Latest news with #buyers
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
US neighborhoods plagued by 'for sale' signs as homes on the market hit worrying high post-pandemic
Homes for sale have completely flooded the US real estate market, with more listings now than any time since 2019. Slower demand from buyers is one contributor, according to Zillow's latest market report.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
More home sellers are pulling properties off the market rather than dropping prices
Many home sellers are loath to cut prices, opting to de-list their properties instead. Conditions have been tilting in favor of buyers, but frustrated sellers could stall that momentum. The housing market has been frozen over for the last few years, with prices and mortgage rates remaining elevated. The US housing market has been tilting in buyers' favor recently, but a rising trend among home sellers could stall that momentum. A report from this month showed that rather than lowering the price of their homes or negotiating with buyers, many sellers are opting to simply remove their homes from the market. The company's Monthly Housing Market Trends Report for June 2025 shows that sellers in the South and West have been facing downward pricing pressure, as both housing supply and median time on market have exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Throughout the East and North, however, prices have risen slightly. Even as national markdowns have grown, though, reports that "national median list prices have held steady." This indicates that sellers are still driven by high expectations, even in a volatile and complicated economy. "Delistings outpaced overall inventory gains—jumping 35% year to date and 47% year over year in May, compared with active listing growth of 28.4% and 31.5%, respectively," the report stated. "The spike signals that some sellers would rather wait than negotiate, suggesting recent buyer-friendly momentum could wane." The message is clear for aspiring home buyers. Sellers are not interested in settling for a lower price, even if that means waiting longer to sell their home or backing out of the market entirely. Jake Krimmel, a senior economist at highlighted that sellers are enjoying "record high levels of home equity," which grant them significant flexibility. "This allows many sellers to withdraw their homes from the market if their asking price isn't met," he stated. A lack of inventory is likely to lead to a shift in the housing market, as fewer homes for sale could push prices up again after a period that saw prices plateau or decline in key markets. Other data shows that the number of first-time home buyers has steadily decreased, as economic conditions compel buyers—especially younger people—to see renting as a better financial decision. If sellers continue to remove their homes from the market rather than lower prices, this trend is likely to continue. As housing experts told Business Insider recently, this poses negative consequences for the broader economy, as the housing market is an important engine for growth. Read the original article on Business Insider
The Herald
2 days ago
- Automotive
- The Herald
Entry-level VW T-Cross could be the pick of the range
Yes, it looks quite demure, with its modest 16-inch black alloys and plain dressing, compared to the garnishes of the Life and R-Line. However, for the buyer who is less image conscious, that is fine. Same goes for the cabin, with its conservative, dark hues. It would be fair to say the cabin does not match the surface level pizzazz of a Chinese equivalent. However, build quality is excellent, with the overall feel that it would last well beyond a decade of hard use. Even better news is that unlike before, the dashboard top surface is finished in upmarket, soft-touch material. The basics from an equipment perspective are covered. That includes a digital instrument cluster, multi-function steering wheel, electric windows all-round, electric side mirror adjustment and six airbags. All models in the range make use of a 1.0 l , three-cylinder, turbocharged-petrol unit. State of tune in the basic manual model is 70kW/175Nm. The five-speed gearbox is a pairing most complementary, allowing the driver to wind out the motor. Clutch action is short and defined, while the lever itself has a nice weight to it. Average fuel consumption over 500km was 7 l /100km. In a changing landscape, the substance of the T-Cross holds appeal to buyers who trust the proven longevity of legacy brands such as Volkswagen.
New York Times
4 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
The keys to making smart buys at a sports card show from someone who learned the hard way
Card shows are exciting because you can make a purchase in an instant, and often on a card you had no prior interest in buying. But this is also why they're dangerous. So with the National Sports Collectors Convention coming up at the end of the month in Chicago, here are some tips from someone who has made every mistake that can be made as a buyer at a show over decades. I've learned these lessons the hard way so you don't have to. Advertisement Being impulsive is fun. Planning is boring. But you need to have a plan before you walk in the door. It's hard to have a precise plan because we don't know what's going to be available to buy. But you can at least determine whether you want to buy ultra modern (current players), modern (non-vintage, let's call it Junk Wax Era circa 1986 to non-active players) or vintage (technically 1973 or earlier, when cards were issued in series, but basically everything else). That narrows your focus considerably. From there, you pick players to target. In ultra modern, maybe a player you think is about to be called up. In modern, maybe a rookie card of your dad's favorite player. A vintage plan could focus on lower-grade cards of inner-circle Hall of Famers from the 1960s or graded cards of post-WWII Hall of Fame quarterbacks. The bottom line: You can't be in the market for everything. The next step is setting a budget and sticking to it. And that's a ceiling and not a floor. Don't let your money burn a hole in your pocket. Window shopping is information gathering on prices and inventory, which is never a waste of time. And watching dealers make sales to buyers and listening to that negotiation process is free yet valuable experience. Be a fly on the wall. Don't buy anything until you've seen everything at the show. There's nothing worse than blowing up your show budget and then seeing a better deal or a better card at another table. This doesn't mean you're inspecting every table. If you're in the market for vintage, you just quickly walk by all the non-vintage tables with just a glance. Vice versa if you're buying newer cards. So casing out a normal show takes very little time. Obviously, something as massive as The National is a different beast. Once you've narrowed your potential purchases, you need to know what those cards are worth. So you need an app on your phone (and a decent cell phone connection, which is tougher to get the bigger the show). I use CardLadder but you could use Vintage Card Pricing or MarketMovers. They're all good. Make sure whatever you use has easily searchable sales data by card/year/grade. These apps can be expensive – nearly $200 per year though you can also purchase for less by the month. If you want to do this at no cost, use eBay advanced search and filter for 'sold items' only. Advertisement Now you need to know which sold prices to look at. Use auction only; Buy It Now prices are typically 20 percent to 30 percent more than auction prices. Pricing apps typically average it all; but I only average the auction prices. You can't pick the lowest sale any more than the dealer can pick the highest sale. Be reasonable. With most modern and ultra modern, the simple grade-to-grade comparison is sufficient. Vintage is more of an art with eye appeal/centering being king. Perfect centering means perfectly even borders in all directions. So a centered version of a card will be worth 30 percent to 50 percent more than one with more typical 70/30 centering in the same grade. And if the corners also look good for the grade, the total premium over the average price for the same grade could be 100 percent. Note that dealers will sometimes exaggerate how well centered a card is. What if you're buying raw/ungraded cards? Well you better have a jeweler's loupe to look at corners and edges closely. You can also take a picture with your phone and zoom in on all the corners. Never pay for the grade the dealer is saying or that you hope for — pay at least one grade less – so if you think the card is near mint (7), pay only the average for an excellent-mint (6). You need to give yourself a margin for error. I'm not accusing dealers of duplicity in their statements of what a raw card will grade. It's just REALLY hard to know if a card is getting a 5 or a 6, or an 8 or a 9. 10? Forget it. NEVER pay a 10 price for a raw ultra-modern card. Now that you have narrowed your general search and picked a handful of cards you're interested in buying, pursue them in order of your preference. Dealers who display their prices on the front of the card with a sticker are the best. A price on the back of the card once you've asked and the dealer turns it over is fine. Not having any price on the card is bad. Never let a dealer with no price on a card ask you what you want to pay. You can't both buy and sell the card. Insist the dealer gives you a price. If the price of the card is 50 percent or more over your research, just walk away. There is nothing to negotiate. You're not going to convince the dealer to be reasonable. You'll get the old, 'I have more into this card than that!' (That's the dealer's problem, not yours — the card isn't worth more because the dealer claims to have paid a bad price; if the dealer robbed some widow of the card at a yard sale, are you going to be given a massive discount? Of course not.) You should probably walk away even at 30 percent over comps. If the dealer is 15 percent to 25 percent over your researched price, you're probably going to be able to make a deal. Short your counter offer by the same amount the dealer is over in hopes of meeting smack dab in the middle. Advertisement Cash is king at a show. If you have it, always say you'll pay cash. Some people flip a coin for a small difference in negotiation. That always draws a small crowd to the dealer's table. If you lose, you're paying that premium though. I've never done it but you'll get your price 50 percent of the time. At a show, you should want the card for 5-to-10 percent under the online auction value. That's because the dealer isn't paying at least 15 percent commissions on the sale. That savings should be at least evenly shared by both of you. So 7.5 percent under comps is a perfectly reasonable offer because the dealer saves the other half of the commission. You don't even have to say this. You know it. The dealer knows it. Yes, the dealer has the small expense of a table at the show – maybe $100 at an average show on the thousands of sales they'll make. But you've paid a similar percentage of that sale to get into the show. A lot of people try to expand a deal by including other cards in it. Expanding deals to bring down the overall price is fine if you're a dealer and are just reselling. But if you're collecting, you're probably buying too many cards. Bundling is a step on the way to hoarding and having boxes of cards you don't even remember buying. Stay focused. Do not rush. Do not feel pressured. Do not hesitate to walk away from a sale that you're ready to say yes to because you feel you need to research the card more. Do all your due diligence so you can buy with confidence. The 10 percent of purchases you lose out on by being deliberate are nothing compared to the post-purchase anxiety or regret you risk by rushing to buy. There are so many cards at a show. Having someone swoop in almost immediately on a card you're pursuing while you gather more data is very unlikely. And even if it does happen, there are always other cards to pursue. Remember, about 95% of cards are easier to buy than to sell. It's almost always a buyer's market at a show. Figuratively, you hold the cards, not the dealer. If you plan to attend The National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago on July 31 and you want The Athletic to help you track down a special card you'll be looking for on the show floor as part of an upcoming video project, email us at collectibles@ with the cards you're targeting. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.
Wall Street Journal
5 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Private-Equity Secondary Market Defies First-Half Gloom
The secondary market for stakes in private-equity funds is on track for a record year in 2025, shrugging off many of the macroeconomic factors that have derailed other forms of industry dealmaking, according to several buyers in the market. Secondary private-equity deals are on pace to exceed $200 billion in value this year, they said. The surge has occurred despite a brief but dramatic drop in trading following President Trump's sweeping tariff declaration on April 2, which led many sellers to pause as they grappled with the expected impact of higher costs on corporate profits and valuations. The market impact eased as the administration subsequently suspended some of the tariffs.
