and both kids and adults should sit down when they eat and chew slowly: $0.
Drowning Most drowning deaths at home are related to swimming pools and spa tubs, but there are easy ways to keep everyone safe this summer.
Recommended actions:
Sounds obvious, but stay within arm’s reach of children in and around water. This includes bathtubs, toilets, pools, and spas (more than half of the HSC survey respondents failed to do so): $0.
Keep the gate around your pool closed and locked: $0.
Empty large buckets and wading pools after use and store upside-down: $0.
To avoid suction entrapment, don’t use a pool or spa if there are broken or missing drain covers: $0, or $15+ for a drain cover replacement.
Research the safest pool cover for your type of pool: price varies.
*Rather than buying separate carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms, install a single unit that does both: $40-$50.
Is your safety to-do list as long as mine? Know any easy fixes that make your home a safer place for your family? I’m embarrassed to say that buying carbon monoxide detectors and testing for radon are two things I have always meant to do, but never got around to doing them. June is Home Safety Month, though, so it’s the perfect time to check it off my list!
Living in a 1,400-square-foot home, Xiyin Tang and Paul Laskow wanted more space for their growing family. Now, they have it: A 320-square-foot prefab accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, that extends their floor plan while preserving their historic 1936 Streamline Moderne home.
The couple purchased the historic-cultural monument in the Fairfax District for $1.5 million in the summer of 2020 after it had sat on the market for several months.
The three-bedroom, two-bath home was designed by architect William Kesling as a Hollywood hideaway for actor Wallace Beery and was problematic for several reasons, including that it was tenant-occupied and has historic status, which could prove challenging for future renovations. And to top it off, it was small.
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However, small-space living was not a deal breaker for the former New Yorkers, who had rented an 850-square-foot apartment in Dimes Square before moving to an apartment in West Hollywood.
“It was big for two people by New York standards,” says Tang, 35, a professor at UCLA’s School of Law, about the house.
When the couple and their 2-year-old daughter, Catherine, finally moved in, Tang was pregnant with the couple’s second child.
Suddenly, with another baby on the way, the couple worried they couldn’t accommodate visits from their greatly missed parents who lived on the East Coast.
“We felt like we needed more space,” says Tang. “We intended to build something in the back, but the timeline changed when I got pregnant. We needed to build something very quickly.”
Because of the home’s historic status — it was designated a historic-cultural monument in 2018 after a developer purchased it and filed plans to build condos on the site — the couple was required to work with the Cultural Heritage Commission on exterior and interior alterations.
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They loved the home’s Streamline Moderne details and decided to preserve the house with minor changes, including a new roof and kitchen. They added the ADU behind their home on the spacious 7,000-square-foot lot.
Working with Los Angeles-based Cover, which specializes in one-story prefabricated ADUs manufactured in L.A., the couple wanted to install a custom ADU (priced between $275,000 and $295,000, depending on site-specific conditions) before Tang delivered their second daughter, Maggie, in November 2021.
For its part, Cover offers fixed pricing upfront and manages all aspects of the building process. But it could not contain the issues that arose during the pandemic.
“One of the advantages of a prefab ADU is that it can be built more quickly than a traditional ADU,” Tang says. “Unfortunately, we tried to build an ADU at the worst possible time because of COVID. There was a lumber shortage. Permitting took a year. Everything was back ordered.”
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After the permits were finally issued, the ADU was installed on site in 43 days using a panelized building system manufactured in Los Angeles. Seven months later, the permits for occupancy for the ADU were completed in time for Maggie’s first birthday party.
“One thing that is different about our prefab system is that we ship flat-packed panels from our Gardena factory rather than shipping large room-sized parts that require a massive crane,” says Alexis Rivas, co-founder and chief executive of Cover. “Overhead power lines and trees can prevent you from building with a big crane.”
The steel studio comprises an open-plan bedroom, kitchen and living area with a small desk between the kitchen and full-height built-in storage. A bathroom with a walk-in shower faces a stacked washer and dryer that is a hit with guests. A floor-to-ceiling sliding glass door allows easy access to the backyard, and narrow floor-to-ceiling windows look onto the main house and the pool, connecting the two homes. There are also integrated wall-mounted LED lights that add illumination and help keep lighting things simple.
“The main house has a lot of windows, and you can see people coming and going to the back house,” Tang says. “It’s nice to talk to your friends and family through the doors and windows.”
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Tang, who loves to cook, was drawn to Cover because of its high-end kitchen appliances, including an under-counter Sub-Zero refrigerator and a Wolf induction cooktop, oven and hood.
Sitting side by side, the austere square-box ADU, with its warm oak floors and white composite exterior, complements Kesling’s curved walls and ocean liner details.
“The main house is so distinctive,” Rivas says. “I think it’s much better to contrast it than try to match it.”
In an ideal world, one home would be able to accommodate multiple families, but that’s not always possible. Tang says one of the hardest things about moving to L.A. was leaving family. Now, the ADU allows everyone to stay close.
“Our parents have come out to stay with us multiple times,” she says. “The ADU allows us to put them up in the back, and everyone can go their separate ways. Catherine loves going out back and waking up our guests. Recently she went outside early in the morning in her rain boots and umbrella and brought my mom an umbrella to ensure she didn’t get wet. It’s a wonderful image in my mind. It’s so nice to be able to share those moments.”
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“About a third of our customers have put them in for their family members to live in full-time,” says Rivas, who lived in one of Cover’s 450-square-foot ADUs for a year.
Tang and Laskow also have a lot of friends from New York who come to stay in the ADU, which is in use every month. “This past month, we’ve had one friend, their dog and 2-year-old stay for a week — and another couple stay for three weeks,” says Laskow, 35, who heads transportation at online resale site the RealReal. “Our friends from New York always say, ‘Wow, this is so big. This ADU would be a covetable apartment in New York.’”
Despite the many challenges and delays because of COVID-19, the couple is happy with the outcome. Their modern ADU blends well in the historical context and allows them plenty of room to accommodate their family and work-from-home needs.
“It’s such a wonderful change,” Laskow says. “And not just the house. We love having outdoor space. We are so happy we could add the ADU and retain some patio space and grass for the kids.”
Cash App, a digital money transfer service, has transformed the way we manage our finances. From sharing restaurant bills with friends to paying your gig economy contractor, this app packs a punch beyond the basics of money transfer. Think of it as your mobile money manager, where you can easily check your Cash App balance, do direct deposits, cash out, and even manage your taxes. Yes, you heard right, Cash App taxes can also be managed within the app.
History of Cash App
In 2013, the minds at Square Inc. introduced the world to Cash App. With a vision to simplify monetary transactions, they created a platform that has become a key player in the fintech revolution. It’s fascinating to observe how the app evolved from a basic peer-to-peer payment service to a fully-fledged financial solution.
How Cash App Works
Imagine this: your nephew needs quick money for school supplies. He’s in another city, and you have no idea how to send him cash without physically being there. Enter Cash App.
Once you’ve installed the app and linked your bank account, transferring money is as simple as choosing a contact, entering an amount, and hitting ‘Pay.’ The money will instantly move from your Cash App account to theirs. And voila, crisis averted!
Here are the steps to use Cash App
Step 1: Download and Install
Cash App is available for both iOS and Android devices. You can find it in the App Store or Google Play Store. Once you’ve located the app, download and install it on your device.
Step 2: Create Your Account
Open the app, where you’ll be prompted to enter your mobile number or email address. You’ll then receive a confirmation code, which you need to enter in the app. This process verifies your account and helps protect your personal information.
Step 3: Link a Bank Account
Next, you’ll be asked to link a bank account. Enter your debit card details associated with your bank account. By linking your bank account, you’ll be able to transfer funds to and from your Cash App account seamlessly.
Step 4: Create a $Cashtag
A $Cashtag is a unique identifier for your Cash App account. This is what you’ll give to people when you want to receive money, and what you’ll use when you’re sending money to others. It can be up to 20 characters long and should be something you’re comfortable sharing with others.
Step 5: Understanding the Interface
Once you’re set up, you’ll notice that the main screen is split into two main sections:
The “Cash & BTC” section displays the current balance in your Cash App account. If you’ve chosen to invest in Bitcoin via the app, your balance will be reflected here too.
The “Banking” section allows you to add cash to your balance, cash out your balance to your bank account, view transactions, or invest in stocks and Bitcoin.
Step 6: Sending Money
To send money, tap the “$” symbol at the bottom center of the screen. Enter the amount you want to send, then press “Pay.” You’ll be asked to enter the recipient’s $Cashtag, email, or phone number. Add a note to remind them what the payment is for, then press “Pay” again.
Step 7: Receiving Money
When someone sends you money, it will appear in your Cash App balance. You can keep the funds in the app for future transactions, or cash out to your bank account.
To cash out, tap the “Banking” button at the bottom of the screen, then tap “Cash Out.” You can choose to cash out instantly for a small fee, or to cash out to your bank account within 1-3 business days for free.
Step 8: Using the Cash Card
Cash App offers a free debit card called the Cash Card. You can use this card to spend your Cash App balance at any store that accepts Visa. For individuals who frequently use their credit card for purchases, the Cash App can be a great way to boost savings toward chosen goals without much work. To request a card, tap the card-shaped icon on your Cash App home screen and follow the steps.
Step 9: Investing
Cash App allows you to buy stocks or Bitcoin directly from your account. From the main screen, tap the Investing tab (looks like a chart). Here you can view your investing portfolio, search for stocks, and make trades.
Remember, investing involves risks, and it’s important to understand these before you start.
The beauty of Cash App is its simplicity. It’s a secure and versatile platform that’s ideal for quick mobile payments, money transfers, and even dabbling in investments. Whether you’re a parent paying for piano lessons or a college student splitting rent with roommates, Cash App is an option worth considering.
Cash App Features
Cash App isn’t just a money transfer service. It’s so much more. You can link it to Apple Pay or Google Pay, pay with the custom Visa debit card (known as the Cash Card), and even buy Bitcoin cryptocurrency. Cash App also offers a feature called ‘Cash App Investing.’ With it, users can invest in stocks, making the world of Wall Street accessible right from your smartphone.
One exceptional feature of Cash App is that it allows users to receive paychecks through direct deposit. This is excellent for workers in the gig economy or for anyone preferring a digital banking experience.
Is Cash App safe?
In the age of data breaches and identity theft, Cash App ensures the safety of Cash App users’ personal information through encryption and fraud detection technology. The app is designed to keep your transaction details secure, even if your phone is lost or stolen. It also provides notifications for all account activities, helping you keep an eye on your transactions.
While Cash App is a financial platform, it is not a bank. It provides banking services and debit cards through its bank partners, but a great feature is that the balance in your account protected by FDIC insurance (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), just like a traditional bank.
Competitor Analysis
There are other players in the digital money transfer field such as Google Pay, Zelle, Venmo, Square Cash, and PayPal. What sets Cash App apart, however, is its combination of simplicity, versatility, and user-focused design. While other services might offer similar features, Cash App’s uncluttered interface and intuitive user experience keep it at the forefront of other payment apps.
See my in-depth comparison between Cash App and its competitors
Economic Impact
The rise of apps like Cash App has changed the financial landscape dramatically. By eliminating the need for brick-and-mortar banks, they’re driving the shift towards a more digital, user-centered banking experience.
Future of Cash App
Looking forward, Cash App appears poised to expand its offerings even further. The rapid growth of fintech and evolving consumer preferences suggest that apps like Cash App could begin to offer more extensive services, such as loans or insurance products, in the not-too-distant future.
Critiques and Controversies
No service is without its challenges. Cash App has faced criticisms related to customer service and has also been used for scams. The company has taken steps to address these issues and is continually working to improve Cash App user experience and security.
Through its various features and offerings, Cash App has made managing finances a more seamless experience. Whether you’re looking to go digital with your banking, simplify money transfers, or venture into investing, Cash App may become your preferred payment method.
Cash App FAQs
To wrap things up, let’s address some common queries you may have about Cash App:
Can you withdraw money from Cash App without a card?
Yes, you can transfer money from your Cash App account to your linked bank account.
Can someone steal your money with your Cash App name?
No, your Cash App name, also known as a $Cashtag, is just an identifier for others to send money. They can’t access your funds with it.
What happens when someone sends you money on Cash App?
The money will be added to your Cash App balance. You can use it within the app or withdraw it to your linked bank account.
How do you withdraw from Cash App without a bank account?
You need to have a linked bank account or a Cash Card to withdraw money from Cash App.
Do you have to provide your Social Security Number to Cash App?
For certain functions, such as sending large amounts of money or using the app for investing, Cash App does require your Social Security Number to comply with federal regulations.
Do you need a bank account with Cash App?
You can send and receive money with just a debit card, but having a bank account linked allows you to transfer funds to and from your bank.
Is it free to make ATM withdrawals using Cash App?
There may be a fee for using ATMs with your Cash Card, but Cash App can reimburse the fees if you have at least $300 coming into the app each month, like a paycheck deposit.
Nature has always been a source of inspiration in interior design. But bringing natural materials indoors is so much more than a trendy home style; nature has so many health and wellness benefits to offer. A few natural elements like indoor plants can boost your mood, reduce stress, improve air quality, and even help you get a better night’s rest. So if you’re searching for ways to uplift the atmosphere in your home with nature, here are some natural home decor ideas to consider.
The Science Behind Nature Home Decor
Have you ever walked into a room and felt instantly calm, or conversely, agitated? The spaces we inhabit have a profound impact on our mental and emotional well-being, and this is particularly true of our homes. In this article, we’ll explore the psychology behind natural home decor and how it can positively affect your mood and productivity. From the science behind incorporating natural materials into your home décor to tips for creating an organic design that supports your goals, we’ll provide you with a roadmap for transforming your home into a space that enhances your life.
One reason natural home decor has such a positive effect on our well-being is due to the benefits of a natural environment. Studies have shown that exposure to nature can reduce stress levels, improve cognitive functioning, and boost mood. Exposure to natural light can regulate our circadian rhythm and improve sleep quality. By incorporating natural elements such as plants, wood, and stone into our homes, we can reap these benefits and create a more calming and productive environment.
Using natural materials such as wood, stone, and greenery can also create a sense of connection to the outdoors. This can be especially beneficial for those living in cities or places where access to nature might be limited. In the following section, we will explore some ways to incorporate natural materials into your home decor and enjoy the benefits of a natural environment.
The Best Ways To Decorate Your Home With Nature
One of the easiest ways to create a natural environment in our homes is by incorporating natural materials into our decor. When incorporating natural materials, it’s important to consider the overall design and color scheme of the space. Using a neutral color palette with pops of greenery or wood accents can create a cohesive and calming environment. Here are 11 options for nature inspired home decor to consider.
Wood
One of the simplest ways to do add natural wood to your home decor is use wooden furniture. Further, wooden decorative items such as wooden clocks or frames can give a warm and inviting feeling to any room. Tree bark accent pieces are also a great way to provide texture and style.
Tree art sculptures are affordable, easy to make, and charmingly minimalistic. All you will need is a dead tree branch or two, fast-setting concrete, a plastic pot, water, a large mixing spoon, and oil spray. Spray the inside of the plastic pot with cooking oil spray and then fill it with concrete. Next, place the dead tree branches inside the pot and secure them with string. Once the concrete has been set, remove it from the bucket, and you will have a gorgeous tree art display.
Natural Candles
Candles are functional decor items that can create ambiance, a peaceful atmosphere and add a bit of detail to the room. There’s quite a variety of candles on the market, but pillar candles, soy candles, and wax refill candles are best for decor details. They are an easy way to add aesthetic appeal to any space.
Herb Drying Rack
You can make a herb drying rack with a piece of wood and some string. Create a hanger design and tie fresh herbs to the wood to dry. There are also tons of other DIY herb rack designs. This DIY natural decor idea is best for the kitchen. Moreover, you can also consider starting a herb garden in the kitchen.
Rock Collection Displays
Whether you’re spiritual or not, crystal rock displays are a great decor statement. Crystals are also reasonably affordable, so you won’t need to spend much on this natural decor idea. Once you have collected enough crystals, you can install a few floating shelves or a display unit to house this great addition.
Bohemian Macrame
Macrame wall displays are the perfect addition to any rustic or bohemian-style home. Intricate string designs offer a natural vibrance without overpowering the space. These decor items are a bit tricky to make, although there are tons of tutorials and guides online that can help. Otherwise, you can find a variety of macrame displays on the market.
Driftwood
Driftwood can add a touch of nature to any room of your home. You can hang a small piece of driftwood with crystal knobs near the front door to hang keys. Or you can use the same approach to create a jewelry holder in your bedroom.
Plants
Plants are another way to bring natural elements into our homes. Not only do they add visual appeal, but they also purify the air we breathe. Some popular indoor plant options include succulents, snake plants, and peace lilies. You will need to care for your indoor plants, so it’s wise to opt for low-maintenance indoor plants that don’t need full sunlight to thrive.
If you wish to use natural home decor for maximum productivity, incorporating plants into your design is a smart choice. Studies have shown that having plants in your workspace can improve air quality, reduce stress, and increase productivity. Adding a few potted plants or a hanging plant can make a huge difference in your mood and motivation levels.
A living wall is a statement decor idea that can transform the space. There are a few different ways to create a living wall; you can install floating shelves with pot plants, display shelves and pot plants, or let creepers like ivy take over the wall.
Natural Fabrics
For those looking to take it a step further, consider using natural textiles such as linen, wool, or cotton for bedding and curtains. These materials not only add a natural touch but also provide breathability and comfort. Throw pillows will natural textures are a simple way to add visual interest to the living room. Organic throw blankets in earthy tones are sustainable decor choices that make a positive impact.
Natural Light
Another way to use natural home decor for productivity is by incorporating natural light into your design. Natural light is essential in regulating your sleep and wake cycle, which affects your energy levels and productivity. Make sure to keep your windows unobstructed and use sheer curtains to let in as much light as possible. If your windows don’t receive much sunlight, consider adding full-spectrum light bulbs to improve your mood and productivity.
Natural Design Elements
Earthy natural home decor like wicker baskets, rattan furniture, a jute rug, or bamboo curtains provide texture and style. Opt for pieces made from sustainable materials to make your home eco-friendly. Other organic elements and natural objects may include a natural stone accent wall or a even something as effortless as a basket of pine cones.
Nature-Inspired Art
Not all of us have access to an outdoor view, but we can create one with nature-inspired art or wallpaper. Consider wall art prints of landscapes, seascapes, or forests to bring the great outdoors into your home.
Conclusion
When incorporating natural elements into your home decor, it’s important to consider the overall design aesthetic. Creating an organic design allows you to seamlessly blend natural materials with the rest of your home decor. This means working with textures and colors that complement each other and promote a sense of harmony. By incorporating elements of nature into your home decor, you can create a space that promotes a sense of calm and relaxation. Experiment with different natural elements until you find what works best for you and your home.
Adding natural home decor into your environment can have a profound impact on your mental and emotional well-being. From the science behind it to the benefits, creating an organic design in your home can truly enhance your life. By bringing nature indoors and using natural materials, you can create a space that supports your productivity and goals. So why not embrace the beauty of nature and start transforming your home today? What is your favorite nature inspired decor?
High above the Las Vegas Strip, solar panels blanketed the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center — 26,000 of them, rippling across an area larger than 20 football fields.
From this vantage point, the sun-dappled Mandalay Bay and Delano hotels dominated the horizon, emerging like comically large golden scepters from the glittering black panels.Snow-tipped mountains rose to the west.
It was a cold winter morning in the Mojave Desert. But there was plenty of sunlight to supply the solar array.
“This is really an ideal location,” said Michael Gulich, vice president of sustainability at MGM Resorts International.
The same goes for the rest of Las Vegas and its sprawling suburbs.
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Sin City already has more solar panels per person than any major U.S. metropolis outside Hawaii, according to one analysis. And the city is bursting with single-family homes, warehouses and parking lots untouched by solar.
L.A. Times energy reporter Sammy Roth heads to the Las Vegas Valley, where giant solar fields are beginning to carpet the desert. But what is the environmental cost? (Video by Jessica Q. Chen, Maggie Beidelman / Los Angeles Times)
There’s enormous opportunity to lower household utility bills and cut climate pollution — without damaging wildlife habitat or disrupting treasured landscapes.
But that hasn’t stopped corporations from making plans to carpet the desert surrounding Las Vegas with dozens of giant solar fields — some of them designed to supply power to California. The Biden administration has fueled that growth, taking steps to encourage solar and wind energy development across vast stretches of public lands in Nevada and other Western states.
Those energy generators could imperil rare plants and slow-footed tortoises already threatened by rising temperatures.
They could also lessen the death and suffering from the worsening heat waves, fires, droughts and storms of the climate crisis.
Researchers have found there’s not nearly enough space on rooftops to supply all U.S. electricity — especially as more people drive electric cars. Even an analysis funded by rooftop solar advocates and installers found that the most cost-effective route to phasing out fossil fuels involves six times more power from big solar and wind farms than from smaller local solar systems.
But the exact balance has yet to be determined. And Nevada is ground zero for figuring it out.
The outcome could be determined, in part, by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
The so-called Oracle of Omaha owns NV Energy, the monopoly utility that supplies electricity to most Nevadans. NV Energy and its investor-owned utility brethren across the country can earn huge amounts of money paving over public lands with solar and wind farms and building long-distance transmission lines to cities.
But by regulatory design, those companies don’t profit off rooftop solar. And in many cases, they’ve fought to limit rooftop solar — which can reduce the need for large-scale infrastructure and result in lower returns for investors.
Mike Troncoso remembers the exact date of Nevada’s rooftop solar reckoning.
It was Dec. 23, 2015, and he was working for SolarCity. The rooftop installer abruptly ceased operations in the Silver State after NV Energy helped persuade officials to slash a program that pays solar customers for energy they send to the power grid.
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“I was out in the field working, and we got a call: ‘Stop everything you’re doing, don’t finish the project, come to the warehouse,’” Troncoso said. “It was right before Christmas, and they said, ‘Hey, guys, unfortunately we’re getting shut down.’”
After a public outcry, Nevada lawmakers partly reversed the reductions to rooftop solar incentives. Since then, NV Energy and the rooftop solar industry have maintained an uneasy political ceasefire. Installations now exceed pre-2015 levels.
Today, Troncoso is Nevada branch manager for Sunrun, the nation’s largest rooftop solar installer. The company has enough work in the state to support a dozen crews, each named for a different casino. On a chilly winter morning before sunrise, they prepared for the day ahead — laying out steel rails, hooking up microinverters and loading panels onto powder-blue trucks.
But even if Sunrun’s business continues to grow, it won’t eliminate the need for large solar farms in the desert.
Some habitat destruction is unavoidable — at least if we want to break our fossil fuel addiction. The key questions are: How many big solar farms are needed, and where should they be built? Can they be engineered to coexist with animals and plants?
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And if not, should Americans be willing to sacrifice a few endangered species in the name of tackling climate change?
To answer those questions, Los Angeles Times journalists spent a week in southern Nevada, touring solar construction sites, hiking up sand dunes and off-roading through the Mojave. We spoke with NV Energy executives, conservation activists battling Buffett’s company and desert rats who don’t want to see their favorite off-highway vehicle trails cut off by solar farms.
Odds are, no one will get everything they want.
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The tortoise in the coal mine
Biologist Bre Moyle easily spotted the small yellow flag affixed to a scraggly creosote bush — one of many hardy plants sprouting from the caliche soil, surrounded by rows of gleaming steel trusses that would soon hoist solar panels toward the sky.
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Moyle leaned down for a closer look, gently pulling aside branches to reveal a football-sized hole in the ground. It was the entrance to a desert tortoise burrow — one of thousands catalogued by her employer, Primergy Solar, during construction of one of the nation’s largest solar farms on public lands outside Las Vegas.
“I wouldn’t stand on this side of it,” Moyle advised us. “If you walk back there, you could collapse it, potentially.”
I’d seen plenty of solar construction sites in my decade reporting on energy. But none like this.
Instead of tearing out every cactus and other plant and leveling the land flat — the “blade and grade” method — Primergy had left much of the native vegetation in place and installed trusses of different heights to match the ground’s natural contours. The company had temporarily relocated more than 1,600 plants to an on-site nursery, with plans to put them back later.
The Oakland-based developer also went to great lengths to safeguard desert tortoises — an iconic reptile protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, and the biggest environmental roadblock to building solar in the Mojave.
Desert tortoises are sensitive to global warming, residential sprawl and other human encroachment on their habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has estimated tortoise populations fell by more than one-third between 2004 and 2014.
Scientists consider much of the Primergy site high-quality tortoise habitat. It also straddles a connectivity corridor that could help the reptiles seek safer haven as hotter weather and more extreme droughts make their current homes increasingly unlivable.
Before Primergy started building, the company scoured the site and removed 167 tortoises, with plans to let them return and live among the solar panels once the heavy lifting is over. Two-thirds of the project site will be repopulated with tortoises.
Workers removed more tortoises during construction. As of January, the company knew of just two tortoises killed — one that may have been hit by a car, and another that may have been entombed in its burrow by roadwork, then eaten by a kit fox.
Primergy Vice President Thomas Regenhard acknowledged the company can’t build solar here without doing any harm to the ecosystem — or spurring opposition from conservation activists. But as he watched union construction workers lift panels onto trusses, he said Primergy is “making the best of the worst-case situation” for solar opponents.
“What we’re trying to do is make it the least impactful on the environment and natural resources,” he said. “What we’re also doing is we’re sharing that knowledge, so that these projects can be built in a better way moving forward.”
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The company isn’t saving tortoises out of the goodness of its profit-seeking heart.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management conditioned its approval of the solar farm, called Gemini, on a long list of environmental protection measures — and only after some bureau staffers seemingly contemplated rejecting the project entirely.
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife show the bureau’s Las Vegas field office drafted several versions of a “record of decision” that would have denied the permit application for Gemini. The drafts listed several objections, including harm to desert tortoises, loss of space for off-road vehicle drivers and disturbance of the Old Spanish National Historic Trail, which runs through the project site.
Separately, Primergy reached a legal settlement with conservationists — who challenged the project’s federal approval in court — in which the company agreed to additional steps to protect tortoises and a plant known as the three-corner milkvetch.
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The company estimates just 2.5% of the project site will be permanently disturbed — far less than the 33% allowed by Primergy’s federal permit. Regenhard is hopeful the lessons learned here will inform future solar development on public lands.
“This is something new. So we’re refining a lot of the processes,” he said. “We’re not perfect. We’re still learning.”
By the time construction wraps this fall, 1.8 million panels will cover nearly 4,000 football fields’ worth of land, just off the 15 Freeway. They’ll be able to produce 690 megawatts of power — as much as 115,000 typical home solar systems. And they’ll be paired with batteries, to store energy and help NV Energy customers keep running their air conditioners after sundown.
Unlike many solar fields, Gemini is close to the population it will serve — just a few dozen miles from the Strip. And the affected landscape is far from visually stunning, with none of the red-rock majesty found at nearby Valley of Fire State Park.
But desert tortoises don’t care if a place looks cool to humans. They care if it’s good tortoise habitat.
Moyle, Primergy’s environmental services manager, pointed to a small black structure at the bottom of a fence along the site’s edge — a shade shelter for tortoises. Workers installed them every 800 feet, so that if any relocated reptiles try to return to the solar farm too early, they don’t die pacing along the fence in the heat.
“They have a really, really good sense of direction,” Moyle said. “They know where their homes are. They want to come back.”
Primergy will study what happens when tortoises do come back. Will they benefit from the shade of the solar panels? Or will they struggle to survive on the industrialized landscape?
And looming over those uncertainties, a more existential query: With global warming beginning to devastate human and animal life around the world, should we really be slowing or stopping solar development to save a single type of reptile?
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Moyle was ready with an answer: Tortoises are a keystone species. If they’re doing well, it’s a good sign of a healthy ecosystem in which other desert creatures — such as burrowing owls, kit foxes and American badgers — are positioned to thrive, too.
And as the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, human survival is inextricably linked with a healthy natural world.
“We take one thing out, we don’t know what sort of disastrous effect it’s going to have on everything else,” Moyle said.
We do, however, know the consequences of relying on fossil fuels: entire towns burning to the ground, Lake Mead three-quarters empty, elderly Americans baking to death in their overheated homes. With worse to come.
The shifting sands of time
A few miles south, another solar project was rising in the desert. This one looked different.
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A fleet of bulldozers, scrapers, excavators and graders was nearly done flattening the land — a beige moonscape devoid of cacti and creosote. The solar panel support trusses were all the same height, forming an eerily rigid silver sea.
When I asked Carl Glass — construction manager for DEPCOM Power, the contractor building this project for Buffett’s NV Energy — why workers couldn’t leave vegetation in place like at Gemini, he offered a simple answer: drainage. Allowing the land to retain its natural contours, he said, would make it difficult to move stormwater off the site during summer monsoons.
Safety was another consideration, said Dani Strain, NV Energy’s senior manager for the project. Blading and grading the land meant workers wouldn’t have to carry solar panels and equipment across ground studded with tripping hazards.
“It’s nicer for the environment not to do it,” Strain said. “But it creates other problems. You can’t have everything.”
This kind of solar project has typified development in the Mojave Desert.
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And it helps explain why the Center for Biological Diversity’s Patrick Donnelly has fought so hard to limit that development.
The morning after touring the solar construction sites, we joined Donnelly for a hike up Big Dune, a giant pile of sand covering five square miles and towering 500 feet above the desert floor, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The sun was just beginning its ascent over the Mojave, bathing the sand in a smooth umber glow beneath pockets of wispy cloud.
On weekends, Donnelly said, the dune can be overrun by thousands of off-road vehicles. But on this day, it was quiet.
Energy companies have proposed more than a dozen solar farms on public lands surrounding Big Dune — some with overlapping footprints. Donnelly doesn’t oppose all of them. But he thinks federal agencies should limit solar to the least ecologically sensitive parts of Nevada, instead of letting companies pitch projects almost anywhere they choose.
“Developers are looking at this as low-hanging fruit,” he said. “The idea is, this is where California can build all of its solar.”
We trekked slowly up the dune, our bodies casting long shadows in the early morning light. When we took a breather and looked back down, a trail of footprints marked our path. Donnelly assured us a windy day would wipe them away.
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“This is why I live here, man,” he said. “It’s the most beautiful place on Earth, in my mind.”
Donnelly broke his back in a rock-climbing accident, so he used a walking stick to scale the dune. He lives not far from here, at the edge of Death Valley National Park, and works as the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity’s Great Basin director.
As we resumed our journey, the wind blowing hard, I asked Donnelly to rank the top human threats to the Mojave. He was quick to answer: The climate crisis was No. 1, followed by housing sprawl, solar development and off-road vehicles.
“There’s no good solar project in the desert. But there’s less bad,” he said. “And we’re at a point now where we have to settle for less bad, because the alternatives are more bad: more coal, more gas, climate apocalypse.”
That hasn’t stopped Donnelly and his colleagues from fighting renewable energy projects they fear would wipe out entire species — even little-known plants and animals with tiny ranges, such as Tiehm’s buckwheat and the Dixie Valley toad.
“I’m not a religious guy,” Donnelly said. “But all God’s creatures great and small.”
After a steep stretch of sand, we stopped along a ridge with sweeping views. To our west were the Funeral Mountains, across the California state line in Death Valley National Park — and far beyond them Mt. Whitney, its snow-covered facade just barely visible. To our east was Highway 95, cutting across the Amargosa Valley en route from Las Vegas to Reno.
It’s along this highway that so many developers want to build.
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“We would be in a sea of solar right now,” Donnelly said.
Having heard plenty of rural residents say they don’t want to look at such a sea, I asked Donnelly if this was a bad spot for solar because it would ruin the glorious views. He told me he never makes that argument, “because honestly, views aren’t really the primary concern at this moment. The primary concern is stopping the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis.”
“There are certain places where we shouldn’t put solar because it’s a wild and undisturbed landscape,” he said.
As far as he’s concerned, though, the Amargosa Valley isn’t one of those landscapes, what with Highway 95 running through it. The same goes for Dry Lake Valley, where NV Energy’s solar construction site is already surrounded by energy infrastructure.
What Donnelly would like to see is better planning.
He pointed to California, where state and federal officials spent eight years crafting a desert conservation plan that allows solar and wind farms across a few hundred thousand acres while setting aside millions more for protection. He thinks a similar process is crucial in Nevada, where four-fifths of the land area is owned by the federal government — more than any other state.
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If Donnelly had his way, regulators would put the kibosh on solar farms immediately adjacent to Big Dune. He’s worried they could alter the movement of sand across the desert floor, affecting several rare beetles that call the dune home.
But if the feds want to allow solar projects along the highway to the south, near the Area 51 Alien Center?
“Might not be the end the world,” Donnelly said.
He shot me a grin.
“You know, one thing I like to do …”
Without warning, he took off racing down the dune, carried by momentum and love for the desert. He laughed as he reached a natural stopping point, calling for us to join him. His voice sounded free and full of possibility.
Some solar panels on the horizon wouldn’t have changed that.
Shout it from the rooftops
Laura Cunningham and Kevin Emmerich were a match made in Mojave Desert heaven.
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Cunningham was a wildlife biologist, Emmerich a park ranger when they met nearly 30 years ago at Death Valley. She studied tortoises for government agencies and later a private contractor. He worked with bighorn sheep and gave interpretive talks. They got married, bought property along the Amargosa River and started their own conservation group, Basin and Range Watch.
And they’ve been fighting solar development ever since.
That’s how we ended up in the back of their SUV, pulling open a rickety cattle gate off Highway 95 and driving past wild burros on a dirt road through Nevada’s Bullfrog Hills, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
They had told us Sarcobatus Flat was stunning, but I was still surprised by how stunning. I got my first look as we crested a ridge. The gently sloping valley spilled down toward Death Valley National Park, whose snowy mountain peaks towered over a landscape dotted with thousands of Joshua trees.
“Everything we’re looking at is proposed for solar development,” Cunningham said.
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Most environmentalists agree we need at least some large solar farms. Cunningham and Emmerich are different. They’re at the vanguard of a harder-core desert protection movement that sees all large-scale solar farms on public lands as bad news.
Why had so many companies converged on Sarcobatus Flat?
The main answer is transmission. NV Energy is seeking federal approval to build the 358-mile Greenlink West electric line, which would carry thousands of megawatts of renewable power between Reno and Las Vegas along the Highway 95 corridor.
The dirt road curved around a small hill, and suddenly we found ourselves on the valley floor, surrounded by Joshua trees. Some looked healthy; others had bark that had been chewed by rodents seeking water, a sign of drought stress. Scientists estimate the Joshua tree’s western subspecies could lose 90% of its range as the world gets hotter and droughts get more intense.
But asked whether climate change or solar posed a bigger threat to Sarcobatus Flat, Cunningham didn’t hesitate.
“Oh, solar development hands down,” she said.
Nearly 20 years ago, she said, she helped relocate desert tortoises to make way for a test track in California. One of them tried to return home, walking 20 miles before hitting a fence. It paced back and forth and eventually died of heat exhaustion.
Solar farms, she said, pose a similar threat to tortoises. And at Sarcobatus Flat, they would cover a high-elevation area that could otherwise serve as a climate refuge for Joshua trees, giving them a relatively cool place to reproduce as the planet heats up.
“It makes no sense to me that we’re going to bulldoze them down and throw them into trash piles. It’s just crazy,” she said.
In Cunningham and Emmerich’s view, every sun-baked parking lot in L.A. and Vegas and Phoenix should have a solar canopy, every warehouse and single-family home a solar roof. It’s a common argument among desert defenders: Why sacrifice sensitive ecosystems when there’s an easy alternative for fighting climate change? Especially when rooftop solar can reduce strain on an overtaxed electric grid and — when paired with batteries — help people keep their lights on during blackouts?
The answer isn’t especially satisfying to conservationists.
For all the virtues of rooftop solar, it’s an expensive way to generate clean power — and keeping energy costs low is crucial to ensure that lower-income families can afford electric cars, another key climate solution. A recent report from investment bank Lazard pegged the cost of rooftop solar at 11.7 cents per kilowatt-hour on the low end, compared with 2.4 cents for utility solar.
Even when factoring in pricey long-distance electric lines, utility-scale solar is typically cheaper, several experts told me.
“It’s three to six times more expensive to put solar on your roof than to put it in a large-scale project,” said Jesse Jenkins, an energy systems researcher at Princeton University. “There may be some added value to having solar in the Los Angeles Basin instead of the middle of the Mojave Desert. But is it 300% to 600% more value? Probably not. It’s probably not even close.”
There’s a practical challenge, too.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated U.S. rooftops could generate 1,432 terawatt-hours of electricity per year — just 13% of the power America will need to replace most of its coal, oil and gas, according to research led by Jenkins.
Add in parking lots and other areas within cities, and urban solar systems might conceivably supply one-quarter or even one-third of U.S. power, several experts told The Times — in an unlikely scenario where they’re installed in every suitable spot.
Energy researcher Chris Clack’s consulting firm has found that dramatic growth in rooftop and other small-scale solar installations could reduce the costs of slashing climate pollution by half a trillion dollars. But even Clack said rooftops alone won’t cut it.
“Realistically, 80% is going to end up being utility grid no matter what,” he said.
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All those industrial renewable energy projects will have to go somewhere.
Sarcobatus Flat may not be the answer. Federal officials classified all three solar proposals there as “low priority,” citing their proximity to Death Valley and potential harm to tortoise habitat. One developer withdrew its application last year.
Before leaving the area, Cunningham pointed to a wooden marker, one of at least half a dozen stretching out in a line. I walked over to take a closer look and discovered it was a mining claim for lithium — a main ingredient in electric-car batteries.
If solar development didn’t upend this valley, lithium extraction might.
On the beaten track
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The four-wheeler jerked violently as Erica Muxlow pressed her foot to the gas, sending us flying down a rough dirt road with no end in sight but the distant mountains. Five-point safety straps were the only things stopping us from flying out of our seats, the vehicle leaping through the air as we reached speeds of 40 mph, then 50 mph, the wind whipping our faces.
It was like riding Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds — just without the Yeti.
Ahead of us, Muxlow’s neighbor Jimmy Lewis led the way on an electric blue motorcycle, kicking up a stream of sand. He wanted us to see thousands of acres of public lands outside his adopted hometown of Pahrump, in Nevada’s Nye County, that could soon be blocked by solar projects — cutting off access to off-highway vehicle enthusiasts such as himself.
“You could build an apartment complex or a shopping mall here, and it would be the same thing to me,” he said.
To progressive-minded Angelenos or San Franciscans, preserving large chunks of public land for gas-guzzling, environmentally destructive dirt bikes might sound like a terrible reason not to build solar farms that would lessen the climate crisis.
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But here’s the reality: Rural Westerners such as Lewis will play a key role in determining how much clean energy gets built.
Not long before our Nevada trip, Nye County placed a six-month pause on new renewable energy projects, citing local concerns about loss of off-road vehicle trails. Similar fears have stymied development across the U.S., with rural residents attacking solar and wind farms as industrial intrusions on their way of life — and local governments throwing up roadblocks.
For Lewis, the conflict is deeply personal.
He moved here from Southern California more than a decade ago, trading life by the beach for a five-acre plot where he runs an off-roading school and test-drives motorcycles for manufacturers. His warehouse was packed with dozens of dirt bikes.
“This is my life. Motorcycles, motorcycles, motorcycles,” he said, laughing.
Lewis has worked to stir up opposition to three local solar farm proposals. So far, his efforts have been in vain.
One project is already under construction. Peering through a fence, we saw row after row of trusses, waiting for their photovoltaic panels. It’s called Yellow Pine, and it’s being built by Florida-based NextEra Energy to supply power to California.
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Lewis learned about Yellow Pine when he was riding one of his favorite trails and was surprised to find it cut off. He compared the experience to riding the best roller-coaster at a theme park, only to have it grind to a halt three-quarters of the way through.
“I don’t want my playground taken away from me,” he said.
“Me neither!” a voice called out from behind us.
We turned and were greeted by Shannon Salter, an activist who had previously spent nine months camping near the Yellow Pine site to protest the habitat destruction. She and Lewis had never met, but they quickly realized they had common cause.
“It’s the opposite of green!” Salter said.
“On my roof, not my backyard,” Lewis agreed.
Never mind that conservationists have long decried the ecological damage from desert off-roading. Salter and Lewis both cared about these lands. Neither wanted to see the solar industry lay claim to them. They talked about staying in touch.
It’s easy to imagine similar alliances forming across the West, the clean energy transition bringing together environmentalists and rural residents in a battle to defend their lifestyles, their landscapes and animals that can’t fight for themselves.
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It’s also easy to imagine major cities that badly need lots of solar and wind power — Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix — brushing off those complaints as insignificant compared with the climate emergency, or as fueled by right-wing misinformation.
But many of concerns raised by critics are legitimate. And their voices are only getting louder.
As night fell over the Mojave, Lewis shared his idea that any city buying electricity from a desert solar farm should be required to install a certain amount of rooftop solar back home first — on government buildings, at least. It only seemed fair.
“Some people see the desert as just a wasteland,” Lewis said. “I think it’s beautiful.”
The view from Black Mountain
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So how do we build enough renewable energy to replace fossil fuels without destroying too many ecosystems, or stoking too much political opposition from rural towns, or moving too slowly to save the planet?
Few people could do more to ease those tensions than Buffett.
Our conversation kept returning to the legendary investor as we hiked Black Mountain, just outside Vegas, on our last morning in the Silver State. We were joined by Jaina Moan, director of external affairs for the Nature Conservancy’s Nevada chapter. She had promised a view of massive solar fields from the peak — but only after a 3.5-mile trek with 2,000 feet of elevation gain.
“It’ll be a little StairMaster at the end,” she warned us.
The homes and hotels and casinos of the Las Vegas Valley retreated behind us as we climbed, looking ever smaller and more insignificant against the vast open desert. It was an illusion that will prove increasingly difficult to maintain as Sin City and its suburbs continue their march into the Mojave. Nevada politicians from both parties are pushing for legislation that would let federal officials auction off additional public lands for residential and commercial development.
Vegas and other Western cities could limit the need for more suburbs — and sprawling solar farms — by growing smarter, Moan said. Urban areas could embrace density, to help people drive fewer miles and reduce the demand for new power supplies to fuel electric vehicles. They could invest in electric buses and trains — and use less water, which would save a lot of energy.
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“As our spaces become more crowded, we’re going to have to come up with more creative ideas,” Moan said.
That’s where Buffett could make things easier.
The billionaire’s Berkshire Hathaway company owns electric utilities that serve millions of people, from California to Nevada to Illinois. Those utilities, Moan said, could buck the industry trend of urging policymakers to reduce financial incentives for rooftop solar and instead encourage the technology — along with other small-scale clean energy solutions, such as local microgrids.
That would limit the need for big solar farms — at least somewhat.
Berkshire and other energy giants could also build solar on lands already altered by humans, such as abandoned mines, toxic Superfund sites, reservoirs, landfills, agricultural areas, highway corridors and canals that carry water to farms and cities.
The costs are typically higher than building on undisturbed public lands. And in many cases there are technical challenges yet to be resolved. But those kinds of “creative solutions” could at least lessen the loss of biodiversity, Moan said.
“There’s money to be made there, and there’s good to be done,” she said.
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It’s hard to know what Buffett thinks. A Berkshire spokesperson declined my request to interview him.
Tony Sanchez, NV Energy’s executive vice president for business development and external relations, was more forthcoming.
“The problem for us with rooftop solar,” he said, is that it’s “not controlled at all by us.” As a result, NV Energy can’t decide when and how rooftop solar power is used — and can’t rely on that power to help balance supply and demand on the grid.
Over time, Sanchez predicted, a lot more rooftop solar will get built. But he couldn’t say how much.
Rooftop solar faces a similarly uncertain future in California, where state officials voted last year to slash incentive payments, calling them an unfair subsidy. Industry leaders have warned of a dramatic decline in installations.
As we neared the top of Black Mountain, the solar farms on the other side came into view. They stretched across the Eldorado Valley far below — black rectangles that could help save life on Earth while also destroying bits and pieces of it.
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Moan believes the key to balancing clean energy and conservation is “go slow to go fast.” Government agencies, she said, should work with conservation activists, small-town residents and Native American tribes to study and map out the best places for clean energy, then reward companies that agree to build in those areas with faster approvals. Solar and wind development would slow down in the short term but speed up in the long run, with quicker environmental reviews and less risk of lawsuits.
It’s a tantalizing concept — but I confessed to Moan that I worried it would backfire.
What if the sparring factions couldn’t agree on the best spots to build solar and wind farms, and instead wasted years arguing? Or what if they did manage to hammer out some compromises, only for a handful of unhappy people or groups to take them to court, gumming up the works? Couldn’t “go slow to go fast” end up becoming “go slow to go slow”?
In other words, should we really bet our collective future on human beings working together, rather than fighting?
Moan was sympathetic to my fears. She also didn’t see another way forward.
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“We really need to think holistically about saving everything,” she said.
The sad truth is, not everything can be saved. Not if we want to keep the world livable for people and animals alike.
Some beloved landscapes will be left unrecognizable. Some families will be stuck paying high energy bills to monopoly utilities, even as some utility investors make less money. Some tortoises will probably die, pacing along fences in the heat.
The alternative is worse.
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